The Centre for Logistics and Traffic (ZLV) dedicates itself to the interdisciplinary conception, management and transfer of scientific work in the areas of logistics, mobility and traffic. The ZLV is thereby geared towards long-term sustainable, economically beneficial, socially acceptable and ecologically reliable innovations.
Plenty of potential for modal shift does exist – but also for further optimization for IWT in northern and northeastern …
Plenty of potential for modal shift does exist – but also for further optimization for IWT in northern and northeastern Germany.
As part of the study "Inland Waterway Transportation in northern and northeastern Germany - Challenges and Opportunities" commissioned by Hafen Hamburg Marketing along with the Elbe Lateral Canal Alliance and the Elbe Alliance, the Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems (DST) has examined the inland waterway transportation (IWT) sector in the hinterland of the Port of Hamburg - together with the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) and PLANCO Consulting. IWT plays a significant role for the economy in the German federal states along the northern and northeastern German waterways. In addition, the unused transport capacities on the waterways, the increasing pressure for greening, and the potential resulting from digitalization and automation offer new opportunities for IWT.
In addition to market analyses, modal shift potentials, and infrastructure considerations, the study also includes concrete recommendations for action for the involved stakeholders, e.g., with regard to waterway infrastructure maintenance needs, possible measures to reduce emissions, and harvesting the benefits of digitalization in IWT. The key findings of the study were presented to press representatives and the general public at a live online press conference on 26 August 2021. The DST primarily worked on the topics of modal shift potential, ecology & emissions, transport and digital infrastructure, and recommendations for action. The entire study, as well as the recording of the online press conference, can be accessed at the following web address: https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/de/presse/media/studie-binnenschifffahrt/ (in German only)
Being labelled the logistics world champion, Germany in general and North Rhine-Westphalia in particular are renowned …
Being labelled the logistics world champion, Germany in general and North Rhine-Westphalia in particular are renowned for the high efficiency levels in the logistics processes. This strongly linked with the dense network of highways, railway connections, waterways, and inland ports.
In order to sustain and expand this position, the transport ministry of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) funds the establishment and launch of the so-called Port Research Lab (HaFoLa). HaFoLa is built by the Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems (DST) and the Department of Mechatronics of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). With HaFoLa, the two partners are capable of developing new technologies from the level of fundamental research to proving the technical feasibility, which later are to be transferred into prototypes and solutions.
“Duisburg is a well-known location for its inland port, its logistics competence, and its inland navigation sector. This applies to the local industry as much as the research community in the city. The transport ministry acknowledges this and supports us actively”, says Cyril Alias, Department Head of Logistics & Transportation at DST, who has developed the idea and now acts as manager of the infrastructure project.
Apart from a test center, whose layout will resemble the one of a port including a port basin, quay walls, transshipment equipment as well as model inland vessels and containers, the research lab will include an experimental laboratory for future digitization projects. The Port Research Lab will enable DST and UDE to research on various port-related topics. such as berthing and mooring, loading and unloading, crane operations, and managing port resources.
From a mechatronics perspective, the possibilities opened up by advancing automation, machine learning, cyber-physical systems, and industry 4.0 in the realm of port and transshipment processes will belong to the core research fields. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dieter Schramm, professor of mechatronics at UDE, sees huge potential in the gradual automation of the port, “It is inevitable in order to increase the efficiency and performance of German ports.”
The transport minister of NRW, Hendrik Wüst, welcomed the future-oriented efforts in Duisburg and personally handed over the grant approval to the consortium during a visit at DST. “Future mobility is digital, interconnected, and automated. We want Mobility 4.0 not only to be researched, developed, and tested in NRW, but also to be manufactured and applied early on.” Wüst explained. “Therefore, we will create excellent conditions for the development of autonomous inland navigation and fund the HaFoLa project” he added.
HaFoLa is not a single measure at all: The Test and Control Centre Autonomous Inland Shipping (VeLABi), which is also situated at DST, has already been funded a year ago and is now ready for opening. “With the two new test centers, VeLABi and HaFoLa, two major facets of the holistic development of the fully-automated operation of inland vessels will stand by” Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould El Moctar, Scientific Director of DST and professor of ship technology at UDE, emphasizes. Minister Wüst has also visited VeLABi and inspected the new test center during his visit at DST. VeLABi will be formally opened on 22 October 2020 in the presence of representatives of the transport ministry of NRW.
