The state’s logistics industry at the fair transport logistic

Minister Webel: “The mobility of tomorrow is being conceived and tested in Saxony-Anhalt”

With the central location of Saxony-Anhalt in the European economic area, more than 11,000 kilometres of roads, around 3,100 kilometres of track installations, Germany’s second-biggest cargo airport Leipzig/Halle, and almost 600 kilometres of navigable inland waterways and the excellent networking of these transport routes with each other, the state offers optimal conditions for the logistics and traffic service-providing industry. By 2023, Saxony-Anhalt will also be providing around 30.5 million euros for the researching, introduction and use of intelligent traffic systems, which will build up a green mobility chain. The state will also receive assistance in this from the European Union.

There is an ideal opportunity to present this performance and innovation capability from 4 to 7 June 2019 at transport logistic in Munich, the leading international fair for logistics, mobility, IT and supply chain management, which every two years brings together the majority of the international market leaders from the transport and logistics sector. And this year too, the logistics and transport services industry of Saxony-Anhalt will be excellently represented by exhibitors at the joint stand of the state of Saxony-Anhalt (Hall B3 / Stand 214), organised by Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt (IMG), at the stand of Netzwerk Logistik Mitteldeutschland (Hall B5.119 / Stand 218) and with other individual exhibitors.

The exhibitors will be accompanied by Thomas Webel, Minister of Regional Development and Transport of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Before the start of the fair, the minister said: “As well as a modern, well networked multi-modal infrastructure, Saxony-Anhalt offers the logistics industry an excellent research landscape. Universities and research organisations work together with innovative companies on the researching and development of intelligent transport and traffic systems, modern logistics processes and systems. With great success, they have together been researching sustainable drive concepts, lightweight construction, and new forms of mobility. The mobility of tomorrow is being conceived and tested in Saxony-Anhalt .”

One example of this is collaborations like the cluster MAHREG Automotive, in which renowned companies from Saxony-Anhalt are developing the lightweight motor together with the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. The minister emphasised that there were numerous examples of this extensive expertise in Saxony-Anhalt in the field of digital mobility. These included for example the Workplace Warning System Saxony-Anhalt (AWSA), the Copilot 2.0 as an emergency call mechanism for more safety and the upgrading of emergency phones for V2I communication on autobahns (ANIKA).

Another example can be found at the joint stand of the state of Saxony-Anhalt: Transportwerk Magdeburger Hafen GmbH. It is an important medium-sized company that is broadly based in Central Germany’s biggest inland harbour with transshipment and storage, transport and logistics, as well as settlement and infrastructure. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF Magdeburg, the company is developing digital solutions which especially support warehousing and logistics on the harbour premises. In this, the partners utilise the interplay of different technologies, such as e.g. sensors, cameras and mobile GPS units for HGVs.

At the Saxony-Anhalt joint stand, Flughafen Leipzig/Halle GmbH will also be represented. This is a subsidiary company of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, which operates Leipzig/Halle Airport. The airport is the second-biggest cargo airport in Germany and the fifth-biggest in Europe. In the past year, 1.22 million tonnes of air cargo and around 2.57 million air passengers were registered here. In the first quarter of 2019, there was growth in both cargo and passenger figures. The airport has an ideal connection to the federal autobahns A 9 and A 14 and possesses a railway incorporated into the central terminal.

New mobility in Saxony-Anhalt will also be given a further boost by the major investment of the globally leading battery manufacturer Farasis Energy Inc. in Bitterfeld-Wolfen. The US company will be manufacturing batteries for electrical vehicles there, via its subsidiary company Farasis Energy Europe GmbH. The state is thus developing into one of the leading sites for electrical mobility components.

The field “Mobility and Logistics” will also be the focus of the special prizes of this year’s Hugo-Junkers Award for Research and Innovation. The prize will be offered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Science and Digitalisation of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is awarded for pioneering innovations in science, industry and trades “Made in Saxony-Anhalt”. The deadline for applications is 1 October 2019. You can find more information on this at the internet address www.hugo-junkers-preis.de.