The shipping company-independent container terminal operator Eurogate has commissioned Deutsche Telekom to implement three 5G campus networks. The project was launched at a kick-off event at the Port of Hamburg in August. "Port-As-A-Service" is funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV). The realization of the 5G campus networks together with other digital infrastructure measures at Eurogate with a project volume of 3.7 million euros is funded with 2.9 million euros within the framework of the funding guideline and accompanied by TÜV Rheinland as the project sponsor of the funding guideline. The purpose of "Port-As-A-Service" is to exploit the opportunities of digitalization for German seaports and to optimize investments in infrastructure.

Eurogate combines several goals with this; for example, the networking of control and process control systems and the automation of container handling through the use of automated and autonomous port handling equipment. Other goals include supporting container delivery and dispatch with autonomous trucks and connecting industrial port handling equipment to the cloud. This also includes the use of data as part of a digital twin of the container terminals.

Telekom's campus networks will cover a total area of 5.6 million square meters at the three container terminals with the latest mobile communications standard. On the one hand, existing mobile communications systems will be expanded on site. Telekom is also installing three additional 5G radio sites on the terminal sites in Bremerhaven and Hamburg and two in Wilhelmshaven. The special feature here is that no new masts will be erected, but existing light masts will be used as supports for the powerful 5G antennas. The construction of the three 5G campus networks will be completed by spring 2024.

Own 5G frequencies for Eurogate

Telekom will equip each of the port terminals with a dual-slice campus network. A public 5G network from Deutsche Telekom will supply employees, external service providers, suppliers and customers. The additional purely private 5G network is operated in the local 5G industry spectrum in the 3.7 to 3.8 GHz range. Unlike Telekom's public 3.6 GHz frequency spectrum, these are 5G frequencies provided by the Federal Network Agency specifically for industry. It offers exclusive guaranteed network resources for Eurogate's internal data traffic. Data runs over this part of the network separately and completely unaffected by public 5G data traffic. This means that Eurogate essentially has two 5G frequency bands and a total bandwidth of around 190 MHz at its disposal.

In this project, Deutsche Telekom will use a new network architecture for the first time as part of the "Campus Network L" 5G business customer solution. By using a virtualized and dedicated campus core network, Eurogate will benefit from lower infrastructure costs and greater technical flexibility. This network architecture enables a so-called CUPS solution (Control and User Plane Separation). It combines a central 5G core network within the Telekom network with a local user gateway for the customer. This means that the 5G campus network is managed centrally by Telekom, but the customer's own data remains exclusively on site on their own campus.