2008-06: Invitation to our second annual international conference, 1 - 2 December 2008 Prague

The Freightwise project invites you to its second annual international conference which will be held from 1 - 2 December 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic.

This will be an opportunity to hear how the project has progressed and is developing in many of the key areas of work, how the Freightwise Framework has been developed, defined and how it will be utilised within the project and exploited in the future. This is an opportunity to hear how the new Freight Logistics Action Plan incorporating co-modality from the EC DG TREN is developing and is also an opportunity to network with both the 55 research, commercial and industrial partners within Freightwise and the wider ICT and intermodal research community that will attend.

The event will be chaired by Tom Zunder, an experienced line manager and intermodal researcher, and will include John Berry from DG TREN as a keynote speaker.

Further Information and Registration:
freightwise.info-conference-invitation.pdf
Online Conference Registration

2008-01: Inland Waterway Workshop in Dresden on Project Cargo Management

The partners of Case F-Elbe organized this discussion on the concept of an “information management platform” in order to guide further development within the business case. In addition to the project partners (Deutsche Binnenreederei, Sächsische Binnehäfen Oberelbe, Wallman Terminal, Sequoyah, LogIT and BMT) the workshop was also attended by representatives of the shipper (Siemens) and the overseas shipping company (Rickmers). During the discussion Siemens took the view that the present processes for contracting transport services were sufficient and considered that there was no “market” for a new tool which would only be used for a small part of the transport activities in Siemens. It was not possible to discuss a more generally applied tool without starting a much more complicated process within the whole Siemens Group. ickmers saw the need, but considered the scope too limited and proposed a more global approach including import flows. Being a global player themselves, they would like to see all the parties involved from door to door. They agreed that they often had considerable problems with managing information and coordinating multiple shipments containing several items, arriving from different manufacturers. However, the ad-hoc character of project cargo transport with changing constellations of partners makes it difficult to invest in IT-solutions for intercompany information exchange, even if the dominating use of fax means a considerable workload and introduces an (unnecessary) source of error. DBR and SBO pointed out that other manufacturers than those present and their agents were considerably less structured in their transport management and that much work could be saved and transport quality improved with a more structured approach. A general comment was that the need for improvement was judged differently by different partners. Transport costs represent only 2-5% of the business of the shipper, which of course impacts on the importance given to improvements in transport processes. To the carrier or the integrator, transport is the business and improved efficiency improvements have a direct effect on the bottom line. Advantages and disadvantages with the proposed concept?

• A complete list of items to be shipped is available to all parties from the beginning
• The items are well defined with regard to weight and measurements at every stage (important for stowage planning for barge as well overseas vessel)
• A well structured and documented commissioning process (RfQ-Q-O) facilitates life for carriers and terminals
• The planning and the execution process can be followed by all parties with access rights
• A planned schedule makes it possible to automatically detect deviations

Weak points with the proposed concept

• The concept relies heavily on commitments by all the parties involved. The transport chain view is lost or at least reduced to cover only a part if the responsibilities are not well defined.
• Cost/benefit ratio will be weak when several of the chain partners are not participating.

2008-03: Fifth Freightwise Project Management Committee meeting (PMC05) on the 2nd and 3rd of April in Rome (Italy)

The fifth Freightwise Project Management Committee meeting (PMC05) has been scheduled on the 2nd and 3rd of April in Rome (Italy).All the workpackage and business case leaders will meet together in order to review the work and make decisions on the current and future activities of the project. The Department of Hydraulics, Transport and Roads of "La Sapienza" University of Rome (DITS) is organizing the meeting in the historical building of the Engineering Faculty, located in the very centre of Rome, very close to the Colosseum. The Logistics and Transport Area of the Department has constituted a Centre of Excellence for Transport and Logistics, involved in Freightwise and in several research projects on the field.

2007-11: FREIGHTWISE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2007

FREIGHTWISE held its first conference in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK at the end of October. This was attended by over 80 representatives of the Freightwise partners and other interested parties. Speakers included John Berry of DG TREN on the Freightwise position in the EU’s Logistics Action Plan and Jan Tore Pedersen of BMT on the Freightwise approach to Intermodal Freight Transport Management. Other speakers followed who outlined the findings of case studies in many different areas including:

• Scandinavian forestry and steel industries;
• cross border transport links between Finland - Estonia, Finland – Russia and Estonia – Russia;
• an internet based portal to offer intermodal freight management services to SMEs;
• improving electronic messaging and better use of traffic information in Benelux;
• improving the shipment of heavy cargo on the Elbe;
• supporting rail-based solutions between Germany and Greece;
• exploring the preconditions for improving intermodal transport solutions of steel products in the Port of Gijon;
• developments in advanced logistics information exchange in a rail transport service connecting Paris-Piacenza-Gliwice.

Copies of the presentations may be accessed in the Teamspace section of the Freightwise website under WP16 Dissemination, training and education/Conference.

2007-08: First annual international conference on the 31th October 2007

The Freightwise project invites you to it's first annual international conference at the Life Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne on the 31st October 2007. The conference will be preceded by a dinner at the Life Centre on the evening of the 30th October. This will be an opportunity to hear how the project has started, progressed and is developing in many of the key areas of work, focusing on the industrial cases where the Freightwise Framework will be utilised. This is an opportunity to hear how the new Logistics Action Plan incorporating co-modality from the EC DGTREN is developing. This is an opportunity to network with both the 55 research, commercial and industrial partners within Freightwise and the wider ICT and intermodal research community that will attend. The event will be chaired by Tom Zunder, an experienced line manager and intermodal researcher, and will include John Berry from DG TREN as a keynote speaker. This event is open to all and it is free of charge. Please read the full invitation (PDF) and you can register using our form at www.freightwise.info/conference-registration.

2007-08: next Freightwise Project Management Committee on the 30th October 2007

The next Freightwise Project Management Committee will be held at the Research Beehive, room 2.20, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, on the 30th October 2007. It will start at 9.30 am, will conclude around 5pm. The meeting is for Freightwise workpackage leaders and case leaders only. Please register using our form.

2007-05: Project Event 23rd and 24th May in Thessaloniki

The Hellenic Institute of Transport hosted the Project Management Committee meeting on the 23rd and 24th of May at its premises in the Centre of Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) technology park in Thessaloniki.

2006-11: FREIGHTWISE kick-off meeting

Thanks to all participants for attending the FREIGHTWISE Kickoff meeting in Brussels on 16 November 2006. You can now download the Workpackage and Case presentations. Many thanks to the Autoridad Portuaria de Gijón en Bruselas for the generous hosting of the Kick-off and the PMC meeting at the Casa de Asturias. It was a wonderful venue and there was excellent food!