Introduction

The FOR-FREIGHT Project is a Horizon Europe-backed project that aims to develop a platform for the planning and evaluation of intermodal transport solutions. With a foreseen duration of 40 months, starting in September 2022, this endeavour has gathered together 18 partners from eight different Member States and has a total budget of €9 million. TIC4.0 plays a role as the standardisation expert, providing insights on the current standardisation landscape and proposing novel ways of achieving harmonisation.

The “Horizon Europe” programme is the latest iteration of the EU Research Framework Programmes, which have been running since 1984. In these, the EU defines specific “calls” or topics of interest for research ranging from health science, physics, etc. to transportation and digitalisation. Goals are defined according to EU policies and targets: for example, later EU programmes have placed strong focus on decarbonisation and digitalisation. European companies and institutions can opt for the funding either alone or forming multinational consortiums to tackle projects with companies from across the Member States. If the project is approved by the European Commission, funding is awarded to them to start working.

Main ambitions of this project:

• The creation of a digital platform: for the digital planning of intermodal transportation based on a multi-criteria analysis. For this purpose, a software program interlinking the various legacy systems of the project partners will serve as the central platform for the planning. The platform receives historical and planned data from these and applies novel algorithmic solvers to obtain the best route from an economic, environmental and efficiency perspective.

• The delivery of real-time door-to-door tracking: and status monitoring and control of cargo by retrieving real-time information provided by embedded Internet of Things (IoT) sensors in vehicles and systems.

• Adoption of Digital Twin solutions: for the optimization of resource utilization

• Increasing sustainability: through the implementation of a carbon assessment framework and use of alternative modes of transportation such as the subway (Metro de Madrid)
  These solutions will be tested across three real-world trial:

Spanish Use Case

The Spanish Use case involves the delivery of parcel cargo from the port of Valencia to e-commerce lockers located at selected Metro de Madrid stations. Cargo will enter the country as a container at the seaport, be transported via road or rail depending on the results of the multicriteria analysis to a DHL warehouse. In this facility, cargo will be broken down into parcels that will be carried to multiple Metro de Madrid depots depending on their final destination. Lastly, in what constitutes one of the most innovative solutions of the project, the system will take advantage of the early morning “empty runs” of subway trains before entering service to bring the parcels to their corresponding lockers. Apart from the challenge resulting from adapting to passenger-designed subway cars and the coordination with its network, the adaptation and connection of the digital legacy systems of DHL, COSCO Shipping and Valenciaport and Metro de Madrid represents a further challenge to be tackled.

Greek Use Case

Regarding the Greek Use Case, this case connects the Greek port of Piraeus with Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”. Cargo arrives at the seaport in the form of a shipping container and is brought to the airport cargo handling warehouse via road transportation for breakdown. Finally, parcels are consolidated onto pallets or Unit Load Devices (ULDs) for air transport. Nowadays, communications between all involved parties mainly consist of traditional means such as e-mails, phone calls and paper documents, with no connection to the Port Community System of Athens. Furthermore, air transport and sea transport, while having EDIFACT in common, do use very different communication systems. Consequently, the project shall find a way to integrate all of these to achieve better communication and planning.

Romanian Use Case

Last, but not least, the Romanian Use Case involves the connection of the river port of Galati, located on the Danube on northern Romania, to hinterland warehouses via rail transportation. While this Use Case has the lowest level of digitalisation, the FOR-FREIGHT project will act as a catalyst to boost the adoption of novel digital solutions that enhance the visibility of the logistics chain.

What has been TIC4.0’s contribution so far?

