CargoM organized a promotional mission to Munich from June 4 to 7, 2019. CargoM members and partners, among them the Montreal Port Authority, Logistec Corporation, Fonds de solidarité FTQ, Air Canada Cargo and Metro Canada Logistics, joined the mission and had the opportunity to meet with their German counterparts.
The mission’s objective was to attend the largest conference and trade fair in logistics and transportation. This year, Transport Logistic hosted 2,374 booths from companies that came from 63 countries. Over its four-day run, the trade fair was packed with about 64,000 visitors. Throughout the trade fair, the CargoM delegation met with several major companies, including: IT-Logistikcluster, Logistik Initiative Hamburg, Dachser, Logistics in Wallonia, Munich Airport – Cargogate, ITG, DB Netze, the Port of Hamburg, the Port of Antwerp and the Port of Marseille.
The mission got off to a great start with a meeting with the team responsible for digitizing the supply chain at BMW. Discussions focused on the effects of digitization on the structure of BMW’s production and distribution networks all over the world, as well as on labour and geopolitical issues.
With the same promotional objective, a networking evening, organized in collaboration with the Quebec Delegation in Munich, was held on June 4. Marie-Ève Jean, General Delegate, hosted us at this event, during which the 30th anniversary of Quebec-Bavaria cooperation was celebrated. About 30 people joined the mission members to discuss business and collaboration opportunities.
The mission then moved to Hamburg, Germany’s leading port city and the third largest in Europe after Rotterdam and Antwerp. A meeting was organized with HafenCity, an NPO created by the City of Hamburg whose mandate is to revitalize these former industrial/port territories and transform them into a multifunctional area for both residential and commercial use.
A high point of the mission was our tour of the automated terminal HHLA (Hamburgen Hafen umd Logistik AG). We were impressed by the extent to which technology and digitization could generate such a large number of coordinated movements on the terminal’s territory, making us realize that we have now actually reached this technological milestone. It was also very instructive to understand how the structure had been rolled out and how collaborative efforts between stakeholders led to its implementation.
Lastly, we had a meeting at Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, an NPO that is part of a cluster program run by the German government. Their objective is to support and prioritize start-ups in the field of logistics, freight transport and mobility, and then connect them with company CEOs.
We would like to thank everyone who took part in our mission, who allowed us to meet inspiring companies and people and who warmly welcomed us. CargoM’s mission to Munich was made possible through the financial support of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI) and the contribution of the Export Québec program.