FREIGHTWISE 2nd Annual International Conference, Prague 1-2 December 2008
Chris Rowland from MDS Transmodal led the discussion on the commercial benefits of the FWF with a presentation on how it:
- Can reduce costs and increase the effectiveness of intermodal transport chains, making intermodal transport more competitive with direct road haulage;
- Could provide the basis for an "Internet for Cargo" in the future, which will increase the transparency of the market for buyers and sellers of intermodal freight transport services.
In the afternoon session, Chris led one of the groups of conference attendees in a discussion of the commercial opportunities for the FWF and the potential commercial barriers to its introduction. While the benefits were understood by the group, the key issue that was raised was the need to provide practical demonstrations of how the FWF can be applied in practice over the remaining 18 months of the project.
FREIGHTWISE is a research project involving a consortium of 56 partners in 14 European countries. The project's overall objective is to support the modal shift of cargo flows from all-road door-to-door transport chains to intermodal transport chains involving short sea shipping, inland waterways and/or rail to carry out trunk hauls, with road transport for initial collection and final delivery. It will achieve this objective by means of improved management and the facilitation of information access and exchange between small and large, public and private stakeholders involved in freight transport chains across all business sectors and transport modes. The FREIGHTWISE Framework (FWF) includes concepts and models for planning and managing intermodal transport chains and a key aim is to achieve greater transparency in the market.
Click here for more details on Freightwise.
Click here to download Chris's presentation.