Standardisation

As the main standardisation partner, TIC4.0 successfully led the Work Package 5’s “Standardisation and Policy Recommendations” document. A comprehensive piece of analysis, this document firstly assesses the current state of the art of standardisation effort at international, European and national level. It described initiatives such as DCSA, Digital Transport and Logistics Forum (DTLF), S-211 and the European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe), and TIC4.0, along with their potential applications and implications.
To accurately portray the current status, a thorough analysis on the actual levels of implementation of standards and digital solutions was performed as well, focusing on the Use Cases of FOR-FREIGHT. It was found that digitalisation levels vary a lot across Member States and even different locations within the same Member State, Ports, due to their privileged position in international trade, act as the main drivers for digitalisation. More specifically, facilities where Port Community Systems are present act as promoters of the adoption of digital solutions by other logistics actors. However, these face obstacles such as the reluctance to adopt solutions and the small size of many logistics companies. Namely, these lack the economic power of large corporations and important port authorities.
Lastly, the document contains a series of policy and standardisation recommendations, emphasising the need to address the atomisation and take into account the reality of the logistics sector before enacting any legislation.
A revision of D5.5 is due near the end of the project.

Data Management Plan

TIC4.0 was assigned to lead the development and maintenance of FOR-FREIGHT’s Data Management Plan. A pre-requisite of the European Commission, the task consists of collecting, monitoring and classifying the data generated by the project according to the European Union’s Data Protection and Dissemination guidelines and Directives. Currently, a first version of the Data Management Plan was finished and TIC4.0 is working on its revision as foreseen in the Grant Agreement

Use of TIC4.0 as a common solution for the solvers

As explained before, TIC4.0 has small roles in the Work Packages 1 and 2 as advisor in standardisation matters. Leveraging on the common language and its potential to act as a central part to present the platform’s results in an understandable, common way, TIC4.0 has collaborated with Fundación Valenciaport and the rest of the partners to present the results of these solvers in the TIC4.0 language. For this purpose, the following was performed:

1. An analysis of the information needed by the solvers and provided with the legacy systems was performed. Multiple messages created by the legacy systems were analysed. Furthermore, a series of interviews and meetings were conducted with the key partners to learn about their needs.

2. Based on this, the TIC4.0 Data Model was assessed for compatibility and gaps and new capabilities were proposed based on the partner’s feedback. For example, new fields for “divisible” cargo, emissions, etc. were added to represent the parcels, while it was assessed where new locations such as metro stations could fit in the existing model

3. An enhanced version of the Data Model was created and shared with the partners

4. Lastly, Fundación Valenciaport developed the solver, presenting the information in the TIC4.0 format
   Furthermore, during the Athens General Assembly, TIC4.0 was approached by the Athens Airport partners (Athens Airport and Goldair) to discuss potential compatibility with the IATA OneRECORD standard. At the time of writing, TIC4.0 has made an equivalence table, showing that both standards have a similar approach, and that data conversion would be possible with a reasonable effort due to the similar information requirements.

Participation at dissemination events

Last, but not least, TIC4.0’s representatives have taken part as experts at multiple events. Gonzalo Sandiás and Jorge Melero presented FOR-FREIGHT and TIC4.0 at a Logistop event at the start of the year, while José Andrés Giménez participated in a virtual round table with the MultiRELOAD and AWARD projects. In addition, Jorge Melero presented the project in a further Logistop round table in June 2024.

What are the benefits of participating in FOR-FREIGHT for TIC4.0?

TIC4.0 benefits from its participation in the European project in multiple ways:

• Firstly, TIC4.0 contributes with its standardisation expertise, disseminating its knowledge and publications and spreading its possibilities across multiple transportation modes and European project.

• Secondly, thanks to the exposure to other transportation modes and facilities, (rail, inland transportation, inland waterways, air transport, dry ports…), TIC4.0 explores the possibility to expand the content to cover other transportation modes. So far, conceptual definitions have been created to cover areas such as the subway transportation, new cargo types such as parcels and roller cages and airport ULDs. Airport ULDs have the particularity of being defined by their content instead of the container, posing a challenge to the current TIC4.0 structure. Furthermore, the possibility of establishing equivalences with the air transport standard ONE Record has been explored, since both approaches use similar data models.

• Thirdly, the TIC4.0 language will be further tested and implemented in the field trials of the project.

