Final Report Summary - ECOHUBS (Environmentally COherent measures and interventions to debottleneck HUBS of the multimodal network favoured by seamless flow of goods)
Executive Summary:
The EU funded EcoHubs R&D project (Environmentally COherent measures and interventions to debottleneck HUBS of the multimodal network favoured by seamless flow of goods) has successfully delivered a number of proven ICT tools which can increase capacity at ports and terminals, and can lead to significant reductions in carbon footprint.
Designed to support “Resource Efficient Europe”, the flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 Strategy, EcoHubs has researched and developed the tools required for sustainable freight transport and logistics networks as part of a smart, safe, environmentally friendly and inclusive EU economy.
Adria Kombi, a leading combined transport operator in Slovenia is deploying the CCIS (Container Interfacing and Consolidation System) tool in conjunction with the ecoTAURuS (Ecohubs Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting Status Services) system at the Port of Koper and estimates that when fully implemented, this will lead to a 20% increase in capacity. This increase requires no additional physical infrastructure investment and an improvement of throughput by 15%, equating to a 1.6 – 2.3 Million Euros in turnover can be realised.
As part of its efforts to provide a complete CO2 footprint measuring system which can calculate and declare the energy consumption and GHG emissions of transport services, EcoHubs also developed the ITEC (Intermodal Terminal Eco-Efficiency Calculator) tool. This tool bridges the knowledge gap of other CO2 calculators such as EcoTransit and standards including CEN 16258 which do not consider the warehousing and transhipment facilities.
To demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the ITEC tool, Jernhusen in Stockholm had the opportunity to obtain a measurement of the CO2 footprint of Stockholm Årsta Kombiterminal, the Green Urban Hub, before and after the transformation of the terminal. The data highlighted that Jernhusen has reduced the footprint by more than half, 56%. On an annual basis, this equates to approximately 55 car trips around the Earth.
The project has also developed: Transport & Terminal Services Publisher (T2SP) for the dynamic and unified publishing/discovery/updating of detailed terminal services; Proximity Network Management (PNM) which enables the collaboration among terminals and is being deployed at Interporto Bologna; Repair Services Publisher (RSP), to share equipment for improved wagon repair services and MetricHub a system for capturing, calculating and sharing metrics which allows customers to drive continuous improvement among collaborative networks.
Project Context and Objectives:
The aim of EcoHubs was to provide models and capabilities for cooperation and communication between multimodal terminal network stakeholders, amplifying thus their joint capabilities. It also aimed to create Common Value Added Services which, combined with existing services, would facilitate end-to end co-modal, low-CO2 transport solutions to maximise the utilisation of terminal and logistics resources and transform multimodal terminals into Green Hubs.
The services created in EcoHubs included a multimodal terminal eco-efficiency calculator which provides the missing carbon footprint information in multimodal terminal networks; integrated competitive services for managing improvements in eco-efficiency; and a Measuring System to provide the means for long term monitoring of greening activities.
Terminal Owners and Operators, Freight Forwarders and Shippers who organize their own transport operations are project stakeholders and the direct target audience for EcoHubs results.
EcoHubs Demonstrators took place across several representative operating scenarios in four Business Cases through terminals in Italy, Sweden, Slovenia and Belgium. By allowing the industry stakeholders to drive EcoHubs, the output solutions addressed the real needs of this sector in a cost-effective way. Cooperation with existing research projects enabled evaluation of the approach in the overall context of co-modal transport and provided data for measuring the actual impact.
EcoHubs also implemented its Vision for cooperation and communication between terminal network stakeholders and translated this vision into the creation of the Green Hubs Cooperative Model and the Value Added Services to facilitate the greening of hubs. These were the basis for the EcoHubs Demonstrators and the exploitation objectives of the commercial partners of the project.
Once the modules and the demonstrators were in place, the partners embarked on an ambitious dissemination programme to bring the results to a wide audience in Europe.
Project Results:
The work in EcoHubs covered the following main points:
1 – Elaboration of the EcoHubs Vision
Industry trends and stakeholder analysis carried out under this topic indicated
• the economic need for intermodal terminals to change their passive role in transport-chains and corridors into an active one
• the environment need to adopt environmental issues linked as much s possible to operational efficiency improvements
It was the conclusion of the work carried out that the successful terminal of the future should take an active value-adding role in the transport chain. It should act as an economically and ecologically sustainable link contributing measurable to the overall efficiency of intermodal transport-chains.
Further it should be capable of quickly reconfiguring its service offerings in response to changing demand and requirements. This shift from a passive role to an active role in the intermodal will be based on four pillars:
• Collaborative environment & models
• ICT infrastructure
• CO2 assessment
• Measuring tools
2 – Collaborative environment and models
Collaboration covered in EcoHubs included:
• Supporting innovative bundling networks
• Share resources and assets
• Coordinating use of external resources
• Exchanging information
The first three of these can be termed functions to be performed, while the last one is facilitating the effectiveness of the first three.
The overall model for collaboration and the functions that need to be performed included:
• Establishing collaboration agreements – the starting point where all aspects of collaboration need to be defined, including commercial terms and conditions.
• Providing integrated logistics services – the functions required for managing efficient freight transport through the network of collaborating terminals. This function supports establishment and operations of “innovating bundling networks.
• Transport between collaborating hubs – this function handles all transport between the collaborating hubs using scheduled and non-scheduled services. It also includes local first- and last mile transport using trucks – in practice all truck movements that require slot time at the involved terminals.
• Sharing resources – reflects directly on “share resources and assets” from the EcoHubs Vision above.
The inputs to the establishment and operation of collaboration between hubs are:
• Forecasts. On the basis of interactions with existing clients and on analysis of the market, forecasts for goods to be moved through the region where the collaborating terminals are located.
• RFQs. These are requests for quotations received from potential clients, called Logistics Services Clients (LSCs).
• Bookings. These are bookings for movement of goods that may pass through the region.
• Payments. These are payments received from LSCs based on invoices provided.
• Claims. These are claims that are received from LSCs, which need to be reacted upon.
The results (outputs) of the collaboration are:
• Available integrated services. These are the integrated transport and logistics services offered through the network of collaborating hubs.
• Quotations. These are reactions to RFQs from LSCs.
• Confirmations. When the bookings have been received from LSCs, these are handled and confirmations provided (these may also be rejections).
• Status. Status of transport and logistics operations are provided to ensure that LSCs are continuously updated on progress and condition of cargo, according to the agreements made with them.
• Invoices. Invoices are issues to LSCs on the basis of the services provided and the agreements that have been made.
• Response to claims. When claims have been received, these are dealt with and responses are provided to LSCs.
The parameters that influence (controls) the process of establishing and operating collaboration between hubs are:
• Financial targets. These are the targets for profit of the FSI. These provide an important constraint when preparing and establishing transport and logistics services.
• Available services. These are available services that the FSI has available for composing chains. These may be individual services or integrated services. These services are published by LSPs and FSIs using the TSD. The FSI may therefore search for and find these services.
• Environmental strategy. This is the strategy of the FSI on environmental issues. It should support the EU Commission’s ambition related to reducing emissions in transport.
