While the EU is still debating whether German companies, lured by the "Inflation Reduction Act" which promotes the US energy transition, electromobility and the switch to hydrogen, could relocate further production sites to the United States, Daimler is also following the signals.

In the course of the "biggest transformation in the industry since the invention of the combustion engine," transmission manufacturer ZF aims to continue setting the pace and will demonstrate this with hybrid technologies at the IAA Transportation trade fair in Hanover from September 17 to 22. Interesting opportunities are emerging.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel is 57.1 km long, while the cross-border TELT (Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin) between France and Italy is planned to be 57.5 km long. Cable car and conveyor technology provider Doppelmayr will be involved with its RopeCon system for the excavation work.

Following the derailment of a freight train last August, operations through the world's longest railway tunnel (57 km), one of the most important links between Northern and Southern Europe, have now fully resumed. Freight traffic once again has increased its capacity.

Swiss rail technology remains in high demand worldwide. Stadler reported order intake exceeding CHF 2.5 billion in the first half of 2024, while some contract signings were postponed to the second half of the year. Flooding caused problems for supplier Constellium in Valais.

 predecessor model LHC

While the world grapples with crises, climate issues, and AI, Fraunhofer IML, as part of a larger puzzle, continues to work on the logistics concept that will help realize the multi-billion-euro "Future Circular Collider" at CERN in Geneva. A modular vehicle concept and a simulation model ensure the planning is sound.

Strong vibrations can have devastating effects on aircraft and, in extreme cases, lead to crashes. At the DLR Institute of Aeroelasticity in Göttingen, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) conducted live tests to ensure the future control system of the "VoloCity" air transporter.

Photo: Brummer

Back in April, Dachser announced the acquisition of Brummer, the food logistics company of the same name, in order to expand its network in this area into Austria and neighboring countries. Now, the German and Austrian competition authorities have given the green light.

 Zurich Airport AG

Air traffic in Swiss airspace has increased by double digits (10-14%) every month since the beginning of the year, reaching 99.5% of the 2019 traffic volume by the end of the first half of the year, according to Swiss air traffic control. 94.6% of all flights were on time.

Eberharter & Mayr

Alexander Eberharter took over as head of the Western region at the international transport and logistics company Gebrüder Weiss on August 1st. He succeeds Hannes Mayr (65), who is retiring after 41 years with the company.

No "oomph" in Germany: According to the initiative "Every Meter Counts," at least 30 740-meter rail sidings usable for commerce and industry are lacking in and around Munich to keep Bavaria's capital city competitive as a production location in the future. Too much has been dismantled in the last 25 years.

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".