Dell EMC and Nokia lead barge project in Delft

The historic Dutch city of Delft has embarked on a public-private smart city initiative to help reduce truck congestion in the city centre using semi-autonomous, hydrogen-powered barges in existing waterways for ‘last mile’ transportation.

Dell EMC and Nokia have joined as lead technology partners in conjunction with Blue Turtle Associates, Aratos Systems, Circle Lines, City Hub, SPIE, the University of Delft and the Provence of South Holland regional government.

Smart goods

This collaboration to develop a smart goods distribution solution is intended to help reduce traffic, in turn helping the region meet carbon emission, sustainability and economic development targets.

Many areas in Holland have fine-meshed waterways, canals, or water storage areas that are now heavily underused. With the development of quiet and clean semi-autonomous barges, goods normally carried by trucks can be transported in the city’s waterways.

The collective has also engaged in a trial to create a Common Information Space for smart city logistics. The Common Information Space serves as a scalable digital platform connecting the entire logistics chain in and around the city as well as a backbone for the navigation guidance system.

This platform will be built using technologies from Dell EMC and Nokia for computation, storage, data management, connectivity, analytics, IoT and blockchain.

For the project, an automated and digitised hydrogen-powered river barge will be connected and controlled by a new type of mobility cloud using Nokia’s Impact IoT platform and Dell EMC Digital City Accelerator platform, complemented by hydraulic gangway technology from Ampelmann for on-shore loading.

“Cities are looking for digital transformation solutions to help them maximise and better allocate their resources, provide a safe and sustainable environment and foster economic development”

The lead partners report that the project concept has drawn interest from several industries looking to meet logistic and sustainability goals including shipyards, package delivery, logistic distribution centers, mechanical engineering, offshore operators, catering and waste management.

The project includes several anticipated benefits for citizens, including:
• unburden regional traffic infrastructure in the Metropole Region Rotterdam The Hague (MRDH)
• develop a clean transport medium in combination with ‘silent’ cargo logistics solution
• contribute to sustainable living and enhance the business climate
• contribute to development and stimulate new engineering centers and manufacturing industries.

“Cities are looking for digital transformation solutions to help them maximise and better allocate their resources, provide a safe and sustainable environment and foster economic development,” said Amit Midha, president, APJ commercial & EVP, global digital cities, Dell EMC.

“In collaboration with our partners, this digital city project has the power to demonstrate how information technology that is open, agile, software-defined and data analytics-driven really can be a force for positive change in our everyday lives.”

The project is part of a broader strategic alliance between Dell EMC and Nokia focused on driving digital transformation in a variety of key industries.

“The power of this project is the collaboration. Working together with a team of brilliant young engineers, government partners and business professionals can really make the difference in achieving sustainability goals,” added Peter de Bruijn, managing director of Blue Turtle Associates.

“As a team, we’re redesigning not only the river barge but the entire process of city logistics.”

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