Port of Antwerp-Bruges, in collaboration with Akkodis, VDL, and Medrepair (part of MedlogSA, a subsidiary of MSC), conducted a live demonstration of an autonomous, fully electric shuttle for intra-terminal container transport at the Medrepair terminal, according to the company's release.
The event was part of the PIONEERS project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
The shuttle automates short-distance container transfers between operational areas such as warehouses, stacks, and gates, reducing reliance on diesel-powered vehicles and manual handling.
It features intelligent navigation software, high-resolution sensors, and a central Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for autonomous operation along predefined routes.
Built on the VDL 3-axle MTT platform, the vehicle has a 6x4 electric transmission, a dynamic axle system, and specifications including a maximum speed of 15 km/h, an 8-hour range on a 144 kWh battery, 168 kW power, 2,200 Nm torque, 15,000 kg empty weight, 48,000 kg maximum payload, and 63,000 kg maximum total weight. Its dimensions are 2.55m wide, 1.07m chassis height, and 12.56m chassis length, equivalent to a standard truck.
This demonstration follows a technical validation in Breda, Netherlands, earlier this year. The trial focused on integrating the system into an active port terminal to gather data for future scaling and commercial deployment.
The shuttle supports Logistics as a Service (LaaS) strategies, aiming to reduce turnaround times, address labor constraints, and increase yard throughput.
Karel Smits, Director New Business VDL Automated Vehicles, commented, “VDL leads the way in sustainable heavy transport in the field of automated vehicles. Our knowledge and experience in design, electrification, connectivity, autonomous driving and mobility as a service, combined with safety, is fully applied to this MTT platform. Since 2011, VDL has had more than 300 automated guided vehicles in service at the ports of ECT (Rotterdam), PSA (Singapore) and DGT (Busan) and at the industrial sites of BASF (Ludwigshafen) and Aviko (Steenderen). The VDL Mixed Traffic Transporter that will operate in Antwerp is the perfect further development of our position.”
Port of Antwerp-Bruges is a major European port authority managing the port sites of Antwerp and Zeebrugge in Belgium. It handles an annual throughput of 278 million tonnes, serving as a critical hub for containers, breakbulk, and vehicle transport. The port hosts 1,400 companies, including Europe’s largest integrated chemical cluster, and supports approximately 164,000 jobs, generating an added value of €21 billion.