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Yard configuration

Yard configuration defines the physical layout of the depot — its zones, and the grid of slots inside each zone that containers actually get placed into. This is the single most depended-upon setup page in the whole product: without at least one configured zone, no container can be placed in the yard, which means no Gate In pass can be finalised, since Finalise requires a yard slot (manual or auto-assigned). Configure this early, even before you're sure of the final layout — you can always add zones or reconfigure later.

Before you start

  • Nothing — this is one of the very first things to configure. See Overview & order of setup for where it fits relative to everything else.

Walkthrough

Adding a zone

From Settings → Operations → Yard Config, click Add Zone:

  • Zone Code (required) — short code, auto-uppercased, e.g. A or REEFER-1
  • Zone Name (required)
  • Zone Type — one of:
    • General
    • Reefer
    • DG (Dangerous Goods)
    • Survey
    • Quarantine
  • Max Stack Height — maximum tiers a standard container can stack (default 4)
  • High-Cube Cap — an optional lower stack limit specifically for high-cube containers

Click Create Zone to save. A new zone starts unconfigured (no slot grid yet).

Configuring a zone's layout

Each zone card shows a Configure Zone button. This opens the grid generator:

  • Rows — the first axis (labelled A, B, C… in the yard)
  • Columns — the second axis
  • Tiers — stack height axis
  • Inspection aisle every N columns — every Nth column is left empty (blocked) for walk-around/inspection access; a value of 0 means no aisles
  • Max Stack Height / High-Cube Cap — can be adjusted again here
  • 40ft Container Direction — controls which way a 40ft container spans:
    • Spans 2 columns (same row) — the default
    • Spans 2 rows (same column)

The form shows a live total — rows × columns × tiers — as the number of slots it will generate. Click Save Configuration to generate the slot inventory — this is what auto-assign draws from during Gate In and yard moves.

Reconfiguring later

You can re-run Configure Zone on an already-configured zone to change its dimensions; this regenerates its slot grid.

Why zone type and stack height matter operationally

Zone type isn't just a label — the yard's automatic placement logic prefers matching a container's type to a zone of the same type (a reefer container prefers a Reefer zone; dangerous goods prefer a DG zone), then prefers ground level, then prefers grouping with containers from the same shipping line. Maximum stack height (and the optional high-cube cap) is a hard ceiling automatic placement will not exceed. See How features connect for the full placement logic.

Who can access this

Admin and Manager — Settings is gated to these two roles (see Logging in & roles). Day-to-day yard operations (placing/moving containers within the configured zones) are separately available to Yard Operator and Gate Operator on the operational Yard page, not here.