• Status. This control provides information about the status in logistics services that are used to compose chains.
• Infrastructure conditions. This is information about the infrastructure and its capabilities. It includes long-term modifications doe to maintenance, weather, etc.
• Rules and regulations. These are the relevant rules and regulations that guide the type of integrated transport and logistics services that the FSI might provide.
• Traffic conditions. This is essentially real-time information about traffic condition, congestions, accidents, etc.
3 – Ecosystem Business and Information Architecture
The work performed under this topic captured the concepts of the EcoHubs Ecosystem, as the place where all Business stakeholders will be able to connect, exchange information and interact. This starts from the Engagement roles of the stakeholders, and places them in the context of a DBE, stating the benefits, in efficiency, supply chain transparency, and economies of scale.
The definition of the ecosystem involved the:
• Access Points, where an ecosystem participant is able to connect once and transact with many within the Ecosystem, through a common or not type of messages.
• Services provided as Value Added Services by technology providers, with the goal to transform the ecosystem landscape into an effective business tool, reducing the barriers to entry, and accelerating the benefits from functions, processes and tools currently beyond reach to the tight budgeted SMEs.
The work for gathering the project concepts, for analysis, design scenarios, and presentation was based on Archimate 2.1 modelling language, and the TOGAF 9.1 Enterprise Architecture analysis framework. Furthermore, the work involved the study of change management and SOA governance issues.
4 – Core Green Hubs Process Interfaces
EcoHubs placed emphasis on use and development of the Common Framework for ICT in Transport and Logistics (Common Framework for short).
The work under this topic created both software and a report. The software supports automated translation between different formats used at different terminals and is an essential part of the CCIS product. The report describes:
• The interoperability problem that arises when different terminals use different data formats, and shows how this can be addressed without the need to update legacy systems, through use of software that automatically transforms between different formats. It describes different possible approaches to producing such transformations:
1. Manual programming of transformations;
2. Use of advanced tools to automatically generate transformations, based on human input describing each transformation;
3. A variant of (2) that transforms in two stages via a CIF (Common Interchange Format), dramatically reducing the number of transformations that are needed to support interoperability between multiple formats.
• Approach number (3), as implemented in the project. The CIF (Common Interchange Format) used in implementing approach 3 was the same as the Common Framework (i.e. the ISO/IEC DIS 19845 standard). In this way, we benefited from the standardized formats without the need for any existing systems to be modified.
• How the solution was used to actually generate transformation software and summarizes the lessons learned related to this.
5 – EcoHubs Communication Infrastructure
The work performed resulted in the specification and design of the connectivity Infrastructure. It was targeted at an audience of IT architects, designers and developers.
The work involved the study of currently available options, using as a reference the projects iCargo and eFreight. Driven by communications standards employed by the project partners, the work involved the consideration EDI, which however, leaves significant space for business process integration, and is not the best to apply in order to manage communities through an ecosystem, as it is mainly a peer to peer connection. We also thoroughly studied current trends on Comprehensive Integrated Solutions (CIS), SOA Gateways and API management environments.
The Connectivity Infrastructure was designed as a number of connected Access Points and was used by the Pilots implemented in the Value Added Services Work package, namely the IBI pilots and IFB & AK ecoTAURuS solution.
6 - Intermodal Terminal Eco-efficiency Calculator
This covered:
a. CO2 calculation method based on available state-of-the-art calculation methods and standards.
• All relevant guidelines, standards and calculation methods have been analysed. The ITEC method has been developed in conformance with the GHG protocol series, and follows a life-cycle approach. This is adequate to the EcoHubs main goals and in line with the newest requirements of life-cycle based methodologies of the European Commission.
• A compilation on other calculation tools for CO2 emission in the transport chain has been performed, proving the excellence of the ITEC approach.
• Other projects dealing with calculation and improving the CO2 footprint in the transport chain have been examined and taken into consideration.
Specification of key components:
• The specification of the calculator tool refers to the intermodal terminal as a functional entity. Thus, all processes within the terminal boundaries with relevance to energy consumption have been included. These cover the actual transport processes (e.g. truck and train movements, transhipments) as well as additional services (container depots, reefer storage, etc.) and infra-/suprastructure like offices or illumination.
• In addition to the direct consumption of energy, the supply of energy belongs to an overall carbon footprint calculation and optimisation. The integration of these aspects is secured by the life-cycle approach of the GaBi software.
Linking the clusters/applications/technologies to process related energy flows to model the system “intermodal terminal”.
• The ITEC approach follows the principle of splitting up the entire terminal operation into “main process groups”:
- Main process group 1 (“Arrival”) contains all the actions of the transport units along their way from the terminal boundary to the transhipment area. After the last step of these processes, the transport units are ready for loading/unloading.
- Main process group 2 (“Transhipment”) continues the terminal workflow with loading/unloading procedure. This includes all direct transhipments between rail and road as well as indirect transhipments via intermediate storage.
- Main process group 3 (“Intermediate operation”) considers additional rail operations (e.g. floating procedure, damaged wagon replacement).
- Main process group 4 (“Departure”) starts with the finalising of transhipment and contains all processes of the transport units until reaching the terminal boundaries for departure.
- Main process group 5 (“Additional services”) summarises all additional terminal service components directly associated with intermodal transhipment.
- Main process group 6 (“Terminal supply/disposal”) finally deals with all the energy consumption assigned to terminal infra- and suprastructure, illumination, office heating, etc.
Development of sub models addressing the CO2 footprint for new innovative measures and system components to improve the CO2 footprint; integration of data from port and inland terminals, selected according to the defined terminal clusters into the mode; integration of the additional system components and data in the developed model.
• For the calculation of energy consumption and CO2 emission, the main process groups are broken down into single processes. For each of these process steps, key parameters have been assigned; these are
- The technical equipment = energy consumer (e.g. locomotive, crane) with specific energy consumption (e.g. l Diesel per locomotive-hour);
- The requested operational effort (e.g. locomotive-hours, truck-km, crane lifts);
- The relevant volume and/or process frequency (e.g. TEU/d, trains/d).
• The resulting energy consumption for each process is calculated as a multiplication of the key parameters. The integration of measures designed to reduce the carbon footprint of the terminal is then realised by modification of these key parameters. For this purpose
- A database containing data of all kinds of technical equipment has been set up and is expanded successively;
- A comprehensive catalogue of improvement measures has been compiled.
b. Design and development of the prototype carbon footprint calculation tool.
• The transfer of the model into the ITEC tool is realised by using and adapting the GaBi software of PE international. The GaBi 6 software system guarantees a detailed analysis and assessment of environmental criteria including greenhouse gas emissions. Main items of GaBi are the life-cycle approach and a measure sensitive reporting of results.
• By linking this calculation model to a user interface, ITEC becomes an application which can be executed on personal computers. The application has been made available both as a web-based and a desktop version. Both versions provide the same interface structure and contain the same scope of functionalities and reports. The two main components of the ITEC tool are the user interface and the reporting.
- The user interface has been developed according to the main structure of the model (main process groups, see above). By default ITEC allows the comparison of three scenarios: the “Terminal Status Quo” and two “Terminal Reduction” scenarios (containing measures to reduce the carbon footprint). Sub-menus allow the specification of every operational and technical parameter of each single process. In total, up to 800 parameters might be specified on demand.
