Freight transport (thematic group 4.3)

Four fields were defined:

• General studies: these studies were intended to clarify the choice of field trials to undertake. They covered themes such as pre-and post routing to/from major French seaports, factors determining the development of combined transport, special themes such as hindrances to developing combined transport for certain types of trade, and land-air multi-modal transport.
• Follow-up of electronic data and information exchange along multi-modal chains: the use of possibilities offered by today's computers and telecommunication tools come up against problems which are not technological but economic, and above all between actors of multi-modal chains.
• Rail-road combination: this group is concerned more particularly with technological, functional, organisational or institutional innovations, which enable to upgrade the competitiveness of combined road-rail transport. Optimisation of combined transport workings, improvements of rail supply and their impact on the development of combined transport and light works are the chief themes developed by this group.
• Land-shipping and river sequence: this group is concerned with technological, functional or institutional innovations likely to improve shipping and land-waterway-maritime chains.