Hypermotion 2019: Make the Beacons of Logistics Possible!

Not just for CEP, but especially for general cargo and businesses

Furthermore, they identified which industries could be considered, aside from the frequently overestimated area of CEP deliveries, which Schocke estimates at about ten percent, also including pharmacies, bakeries, or other businesses. A large general cargo transporter also expressed interest. A procedure and criteria catalog that could now be transferred to other cities, as Schocke proudly reports.

In Frankfurt alone, 270 Sprinter vans could be saved

And the potential for CO2 savings? Calculations have shown that with the Cargo-Tram, nearly 267 Sprinter vans, including 90 currently operating in the innermost city, could be saved. The detailed distribution with cargo bikes is also significantly more efficient. Costs are calculated from the depot to the customer at 1 euro per package or shipment. It could become even cheaper if dedicated wagons for the tram were available, on which mobile micro depots for cargo bikes could also be transported. They are also in talks with cargo bike manufacturers to optimize bike design. So, when will logistics tram start? "The city needs to want it, then it can be done," comments Schocke in conclusion. What was to be proved.

Beacon 2: Elisa on the "eHighway" - a feasible supplement

That it is feasible with this ambition is also proven by the much-discussed pilot project for the use of overhead line trucks on the A5. Under the aegis of Hessen Mobil, as Gerd Riegelhutz, president of the state initiative, reported, they wanted to create a factual basis instead of always arguing in a vacuum. Of course, the project with the beautiful name "Elisa eHighway" is designed to be much more long-term than the Cargo-Tram; insights are to be gathered until 2027 to determine whether this method can be an element and a wise supplement to a more sustainable transport mix.

Because, as Ringelhuth noted at the outset: CO2 emissions in transport are far too high and must be drastically reduced: by 42 percent by 2030. To achieve this, all possibilities must be explored and exhausted. He called for an "energy transition in transport" towards electrified commercial vehicles. In response to objections that the overhead line already exists in the form of railways, Ringelhuth countered that railway tracks would need to be increased tenfold to shift the traffic performance of the road to the rail.

They deliberately chose the most challenging section on the A5 near Frankfurt, one of the most heavily trafficked sections overall: "If it works here, it will work everywhere," says Ringelhuth. However, it is too early to make statements about consumption and savings potential through an "eHighway".

Beacon 3: Via Cargo-Pipeline over the penultimate mile

The logistics subway project "Smart City Loop" in Hamburg, however, is still far from this, although there is a feasibility study for Hamburg, and Francisco J. Bähr, managing partner of the property developer Four Parx GmbH, is vigorously pushing it.

"Logistics is unwelcome in the city, areas are enormously expensive, and the regulations are overwhelming", Bähr described the starting situation for an idea that initially seems "crazy".

Bähr and his team propose a pipeline 35 meters below the Elbe and want to send self-driving transport units with palletized goods through this four-meter strong tube over the difficult "penultimate mile".

"By the way, this is not a Hyperloop. We are traveling at 13 to 18 km/h", Bähr says.

In the city itself, cargo bikes are supposed to take over the delivery on the last mile at certain stops and intermediate hubs. The unloading points need to be frequented enough for the cargo bikes to operate within their efficient radius of about 2.6 kilometers. Incidentally, the system is supposed to work in both directions, also handling the massive demand for disposal and returns. Bähr believes that the "Cargo-Pipeline" could save the city up to 15,000 trucks daily and up to 500,000 truck trips annually. "Certainly still a small share, but a beginning," says the property developer, who recently also put the first two-story logistics center in Hamburg into operation.

State funding? Preferably not; it only slows us down

They consciously avoid state funding for the project: "It only slows us down and is slow". Bähr wants to enter a planning approval process in 2021, which he has scheduled for three years. Construction should follow within one year thereafter.

"Pipelines are nothing special, they already exist, such as district heating pipelines. They are just used differently," he says and believes that it is all feasible if the city wants it.

This seems to be the case, as he feels support from the municipality to cut the Gordian knot of traffic chaos in Hamburg, where numerous bridges are also dilapidated. The freight tube is to be operated in a white-label model, where providers can rent space. Bähr is not worried about utilization: "Cities will close, and logistics providers' demand for alternatives will come automatically," he believes. They are already in talks with other cities suffering similar traffic problems beyond Hamburg. The model is scalable.

Beacon 4: Inventory and express freight by drone - no pipe dream

Benjamin Federmann, CEO of doks.innovation, a startup specializing in drone logistics, also believes this. He points to the strong increase in logistics centers, both in number and space requirements. This growth can only be managed with smart tech, robotics, and artificial intelligence, the young entrepreneur believes. Logistics must be elevated to a new level that goes beyond purely quantitative aspects.

And he outlines how, in already implemented drone deployments, the impulse to seek a new solution did not come from the technical departments but from the operational area. Not even the legally required inventory in the warehouse, but the permanent cycle counts, the inventory taking, which causes enormous effort and binds personnel in everyday life. To remedy this, they used the doks product inventAIRy and left the inventory checking to a camera-equipped drone that does it automatically.

Hazard-free over a steel mill site

In the case of the pilot project with Thyssen Krupp, it was even the works council that pointed out that deliveries across the site were dangerous and cumbersome, and whether there was not another solution. This was then found with the doks product DelivAIRy, with which urgent items up to five kilos can be moved safely across the site. The robots of the air can be combined with ground-based robots, so doks wants to automate entire supply chains.

And the fact that drone batteries need to be swapped after 25 minutes of flight time today: Federmann and his co-founders will find a solution for that as well. "It is all feasible," the young innovator believes. You just have to be brave enough to try it and then do it. Which was entirely the fitting motto of an exciting session.