- The reporting of the carbon footprint calculations is provided in the i-report, which follows a top-down structure from the overall results of the entire terminal to the detailed results of dedicated single processes. This enables detailed identification of “hot spots” and of contributions of single greening measures. The ITEC i-report is generated automatically and consists of tables, graphic presentations and connecting text. It is available in PDF and in Word (rtf) format.
c. Test of the prototype and calibration of calculation parameters
• These test runs of the ITEC prototype were performed during spring 2014 at HaCon Company; according to general rules of quality assurance, they have been executed by experts in software testing with profound knowledge of the subject but without involvement into the programming work. The workflow for the test-runs consisted of three main parts:
- Preparation phase, dealing with the compilation of the main documents for the test-runs;
- Test of GaBi features (e.g. program installation, updating, management);
- Test of the ITEC prototype model: This is imbedded in the GaBi software and performs the calculations of energy consumption and GHG emission.
• In April 2014, the ITEC prototype could be declared as ready for first implementation.
d. Finalisation of the calculation tool, user feedback
• This first prototype was shown to representatives of all four demonstrator terminals on a workshop held in Frankfurt/Main on 8 April 2014. The model structure, the working methodology and the processes taken into account were approved; additional suggestions and ideas were provided to the ITEC team and have been incorporated into the further development of the tool.
• Until March 2015, ITEC has been applied successfully in the following terminals:
- Stockholm-Jernhusen,
- Neuss Trimodal (*),
- Bologna Interporto,
- Antwerp Zomerweg,
- Ljubljana,
- Antwerp Combinant (*).
• The (*) marked terminals were not part of the original EcoHubs project. By including them into the prototype calculation, the demonstration scope has been expanded substantially.
7 – Integrated Competitive Services
This work focused in the implementation of Value Added Services for Terminals, which drive the development of the generalised facilities and infrastructures. Performed an extended analysis of requirements of real business cases in Terminals and multimodal Operators, which are interested in applying collaborative approaches to improve the loading factor of the last mile, maximize their operational efficiency with the best utilization of their resources, by minimizing administrative effort in parallel with effecting facilitation of direct loading and unloading of goods.
Following the EcoHubs approach, the implementation of the Value Added Services the requirement was to identify business cases that cover the aspects of the vision, and in parallel to drive the development of the technologies introducing innovation.
The work performed involved:
a) The pilot scenario definition, supported by IFB and Andria Kombi which led to the creation of a service for the optimisation of the transfers between road and rail modes in terminals, producing mobile phones enabled collaboration between the terminals and the related transportation stakeholders, involving the drivers in the decision chain.
b) The business cases definition of IBI, involving the use of the Ecosystem publication and advertising services, dynamic status notifications to stakeholders for events and changes in the supply chain, collaboration consolidation scenarios of logistics supply chains for a region for the maximisation of the use of resources, and the possibility to outsource and extend the reach of mobile service units.
c) The description of the port of Koper scenario for Container Consolidation using information sharing and message transformations based on a Common Interchange Format of messages.
These Value Added Services scenarios tested the ecosystem concepts , highlighting the benefits of collaboration in producing innovative solutions in the supply chain.
8 – Measuring and Benchmarking System
A lightweight and flexible monitoring system was developed under this topic. The system is capable of capturing data from a variety of sources and it is capable of receiving data over a variety of protocols. Further, by maintaining a schema free design the system does not have strong dependencies on the message formats. This allows the metrics and KPI’s used by the terminal to easily incorporate data from external sources.
The core developed system was written in Scala and consists of the following components:
• An end point built using Apache Camel, which can receive messages in 80 protocols including HTTP, SOAP, FTP, EDI, SMTP or JMS and can convert these messages to Json.
• Esper complex event processing wrapped in an Akka actor which can extract useful information from sequences of messages.
• Storage of data in MongoDB
Additionally the system was further developed within the context of the IFB and AK demonstrators and integrated with the truck appointment system. Example dashboard visualisations were developed in this context for real-time monitoring, identification of utilisation, identification of temporal patterns and identifying haulage companies that are having problems adapting to the new system.
9 – Main EcoHubs demonstrators
The work undertaken under this topic carried out the demo activities for the various main EcoHubs demonstrators as specified in the following. IBI as Task Leader coordinated the task by providing the template for the reporting of the demonstration activities and consolidating the outputs.
The Green Network BOLANO: Consorzio IBI was responsible for such demonstration, where business cases satisfying the following Use Cases were demonstrated:
• UC1: Intermodal terminals as integral parts of the multimodal transport management;
• UC2: Intermodal terminals as dynamic service providers;
• UC3: Cargo consolidation in the terminal proximity network;
• UC4: Repair services sharing.
For all the Business Cases, the definition of Users, demo storylines and details on demo tool implementation were developed.
The related EcoHubs Tools developed by IBI in the EcoHubs framework were exploited:
• Transport/Terminal Services Publisher (T2SP) - open service, for the dynamic and unified publishing/ discovery/ updating of detailed terminal services weighted per time, cost and CO2;
• Cargo consolidation in the terminal network - based on "Proximity Network" concept, involving collaborative terminals supported by a consolidation tool;
• Repair Service sharing - publishing/ discovery/ reservation solution facilitating the optimised recovery of wagon damages on the spot.
For all the cases, a data collection activity in order to achieve availability of data to run the demonstrators and involvement of stakeholders was undertaken. Cooperation with Users for the provision of the information as well as familiarisation with the applications were also carried out.
The Cross-border Eco-Gateway Ljiubljiana: Adria Kombi demonstrated the following EcoHubs components:
• Container Interfacing and Consolidation System CCIS) – A system for sharing information with the Port of Koper to increase the capacity of the port without any investment in Physical infrastructure (Container Interfacing and Consolidation System – CCIS);
• Ecohubs Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting Status Services (ecoTAURuS) – A system for optimising operations in and around the terminal through seamless integration of truck appointments systems and consolidation of Unit status information;
• The ITEC calculator - the terminal eco-efficiency calculator.
Design of eco-modal hinterland logistics centre: IFB aimed to design the eco‐modal hinterland logistics center to practically improve its Zomerweg/ATO terminal in Antwerp, Belgium. The initial plans of IFB as demonstrator in EcoHubs were the creation of a logistic center acting as an interface between maritime and continental flows within the port of Antwerpen and the extension of the Antwerp Main Hub to allowing the operation of mixed trains carrying both maritime and continental transport units. As IFB decided in June 2013 to stop the operation of the Antwerp ‘Main Hub’, the initially intended creation of a logistic center was not be realized in the timeframe of EcoHubs. The demonstrator exploited then an analysis of the current situation to finally clearly define and describe the functions of the new terminal, and of the new processes and services offered to the various stakeholders involved. In this analysis, the following EcoHubs Tools were applied:
• the Eco‐efficiency Calculator
• the Measuring and Benchmarking System.
• the EcoHubs Ecosystem facilitated the interaction between road hauliers, seaport, hinterland terminal, authorities and other stakeholders involved.
