Say a container full of electronics arrives in the port of Rotterdam via ship from Shanghai for subsequent transport to the Ruhr in Germany by barge. However, a storm delays the arrival of the ship in Rotterdam and the connection is missed. Such unforeseen circumstances lead to delay, congestion and additional costs. In the port of Rotterdam alone the annual extra costs can run up to millions of euros.

A collaborative project involving transport companies and research institutions, led by TU/e researchers Remco Dijkman and Paul Grefen, has spent three years developing a software platform that allows transport routes to be adjusted in the light of unforeseen circumstances. Like a truck being ready and waiting to transport the Chinese electronics by road from Rotterdam to Germany.

This ‘GET Service platform’ solves a major problem in the transport sector. It makes real-time information available for every transporter, about the location of goods, how busy the road is, the weather conditions and more. This kind of information is currently lacking and planning is made in advance. “What is holding transporter back is a fear of market share if they share information,” Dijkman says.

This widely backed European platform, largely funded by the European Union, is intended to put an end to this problem. The platform enables plans to be made and adjusted on the basis of up-to-the-minute information and the availability of transport. The researchers are confident that the total fuel consumption in the EU can be reduced by some 2 billion liters and CO₂ emissions cut by 6.5 million annually by improving the use of environmentally-friendly means of transport and cutting the number of ‘empty’  trucks on the road.

On 1 October the GET Service project will be presenting its results at an international symposium in Rotterdam, intended for innovators and decision-makers in the field of international transport. Partners in the project include TU/e, Portbase in Rotterdam, IBM Research in Zürich, Jan de Rijk Logistics in Roosendaal, PTV in Karlsruhe, Wirtschaftuniversität in Vienna and Exus in Athens.

Source: TU/e press team