ACL is a collaborative project that supports the coordinated development of logistic centres and thus fosters the connection of areas with low accessibility in the southern and eastern Baltic Sea Region (BSR) to the European transport network and international trade flows.

The project’s main objective is to improve accessibility and logistic processes, both via land and sea, to strengthen economic ties between emerging countries like Belarus, Russia or Ukraine and EU member states within the BSR. As transnational supply chains become more and more segmented, the number and importance of logistic centres grows inevitably. In all countries considered, there are plans to extend the network of inland freight villages. At the same time, ports aim to integrate more and more logistics functions in their service portfolio. The resulting distribution of cargo processing locations offers the chance to better supply areas that are not directly located along the main transport corridors.

ACL wants to bring the actors of the transport sector together in order to push interaction and knowledge transfer and stimulate mutual understanding and awareness. It aims to offer transparent services to the market which are neutral in terms of competition.

To achieve this, ACL will organise workshops and conferences, arrange staff exchange programmes and initiate an embedded policy forum for effective dissemination of project results. The project partners agreed to compile action and business plans focusing on specific issues.

The findings are completed by in-depth research of permanent working groups, being installed for each of the work packages (WPs):

• WPs 1 and 2 being reserved for project management and communication
• WP 3: Flow of Goods and institutional / legal aspects especially relevant for low accessibility areas
• WP 4: Sustainable and efficient transport concepts and multi-modal transport chains
• WP 5: Regional Logistics Integration for areas with low accessibility

Reflecting the tasks assigned, the project partnership consists of representatives of ports, logistic locations, public authorities and research institutions from six countries in the BSR. Associated partners like important commercial players, relevant associations and further authorities make complete the ACL consortium.

The expected output of ACL is increased accesibility of remote areas for cargo within the region. The coordinated transnational development of logistics centers will contribute to this. Knowledge transfer between the partners and transnational market players, and cooperation to harmonize transnational logistics services are importat side effects, too. With this, ACL will create benefits for both customers (better services), companies (stronger partnerships) and regions (increased accessibility of remote areas).