Port Nelson is the main port serving Nelson, New Zealand, and is seen as the main maritime gateway to Te Tauihu, at the top of the South Island.
It serves a key role of New Zealand’s economy, handling a range of exports and imports, including forestry products, pipfruit, wine, and seafood.
Spark notes that the Port has suffered from connectivity issues in the past, notably from WiFi dead spots.
“Connectivity was becoming a real operational constraint for us,” said Reagan Pattison, general manager, business transformation at Port Nelson.
“No matter how much we tried to saturate our warehouses with WiFi, we couldn’t get consistent performance. That impacted productivity, created frustration for our operators, and limited our ability to modernize how we work.”
To help modernize the operations at Port Nelson, Spark and Ericsson have paired to deploy a private 5G network that covers 30,000 square metres (322,917 sqm) across three warehouses in Nelson and Blenheim.
According to Spark, this includes its 5G+ private network solution, which uses Ericsson’s private 5G to provide a high-availability core at Port Nelson that connects to small cell radios to provide reliable coverage inside the warehouses and across outdoor yard areas.
On top of this, the Port has also deployed Ericsson Cradlepoint ruggedized R1900 routers for forklift connectivity and tracking.
Because of the dual-SIM capability, the routers are able to switch between Spark’s public and private 5G networks when forklifts move outside the initial private 5G coverage areas.
Private 5G networks are able to deliver dedicated, secure coverage across ports such as Port Nelson, meaning that workers can scan pallets in real time without interruption as they move throughout the sites.
“In a warehousing environment where there are moving vehicles and large volumes of stock moving in and out of the space, reliable connectivity that digital workflows can depend on really matters,” said Ian Ross, head of private networks ANZ, Ericsson Enterprise Wireless Solutions.
“Private 5G is the digital backbone of modern industry, increasingly demonstrating the highest standard when it comes to connectivity for critical applications in factories, warehouses, airports, mines, and ports. By using Private 5G, Port Nelson now has a dedicated network using the latest cellular wireless capabilities, that can support real‑time operations today while providing a strong foundation for future digital innovation,” Ross added.
Ericsson is also powering a digital push-to-talk comms platform for workers, via its private 5G. This is aimed at improving real‑time communications and enabling location‑based alerts to help physically separate people from heavy mobile plant. Future applications include geofence intelligence and broadcast messaging.
In the future, the Port’s warehouse private 5G network will support more applications, including real‑time asset tracking, predictive maintenance, enhanced CCTV cameras, AI‑enabled vision, and automation.
Port Nelson is a great example of how private 5G is unlocking new value for New Zealand businesses operating in complex, production‑critical environments,” said Greg Clark, chief customer officer at Spark.
“Spark’s 5G+ Private Network is designed for organizations that need secure, high‑performance connectivity they can rely on. At Port Nelson, it’s enabling safer warehouse operations today while opening the door to automation, advanced IoT, and smarter ways of working across the entire Port in the future.”
Source : www.datacenterdynamics.com