• Last, but not least, TIC4.0 gains access to the broad European innovation ecosystem, opening the possibility for collaboration with experts of different Member States and areas. Consequently, this opens up further possibilities for the establishment of field trials and other implementation projects of TIC4.0

Structure of the Project

As is usual in European projects, FOR-FREIGHT has been divided into six work packages:

Work Package 1 “State of the art analysis, Use Case Definition and Solution Design”

Led by Fundación Valenciaport, deals with the assessment of the State of the Art, the definition of the different Use Cases and their specific nuances and the design of the solution (the FOR-FREIGHT platform). At the same time, it will design multimodal cases addressing the current industry gaps and inefficient processes. A central part of the project, it kicked off on September 2022 and will end on September 2024. TIC4.0 plays a small role assisting on how standardisation and the TIC4.0 data model can help in the process of creating a universal platform.

Work Package 2 “FOR-FREIGHT solution implementation, integration and testing”

Steered by the Romanian consulting company BEIA, tackles the FOR-FREIGHT solution implementation, integration and testing. It mainly covers the development of the software and the solvers that power it and that are in its “heart”. Furthermore, it targets to integrate the various developed components (Transport and Logistics infrastructure, 5G testbeds, cloud intelligence, experimentation platform) into a single experimentation facility. TIC4.0 has made suggestions on where the TIC4.0 language can be used to display the platform’s results in an universal, standardized way. Work started in February 2023 and will end on December 2024.

Work Package 3 “Field Trials and validation”

Captained by the Greek enterprise WINGS, focuses on the field trials and validation of the digital platform. Starting in October 2023, its main responsibility is the smooth execution and completion of the planned trials in the participating multimodal/intermodal logistics facilities, defining trial preparations and methodology, calibrating, configurating and perform the field trials, coupled with a comprehensive performance analysis based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Work Package 4 “Commercialisation and innovation”

Led by ZSI (Austria), this WP is responsible for creating novel business models for open, integrated and cooperative T&L services and for the design of a roadmap for the engagement of existing and future T&L stakeholders. High-level targets of this WP are the coordination of FOR-FREIGHT’s Intellectual Property (IP), maximize business, social and economic impact of the FOR-FREIGHT solutions by analysing the stakeholders and impact profile of FOR-FREIGHT, guide commercial outreach and ensure data management. TIC4.0’s role is the Data Management Plan.

Work Package 5 “Dissemination, Communication and Capacity Building”

Led by eBOS (Cyprus), deals with the Dissemination, Communication and Capacity Building. Apart from organizing workshops and other events, liaising with European and international institutions and businesses and others, one of the main targets is to make relevant contributions to standardisation organisations. TIC4.0 has one of the leading roles here as the main standardisation partner, leading the Standardisation task and actively looking to establish contact with standardisation partners. 

Work Package 6 “Project Management”

This WP deals mainly with internal Project Management matters and is steered by Project Coordinator CERTH (Greece)

What has been done so far?

As the project approaches the two-year mark and the Mid-Term Review the European Commission undergoes for every project, the consortium has achieved significant progress. Of the work done so far, the main highlights are:

• Trial version of the FOR-FREIGHT platform, complete with a dashboard and interface.

• Definition of the Use Cases and workflow.

• Definition of the internal solvers’ input, output and architecture. TIC4.0 has assisted in the Use Cases by providing a modified version of the Data Model to accommodate the nuances of the documents and data used by the trials. Furthermore, it has established contact with the Airport of Athens and Goldair to study possible equivalences and interfaces between the IATA OneRECORD standard and TIC4.0

• First version of the Data Management Plan, created by TIC4.0

• Participation and liaison between the MultiRELOAD, AWARD and FOR-FREIGHT projects, with the participation of José Andrés Giménez in a round table in the joint workshop.

• First version of the standardisation analysis, complete with a gap analysis and assessment of the standardisation situation at international, European, national and Use Case level. The document also includes a comprehensive standardisation and policy recommendation analysis

• First definitions of the field trials

What are the next steps?

Having passed the two-year mark, FOR-FREIGHT is approaching the critical phase of field trial validation and testing of the platform. The following is expected on the coming months:

• Completion of the FOR-FREIGHT’s platform development and test run

• Start of the field validation trials of the Three Use Cases

• Continuation of the standardisation and data management tasks

In addition, the European Commission’s Mid-Term Review is due in September 2024.