The Impacts of Different Work Locations and Levels of Automation on Crane Operators' Experiences: A Study in a Container Terminal in Indonesia

Abstract

Due to the increasing demand of higher productivity and safety in the shipping industry, container terminals are increasingly shifting from manually operated container cranes to remotely operated container cranes with semi-autonomous control. The shift from on-site crane operation to remote crane operation does not only affect how well crane operators could perform their work, but also how they experience their work. Eight crane operators, who worked with both manual container cranes and remote container cranes with semi-autonomous control, were interviewed to explore what kinds of experiences that they have as the results of operating container cranes with both operational modes. The results suggest that the location of the operators and the level of automation of the cranes positively and negatively affected the operators' experiences.