Mind Scape

[rooker1]

Hello All,
paroch (Paul) just shared this with me in PM and I thought that I would share it with everyone else.  I think he has explained the process very well with some awesome pics.

Hello Robin,

I said I'd send you some pics of Southampton port.  Sorry it's taken me some time.  My MD has taken up a lot of time recently plus I've had a lot of work stuff this week as well.

Anyways, here is some stuff you may find of interest.

I used to do a job that involved working with importers and exporters, so I got a tour of Southampton port. I'm not sure how much you know of UK geography, so forgive me if I'm telling you things you know.....


Southampton is on the south coast of England.  Off the coast is a large (by UK terms) island called the Isle of Wight.  The container port is up by the letter "U" in Southampton, so a fair bit up the river.


Here's an overview of the port.  You can see the road and rail links at the top of the port.  The port can only fit three or four ships at any one time.  And because the port is up the river, they have to come and go on the tide.  That said, the port can still accommodate the largest container ships around.
You can also see how many containers there are in the port.


Here we are zoomed in a bit to see the road and rail access.


Southampton use "straddle cranes" to collect the containers and take them to and from the quay side.  This means the containers can only be stacked three containers high.  The straddle crane drives over the stack of containers and either picks one up or drops one off. 
When a container needs to go on a ship it is identified by its serial number, the straddle crane is driven to the correct stack and then it will pick up the container and take it to the quayside.  Here a fixed crane will pick it up and transfer it onto the ship.

This means that that containers have to be kept in nice neat straight rows so that the straddle cranes can get to them easily


In this pic I've circled the straddle cranes at work.


And here is a pic of a straddle crane.


And here you can see the straddle cranes leaving the containers which are then picked up by the large fixed crane to be transferred on board.


You may already have known all this, but after seeing your pics of ports I thought you may be interested.

I must catch up with mind scape as I know you were planning a port - I'm interested to see what you did.

All the best,

Paul

Please enjoy,

Robin   

[Berethor]

This port is awesome also the pics of cathedral with the park are really stunning. I'll come more often to see your amazing MD   

[thundercrack83]

WOW! That cathedral is immense, my friend! And the park with the obelisk along with it is absolutely extraordinary! Fantastic job here, Robin! Simply fantastic!

[rooker1]

Good evening,
Thanks to everyone how has stopped by and checked out my MD.  I have recieved alot of PMs about port and I appreciate everyone of them very much.  I think I have actually learned some very interesting facts.

Anyways, here is where I'm at so far.  I have some custom seaport lots just about done and now I am working on the container lots.  In the pictures below you can see a front left and right and I'm working my way back.  In the end these two will be TE'd for rail and frieght.
40.0

40.1

40.2

40.3

40.4


Please if you have any suggestions, good or bad do tell.
The lots are still missing some life, I just want to make sure they fit together properly.

I promise to do replies with the next update.

Robin 

[Filasimo]

i cant get my jaw to come off the floor where did u get that white/blue/red crane???

[cameron1991]

Thats an incredible looking port! but the container lifters look like they would hit each other as they pass each other.
I think that most container ports look a bit devoid of life, but maybe some trucks would liven it up a bit.
Other than that, it looks amazing! I hope you can release this!

[tooheys]

Robin, They really are fantastic looking lots. I do tend to agree with cameron1991 though, perhaps a double rail line would provide a bit more space to seperate the lifters, although I am sure that that is easier said than done.

Can't wait to see the results once they are TE'd. Watching with great interest.

Cheers

Dave

[Ennedi]

Hello Robin,

I have a lot of work in RL now, so I can't visit you as often as I would like to. But I looked at your last updates and I must say you really make very interesting things! 

The cathedral is great, and it's surrounding with canals and alleys is beautiful! I see only one element which could be (maybe ) improved:
- there is a huge obelisk in the front of the cathedral. Both the cathedral and the obelisk stand out from the city landscape. Both of them "wants"  to dominate. It would be very good to
- place the obelisk in the bigger distance from the cathedral (you would achieve very interesting composition line in your city landscape), or
- replace the obelisk by the smaller one.
I know both things can be very difficult (especially the first one, you arranged the obelisk surrounding perfectly), and everything is good as is - just think about it

RL pictures from Southampton are very interesting, the best thing in your analyses (and in your lot editing) is you take care about the real functions of particular lots - cranes, roads, storage areas.
Your last update is very interesting too. These smaller cranes (container movers) have two functions:
- loading/unloading trains and trucks transporting containers into the port and outside of it
- loading/unloading trucks transporting containers to the big cranes on the waterfront (to load them on ships, other trucks take unloaded containers from the ship and go with them to the storage area.
It means you must have at least a road along every storage area, and you can have railways only in some places.
You have roads everywhere, but in some places your container movers work only over the storage area and railway. They should be able to load/unload trucks too.