10 – Extended demonstrators with related prtojects
EcoHubs created a cloud based infrastructure and ecosystem which was used to demonstrate Value added services in two related projects, namely: iCargo and Contain. The work performed included the adjustment and integration with the InleHUB ecosystem of the following services:
• iCargo CO2 Calculator IT is a dynamic calculator tool which enables the calculation of greenhouse gases and energy consumption per transport leg, taking as input the vehicle types and the trip-leg planned for the vehicle. This services also utilizes the Access Points architecture and the messages passing are ISO 19845 standard TSD messages.
• T2SP - Terminal & Transport Services Publisher involving terminal publication capabilities, to define and advertise the services offered by a Terminal. Through InleHUB the terminal capabilities can be promoted to a wider transport community regarding logistics, administrative services, and their environmental profiles.
• RSP - Repair service Publisher involving publishing and real time management of wagon repair workshops (regular or mobile). It allows advertisement and distribution of services via InleHuB of the utilization of wagon repair services activities around a geographical area, the better organization of resources and technical team coordination.
• Re-planning CONTAIN transport chain, involving services for major incidents taking place in a terminal which lead to re-planning. Such incidents usually result into serious delays in the handling of cargo services. Using this service a terminal pushes to T2SP the updated terminal characteristics.
Potential Impact:
1 – Summary
The vision of EcoHubs was to create the mechanisms to enable the terminals of the future to take a more active value-‐adding role in the transportation chain. This will be facilitated by a number of solutions in the areas of:
• Collaborative environment & models;
• ICT infrastructure;
• CO2 assessment; and,
• Measuring tools
Below we illustrate the benefits that will accrue to the various actors from the results of EcoHubs.
The actors are of two types: there are, first, the end-‐users who will benefit from the implementation of the results and there are also, secondly, the product sellers who will benefit financially from the sales of the products to outsiders.
Summarizing what is presented in detail below, EcoHubs will lead to:
• A 20% increased capacity in the Port of Koper;
• A 15% increased capacity for Adria Kombi;
• An increase in turnover of between 1.6 and 2.3 million euro for Adria Kombi;
• Savings of many millions of euro in each of the 4 Use Cases in the Bolano demonstrator;
• Savings of over 800 thousand euro a year in IFB;
• A CO2 footprint reduction of 56% in Jernhusen;
• A payback period of less than 2 years for BMT and Inlecom not just for all investment made in EcoHubs but also for investment made outside of the project to enhance the market potential both in Europe and in Asia;
• A payback period below 2 years for Marlo and for Sintef;
• A payback period of 3 years for the ITEC core partners;
• Similar benefits being achieved by UIRR members not in the project to those presented above for the UIRR members who are partners in EcoHubs.
It is therefore clear that EcoHubs justifies the investment made by the partners and the EC, without which these results would have been unattainable.
2 – End-user-led Economic Impact
2.1 - IFB
The Zomerweg terminal is an old terminal that has to cope with different constraints inherited from the past. In the same time, the Zomerweg extended its activities to the ATO terminal. This extension brought the Zomerweg from a bimodal (road-‐rail) to a trimodal (shortsea, road-‐rail) terminal including large scale stuffing activities.
As a demonstrator, the expectations of IFB in EcoHubs were various and multiple. First, the measurement of the CO2 footprint has a twofold objective: the revision of some processes and infrastructure in order to optimise the operations and as marketing tool. Secondly, the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution will be deployed in order to ease the accommodation of trucks on the terminal and improve terminal operations.
As all terminals, the Zomerweg potentially generates nuisances on the public road and traffic. At infrastructure level, an entrance parking has been build allowing to avoid any congestion on the public road and to improve the access towards the gates of the terminal. Proactive checks are done and trucks proceed towards the terminal when all controls are ok. Also, trucks proceed towards a specified gate allowing to minimise movements of trucks and idle handling moves on the terminal.
Without a binding framework with regard to CO2 footprint the use of the CO2 calculator is limited to the willingness and own policy of each actor in the market. The way customers uses intermodal terminal and intermodal transport services has an impact on the CO2 footprint of the supply chain. The results from the CO2 calculator combined to those of other calculators like EcoTransit reflect the behaviour of logistic companies when choosing for transport options. These results should be communicated to the customer when choosing a transport option and confirmed on the invoices. The communication may be extended to a kind of ranking where “the best of the class” could be rewarded.
Terminal Zomerweg intends to demonstrate the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution. The application is designed to support both terminal operators and trucking companies optimise their operation and at the same time their environmental performance.
It is expected that by implementing the ecoTaurus truck appointment system the variability of traffic volume can be reduced by 20-40%. This reduction in the variability of demand will reduce queuing delays and capacity requirements throughout the process. This will result in direct benefits for the terminal in terms of a reduction the number of Dockers required for the current average volumes by 0.5 FTE (equivalent to €100k year on year saving) and a 50% reduction in the space required for parking with an alternative use value of €260k. Administrative costs will also be reduced not only by load balancing but also by automating check-in resulting in an overall saving of €50k in administration costs.
Further, by using the appointments system to improve coordination between road and rail sides IFB expects to increase the direct loading ratio by 20% i.e. from its current level of 30% to 50%, which based on 3 minutes per unit move is expected to save approximately 1hr of work per shift leading to an overall saving of €400k per year.
Measurements of these indicators will be done not only through the Terminal Operating System (TOS-Interman) which will capture internal terminal information but also though the use of EcoHubs’ MetricHub to capture information on the entire process including those events which are external to the terminal, for example the length of the pre-check in queue, which is not currently captured.
As well as the direct savings for the terminal through improved operational performance, implementation of the system will also result in benefits for hauliers and shippers in terms of reduced turn around times and increased utilisation of assets. At the same time, reducing the idle time of trucks within the terminal and the number of indirect moves will reduce CO2 emissions. By monitoring the trucks though the app and MetricHub this information can be captured from and communicated to these external stakeholders.
IFB also sees potential to market the improved system as an integrated module within Interman TOS which is already in use in the major continental terminals of Port of Strasbourg, Contargo and 15 other terminals including, TC AThus, ETGE Genk, ATO Antwerp, and Port of Barcelona.
2.2 – Adria Kombi
Adria Kombi (AK) provides Combined Transport services. The operations include domestic and cross-border activities, essentially using the Ljubljana terminal as a gateway between South-East and North-West Europe.
Adria Kombi is the largest client of the port of Koper, handling approximately 60% of the container traffic through the port by Rail.
The total traffic volume that Adria Kombi is handling in the Port of Koper reached 200.000 TEU in 2013. The majority of Intermodal units are transported with Shuttle or Block trains abroad. In the year 2013 Adria Kombi handled some 4000 trains through the terminal in Port of Koper.
Between Koper Port and the Ljubljana Container Terminal, the total volume reaches approximately 50.000 TEU per year, where 80% is for distribution within Slovenia and 20% is transferred to other European destinations. Approximately 70% of all Ljubljana Container Terminal Cargo Volume originates in the port of Koper.
The most important optimization motive is that the infrastructure in Port and Railway at present stage is not allowing the trend of growth of volumes through Koper without a major change in the share of Containers within the Port “Cargo Diversity Pie”.
