Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

Parking aids and cruise controls are familiar to most people. In the future, we will also
be seeing a lane for private vehicles – and a second lane equipped with induction loops and
numerous sensors that automatically control the headway of a car or truck (even without a
human driver) via special radio transmission and reception frequencies. Constant distance
measurement, adjustment of speed, prevention of accidents, registration of toll charges, etc., will
then be the rule. Japan will be putting the first pilot applications into operation by 2015.
Subterranean pneumatic dispatches
The use of computer-controlled cargo caps lies in the technological future. This subterranean
pneumatic dispatching system may be the answer to the overloading seen in local and regional
merchandise transport. The capsules, developed by the Ruhr University in Bochum, move
under the earth in a network of transmission tubes at a speed of up to 50 kph and make their
way independently to the appropriate station, where their freight is automatically loaded or
unloaded (two Euro pallets). The “Ruhrpost” system is currently being tested in a pilot project
involving the government of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and RWE Power.
There is already a great deal of interest in the new transport system, which is being considered
for the new HafenCity in Hamburg, for example.
A number of other research projects, primarily in the USA, center around new pipeline
technologies which use hydraulic or pneumatic systems to transport coal and agricultural
products, as well as waste materials and hazardous waste, over distances of several thousand
kilometers – that is, across the continent.
Ghost train in transit
Fully automated freight cars are currently also being tested for rail traffic. They constitute a
kind of “ghost train,” with no locomotive or conductor, remote-controlled and monitored by
radar, laser and video. The Cargo Mover reaches an average speed of 90 kph and uses some
30% less fuel than a truck. Up to now, the Cargo Mover, developed by Siemens in collaboration
with the Institut für Schienenfahrzeuge und Fördertechnik, is being used experimentally
as a factory railroad. Also in the technological future are cargo vehicles which can be used either
“normally” on the road or in a separate lane at a speed of 100 kph (city traffic) or 300 kph,
computer- or telematic-controlled.
The Internet for Things
We are familiar with the Internet of information as we use it in our daily lives. A globally accepted
standard, the Internet protocol, permits the multi-network transmission of words, writing,
numbers and diagrams. The German Fraunhofer Institut has been working for some time
now on an “Internet of Things.” For the logistics sectors, it offers the following perspectives:
Berenberg Bank · HWWI: Strategy 2030 · No. 4
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