There is a little strange thing on the last wagon (it is clearly visible on the second and third picture). You have two containters on the wagon (green containers "Evergreen") and one of them is sunken. I think it can be easy improved. you shouldn't put two containers on the one wagon in such way.

These are little things, and all area looks fantastic! I'm waiting for your next ideas!

[cameron1991]

Ennedi
The wagon with the Evergreen containers is supposed to be like that.

You can see the 'well' on this model railcar. It basically makes use of empty space that was otherwise unused and lowers the containers by about 50cm to give extra clearance for tunnels and overhead cables. It also means infrastructure doesnt have to be modified for these wagons to pass through safely.
I hope that explains it for you 

[paroch]

Hi Robin,

I'm glad you liked the Southampton pics, and I'm honoured you used them in your MD.

I continue to be impressed by your work in LE.  I've only played with it with small lots and just moved a few bits around.  I can only imagine how long it must take to locate all the correct props and fit them in the right places.  I think the pics of your latest lots look awesome.  Containers travel the world, so I'm sure those Evergreen, Hyundai, Hanjin and Maersk containers are recognised by everyone on here.

Can't wait to see the overall port you've got brewing.

All the best,

Paul

[bat]

Really great work on that, Robin! Wonderful pictures of them, too!

[Ennedi]

Ennedi
The wagon with the Evergreen containers is supposed to be like that.

You can see the 'well' on this model railcar. It basically makes use of empty space that was otherwise unused and lowers the containers by about 50cm to give extra clearance for tunnels and overhead cables. It also means infrastructure doesnt have to be modified for these wagons to pass through safely.
I hope that explains it for you 

Of course it explains the fact the container is sunken. Thank you very much for showing this example!
But the purpose of it is to be lower with the container loaded, not to load two containers on it - and it was the second part of my comment

[figui]

your lots are looking great!
i agree with cameron1991 and tooheys about the separation between storage areas.
and the multi purpose white/red crane is really nice!

mauricio.

[rooker1]

Good evening,

I'm want to thank everyone who has been so nice to give suggestions and I have recieved some really good info from the PM's you have sent me.

I have some bad news and some very good news.
The bad news is that I have five lots just about done (doesn't sound bad yet) and I have learned earlier tonight that there are problems with the lots that I have decided to relot.  I will be starting all over from the begining.
I think it is better to find out now before I was completly done and than to not be able to share these with the public. 
Good news.  I have spent a couple hours with RippleJet learning how to make a proper lot.  I will be learning what ever I need to, to be able to release these lots to the public.  It may take me a long time, but it will happen sooner or later. 

Now that I have a very good idea on what I am doing, it shouldn't take me too long to get back to where I was.  I will keep you all up to date as I progress.

Good night for now,

Robin   

[rooker1]

Hello again,
I would like to share another PM that I think have some incredible pics.

The first is from figui.

hello Robin

firstly, some views. this is almost all urban area of montevideo (1.5 million inhabitants)


montevideo bay:

montevideo is the capital of uruguay, and it has the biggest seaport of the country, though not as big as ports in other bigger countries.

the container terminal:

on the left (western) dock. nowadays is being expanded to the west, to accomodate another dock and expand the container's area; two new cranes have recently arrived.
this terminal uses a similar method as southampton port to manipulate containers ("straddle cranes")

a multi-purpose terminal:

situated to the right of the second dock seen above.
in this case, containers are manipulated with other equipment (i don't know how to call  it in english- here we say: "grúa de patio" or "transtainer") i had circled them in the above pic.

grua de patio:

this "gruas de patio" allow to stack up to five containers without any separation between rows, but require elevators to drive the containers near the crane that loads the container ship.

hope i did not bored you with this
mauricio.

No you didn't bore me, thanks my friend.  I think everyone will enjoy this.

Robin   

[Shadow Assassin]

You should pass those pics on to Yoman for his Port Realism Project...

[thundercrack83]

No you didn't bore me, thanks my friend.  I think everyone will enjoy this.

You're right on, there, my friend! I never tire of staring at this stuff! Thanks to you, Robin, and to you, figui!

[figui]

i'm glad to know i can be helpful in someway

mauricio.

[dragonshardz]

figui, those are overhead container cranes. at least that's what i call 'em. 

[Yoman]

You should pass those pics on to Yoman for his Port Realism Project...

And you should look at the pictures that include seawalls