BTH students receive international recognition for software that streamlines container handling

Four students from BTH have won the prestigious Ottonel Popesco Student Challenge, an international competition in which students are challenged to improve the ports of the future. Their solution, ZERO WAIT STS, impressed the jury by drastically reducing waiting times for container cranes – one of the biggest bottlenecks in modern port logistics.

The Ottonel Popesco Student Challenge is an international competition organised by PEMA with a focus on improving port and terminal operations. In this year’s challenge, student teams were tasked with developing innovative and practical solutions to improve cycle times for Ship-to-Shore container cranes, a central part of modern port logistics.

The BTH students’ solution, ZERO WAIT STS, uses smart software and real-time data to ensure that the right vehicle is in the right place at the right time. This makes the cranes faster, more efficient and more sustainable – without costly investments in new equipment.

The result is increased productivity, more lifts per hour and shorter vessel turnaround times. This makes it a solution with great potential for the sustainable and efficient ports of the future.

The winning team consists of:
• Praharsh Pulla
• Thanu Reddy Pathipati
• Kaushik Nerusu
• Kamaleswar Urranki

A visual presentation of the project can be found here: https://praharsh-projects.github.io/PEMA/