The Port of Koper is a Multi-Purpose Port and the containers reached some 32,5% of total throughput of all Port’s terminals, measured in tones in 2013. The total number of Cargo trains per day from/to Port of Koper on peaks reaches 65 Trains of which only 26 are intermodal trains, the rest are conventional cargo trains.
Therefore it is of the utmost importance to shorten the time needed for manipulations of intermodal trains. To achieve that without some major investments either in infrastructure, superstructure or even changes in information systems such as TOS etc., optimization and seamless information exchange is necessary.
The second important issue is the initiative to attract more Freight Forwarders and road transport companies to consider switching to intermodal. Here not only Maritime Intermodal Units are concerned but more emphasis lies on Continental Intermodal Traffic. To be able to offer affordable and one stop shop service, as the road transport actually is, there is the necessity to optimize the procedures where the two transport modes meet and make this shift (Truck/Train) as seamless as possible.
The CCIS solution developed in EcoHubs will enable the Port of Koper to increase capacity by 20% without doing any physical modification in the port terminal. This capacity can easily be filled through the shipping companies currently servicing the port.
For Adria Kombi, this means that the volume from Koper through the terminal in Ljubljana will increase form 35.000 containers per year to 42-45.000 containers per year.
In order to cope with this increased volume without significant investments or increases staff, the terminal operations in Ljubljana need to become more efficient as well. The ecoTAURuS solution is the system that will contribute to this. By introducing ecoTAURuS, Adria Kombi is able to reduce waiting times for trucks in the Ljubljana terminal, Hence it will be possible to handle an increased number of truck per day, thereby coping with the increased volume.
Implementation of the two ICT systems developed in EcoHubs will enable the cooperation between the Port of Koper and Adria Kombi to increase in volume without any investment in physical infrastructure. For Adria Kombi, the EcoHubs solutions will contribute to an increase of approximately 15% in total volume.
In monetary terms this means an increase of 1.6 to 2.3 M Euro in turnover, without any significant increase in cost of operation.
In addition, the cooperation between the port of Koper and Adria Kombi will emerge as an example for others in relation to have implemented horizontal collaboration between terminals within the supply chain.
2.3 - Jernhusen
As a demonstrator in EcoHubs, Jernhusen had the opportunity to get a measurement of the CO2 foot print of Stockholm Årsta Kombiterminal, the Green Urban Hub, before and after the transformation of the terminal from a reach stacker terminal to a crane terminal. Jernhusen’s obligation in the project was to physically implement the transformation of the terminal in order to allow for the “before” and “after” assessment. This is now fulfilled and the terminal has been up and running basically since the shift of the year 2013/14; the official public inauguration was in May 2014.
Apart from the change of handling equipment, the total area used for the terminal operations have been reduced and re-planned for more efficient use and better internal logistics. The measuring of energy consumers has also been segregated to a much further extent, which enables better input to the CO2 calculator.
The old terminal's CO2 footprint was already mapped based on data from already available measurements and estimates on the processes and energy use of the “before” case, though. Also the findings of the first months of the operation of the new terminals brought some measurements and data for the situation “after” the measures were implemented. Very gratifyingly, the data shows that Jernhusen has reduced the footprint by more than half (56 %). On an annual basis, this equates to about 55 car trips around the Earth.
This information is of course very useful in marketing The Green Urban Hub and Jernhusen in general. The vision of Jernhusen is to make a difference for people and for the environment. This kind of data shows that those are not only words but part of our daily work and that positive results are achieved. Efforts to strengthen the brand are of course hard to measure in monetary terms but theoretically, for a company like Jernhusen, that own real estates to a market value of approximately one Billion Euro, a small change in the attractiveness of the brand can actually make a big difference.
Further benefits we see for the Green Urban Hub is that the EcoHubs tool for mapping CO2 emissions visualizes the individual processes' impact on the environment. This means that it is possible to continue to develop and improve the terminal's environmental impact when more process data has been collected over a longer period (at least one year). Again, based on the preliminary results mentioned above, the yearly consumption might already have been reduced by 56 %, by the transformation of the terminal, which could mean many ten thousands of Euros in yearly cost savings.
The result of the CO2 calculation tool is also useful in visualizing the environmental improvements internally at Jernhusen. The CO2 calculator enabled us to report benefits that are not taken into consideration in the standard internal environmental reporting of projects.
The intention is of course to use the CO2 calculation tool in future terminal development projects. The Green Urban Hub is Jernhusen´s first state of the art terminal but we aim to realize more crane terminals in the future, the plan is to start with Malmö Kombiterminal.
We take the opportunity to disseminate the results in conferences and in other official contexts. We were really eager to get the first results duly in order to present it at the opening ceremony of the terminal. The initial result was explained to the audience and information about the project and the result was included in the press release that was given to the Swedish press before the ceremony. This resulted in two news articles so far, where one of them explicitly write about EcoHubs and the CO2-calculator. “Intelligent Logistik” is a trade magazine for companies in the business of transport and logistics.”Lokalnytt” is merely targeting real estate management companies. There were approximately a hundred attendants at the opening ceremony, of which many are terminal owners, operators or users.
Jernhusen also arrange terminal meetings where the operators of all Jernhusen owned terminals are represented. In this group, more detailed result will of course be presented.
3 – Suppliers-led Economic Impact
3.1 – The Inlecom/BMT Economic Impact
The main product developed is the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution designed to support both terminal operators and trucking companies optimise their operation and at the same time their environmental performance.
ecoTAURuS comprises a set of versatile services (and where required interactive applications) that allow stakeholders (terminal operators, trucking companies, truckers, dispatchers, etc.) around a group of terminals to effectively optimize their operations through seamless integration of Terminal Operating Systems (TOS), Truck Appointment Systems and consolidation of Unit status data from multiple sources (multiple-TOSs, Trucker mobile interface).
The primary benefits, coming out of the use of ecoTAURuS, in all relevant categories will benefit Terminal Operations Optimization, Terminal Customer Experience, Connectivity, Terminal’s Public Image and Direct Application Selling Revenues. They will lead to:
- 20-40% reduced peak load;
- 30-50% reduced truck queues;
- Reduction in admin;
- Reduction in direct loading ratio;
- Higher customer satisfaction;
- Lower connection costs;
- Lower CO2 emissions;
- Better public image and
- More slots sold.
3.2 – The Marlo/SINTEF Economic Impact
Since the establishment of the operations that now constitute Marlo in 1997, SINTEF has been a strategic partner in a mix of commercial and research projects. Marlo staff has previously been instrumental in commercialising the results of such joint activities. This cooperation continues in EcoHubs.
The exploitation strategy of both companies is described in the following. Where SINTEF develop software or other “reproducible” results, these are taken over, marketed and sold through the Marlo network, and supported by Marlo. SINTEF receives a royalty for allowing Marlo to market and sale these products.
The target market for products and services developed in EcoHubs are all forms of European terminals and the terminals in the other countries where we have established activities.
There are approximately 1,000 inland terminals and 1,200 seaports in Europe.
