In “De Ingenieur “of March 25, 2011 ( a Dutch weekly technical magazine) I saw the concept of loading and unloading with water (see here). A waterwheel is needed and also a lot of concrete is necesarry adding a lot of extra weight on the quay. Also this construction is not flexible at all. The concept is based on boats with the same dimension as the containers. These boats have an over buyancy so the weight of the container will be taken by the boat at once. This raises the speed of the container crane.
I already had another idea in my head that would not use so much materials and would be more flexible. This idea is based on simple technical items and not based on a complex waterwheel. My solution is 2 or 3 times as cheap, costs less energy and brings an extra of 10 to 15% of time saved compared to above shown concept. Another disadvantage of the shown system is that the containers have to be removed out of the waterway to be placed on a train.
My solution will come later after agreements.
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