Page 26 - Port of Hamburg Magazine 1.2020

■ DIGITAL DECADE
ITS World Congress 2021: Opportunity for the port industry
Up to 15,000 visitors from all over the world will be coming to Hamburg for the World Congress for Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS) between 11 and 15 October 2021. Six years after the World Port Conference in 2015, the Port of Hamburg will once again be presenting itself as a hotbed of innovation.
Even if the ITS World Congress, held not only in Ameri- ca and Asia, but also every three years in Europe, has so far been reputed to be unduly car-biased, some change should occur in Hamburg in around a year and a half. Hamburg will act as the German host for this event or- ganized by the European trade and industry association ERTICO. Even in its bid for this major event, the city suc- cessfully set out to introduce ports & logistics as the keynote themes. Of the 40 completed and over 70 on- going projects included in the city’s ITS strategy, a large number originated in the port & logistics sector. Many exciting projects have been initiated since the World Port Conference in Hamburg. These are meanwhile be- ing coordinated by an ITS project management team at a local public transport company, Hamburger Hoch- bahn. This was formed especially for this congress and is equipped with agile tools to achieve digital transfor- mation. The port is a laboratory for the city, enabling new digital solutions to be tested in ideal conditions, les- sons to be learned from these, and solutions to be cre- ated in the port, but also in other places.
“In this new decade when sustainability and digitaliza- tion will play a crucial role in all the world’s ports, we are very active in supporting processes with modern digital methods in the ports & logistic field. Our main stimulus just now is the World Congress. We naturally want to present the best digitalization projects there,” says Dr Sebastian Saxe, Chief Digital Officer – CDO for Ham- burg Port Authority (HPA) and the Ministry of Econom- ics, Transport and Innovation. “Last year, for instance, we successfully piloted drones for pipeline inspection and disaster relief in the Port of Hamburg and discov- ered highly promising strategies for transferring what we learned into the city – to the fire brigade, for exam- ple.” Dr Phanthian Zuesongdham, HPA’s Head of Digital and Business Transformation, adds: “To manage traffic flows in the port more efficiently and safely is the aim of our ‘Green4Transport’ that intelligently networks traffic lights and driver information systems in cooperation with partners in industry. In addition, by the time of the World Congress we want to create a space for experi- menting with product innovations near the Elbe Tunnel in St Pauli. This would offer ideal conditions for testing additional opportunities to deploy drones.”
HHLA – Hamburger Hafen und Logistik also plans to present several projects at the World Congress. In coop- eration with MAN Truck & Bus, automatic truck driving as a reality will be tested at HHLA Container Terminal Al- tenwerder (CTA). The Hyperport Cargo Solutions joint venture aims to develop a hyperloop system for sea- borne cargo handling and hinterland traffic, as well as a transfer point for test purposes at CTA. HHLA Sky will present the drone technology it has developed. This pro- vides all conceivable services with the aid of automated drone flights.
Given the heavy use of Hamburg’s road traffic net- work, the city is currently running several projects aimed at using the immense potential of its numerous waterways for urban logistics. “ITS solutions could make an important contribution here towards running waterborne traffic more economically, safely and sus- tainably,” says Niels Wiecker, Head of the Port & Logistics Department in the Ministry of Economics, Traffic and Innovation. With Hamburg Logistics Initia- tive representing the city in the project consortium, the INTERREG project AVATAR commencing this
TRIALLING OF ONE OF THE NEW SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES IN THE PORT OF HAMBURG
26 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | March 2020
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