Port Of Kiel Signs ‘Fjord 5G-Project’ LoI To Enable Passenger Ferries To Cruise Partly Autonomously
It is a very special example of digitisation in Germany that is to be realised on the inner Kiel Fjord: The new mobile radio standard 5G is supposed to enable passenger ferries to cruise partly autonomously between the banks of the fjord and later even in a fully autonomous way.
Further opportunities to utilise 5G exist in the areas of port logistics and sailing sports. This is the core of Kiel’s joint project “Fjord 5G” for whose implementation a Letter of Intent has now been signed.
The project consortium of “Fjord 5G”, consisting of the State Capital City of Kiel, the Christian-Albrecht-University of Kiel, the companies of AVL Deutschland GmbH, Raytheon Anschütz GmbH, HH-VISION, ADDIX Internet Systems GmbH, the PORT OF KIEL and the Kiel Science Centre, evaluates different application scenarios in four subprojects.
Among others, they investigate and test the utilisation potential of 5G for local companies, e.g. the optimisation of port logistics through 5G. The company of Vodafone Deutschland will provide 5G to the part of the Kiel Fjord belonging to the city centre by the end of 2021 and will successively extend the scope in the course of the project as required.
With a view of the Kiel Fjord, the Economics Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr Bernd Buchholz, the Lord Mayor of the City of Kiel, Dr Ulf Kämpfer, the Vice President of the University, Professor Dr Karin Schwarz and the CEO of Vodafone Deutschland, Dr Hannes Ametsreiter, signed a Letter of Intent at the Ostseekai Terminal on Wednesday, 19th August 2020, about the implementation of this innovative project. In the preamble of the LOI it says: “The digitisation in Germany needs to be pushed forcefully. Next to the required technical infrastructure, innovative applications to the benefit of users and processes must spur digitisation.” According to Minister Dr Bernd Buchholz, 5G is a cutting-edge technology enabling much higher bandwidths, very short latency periods and a comprehensive linkage of devices: “We need to illustrate this technology for the people with projects like the “Fjord 5G”. Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer: “Kiel is just the right place for this project: a modern city with a Fjord in the heart of it, a city of science and higher education institutions and a port city which is an important gateway to the Baltic Sea Region.”
Reference: portofkiel.com
Latest Shipping News
