The iCargo project (Intelligent Cargo in Efficient and Sustainable Global Logistics Operations) is aiming to cut CO2 emissions, thanks to an improvement in the efficiency of intermodal loading systems and the boosting of intelligent systems that assist decision making. It comprises 29 European organisations with experience in the logistics sector and in supply chain management. It has a budget totalling €17,000,000 and a duration of three and a half years.
Tecnalia is working to specify and develop the semantic components and ontologies shared by the users, objects and systems that make up the iCargo ecosystem: autonomous loading units; intelligent vehicles and infrastructure; and players in the logistics markets and their pre-existing platforms. That way, a common language that will enable them to exchange information in real time will be used.
The project is boosting and expanding the use of Information and Communications Technologies in the production of logistics services through the development of a platform that will allow:
- vehicle movements and intermodal logistics operations among the various players involved to be synchronised, thereby lowering CO2 emissions;
- dynamic planning methods involving intelligent loads, vehicles and infrastructure capable of adapting to changing conditions to be designed;
- an open ecosystem to manage merchandise by combining services, resources and the information of various stakeholders to be generated.
This project will mean new business opportunities for service providers, and an easy way to manage logistics chains through the configuration of a more flexible, more robust distribution chain. It will also make an improvement in economic and environmental efficiency possible, and consequently a cut in CO2 emissions.
Validating iCargo
The iCargo results shall be validated through three use cases which will prove the validity of the iCargo ecosystem:
- Sea-City-Air-Rail door-to-door service: this pilot project focuses on improving the Sea-City-Air-Rail door-to-door service of customers between Northern Europe and Italy including those located in urban areas. The participating players are road hauliers, port operators and rail operators. The iCargo platform will enable dynamic real-time operations replanning throughout the transport chain taking commercial restrictions into account, with the aim of improving the environmental profile of the designated route.
- Green corridor between Sweden and continental Europe: this business case seeks to integrate what are known as "green coastal motorways" with inland co-modal transport options with the aim of boosting the efficiency of traffic load and management in logistics processes, to such an extent that it allows the substitution of loads in the event of delays, for example, thus enabling maximum use to be made of the vessel.
- Logistics Services Supplier Cooperation – Haulier: this pilot project shows how to improve the sustainability of the entire distribution chain by initiating joint planning and implementation solutions which involve the various stakeholders participating in the process.
iCargo will actively participate in two important events in the Transport and Logistics fields: Transport Logistic, that will take place in Munich 4-6 June, and will count with a workshop and a round table on iCargo; and in the 6th European Conference on ICT for Transport Logistics, ECITL 2013, that will take place in Zaragoza (Spain) 23-25 October 2013.