Diesel is the biggest cost you cannot see moving
A rubber-tyred gantry crane can burn a large share of its fuel while idling between moves. Refuelling is recorded on paper by the bowser driver, tank levels are checked by dipstick, and fuel consumption is reconciled once a month against the invoice.
That leaves the terminal unable to answer simple questions: which crane uses the most fuel per move, how long engines idle each shift, whether the litres dispensed match what reached the tanks, and which cranes need refuelling before the next vessel arrives.
Fuel level
Continuous tank level, volume and temperature on every crane.
Engine hours
Run, idle and off time from the PLC, with idle % per shift.
Container moves
Moves per shift and per hour from the PLC move counter.
Bowser refuelling
Every fill metered by flow meter and matched to the crane.
From the crane's fuel tank to the control room
The system reads instruments already common on yard cranes, adds a fuel level sensor where needed, and never writes to the crane PLC.
Fuel level sensor
A level sensor on each crane tank reports fuel height in cm and temperature over RS485 Modbus RTU.
PLC pulse network
Engine status, move counter, run and idle time are read from the crane PLC through a PLC-to-RS485 bridge, read-only.
Bowser flow meter
A pulse flow meter on the fuel bowser records flow rate and litres for every fill session.
Gateway & cloud
An edge gateway polls every slave, buffers if the link drops and sends data to the CMS.
Alerts & reports
Low-fuel, idle and refuel alerts, fill logs and daily consumption reports for operations and finance.
Thirty cranes, one screen
Each tile is one crane: engine state, fuel level and moves this shift. Cranes below 20% fuel turn amber and appear on the refuel list; critical levels turn red. The fleet bar shows average fuel, total moves, moves per hour, combined engine hours and litres dispensed today.
- Fuel status: OK, low, critical
- Engine state: on, idle, off, with idle % per shift
- Container moves per crane and per hour
- Yard map with crane positions coloured by engine state
- Last PLC poll time, so stale data is obvious
Every litre dispensed, matched to the crane that received it
The bowser's flow meter records each fill session: which crane, flow rate, litres and time. At the same moment the crane's own level sensor shows the tank rising. If the litres dispensed and the rise in the tank do not agree, the fill is flagged.
The fill history gives finance a session-by-session log for every crane, replacing handwritten bowser sheets.
- Tank level, target and session volume while dispensing
- Fills completed and litres dispensed today
- Recent fills and full fill-session log
- Dispensed vs received check on every fill
Measures that change how cranes are run
Fuel per move
Litres per container move by crane and operator shift. The best performers set the benchmark for the rest.
Idle time
Engine idle % per shift shows where cranes wait with engines on between vessels, the easiest saving to recover.
Daily consumption
Top 10 cranes by daily consumption and the fleet average fuel trend, to spot a crane whose engine needs attention.
Refuel planning
Cranes below 20% are listed before a vessel arrives, so no crane stops mid-operation for fuel.
Fuel accountability
Sudden level drops with the engine off, and fills that do not match the tank rise, are flagged for review.
Engine event log
Every start, stop and idle period from the PLC, timestamped, for maintenance and incident review.
Industrial protocols, read-only by design
Proven under strict no-modification rules on port-crane PLCs. The crane keeps running exactly as before; we only listen.
| Device | Register | Reading | Unit | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel level sensor | 0x0100 | Fuel level | cm | 500 cm tank, 25 cm blind zone |
| Fuel level sensor | 0x0102 | Fuel temperature | °C | Density and theft checks |
| PLC | 0x0400 | Engine status | pulse | OFF / ON / IDLE |
| PLC | 0x0401 | Container move counter | count | 1 pulse = 1 move |
| PLC | 0x0402 | Engine run time | h | Per shift and cumulative |
| PLC | 0x0403 | Engine idle time | h | Idle % per shift |
| Bowser flow meter | 0x0300 | Flow rate | L/min | Live while dispensing |
| Bowser flow meter | 0x0301 | Total dispensed | L | Per session and per day |
RS485, Modbus RTU, CRC-16/MODBUS, 9600 baud 8N1, through a PLC-to-RS485 bridge. Each crane has its own slave ID (CRANE-01 = 0x01); the bowser flow meter is 0xF0.
The rest of the port and logistics yard
Reefer points
Smart plug monitoring flags empty or faulty reefer connections drawing power for nothing.
Yard lighting
Lighting matched to vessel and truck activity instead of a fixed timer.
Regenerative braking
Monitoring shows where crane braking energy can be captured and reused.
Reach stackers & forklifts
Run hours, idle time and overtime tracked with the same 4G devices used on our rental fleets.
Fuel yard & tanks
Bulk diesel tank levels and dispensing reconciled every night.
Safety watch
Smoke, heat and electrical hot-spot monitoring in warehouses and substations.
See every litre and every move in your yard
We start with a handful of cranes and the bowser, prove the numbers, then roll out to the full fleet.