An Interview with Hamburg Port Authority Lutz M. Birke

Could you briefly describe your work as the managing authority of one of the biggest ports in the world?

Since 2005, the HPA has provided future-oriented port management from a single source and takes care of the Port of Hamburg’s security and efficiency. The HPA meets the port’s growing demands with intelligent and innovative solutions. Responsible for resource-saving and sustainable planning and execution of the port’s infrastructure measures, the HPA is also the point of contact for questions regarding waterside and landside infrastructure, the security and efficiency of ship traffic, the dock railway, and economic conditions in the port. Further, it safeguards the port’s interests at a national and international level. The challenge for the future is to continue the path of digitalization of the port set by the smartPORT initiative and to implement the respective Projects.

How do you define sustainability in your own work?

To make the Port of Hamburg “greener” and more prosperous – that is the challenge we are facing. Avoiding emissions is a key concern of the HPA. Our own shipping fleet has been operating on sulphur-free fuels since 2009. In addition, both our own and most of the public jetties and wharves for inland waterway carriers, ferries and other service vessels in the port are equipped with shore power plugs. Solar energy and geothermal energy also play a part. Niedernfelder Ufer is home to the HPA’s state-of-the-art building that houses offices and social meeting rooms and incorporates the latest in energy efficient designs. Sustainability plays an increasingly bigger role in our daily working practices and forms an integral part of our objectives. This approach requires the courage to change practices and the commitment of everyone involved. This is the only way the HPA can meet its corporate and social responsibilities as a port operating across regions.

HPA also wants to be a role model for a sustainable port industry.

ally app for convenient public transport – An Interview

To make collective transport more attractive to city residents the developers of the app “ally” have worked on a suitable solution to reduce individual traffic and made a contribution to a greener and more efficient public transport system.

TUMI Friends: Could you briefly describe “ally” and how it differs from other urban mobility and local transportation apps?

Ally offers city dwellers smart navigation through their cities. Our internationally active community if commuters, open data enthusiasts and urban innovators help us to make city transport systems smoother and smarter. Thanks to our sophisticated backend infrastructure, we are able to analyse routes, schedules, prices and navigation behaviour enabling us to go one step further by offering valuable information on transport optimisation.

TUMI Friends: What is your prognosis for the future of urban mobility and what impact will further digitalization and mobile technology have?

Urban mobility will be demand driven, quite similar to how we already consume media and other services today. Our goal is to reduce individual traffic and instead prioritise collective transport. This of course requires the use of innovative technology, in this case, our “transport cloud”. Mobile technology will be able to analyse precisely the supply demand balance and pave the way for data driven collective transport Solutions.

Match Rider – An Interview

Stressing ridesharing as a sustainable mode of transportation, Katina Schneider, Co-Founder and Business Developer of Match Rider, elaborates on specific advantages of ridesharing for commuters. Additionally, there are many opportunities for app-based or dynamic ridesharing innovation in many developing and emerging countries .

TUMI Friends: Could you briefly describe Match Rider’s concept and explain what distinguishes you from other ridesharing platforms?

Katina Schneider: Match Rider is a web and mobile platform designed to help people share rides. It focuses on short to mid-distance routes (typically less than 100 km), especially regularly scheduled commutes. Drivers using this dynamic platform set their route and Match Rider determines the best pick-up and drop-off points along the route (called Match Points). The system works like public transportation where each Match Point has a schedule associated with it, just like a bus schedule. Passengers can book drivers at specific times and locations on our website, iOS or Android app. Signing up to Match Rider is free and passengers pay the driver a fee of 10 Eurocents per kilometer. For instance, a distance of 20 km would only cost 2 Euros, making Match Rider a very affordable form of mobility.Read more

Studio Schwitalla – an interview

Max Schwitalla, architect and founder of interdisciplinary Studio Schwitalla, about the link between architecture and mobility, and rethinking mobility on a human scale.

TUMI Friends: As an architect, the way people move is essential for you. How does it influence your work?

Max Schwitalla: Urban Mobility is literally the driving passion in our studio: The way how people move three-dimensionally through urban space is the fundamental and underlying approach in our research and experimental design. And maybe because I was a street skateboarder in my youth, I started to read cities differently, always on the move off the beaten paths. Read more

EURIST – an interview

Jürgen Perschon, founder and executive director of EURIST (European Institute for Sustainable Transport), tells the TUMI Friends community about the challenge of raising awareness among decision makers and his vision to decouple economic and social development from the growth of traffic.

TUMI Friends: Could you briefly describe your consultancy and the main activities in the field of mobility and logistics?

Jürgen Perschon: As a non-profit organisation we want to help cities, governments and communities to develop good transport governance and reform their local and national transport systems to a more sustainable mode. We raise awareness and transfer best-practice knowledge to decision makers through lectures, seminars and workshops in order to create a basis for a paradigm change in mobility policy towards sustainable mobility for all. We believe that sustainable solutions consist of both technical and non-technical aspects and each local context needs a tailor-made package adapted to the specific geographical, cultural and social context.Read more

choice GmbH – An Interview

Benjamin Häger, choice GmbH, talks about demand-oriented mobility planning in an interdependent world, the revival of the bicycle and the key role of municipalities in sustainable mobility planning.

TUMI Friends: Could you briefly describe your consultancy and the main activities in the field of mobility and logistics?

Benjamin Häger: choice GmbH is an independent research and development organisation with comprehensive experiences in conceptualising innovative mobility services. Where mobility meets sustainable urban development, we focus on modern issues, e.g. bike and car sharing, e-mobility and smart forms of participative planning. In the projects, innovative technical solutions are flexibly combined with custom-made user applications. For instance, we create customised software solutions like online participation platforms or management tools to plan demand-orientated mobility infrastructure. Read more

Interview with Prof. Dr Tobias Bernecker and Jens-Jochen Roth on the concept of Sustainable Logistics in Germany

Q.1: What are the biggest challenges for the logistics industry worldwide?

Prof. Bernecker: Through continuous growth of world trade, transport and traffic volumes have doubled over the past years. This is causing increased rail and roadway congestion, delays at seaports, and an accelerated wear and tear of transport infrastructure. As a result, the economic viability of the transport sector and whole economies are jeopardized. Furthermore, ecological impacts associated with transport, such as increasing environment hazards and greenhouse gas emissions present a tremendous challenge.

Rupprecht Consult – An Interview

Rupprecht Consult about the importance of holistic approaches and their successful application in the example of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

nextbike – An Interview

Ralf Kalupner, founder and CEO of nextbike GmbH, about future trends and challenges in the area of public bike-sharing systems.

PTV Group – An Interview

Developing real-time solutions for the logistics and the transport sectors is one of the key tasks of the PTV Group. Mr Peter Mott, Director Business Development Public Transport, gives insights into their work, their definition of sustainability and next steps.