Hamburg’s Senator for Economics, Transport and Innovation has stated that Germany’s largest port must become a “Port 4.0” for an Industry 4.0 era — the current global trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.
During the Port of Hamburg’s annual press conference, Senator Horch said that there were “many questions to address concerning the future”.
He warned that the port must “get to grips” with Industry 4.0, a period in human development characterized by cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things, cloud computing and cognitive computing, due to digitalization’s effect on supply chains.
Horch stated: “We must develop the port to enable it to play a prominent role.
“The Port of Hamburg must become a Port 4.0.
“We will improve the infrastructure, implement the fairway adjustments and secure good general conditions.
“When extending the port it will be important to identify how Hamburg as a broad-based universal port can be economically sustainable, strong and generate new impulses.
“We are ready to take new paths – in usage, the type of development and in the partners we will achieve this with.”
Learn about how Cisco and HPA worked together to make the Port of Hamburg better connected by reading the 'Using Secure IoT for Efficient Smart Port Operations' technical paper by Maciej Kranz, Vice President, Strategic Innovations, Cisco Systems
At the conference, Jens Meier, CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), also commented on the new mobile standard 5G testing in the Port of Hamburg.
He said: “5G offers a level of security, reliability and speed that current mobile networks are unable to match.
“It provides the HPA with a wholly new set of application options.
“The testbed allows us to study the future technology and co-shape the standard, which will not only benefit the port but the entire city of Hamburg.”
Read more: Port of Hamburg has become the testing ground for 5G, the next generation mobile standard that is set to transform communications
