Aachen, November 23, 2005

SyncroTESS assumes Control at Trimodal Terminal DIT

The DIT Duisburg Intermodal Terminal is a trimodal hub with advanced seaport-terminal technology. As specialist for container transports and due to its large range of services DIT is an ideal partner whenever transports of containers or swap bodies are involved, be it within the port or for hinterland transportation.

The DIT operates regular barge lines to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Amsterdam and 35 European rail services per week. The terminal has got a storage capacity of 5,000 TEU on a total of 120,000 square meters terminal space, it disposes of 4 rail tracks (700m each) and a quay of 250m length. Transshipment is effected by one gantry crane at the rail tracks, one gantry crane at the quay, 5 straddle carriers and one reach stacker. The use of one additional rail gantry crane is planned to start mid 2006.

On 22 August 2005 the control system SyncroTESS was successfully put into operation. SyncroTESS manages the slots of the entire terminal, it optimizes all transport orders in real time and controls the shunting vehicles by allocating transport orders via WLAN radio data.

SyncroTESS is responsible for the execution of service orders (ex. container repairing, washing and service) and also for the fully automatic depot management which aims at observing the required maximum idle times per load unit and simultaneously at minimizing necessary rearrangements.

The optimized allocation of slots, for example in the Full Container depot or at the quay according to the expected collection time of a load unit, for example, guarantees an optimal utilization of the existing slots and minimizes necessary restorage procedures within the terminal thanks to intelligent stacking strategies. Due to optimized scheduling SyncroTESS ensures shortest running times for the internal transshipment resources and thus contributes to a considerable shortening of truck stays within the terminal. All load units and vehicles are displayed on the dispatcher's terminal which gives him a constant overall view on all operative activities.

For further information please see: www.dit-du.de