Overview
Dangerous goods are nowadays primarily transported by trucks – despite higher safety risks and higher environmental costs compared to other transport modes like rail. Intermodal transport offers an alternative but developing efficient interfaces between different transport modes is a challenge to be solved.
Regions in central Europe are further disadvantaged due to missing connections across the former “Iron Curtain”. The vulnerability of dangerous goods transports stresses the need for chemical companies and public authorities to ensure safe transport and functioning crisis management procedures.
Today there are no commonly used Tracking & Tracing (T&T) solutions that fully respond to the needs of the chemical industry. Several individual initiatives exist but these are all isolated and not compatible to each other. Transnational transports face additional problems regarding communication and cooperation interfaces with public authorities at borders.
Chemlog-T&T tackles all these challenges and contributes to the development of the European Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).
Funding
Results
The ChemLog T&T project aims to improve tracking and tracing solutions for the intermodal transport of dangerous goods in Central and Eastern Europe. Partners from public authorities, chemical companies and research organisations from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia and Italy have initiated the project in July 2012 by implementing a deeper analysis of the needs for tracking and tracing of dangerous goods by companies and public authorities.
The special focus is given to the intermodal transport - mainly the combination of road and rail transport – alongside the important transnational transport corridors from West to East, connecting the major chemical productions sites in Central Europe with the future target markets in Eastern Europe (e.g. Russia or Ukraine). Intermodal transport is mostly unaccompanied transport, which leads to special requirements for the tracking and tracing solutions. Therefore the project decided to develop T&T solutions which are focused on the intermodal loading unit, such as tank or box containers.
Aus result of the Analysis the following requirements have been identified: Provision of sufficient information on transport alongside the whole supply chain with focus on the single container, T&T System should work for international transports, Availability of real time information, Availability of qualitative information (e.g. shock sensors, temperature, pressure, sealing etc, ), Ensuring robust and safety of T&T hardware in special protection area for danger of explosion, Improvement of sustainability of supply chain, Better interaction with Emergency and Crisis Management, Ensuring data protection of sensible information, Ensure easy access of companies to the information about status of transport, A common system and regulatory framework which allows interaction of different technical solutions, Ensure economic viability.
For the implementation of the Analysis the partners have organised nine Regional Stakeholder Forum to discuss the topic from the regional perspectives. 184 stakeholders from chemical companies and logistic service providers have actively participated in these events. During these meetings several Tracking and Tracing solutions have been presented and discussed. The partners have completed a detailed description of relevant T&T Tools and assessed them in relation to the identified requirements. On this basis a each partner has selected specific tools for the practical testing in the four pilot projects. Solutions can only be developed and implemented in close cooperation between Enterprises, Logistic Providers and Politics. Especially the cooperation with Logistic Service Providers is essential for the further implementation of activities. Actual information about the project activities have been presented in the first Newsletter and a Video (www.chemlog.info).