Overview
The CASSANDRA Project aims at making container security more efficient and effective by developing a data sharing concept that allows for extended risk assessments by both governments and companies. In doing so the supply-chain visibility will be improved, efficiency of trade compliance and effectiveness of boarder controls will be improved, and supervision by combining E-Freight and E-Customs will be easier.
The challenges facing international intermodal container logistics are efficiency and security. These seemingly conflicting issues have a common solution: supply chain visibility, where data promoting visibility can be shared between business and governments.
Since technical solutions already exist, the challenge lies in integrating solutions across the supply chain. CASSANDRA will:
Facilitate the adoption of a risk based approach in the supply chain, on the basis of integral monitoring data on cargo flows and container integrity,
Build interfaces between existing visibility solutions, and visualisation tools, in an open architecture,
Demonstrate the integration of data and risk assessment in supply chains in three major trading routes to and from Europe
Evaluate the quality of the integral data with business and government.
Facilitate a dialogue between business and government to gain consensus on the criteria for data sharing between business and government.
The project participants cover all relevant stakeholders, including several global players. This expertise will guarantee the successful adoption of the CASSANDRA solutions. The value drivers in CASSANDRA will include:
Logistics efficiency benefits
Security benefits for business as a result of the risk self assessment
Security benefits for government as a result of the high quality and complete data for government risk analysis.
CASSANDRA will tribute to the priorities of DG TAXUD, will facilitate security and crime-fighting priorities of DG Enterprise and DG Justice, Liberty and Security, and enables priorities in the DG TREN Freight Logistics Action Plan, and builds on previous work in standardisation bodies.
The development of integral supply chain data that is the basis for risk based supply chain management and the input for government supervision tasks, as envisaged in CASSANDRA, will set a new standard for global door-to-door goods flows to and from Europe: efficient and secure!
The CASSANDRA consortium consists of 27 industry partners who are actively involved and contribute, also financially, to the project. Next to this, there will be an advisory board and third parties that are involved in realising the Living Labs. Nine work packages divide the work that needs to be done in the three year time span. The work packages are lead by different consortium members. The work packages that will deliver the final CASSANDRA results are:
- Inception and user requirements
- Risk based approach
- System integration and interface development
- Living Labs
- Evaluation and deployment
- Network, policy and consensus building
- Dissemination and communication
- Scientific project management
- Project management
Funding
Results
Bolstered supply chain security for industry and government
Strengthened supply chain visibility and security can improve traffic across countries with respect to national border control and various trade regulations. An EU initiative addressed the supply chain visibility of businesses and public authorities in order to enhance the efficiency of trade compliance and the effectiveness of border controls.
Globalisation and modern technology have contributed to the complexity and instability of international trade and logistics. Supply chain barriers such as cross-border bureaucracy and checks hold back global trade. Supply chain visibility and reuse of trade information along the entire chain can successfully tackle such hurdles.
With this in mind, the EU-funded http://www.cassandra-project.eu/ (CASSANDRA) (Common assessment and analysis of risk in global supply chains) project set out to enhance supply chain visibility and business operations as well as government cross-border security inspections.
Work began with mapping of the supply chain, namely trends in global supply chain management and existing methods in risk management and supply chain visibility.
Project partners used advanced information technology (IT) innovations to develop a data pipeline to share secure and reliable data across the entire supply chain. This data-sharing concept enables open, flexible and standardised communication among all supply chain partners. IT interfaces that support customs and businesses for transparency in supply chains and risk management were successfully integrated. The data pipeline was demonstrated with case studies for three global trade lanes involving Africa, China, the EU and the United States.
The project team created a risk-based approach (RBA) that allows for piggybacking on business and chain controls. With piggybacking, businesses can share supply chain data for risk management, and the same data can be optimally reused for governmental purposes. The RBA led to a practical handbook on risk analysis that targets industry.
CASSANDRA demonstrated the feasibility of improved supply chain visibility and security. Companies can reduce administrative and planning errors along the supply chain, while public authorities can use data more efficiently and therefore improve overall effectiveness.