European shipping-independent container terminal operator Eurogate has commissioned Deutsche Telekom to implement three 5G campus networks.

At the ports in Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven, the 5G networks should improve mobile coverage at the container terminals. This will enable the container terminal operator to deploy digital logistics applications more securely and flexibly, with exclusive bandwidth, high availability and full 5G performance.

To this end, Eurogate will use its own 5G industrial frequencies in the 3.7 to 3.8GHz range for critical data traffic in addition to DT’s public mobile network, for example for the further digitisation of handling processes or the closer networking of handling equipment with control and process control systems. The project was launched at a kick-off event at the port of Hamburg.

The port-as-a-service project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs & Transport (BMDV) as part of the Digital Test Fields in Ports funding directive. Here, the establishment of digital test fields in ports is supported to create real test spaces for innovations in logistics.

The realisation of the 5G campus networks together with other digital infrastructure measures at Eurogate with a project volume of €3.7m is being funded with €2.9m under the funding guideline and is being supported by TÜV Rheinland as the project sponsor.

The aim is to exploit the opportunities of digitalisation for German seaports and to optimise investments in infrastructures.

For Eurogate, the opportunities include the networking of control and process control systems, the automation of container handling through the use of automated and/or autonomous port handling equipment, the support of container arrival and delivery by autonomous trucks, connecting industrial port handling IoT equipment to the cloud, and using the data as part of a digital twin of a container terminal.

“An efficient and reliable technical infrastructure is the basis for making container handling at our terminals even more efficient and securing our competitiveness in the long term,” said Michael Blach, chairman of Eurogate. “Deutsche Telekom’s 5G campus networks will provide us with the best conditions for further automating our processes and testing innovative logistics based on 5G.”

The campus networks will cover a total area of 5.6 million square metres at the three container terminals with the latest mobile communications standard. This corresponds to the size of around 785 football fields.

Existing mobile communications systems will be expanded on site. Deutsche Telekom is installing three additional 5G radio sites at each of the terminal sites in Bremerhaven (2.9 million square metres) and Hamburg (1.4 million square metres) and two in Wilhelmshaven (1.3 million square metres). No new masts are being erected, but existing light poles are being used as supports for the 5G antennas. The deployment of the three 5G campus networks should be completed by spring 2024.

“The 5G coverage of Eurogate’s container terminals is one of our largest campus network projects to date,” said Hagen Rickmann, managing director of DT’s business customers division. “It will enable Eurogate to leverage the full potential of 5G to further optimise logistics processes and drive the digital transformation of port terminals. In addition to high-performance 5G connectivity and exclusive bandwidth, the network architecture of the three campus networks will offer a particularly high level of control over critical data traffic on the terminal site in the future.”

DT will equip each of the port terminals with a dual-slice campus network. One of DT’s public 5G networks will serve employees, external service providers, suppliers and customers, for example. The additional purely private 5G network is operated in the local 5G industrial spectrum in the 3.7 to 3.8GHz range. Unlike DT’s public 3.6GHz spectrum, this is 5G spectrum made available specifically for industry by the Federal Network Agency. It provides exclusive committed network resources for Eurogate’s internal data traffic. Data run over this part of the network separately and completely unaffected by public 5G data traffic. This means Eurogate has two 5G frequency bands and a total of around 190MHz of bandwidth at its disposal.

In the project, DT will deploy a network architecture for the first time as part of the Campus-Netz L 5G business customer service. This means Eurogate will benefit from lower infrastructure costs and greater technical flexibility at the same time through the use of a virtualised and dedicated campus core network.

This network architecture enables a so-called CUPS (control and user plane separation) offering. It combines a central 5G core network within the DT network with a local user gateway for the user. This means the 5G campus network is managed centrally by DT, but the user’s data remain exclusively on-site on its own campus. This provides Eurogate with increased security without the need to invest in its own core network. The local user gateway also ensures low latencies: This is because the data take the direct route from the end device via the private network to the user’s IT.

The 5G campus lets Eurogate use exclusive SIM cards with unlimited data flat rates for networked devices. These guarantee private 5G network performance with speeds of up to 1.5Gbit/s download per end device. The user-specific SIM cards can be administered by Eurogate via a self-service portal, for example for the allocation of authorisations or for prioritising selected data within the private 5G network. Furthermore, Eurogate (eurogate.com) benefits from service level agreements including fixed contact persons and a DT (www.telekom.com) round-the-clock hotline.