Bremen researchers in the field of logistics and their project partners are exhibiting an “Intelligent Ship Container“ at botanika in Bremen’s Rhododendron Park. It will be on show to the public until 21st August 2011. The container is part of the exhibition “Sweet, Sour, Hot“, which deals with the more exotic fruit and vegetables that have become part of our diet: Bananas, for instance. The logistics experts play a major role in ensuring that this fruit arrives in the shops as fresh as possible, looking good, and at the right moment of ripeness.

Last fall, logistics experts, mainly from Bremen, joined forces with enterprises in the banana business to work on a project entitled “The Intelligent Container – networked intelligent objects in logistics“. A total of 22 partners have formed an “innovation alliance“, which is supported by the German Ministry of Education and Research in an amount of € 9 million. The ambitious project involves collaboration between the fields of production engineering, computer science, electronic engineering, physics and chemistry. In the not-too-distant future, banana containers fitted with numerous sensors for measuring temperatures and humidity, as well as a geographic positioning system and a direct line of communication to the importer, will be on board ships crossing the oceans. Equipment also monitors the ethylene concentrations in the air inside the containers. This provides information on how ripe the bananas have become – and this, in turn, enables the importer to intervene and control the ripening process while the bananas are still in transport. The bananas will no longer be overripe when they arrive at their port of destination and, depending on market demand, they can be delivered to the supermarkets perfectly ripe and yellow.

Responsible for the coordination of this large-scale project is the Institut für Mikrosensoren, -aktoren und -systeme (IMSAS) at the University of Bremen. Other participants are the Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH (BIBA) at the University of Bremen, the Hamburg corporation Dole Germany OHG, the Bremen OHB Teledata GmbH and the software developer Seeburger AG in South Germany.

You can find more informations under www.biba.uni-bremen.de , www.intelligentcontainer.com and www.botanika-bremen.de