ASC

An ASC is an automated stacking crane, a rail-mounted gantry that runs unmanned over a container yard block under the terminal operating system, handling stacking, retrieval, and housekeeping without a driver. It is the cantilever or non-cantilever yard crane of automated terminals such as ECT Delta, APMT Maasvlakte II, and TraPac Los Angeles, working blocks stacked four to five high and roughly nine to ten containers wide. ASCs run on fixed rails, draw mains power through a cable reel or busbar rather than diesel, and pair with AGVs or shuttle carriers at the seaside transfer point and trucks at the landside end. Twin and double-cantilever ASC layouts raise block throughput.