Marlo offers access points as software as service and as products. Marlo’s access points use the same specifications as the ones developed in EcoHubs, hence stakeholders connected to Marlo’s access points can connect to stakeholders connected to access points provided by other organisations. DSV Road and Stena Lines have validated Marlo’s access points. Further developments will be required to comply with the EcoHobs specifications. These extra developments are funded solely by Marlo.
Having multiple providers of access points will give credibility to the EcoHubs ecosystem. The industry is normally not content with single supply.
The market for access points is much larger than the number of European terminals. There are more than 1 million enterprises involved in transport in EU 27, according to ”EU Transport in Figures – Statistical Handbook 2013”. Hence, the market is limited by:
• The general acceptance of the access point idea. This is not seen as a limiting factor, since the concept is being promoted by many and is being appreciated by the industry.
• Marlo’s ability to engage with potential client alone or through partners.
Access points are similar to e-mail servers, but they deal with structured information and provide a level of security that satisfies requirements for eGovernment. Because of t this analogy, the Marlo access points pricing is modelled after the Microsoft Exchange server and services.
According to available statistics, about 20% of vehicle kilometres driven in the EU Member States are performed by empty trucks. On average, trucks are half-empty. The average load factor of trucks (in terms of weight) is only 56%. In numbers, the cost saving potential in transport logistics of 100-300 billion EURO p.a. Terminals may play an increasing role in ensuring that trucks and other vehicles are utilised better.
3.3 – The Economic Impact of the Eco-Efficiency Calculator
The main prerequisite for economic impact assessment is the identification, the elaboration and the communication of advantages for the market going along with the (new) product. In this respect the following main aspects became apparent during applications and presentations of the calculator:
• The scope of ITEC closes the knowledge gap to line oriented CO2 calculators and standards (e.g. CEN 16258); this is due to the approach to understand the terminal as a functional entity, incorporating all operations and processes leading to energy consumption and CO2 emission.
• The ITEC can be used ad hoc. No data interfaces to terminal management or other systems are needed; there are no requirements concerning expected IT terminal systems or data exchange formats.
• ITEC allows very detailed capturing of all energy relevant processes possible. On demand some 800 parameters might be modified. In most cases however, the actually needed number of parameters is particularly lower.
• In case of missing terminal specific parameters, experience figures and model calculations are available. As the first applications showed, these approximation figures are very close to reality and to the experiences of the terminal operators. This means that missing terminal specific data does not prevent ITEC applicableness.
• ITEC allows ex-ante and ex-post analyses of single “greening” measures (e.g. replacement of transhipment facilities modified rail/road infrastructure, new road check-‐in or wagon repair procedure) and is therefore suitable to ensure proper investments in greening measures.
• ITEC calculation provides not only the total carbon footprint of a terminal or the total “greening” effect of dedicated measure, but also detailed results:
Identification of “hot spots” (e.g. by processes or mode),
Explanation of deviating carbon footprint of terminals,
Evaluation of greening impact of (single) measures or measure bundles;
• Use of proven GaBi software is in line with relevant standards (e.g. CEN 16258) and respective methodical basics:
1st priority: use of exact, measured data,
Next priority: use of analogy methods and average figures.
• Reports on results (Word/PDF) are generated automatically.
• The i-report allows for visualisation of effects deriving from parameter modifications on the spot.
• GaBi also stands for the consideration of a (country/terminal) specific mix for energy providing.
• ITEC can be provided as desktop and as web application.
• Standardised templates allow for time saving data gathering (energy consumers and their specific consumption) by the terminals.
• Operational procedures can be clarified with terminal operators via video/telephone conference, using standardised check-‐lists (experience value: ca. 2 h).
List of Websites:
Public website address: www.ecohubs.eu
Contact:
Dr Fernando Caldeira-Saraiva
Research Director
BMT Group Ltd
1 Waldegrave Road
Teddington
Middx TW11 8LZ
UK
Tel: +44 208 943 5544
e-mail: fernando@bmtmail.com
The EU funded EcoHubs R&D project (Environmentally COherent measures and interventions to debottleneck HUBS of the multimodal network favoured by seamless flow of goods) has successfully delivered a number of proven ICT tools which can increase capacity at ports and terminals, and can lead to significant reductions in carbon footprint.
Designed to support “Resource Efficient Europe”, the flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 Strategy, EcoHubs has researched and developed the tools required for sustainable freight transport and logistics networks as part of a smart, safe, environmentally friendly and inclusive EU economy.
Adria Kombi, a leading combined transport operator in Slovenia is deploying the CCIS (Container Interfacing and Consolidation System) tool in conjunction with the ecoTAURuS (Ecohubs Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting Status Services) system at the Port of Koper and estimates that when fully implemented, this will lead to a 20% increase in capacity. This increase requires no additional physical infrastructure investment and an improvement of throughput by 15%, equating to a 1.6 – 2.3 Million Euros in turnover can be realised.
As part of its efforts to provide a complete CO2 footprint measuring system which can calculate and declare the energy consumption and GHG emissions of transport services, EcoHubs also developed the ITEC (Intermodal Terminal Eco-Efficiency Calculator) tool. This tool bridges the knowledge gap of other CO2 calculators such as EcoTransit and standards including CEN 16258 which do not consider the warehousing and transhipment facilities.
To demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the ITEC tool, Jernhusen in Stockholm had the opportunity to obtain a measurement of the CO2 footprint of Stockholm Årsta Kombiterminal, the Green Urban Hub, before and after the transformation of the terminal. The data highlighted that Jernhusen has reduced the footprint by more than half, 56%. On an annual basis, this equates to approximately 55 car trips around the Earth.
The project has also developed: Transport & Terminal Services Publisher (T2SP) for the dynamic and unified publishing/discovery/updating of detailed terminal services; Proximity Network Management (PNM) which enables the collaboration among terminals and is being deployed at Interporto Bologna; Repair Services Publisher (RSP), to share equipment for improved wagon repair services and MetricHub a system for capturing, calculating and sharing metrics which allows customers to drive continuous improvement among collaborative networks.
Project Context and Objectives:
The aim of EcoHubs was to provide models and capabilities for cooperation and communication between multimodal terminal network stakeholders, amplifying thus their joint capabilities. It also aimed to create Common Value Added Services which, combined with existing services, would facilitate end-to end co-modal, low-CO2 transport solutions to maximise the utilisation of terminal and logistics resources and transform multimodal terminals into Green Hubs.
The services created in EcoHubs included a multimodal terminal eco-efficiency calculator which provides the missing carbon footprint information in multimodal terminal networks; integrated competitive services for managing improvements in eco-efficiency; and a Measuring System to provide the means for long term monitoring of greening activities.
Terminal Owners and Operators, Freight Forwarders and Shippers who organize their own transport operations are project stakeholders and the direct target audience for EcoHubs results.
EcoHubs Demonstrators took place across several representative operating scenarios in four Business Cases through terminals in Italy, Sweden, Slovenia and Belgium. By allowing the industry stakeholders to drive EcoHubs, the output solutions addressed the real needs of this sector in a cost-effective way. Cooperation with existing research projects enabled evaluation of the approach in the overall context of co-modal transport and provided data for measuring the actual impact.
