Federal Funding for HHLA

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) is to receive € 1.5 million over the next three years from the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) for its “Container terminal 4.0” project. HHLA Executive Board member Dr. Stefan Behn accepted the funding on 6 December 2016.

The initiative for innovative port technologies (IHATEC) was kicked off in July, and the BMVI is to provide a total of € 64 million by the year 2020. The funding should help the ports to react more quickly to handling challenges and to make logistics chains more efficient. This involves keeping existing jobs as well as creating new ones.

HHLA is the first company to receive this kind of funding. The € 1.5 million will help to support a project at the Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) which is looking to find solutions for the interaction between humans and machines in areas of the company where both are needed. Dr Behn highlighted that the previous ISETEC programme had been used to integrate tried-and-tested innovative technologies at the terminal in Altenwerder. “Our application was therefore the next logical step and we are delighted that it so quickly received a positive response,” he said.