  Cluster and hypernuclei production in heavy-ion collisions is presently under
active experimental and theoretical investigation. Since clusters are weekly
bound objects, their production is very sensitive to the dynamical evolution of
the system and its interactions. The theoretical description of cluster
formation is related to the n-body problem. Here we present the novel n-body
dynamical transport approach PHQMD (Parton-Hadron-Quantum-Molecular Dynamics)
which is designed to provide a microscopic description of nuclear cluster and
hypernucleus formation as well as of general particle production in heavy-ion
reactions at relativistic energies. In difference to the coalescence or
statistical models, often used for the cluster formation, in PHQMD clusters are
formed dynamically due to the interactions between baryons described on a basis
of Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD)which allows to propagate the n-body Wigner
density and n-body correlations in phase-space, essential for the cluster
formation. The clusters are identified by the MST (Minimum Spanning Tree) or
the SACA ('Simulated Annealing Cluster Algorithm') algorithm which finds the
most bound configuration of nucleons and clusters. Collisions among hadrons as
well as Quark-Gluon-Plasma formation and parton dynamics in PHQMD are treated
in the same way as in the established PHSD (Parton-Hadron-String
Dynamics)transport approach. In order to verify our approach with respect to
the general dynamics we present here the first PHQMD results for general 'bulk'
observables such as rapidity distributions and transverse mass spectra for
hadrons ($\pi, K, \bar K, p, \bar p, \Lambda, \bar \Lambda$) from SIS to RHIC
energies. We find a good description of the 'bulk' dynamics which allows us to
proceed with the results on cluster production, including hypernuclei.