For further information, please contact Cyril Alias Department Head of Logistics & Transportation DST – Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems Phone: + 49 – (0)203 – 99 369 52 Mail: alias@dst-org.de
Prof. El Moctar, Prof. Schramm, and Cyril Alias are members of the Centre of Logistics and Traffic (ZLV).
DST institute director appointed as member of the innovation commission of federal transport ministry Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar …
DST institute director appointed as member of the innovation commission of federal transport ministry Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould El Moctar, ZLV member and institute director of DST – Development Center of Ship Technology and Transport Systems, has been appointed as one of 16 members of the innovation commission of the German federal ministry of transport and digital infrastructure (BMVI).
The innovation commission is coordinated by Mr. Steffen Bilger MdB, parliamentary undersecretary at BMVI and the German government's freight transport and logistics coordinator. The commission provides technical advice for the realization and further development of logistics innovation program 2030 and meets once or twice a year. As a means to safeguard Germany’s position as logistics world champion and innovation hub, the logistics innovation program 2030 encompasses ten areas with respective objectives and realization steps. The program contributes to ensuring the competitiveness and fostering climate protection. Apart from areas like “digital supply chain”, “future labor market”, and “innovative air freight”, the program presents objectives and measures for the area “innovative ports and waterways”, which again will be co-represented by Prof. Dr.-Ing. El Moctar.
Ani Melkonyan has been Executive Director of the Center for Logistics and Transport since the beginning of October. Melkonyan …
Ani Melkonyan has been Executive Director of the Center for Logistics and Transport since the beginning of October. Melkonyan coordinated i.a. the BMBF project "Innovative Logistics for Sustainable Lifestyles" at the ZLV and since 2017 held membership in the ZLV Board.
The Centre for Logistics and Traffic (ZLV) has a new management since October 1st. PD Dr. habil. Ani Melkonyan takes over the management of the ZLV coordination office and replaces Klaus Krumme, who now heads the Joint Centre Urban Systems (JUS) of UDE's Main Research Area ‘Urban Systems’ at the Essen campus. Melkonyan holds a doctorate (2011) and habilitation (2015) from the Faculty of Biology at the Department of Applied Climatology and Landscape Ecology of the UDE. Since 2015 she has been working as a private lecturer and project coordinator at ZLV. From 2017 until now, Melkonyan was also a board member at ZLV. Together with project manager Klaus Krumme melkonyan achieved a special milestone in her career with the successful completion of the project "Innovative Logistics for Sustainable Lifestyles", in short ILoNa, which was honored by the KlimaExpo in the category "Conserve Resources" as a pioneering project of sustainable business. Moreover, Melkonyan together with Klaus Krumme is editor of the anthology "Innovative Logistics Services and Sustainable Lifestlyes", which was published in early 2019 by Springer Verlag.
In the role of Executive Director, Ani Melkonyan wishes to continue the successful inter- and intradisciplinary cooperation of the ZLV office together with the Board, the members and the broad ZLV-network:
"My passion is to develop innovative and integrated concepts in logistics, transport and supply chain management, based on digital technologies, new business models, changing value systems and concrete political environmental goals. I am going to work with great confidence in order to actively participate in their implementation - nationally and internationally - within my role as Managing Director of the Centre for Logistics and Traffic."
The second milestone event of the research project “Innovative concepts for a decentralized waterborne container transport” …
The second milestone event of the research project “Innovative concepts for a decentralized waterborne container transport” (DeConTrans) took place in Duisburg on September 4th, 2019.
The project partners, DST – Development Center for Ship Technology and Transport Systems from Duisburg and RIF Institute for Research and Transfer from Dortmund, presented on a second milestoneevent of the Project DeConTrans on September 4th, 2019 interim results from the work streams of logistics, ship technology, port and handling technologies, information and communication technologies and discrete-event simulation. The DeConTrans project pursues the goal of developing innovative vessel and handling concepts for a decentralized container transport which are to be integrated into existing information flows and transport chains. For that purpose, untapped potential and spare capacities are to be made accessible and exploited and, thus, an efficient integration into today’s transport and supply networks achievable.
In the anniversary edition of the DOCK.Hafenmagazin - the magazine of the port of Dortmund - published on the occasion of its 120th anniversary an interesting article about the DeConTrans project: https://www.dortmunder-hafen.de/fileadmin/medien/dokumente/Prospekte_und_Infomaterial/DOCK_Sonderheft_2019.pdf (p. 31).
Image: https://www.uni-due.de/imperia/md/images/zlv/decontrans_meilenstein_-_gruppenfoto.jpg Researchers of DST and RIF at the DeConTrans milestone project meeting
