NEW TELEMATICS APPLICATIONS IN FREIGHT TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS

1
NEW TELEMATICS APPLICATIONS IN FREIGHT TRANSPORT
AND LOGISTICS A Selective presentation of some
relevant EU funded research Prof. George A.
Giannopoulos South East European Transport
Research Forum (SETREF) Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki (AUTh)
2
Representative areas of Freight Transport research
A. THEMIS A European Freight Transport
Framework B. Innovative Port and Container
Terminal Management Tools C. Creating a virtual
Internet based freight information terminal
(application for Tracking Tracing solutions for
vehicles and load units) D. Port communication
networks
3
A. THEMIS A European Freight Transport Framework
This area covers the work currently carried out
in project THEMIS (THEmatic Network in Optimizing
the Management of Intermodal Transport Services),
an umbrella project covering the whole of the
Freight Transport in Europe. The prime objective
of THEMIS is to co-ordinate on-going and past
activities of research and development in the
field of Information Systems in Intermodal
Freight Transport in Europe, by providing at the
same time a forum for dissemination and
concertation activities among all parties
concerned.
4
The integration concept of THEMIS
5
B. Innovative Port and Container Terminal
Management Tools
The core objective of this area is to maximize
the integration between all related systems
functioning inside and outside the port area. A
number of state-of-the-art information and
communication technologies and systems are used
to implement this integration (ranging from EDI
to smart cards and tags), while the user
interfaces are made specifically user friendly in
order to present the maximum in use acceptability
and ease system understanding.
6
Functional Architecture of a Container Terminal
Integration (Project INTERPORT)
Containers placing/collection (buffer)
Containers collection (yard)
Containers entry/exit
Access control (gates)
Loading/ Unloading control (cranes)
Containers entry/exit
Containers collection (yard)
Containers unloading
Containers collection (buffer)
Containers placing (Buffer)
Containers entry
Containers collection (yard)
Containers entry
Inventory control (yard)
7
The Integration of the in-terminal areas (Project
INTERPORT)
8
C. Creating a virtual Internet based freight
information terminal (application for Tracking
Tracing solutions for vehicles and load units)
A large number of freight transport systems and
applications are already available in the market.
Accessibility to these is not always possible or
feasible. The key objective is to harmonize
these different and in many cases incompatible
systems and make them available through
Internet based platforms providing a number of
key services. This was demonstrated in the
context of project SITS, for Tracking Tracing
data applications, while another EU funded
project, GIFTS, aims at developing and making
commercially available a full set of freight
transport services.
9
Intermediary Virtual Terminal (Project SITS)
Diagrammatic representation of the idea of
Intermediary Terminal, unifying data from
various sources and presenting them in a user
friendly way to the end user.
10
Systems and System Providers in Freight Transport
Tracking and Tracing
11
D. Port Communication Networks
The aim of this area is to improve the
communication of information and data between
ports, as well as between them and their port
communities. Also to interconnect all stages of
intermodal transport chains through simple, cost
effective and open architecture systems
(e-business, e-fulfillment, e-transport).
12
The case of INTERREG cross border cooperation
program (GILDA)
This is achieved through a number of coordinated
projects (GILDA, TRANSLONET, SPIL, IMONET), in
the area of Adriatic-Ionian-Aegean seas to
provide fast and reliable interconnections
between the ports. Specific products are

• generic software solutions and an information
  network based on common building blocks
• an open telematics architecture based on latest
  low cost network developments
• interface tools for the interconnectivity and
  interoperability of existing applications
• solutions and tools tailor-made for the needs of
  the area under consideration

13
The Transnational (Greece-Italy) Cooperation
Concept