FREIGHTVISION
Freight Transport FORESIGHT 2050
- Other specified
- Multimodal transport
- Freight transport
- Societal/Economic issues, Decarbonisation, Deployment planning/Financing/Market roll-out
- Other
In the coming years and decades the European Union faces the following challenges in the freight sector:
- the need to ensure and increase economic growth; and
- the need to deal with an increase of freight transport demand;
while at the same time:
- reducing environmental emissions (mainly CO2);
- reducing dependency on fossil energy;
- reducing accidents; and
- avoiding congestion and other negative impacts on the environment and population.
Many different stakeholder groups have created their proposals to achieve sustainable freight transport. Most of them address only part of the problem or focus on only one aspect of a solution. Following these advices leads to sub optimisation and less efficient solutions. A holistic approach is needed integrating all aspects of the problem (infrastructure, vehicles, fuels, interoperability etc) and all types of criteria in the solution (research, technologies, policies and pricing).
The FREIGHTVISION project aimed to develop a long-term vision and a robust and adaptive action plan both for transport and technology policy for sustainable long-distance freight transport, which are supported as much as possible by the relevant stakeholders.
In order to develop a vision and an action plan the following tasks were performed:
- analysing transport policy, technology development, and mega trends with regard to long-distance freight transport;
- integrating them into forecasts;
- developing scenarios how to reach a desirable future; and
- defining for this the vision and action plan.
A 'Foresight' process was implemented to achieve stakeholders' support for the vision and action plan. For this purpose four FREIGHTVISION Forums allowed the active involvement of representatives from the Advisory Councils, ERANET (Transport and Road), ministries, infrastructure operators, industries and other stakeholders. The aim of the forums was to reach a common understanding about shaping the future and getting a maximum legitimacy for both the scenarios, the vision and action plan developed.
- Public institution
- Public (EU)
The main project result is the FREIGHTVISION Action Plan. This Action Plan provided recommendations in which way a sustainable European long-distance freight transport system could be reached until 2050. These recommendations were based on the discussion and evaluation of the 35 measures presented at the 3rd Forum Meeting.
For each measures, a proposal of concrete actions and milestones have been developed. These individual action plans have been combined into a single FREIGHTVISION Action Plan.
Innovation aspects
The FREIGHTVISION Action Plan is a combination of RTD and Transport Policy Actions. The Action Plan's intention is to provide policy recommendations on how the 2050 vision can be reached. Two different starting points have been taken for developing this Action Plan:
- the project team applied the traditional approach of defining a list of measures and trying to make the best out of these measures. This approach reflects traditional policy making and is very much oriented towards current political interest groups;
- in another approach, sometimes referred to as back-casting, the project team analysed which changes are needed to reach the 2050 vision. This approach ignores current stakeholder interests.
When these two approaches are integrated, discrepancies become apparent, as some of the traditional focus points become less important. Two examples for this paradigm shift are the introduction of GigaLiners and Modal Shift to rail. Both of these topics are high on the political agenda, due to strong interest groups. But both of them have very limited impact on reaching the 2050 vision.
Policy implications
At the Forum Meeting the following (35) topics have been discussed, after which accompanying policy actions have been formulated:
- Investment in ITS
- Investment in road infrastructure
- Internalisation of external costs
- HGV weights and dimensions
- Liberalisation of cabotage
- Progressive distance pricing
- Different pricing with regards to freight
- Harmonised speed limits
- Congestion charge (CC)
- Enforcement of regulations
- Investment in new railway lines
- Freight priorisation
- Funding for ERTMS
- Electrification of rail corridors
- Longer trains
- Heavier trains
- Investment in IWT infrastructure
- Develop new technologies in IWT
- Investment in maritime port infrastructure
- Training for ecodriving
- Automated platooning
- Standardised loading units
- E-Freight
- Network optimisation: cargo owner
- Network optimisation: logistics service provider
- CO2 labels
- Intermodal transport
- Transport consolidation and cooperation
- Transport route planning and control
- Taxation of fossil fuels
- Hydrogen infrastructure
- Improved Batteries
- Including CO2 standards in HGV regulations (EURO standards)
- BAT vehicle certification for HGV
- Clean vehicle technologies
Other results
With respect to road freight transport: Member States are entitled to allow longer and/or heavier vehicles (measuring up to 25.25 meters and/or weighing up to 60 tonnes) to circulate in their country, provided that this does not affect international competition. International transits are not allowed.
A few countries make use of this possibility. Some countries are undertaking tests or are planning to do so. However, various countries (i.e. Germany, Austria and UK) have said 'no' to the longer and/or heavier vehicles (LHV). In their view these vehicles produce a lot of CO2, form a threat to the competitive position of the rail sector and/or have a negative influence on road safety. Furthermore, it is expected that 60 tonnes vehicles will also require investments in the current road infrastructure.
Because the Member States have different views, the EC tends to focus on the impact of three alternatives: longer, heavier, longer and heavier.
Strategy targets
- An efficient and integrated mobility system: a Single European Transport Area
- Innovating for the future (technology and behaviour): Promoting more sustainable development
Readiness
With respect to road freight transport: the concept of LHV (longer and/or heavier vehicles) cannot be implemented, due to a variety of views by Member States.
Member States are entitled to allow longer and/or heavier vehicles (measuring up to 25.25 meters and/or weighing up to 60 tonnes) to circulate in their country, provided that this does not affect international competition. International transits are not allowed.
A few countries make use of this possibility, some are undertaking tests or are planning to do so. However, various countries (i.e. Germany, Austria and UK) have said 'no' to the concept of longer and/or heavier vehicles (LHV). In their view these vehicles produce a lot of CO2, form a threat to the competitive position of the rail sector and/or have a negative influence on road safety. Furthermore, it is expected that 60 tonne vehicles will also require investments in the current road infrastructure.
Because the Member States have different views, the EC tends to focus on the impact of three alternatives: longer, heavier, longer and heavier.
- Freight transport technologies
- Freight transport action plan
- Research/Invention