IN Brief:
- EUROGATE and ICT Logistics are developing a new equipment control system for automated container terminals.
- SmartECS will coordinate ship-to-shore cranes, automated stacking cranes, and automated terminal trucks through a common orchestration layer.
- The system uses Kubernetes, TIC4.0, and MQTT while retaining the ability to translate vendor-specific equipment protocols.
EUROGATE is working with ICT Logistics on a new equipment control system intended to coordinate automated container-terminal machinery from different manufacturers through one software layer. SmartECS will sit between EUROGATE’s planning environment and its physical equipment, integrating with the terminal operating system and the group’s operateMyBox scheduler.
The system is being designed to orchestrate ship-to-shore cranes, automated stacking cranes, and automated terminal trucks. Rather than tying those machines to one supplier’s control environment, the project is intended to translate between planning systems and a mixed fleet of automated equipment while retaining support for vendor-specific protocols where required.
That interface is a central problem in container-terminal automation. A terminal operating system determines what needs to happen to each container, while scheduling and equipment-control layers convert those requirements into individual moves across quay cranes, horizontal transport, and the yard. Equipment supplied at different times by different manufacturers can leave operators managing several proprietary interfaces inside the same physical process.
SmartECS is intended to provide a common orchestration layer across that environment. ICT Logistics says the platform can connect with commercial and internally developed planning systems, providing the link between scheduling software such as operateMyBox and the machinery executing the moves in the terminal.
The architecture runs on Kubernetes and uses interfaces based on TIC4.0 and MQTT. Kubernetes provides a containerised environment for deploying and managing software services, while MQTT is a lightweight messaging protocol widely used for machine and industrial-system communication.
TIC4.0 addresses a separate but related problem by developing common terminology, data models, and interfaces for terminal equipment. Standardisation reduces the amount of bespoke software work required every time an operator adds a new machine or connects an existing asset to a different optimisation or control layer.
That becomes increasingly important in brownfield terminals, where automation is normally introduced alongside equipment that may remain in service for many years. Operators rarely have the luxury of replacing cranes, vehicles, planning software, and control systems simultaneously, so any architecture that assumes one equipment generation or one supplier can become expensive to maintain.
EUROGATE’s programme is therefore focused on integration as much as autonomy. Automated terminal trucks are expected to take responsibility for horizontal transport between quay and yard, but those vehicles still need to receive tasks from the wider planning process and coordinate safely with cranes, stacks, traffic rules, and operating priorities.
A vendor-independent control layer gives the terminal owner more freedom over subsequent equipment procurement if it works as intended. New cranes or vehicles can theoretically be integrated into the common system without forcing the operator to replace the surrounding control architecture or accept the same supplier for every later automation phase.
The project does not eliminate the difficult engineering around automated terminals. Vehicle routing, machine safety, recovery from failed moves, equipment availability, communications latency, and exception handling all remain operational constraints. A platform designed for high availability also has to cope with the rather less tidy reality of equipment faults, vessel delays, yard congestion, and changed priorities during a live shift.
EUROGATE operates 12 container terminals with CONTSHIP Italia across a network stretching from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. The group handled around 14 million TEU in 2025, making reusable automation architecture commercially attractive if it can be deployed across sites with different layouts, equipment fleets, and local operating requirements.
ICT Logistics is responsible for the SmartECS lifecycle from requirements and system architecture through development, testing, and maintenance. EUROGATE is supplying the operational expertise and terminal requirements, with the partners jointly developing the concept around an open control model rather than purchasing an existing closed equipment package.
No terminal-by-terminal deployment timetable or project value has been disclosed. The announcement should therefore be read as a development and implementation programme rather than evidence that EUROGATE has already converted its network to autonomous operation.
The harder test will come when SmartECS moves from architecture into continuous terminal use. Container automation tends to expose proprietary assumptions that remain invisible during laboratory integration, particularly when older machinery and newer autonomous equipment have to respond to the same changing vessel plan.
If the platform can absorb those differences while maintaining reliable 24-hour operations, its procurement effect may be as valuable as its technical one. A terminal owner that can change equipment supplier without rebuilding the entire control stack gains leverage that has traditionally been difficult to preserve once automation reaches deep into the operating system.
