First, substrates W held in a common carrier SC are transferred from the outside of the apparatus and placed on a carrier placing stage 221 of the common carrier placing part 22. The carrier placing stage 221 is arranged in a Y direction at the common carrier placing part 22. The common carrier SC held in a special pod (not shown) is transferred over the carrier placing stage 221, and taken out of the special pod from underneath to be placed on the carrier placing stage 211 as shown in FIG. 1. As approximately cylindrical as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the common carrier SC can store a plurality of substrates W in a horizontal attitude with racks Na supporting the substrates W. Further, the common carrier SC has a forward opening part Ea1 and a backward opening part Ea2 opposing each other, and as indicated by an arrow Da1, it can transfer the substrates W only through the forward opening part Ea1. At this time, the common carrier SC is placed on the carrier placing stage 221 so that the forward opening part Ea1 faces the turning part 23 and the backward opening part Ea2 faces the substrate transfer robot 21.