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PORTS & MARITIME

A 10-Second AGV
Communication Drop
Stops the Entire Terminal.

From Aden to Hodeidah and Mukalla, Yemen's ports are the country's lifeline for food, fuel and aid. Each autonomous crane and AGV runs on a network that cannot tolerate 50ms of packet loss. Legacy WiFi networks — with their handoff delays and RF interference from metal gantries — are the single biggest barrier to port automation.

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GROUP REFERENCE · MAJOR PORT TERMINAL

14.1M
TEUs Handled/Year
<5ms
Crane Control Latency
$2M+
Cost per Terminal Outage Day
99.999%
Required Network Uptime

⚠️ WiFi 6 handoff latency in metal-dense environments: 50–200ms — 40× over AGV safety threshold

WHY PORTS CANNOT AUTOMATE ON WIFI

The Four Physics Problems WiFi Cannot Solve in a Port

🏗️ RF Multipath in Metal Environments

Steel gantry cranes, ship hulls, and stacked containers create massive RF multipath interference. WiFi access points lose half their capacity to reflections. AGVs navigating under crane structures experience dead zones every 15–20 metres — enough to trigger an emergency stop on a 45-tonne vehicle.

↳ HCT: Private 5G URLLC with beamforming and MIMO handles multipath environments by design. <5ms latency guaranteed by QoS class.

🔄 WiFi Roaming Handoff Gaps

An AGV moving at 15 km/h crosses WiFi cell boundaries every 30 seconds. IEEE 802.11r roaming takes 50–300ms during handoff. During this gap, the remote crane controller loses the 3D position feed — triggering automatic safety stop. Each stop costs crane productivity and container throughput.

↳ HCT: 5G seamless handover in <0ms (dual connectivity). AGVs maintain <5ms control link during cell transitions at up to 60 km/h.

📦 Container Tracking Blind Spots

Shipping containers block GPS and WiFi signals once stacked 4–5 high. Yard management systems lose real-time container position — forcing manual scanning on every yard truck move. A mislocated container at a major terminal costs 2–4 hours of search time across a 20M sqm yard.

↳ HCT: 5G NR positioning + UWB tags provide sub-metre accuracy through container stacks. Integrated with TOS for real-time yard intelligence.

🚢 Vessel-to-Shore Data Gap

Vessels at berth need to upload cargo manifests, transfer CCTV footage to port security, and run remote diagnostic sessions — often simultaneously. Shore-side WiFi cannot deliver guaranteed bandwidth per vessel. Ships queue for connectivity while cranes stand idle.

↳ HCT: Dedicated 5G vessel slice. Per-berth guaranteed bandwidth for simultaneous cargo data, crew comms, and security feeds.

TERMINAL AUTOMATION STACK

From Crane Control to TOS — One Private 5G Network

LAYER 1 — AUTOMATION DEVICES

  • Automated Stacking Cranes (ASC)
  • Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGV)
  • AI OCR Gate Cameras
  • Container IoT Tags (UWB)

LAYER 2 — PRIVATE 5G NETWORK

5G URLLC
<5ms latency · 99.9999% reliability
Network SlicingBeamformingDual Connectivity5G Positioning

LAYER 3 — OPERATIONS SYSTEMS

  • Terminal Operating System (TOS)
  • Vessel Traffic Management
  • Port Security & CCTV AI
  • Cargo & Customs Data

HCT PROVEN PORT DEPLOYMENTS

The Network That Runs a Major Terminal's Automation

HCT Group has worked with DP World and port operators across the region and Africa to supply and integrate the telecom backbone for terminal automation. From RF site surveys in crane-dense environments to TOS integration, we've solved every port-specific connectivity challenge.

  • 3GPP URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency) for AGV/crane control
  • Sub-metre 5G NR positioning for container yard management
  • DP World supplier and integration partner
  • Marine-grade hardware certified for saltwater corrosion environments
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PERFORMANCE COMPARISON

Control LatencyWiFi: 50–200ms5G: <5ms
Handover TimeWiFi: 50–300ms5G: <1ms
ReliabilityWiFi: 99.9%5G: 99.9999%
Positioning AccuracyWiFi: 3–5m5G: <0.3m

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do ports need private 5G for crane and AGV automation?

Automated cranes, AGVs and straddle carriers require continuous, deterministic connectivity. A brief communication drop halts equipment and stops the terminal. Private 5G provides guaranteed capacity, low latency and seamless handover across the yard, which shared or public networks cannot assure.

Does HCT Group have a port reference?

Yes. HCT Group's port and logistics work is referenced against a DP World terminal, covering automated crane control, real-time IoT and vessel tracking connectivity.

Can the network cover both quayside and yard?

Yes. HCT Group engineers RF design for the full terminal footprint including quay cranes, container yard, gate and reefer areas, accounting for the metal-dense environment that degrades Wi-Fi.

What latency can be achieved for automation?

HCT Group designs to sub-5ms round trip latency using local UPF and edge compute placement, which is the requirement for remote crane control and AGV coordination.