Photo: Skyguide

A global IT outage today affected the Swiss air navigation service provider Skyguide to such an extent that air traffic capacity had to be temporarily reduced by 30 percent. Reportedly, the disruption was caused by a Windows update.

 O. Kramer, Th. Niederer

Oskar Kramer (64) handed over the management of Gebrüder Weiss's land transport operations in Switzerland to Thomas Niederer (51) at the beginning of July in order to retire. Niederer has also been the section head of Spedlogswiss in Eastern Switzerland since 2011.  

The dronePORT, a special site for unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile sensors, recently went into operation in Hamburg. For the city of Hamburg and the HHLA port and logistics company's control center, it's the first ground infrastructure of its kind in Europe. Progress is also being made on the hydrogen test field.

 Mega charger. Photo: CKW

Galliker is further expanding its charging capacity for electric trucks. Following the commissioning of an e-power tunnel at the end of June, which supplies 28 truck parking spaces with electricity, a mega charging station from Designwerk in container format was also officially opened as part of an "Innovation Day".

Of course, a few meters of braking distance remain. But the OktaBlocks from gate manufacturer Hörmann provide a significant increase in safety for the fan zones during the European Football Championship in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

Heavy rainfall on Tuesday led to flooding of the basement of the air traffic control center in Geneva. To prevent the air traffic control systems from overheating and to ensure the control room remained cool, the number of arrivals and departures was reduced. Normal operations have since resumed, Skyguide announced this morning.

According to Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the western tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel will be fully operational again from September 2nd. Test operations and trial runs are currently underway. SBB estimates the damage caused by the freight train derailment on August 10, 2023, at 150 million Swiss francs. Of this, approximately 140 million francs are insured.

Recognizing waste as waste and distinguishing goods as sortable items: Swisslog and Kuka aim to simplify robot programming and the correct item selection of food and other products in large warehouses using artificial intelligence. Remarkable results are possible – but other things could probably be done more simply.

Robodog assists

It doesn't have to be an alien planet. But what's driving a significant technological leap in intralogistics also warrants a look at external robotic solutions, such as those that have been gaining traction in the construction and agricultural industries for some time now. For example, controlling excavators from 500 km away.

Photo: Hamburg Police

Until now, checks in the Port of Hamburg to determine whether someone was carrying hazardous materials were largely manual and based on random samples. Now, the water police have introduced a digital model that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to systematically detect undeclared hazardous materials.

Offshore wind farms are often located up to 100 km off the coast. Long travel distances by ship or helicopter make maintenance and repair of the installations a challenge. In the future, drones could be used to transport tools, materials, and personnel to these locations.

Numerous awards have been bestowed upon Michael ten Hompel over the years as CEO of Fraunhofer IML. The Fraunhofer Medal, awarded at the end of May, was therefore almost overdue. It is thanks to him that logistics has found its place among the scientific disciplines.

 Photo: R. Tajiki

Electromobility is on the rise. But many questions remain regarding the safe storage, reuse, and recycling of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. In five projects, an "Innovation Lab for Battery Logistics" at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) is supporting companies in closing gaps in their logistics.

Stadler announces the delivery of the first trimodal rescue train with innovative drive and safety technology in St. Pölten, Austria. Eighteen of the low-emission firefighting and rescue units are to be delivered to the infrastructure subsidiary of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and stationed at various tunnel portals.

Hamburg's Speicherstadt (warehouse district) is not only a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also a valuable resource in terms of its architectural heritage. A pioneering research project aims to determine whether this world-famous warehouse landscape can be renovated to achieve climate neutrality.