EcoHubs also implemented its Vision for cooperation and communication between terminal network stakeholders and translated this vision into the creation of the Green Hubs Cooperative Model and the Value Added Services to facilitate the greening of hubs. These were the basis for the EcoHubs Demonstrators and the exploitation objectives of the commercial partners of the project.
Once the modules and the demonstrators were in place, the partners embarked on an ambitious dissemination programme to bring the results to a wide audience in Europe.
Project Results:
The work in EcoHubs covered the following main points:
1 – Elaboration of the EcoHubs Vision
Industry trends and stakeholder analysis carried out under this topic indicated
• the economic need for intermodal terminals to change their passive role in transport-chains and corridors into an active one
• the environment need to adopt environmental issues linked as much s possible to operational efficiency improvements
It was the conclusion of the work carried out that the successful terminal of the future should take an active value-adding role in the transport chain. It should act as an economically and ecologically sustainable link contributing measurable to the overall efficiency of intermodal transport-chains.
Further it should be capable of quickly reconfiguring its service offerings in response to changing demand and requirements. This shift from a passive role to an active role in the intermodal will be based on four pillars:
• Collaborative environment & models
• ICT infrastructure
• CO2 assessment
• Measuring tools
2 – Collaborative environment and models
Collaboration covered in EcoHubs included:
• Supporting innovative bundling networks
• Share resources and assets
• Coordinating use of external resources
• Exchanging information
The first three of these can be termed functions to be performed, while the last one is facilitating the effectiveness of the first three.
The overall model for collaboration and the functions that need to be performed included:
• Establishing collaboration agreements – the starting point where all aspects of collaboration need to be defined, including commercial terms and conditions.
• Providing integrated logistics services – the functions required for managing efficient freight transport through the network of collaborating terminals. This function supports establishment and operations of “innovating bundling networks.
• Transport between collaborating hubs – this function handles all transport between the collaborating hubs using scheduled and non-scheduled services. It also includes local first- and last mile transport using trucks – in practice all truck movements that require slot time at the involved terminals.
• Sharing resources – reflects directly on “share resources and assets” from the EcoHubs Vision above.
The inputs to the establishment and operation of collaboration between hubs are:
• Forecasts. On the basis of interactions with existing clients and on analysis of the market, forecasts for goods to be moved through the region where the collaborating terminals are located.
• RFQs. These are requests for quotations received from potential clients, called Logistics Services Clients (LSCs).
• Bookings. These are bookings for movement of goods that may pass through the region.
• Payments. These are payments received from LSCs based on invoices provided.
• Claims. These are claims that are received from LSCs, which need to be reacted upon.
The results (outputs) of the collaboration are:
• Available integrated services. These are the integrated transport and logistics services offered through the network of collaborating hubs.
• Quotations. These are reactions to RFQs from LSCs.
• Confirmations. When the bookings have been received from LSCs, these are handled and confirmations provided (these may also be rejections).
• Status. Status of transport and logistics operations are provided to ensure that LSCs are continuously updated on progress and condition of cargo, according to the agreements made with them.
• Invoices. Invoices are issues to LSCs on the basis of the services provided and the agreements that have been made.
• Response to claims. When claims have been received, these are dealt with and responses are provided to LSCs.
The parameters that influence (controls) the process of establishing and operating collaboration between hubs are:
• Financial targets. These are the targets for profit of the FSI. These provide an important constraint when preparing and establishing transport and logistics services.
• Available services. These are available services that the FSI has available for composing chains. These may be individual services or integrated services. These services are published by LSPs and FSIs using the TSD. The FSI may therefore search for and find these services.
• Environmental strategy. This is the strategy of the FSI on environmental issues. It should support the EU Commission’s ambition related to reducing emissions in transport.
• Status. This control provides information about the status in logistics services that are used to compose chains.
• Infrastructure conditions. This is information about the infrastructure and its capabilities. It includes long-term modifications doe to maintenance, weather, etc.
• Rules and regulations. These are the relevant rules and regulations that guide the type of integrated transport and logistics services that the FSI might provide.
• Traffic conditions. This is essentially real-time information about traffic condition, congestions, accidents, etc.
3 – Ecosystem Business and Information Architecture
The work performed under this topic captured the concepts of the EcoHubs Ecosystem, as the place where all Business stakeholders will be able to connect, exchange information and interact. This starts from the Engagement roles of the stakeholders, and places them in the context of a DBE, stating the benefits, in efficiency, supply chain transparency, and economies of scale.
The definition of the ecosystem involved the:
• Access Points, where an ecosystem participant is able to connect once and transact with many within the Ecosystem, through a common or not type of messages.
• Services provided as Value Added Services by technology providers, with the goal to transform the ecosystem landscape into an effective business tool, reducing the barriers to entry, and accelerating the benefits from functions, processes and tools currently beyond reach to the tight budgeted SMEs.
The work for gathering the project concepts, for analysis, design scenarios, and presentation was based on Archimate 2.1 modelling language, and the TOGAF 9.1 Enterprise Architecture analysis framework. Furthermore, the work involved the study of change management and SOA governance issues.
4 – Core Green Hubs Process Interfaces
EcoHubs placed emphasis on use and development of the Common Framework for ICT in Transport and Logistics (Common Framework for short).
The work under this topic created both software and a report. The software supports automated translation between different formats used at different terminals and is an essential part of the CCIS product. The report describes:
• The interoperability problem that arises when different terminals use different data formats, and shows how this can be addressed without the need to update legacy systems, through use of software that automatically transforms between different formats. It describes different possible approaches to producing such transformations:
1. Manual programming of transformations;
2. Use of advanced tools to automatically generate transformations, based on human input describing each transformation;
3. A variant of (2) that transforms in two stages via a CIF (Common Interchange Format), dramatically reducing the number of transformations that are needed to support interoperability between multiple formats.
• Approach number (3), as implemented in the project. The CIF (Common Interchange Format) used in implementing approach 3 was the same as the Common Framework (i.e. the ISO/IEC DIS 19845 standard). In this way, we benefited from the standardized formats without the need for any existing systems to be modified.
• How the solution was used to actually generate transformation software and summarizes the lessons learned related to this.
5 – EcoHubs Communication Infrastructure
The work performed resulted in the specification and design of the connectivity Infrastructure. It was targeted at an audience of IT architects, designers and developers.
The work involved the study of currently available options, using as a reference the projects iCargo and eFreight. Driven by communications standards employed by the project partners, the work involved the consideration EDI, which however, leaves significant space for business process integration, and is not the best to apply in order to manage communities through an ecosystem, as it is mainly a peer to peer connection. We also thoroughly studied current trends on Comprehensive Integrated Solutions (CIS), SOA Gateways and API management environments.
The Connectivity Infrastructure was designed as a number of connected Access Points and was used by the Pilots implemented in the Value Added Services Work package, namely the IBI pilots and IFB & AK ecoTAURuS solution.
6 - Intermodal Terminal Eco-efficiency Calculator
This covered:
a. CO2 calculation method based on available state-of-the-art calculation methods and standards.
• All relevant guidelines, standards and calculation methods have been analysed. The ITEC method has been developed in conformance with the GHG protocol series, and follows a life-cycle approach. This is adequate to the EcoHubs main goals and in line with the newest requirements of life-cycle based methodologies of the European Commission.
