eFreight real-time scheduling system wins international innovation award
The award, which was contested by leading multinational, £multi-billion organisations, including Associated British Ports, Singapore-owned APL and Dubai-based DP World, was presented to MJC² by BBC’s Gavin Esler at the international awards ceremony in London on 18 October. MJC²'s solution helps large transport companies reduce CO2 emissions and congestion on roads while saving money at the same time. This is achieved by applying MJC²'s leading edge optimisation algorithms to problems such as planning truck movements or scheduling freight operations more efficiently. Typically large transport companies can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10% or more, and reduce their operating costs as well. The solution is based on work done by MJC² in the eFreight project, which provides a platform for fast and efficient communication of real-time freight information. The judges selected MJC² for the IT Innovation Award for their work in the field of container logistics planning. Container logistics is big business – literally millions of containers move around the World each year transporting food, consumer goods and manufacturing products. The MJC² system makes it easier for logistics companies to move containers by rail, ship and barge, thus taking traffic off the roads and reducing fuel consumption. Founded in 1990 by a team of leading Oxbridge research scientists from the fields of control engineering and mathematics, MJC² became an almost overnight commercial success. Now in its 22nd year of operation MJC² can count household names such as Pepsi, Kuehne+Nagel, TNT & B&Q amongst its clients, and exports its solutions and expertise to many countries, even as far afield as New Zealand. Julian Stephens, Technical Development Manager at MJC² said: “One of the most pressing objectives for governments and commercial organisations is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and congestion on roads. We hope that by winning this high-profile award we will be able to encourage more companies to apply this technology to address a very important issue.” The system comes at a good time for the container logistics industry, which is feeling the pinch in the current difficult economic climate. There has been a flurry of interest from the UK, Europe and the Far East in the new solution, which has already been installed in Valencia, Spain for Chain Shipping.
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom