Siemens and duisport enter into strategic cooperation for the development of new truck traffic management systems for sea and inland ports

With North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Transport Michael Groschek in attendance, Siemens and Duisburger Hafen AG (duisport) signed a strategic cooperation agreement today. The purpose of this cooperation is the joint development of innovative concepts for optimizing traffic in multimodal transportation hubs. Siemens' intelligent truck supply management system "Integrated Truck Guidance" (ITG) forms an important basis for using existing infrastructure more efficiently.

A first objective is the gradual introduction of this intelligent flow control system as a pilot project at the Port of Duisburg. As part of this process, the system will record truck data, render this information anonymous, bundle the information with regional real-time traffic data such as travel times, traffic situations and disruptions, and forward them to mobile devices and LED traffic information boards. In this way, incoming truck drivers already have access to all of the important traffic information that is required for coordinated and rapid travel to the next free loading area or terminal.

In another step, the Duisburg pilot project will be expanded to other transport carriers such as trains and inland water vessels in conjunction with resident customers. All of the parties involved believe that the Integrated Truck Guidance system offers a very good basis for optimizing and harmonizing multimodal transport carriers for the hub of the future. In addition, the integration of IT systems will also be pursued in order to guarantee timely communication between the various stakeholders and improve general traffic flows, both into the hinterland and in the direction of the sea ports.

"Where, if not here at the Port of Duisburg, would it make sense to implement modern traffic management to accelerate intermodal connections between the various transport carriers. When, if not right now at the threshold to the age of automated transport. Who, if not the market leaders in logistics and traffic management; they are the ideal stakeholders for this project. I wish you all the best with your project," says North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Transport Michael Groschek.

"The strategic cooperation with Siemens provides us with an opportunity to optimize the efficiency of traffic flows at logistics hubs. This constitutes an important approach towards eliminating future bottlenecks, and also creates new capacities. With our combined technical and logistics know-how, we will be able to increase the efficiency of any logistics hub in the world in the long term," emphasizes Erich Staake, Chief Executive Officer of Duisburger Hafen AG.

"The new cooperation between duisport and Siemens offers impressive proof of how state-of-the-art automation and digitization can contribute to increased efficiency in mobility and logistics," adds Dr. Jochen Eickholt, CEO Division Mobility at Siemens.

Siemens and duisport have already been collaborating in the area of traffic flow optimization since 2012. The new cooperation was preceded by the joint development of an integrated logistics and infrastructure concept for the "Sao Paulo-Santos Logistics Corridor", which combines the port city of Santos with the high plateau Serra do Mar and the mega-city of São Paulo.