• A compilation on other calculation tools for CO2 emission in the transport chain has been performed, proving the excellence of the ITEC approach.
• Other projects dealing with calculation and improving the CO2 footprint in the transport chain have been examined and taken into consideration.
Specification of key components:
• The specification of the calculator tool refers to the intermodal terminal as a functional entity. Thus, all processes within the terminal boundaries with relevance to energy consumption have been included. These cover the actual transport processes (e.g. truck and train movements, transhipments) as well as additional services (container depots, reefer storage, etc.) and infra-/suprastructure like offices or illumination.
• In addition to the direct consumption of energy, the supply of energy belongs to an overall carbon footprint calculation and optimisation. The integration of these aspects is secured by the life-cycle approach of the GaBi software.
Linking the clusters/applications/technologies to process related energy flows to model the system “intermodal terminal”.
• The ITEC approach follows the principle of splitting up the entire terminal operation into “main process groups”:
- Main process group 1 (“Arrival”) contains all the actions of the transport units along their way from the terminal boundary to the transhipment area. After the last step of these processes, the transport units are ready for loading/unloading.
- Main process group 2 (“Transhipment”) continues the terminal workflow with loading/unloading procedure. This includes all direct transhipments between rail and road as well as indirect transhipments via intermediate storage.
- Main process group 3 (“Intermediate operation”) considers additional rail operations (e.g. floating procedure, damaged wagon replacement).
- Main process group 4 (“Departure”) starts with the finalising of transhipment and contains all processes of the transport units until reaching the terminal boundaries for departure.
- Main process group 5 (“Additional services”) summarises all additional terminal service components directly associated with intermodal transhipment.
- Main process group 6 (“Terminal supply/disposal”) finally deals with all the energy consumption assigned to terminal infra- and suprastructure, illumination, office heating, etc.
Development of sub models addressing the CO2 footprint for new innovative measures and system components to improve the CO2 footprint; integration of data from port and inland terminals, selected according to the defined terminal clusters into the mode; integration of the additional system components and data in the developed model.
• For the calculation of energy consumption and CO2 emission, the main process groups are broken down into single processes. For each of these process steps, key parameters have been assigned; these are
- The technical equipment = energy consumer (e.g. locomotive, crane) with specific energy consumption (e.g. l Diesel per locomotive-hour);
- The requested operational effort (e.g. locomotive-hours, truck-km, crane lifts);
- The relevant volume and/or process frequency (e.g. TEU/d, trains/d).
• The resulting energy consumption for each process is calculated as a multiplication of the key parameters. The integration of measures designed to reduce the carbon footprint of the terminal is then realised by modification of these key parameters. For this purpose
- A database containing data of all kinds of technical equipment has been set up and is expanded successively;
- A comprehensive catalogue of improvement measures has been compiled.
b. Design and development of the prototype carbon footprint calculation tool.
• The transfer of the model into the ITEC tool is realised by using and adapting the GaBi software of PE international. The GaBi 6 software system guarantees a detailed analysis and assessment of environmental criteria including greenhouse gas emissions. Main items of GaBi are the life-cycle approach and a measure sensitive reporting of results.
• By linking this calculation model to a user interface, ITEC becomes an application which can be executed on personal computers. The application has been made available both as a web-based and a desktop version. Both versions provide the same interface structure and contain the same scope of functionalities and reports. The two main components of the ITEC tool are the user interface and the reporting.
- The user interface has been developed according to the main structure of the model (main process groups, see above). By default ITEC allows the comparison of three scenarios: the “Terminal Status Quo” and two “Terminal Reduction” scenarios (containing measures to reduce the carbon footprint). Sub-menus allow the specification of every operational and technical parameter of each single process. In total, up to 800 parameters might be specified on demand.
- The reporting of the carbon footprint calculations is provided in the i-report, which follows a top-down structure from the overall results of the entire terminal to the detailed results of dedicated single processes. This enables detailed identification of “hot spots” and of contributions of single greening measures. The ITEC i-report is generated automatically and consists of tables, graphic presentations and connecting text. It is available in PDF and in Word (rtf) format.
c. Test of the prototype and calibration of calculation parameters
• These test runs of the ITEC prototype were performed during spring 2014 at HaCon Company; according to general rules of quality assurance, they have been executed by experts in software testing with profound knowledge of the subject but without involvement into the programming work. The workflow for the test-runs consisted of three main parts:
- Preparation phase, dealing with the compilation of the main documents for the test-runs;
- Test of GaBi features (e.g. program installation, updating, management);
- Test of the ITEC prototype model: This is imbedded in the GaBi software and performs the calculations of energy consumption and GHG emission.
• In April 2014, the ITEC prototype could be declared as ready for first implementation.
d. Finalisation of the calculation tool, user feedback
• This first prototype was shown to representatives of all four demonstrator terminals on a workshop held in Frankfurt/Main on 8 April 2014. The model structure, the working methodology and the processes taken into account were approved; additional suggestions and ideas were provided to the ITEC team and have been incorporated into the further development of the tool.
• Until March 2015, ITEC has been applied successfully in the following terminals:
- Stockholm-Jernhusen,
- Neuss Trimodal (*),
- Bologna Interporto,
- Antwerp Zomerweg,
- Ljubljana,
- Antwerp Combinant (*).
• The (*) marked terminals were not part of the original EcoHubs project. By including them into the prototype calculation, the demonstration scope has been expanded substantially.
7 – Integrated Competitive Services
This work focused in the implementation of Value Added Services for Terminals, which drive the development of the generalised facilities and infrastructures. Performed an extended analysis of requirements of real business cases in Terminals and multimodal Operators, which are interested in applying collaborative approaches to improve the loading factor of the last mile, maximize their operational efficiency with the best utilization of their resources, by minimizing administrative effort in parallel with effecting facilitation of direct loading and unloading of goods.
Following the EcoHubs approach, the implementation of the Value Added Services the requirement was to identify business cases that cover the aspects of the vision, and in parallel to drive the development of the technologies introducing innovation.
The work performed involved:
a) The pilot scenario definition, supported by IFB and Andria Kombi which led to the creation of a service for the optimisation of the transfers between road and rail modes in terminals, producing mobile phones enabled collaboration between the terminals and the related transportation stakeholders, involving the drivers in the decision chain.
b) The business cases definition of IBI, involving the use of the Ecosystem publication and advertising services, dynamic status notifications to stakeholders for events and changes in the supply chain, collaboration consolidation scenarios of logistics supply chains for a region for the maximisation of the use of resources, and the possibility to outsource and extend the reach of mobile service units.
c) The description of the port of Koper scenario for Container Consolidation using information sharing and message transformations based on a Common Interchange Format of messages.
These Value Added Services scenarios tested the ecosystem concepts , highlighting the benefits of collaboration in producing innovative solutions in the supply chain.
8 – Measuring and Benchmarking System
A lightweight and flexible monitoring system was developed under this topic. The system is capable of capturing data from a variety of sources and it is capable of receiving data over a variety of protocols. Further, by maintaining a schema free design the system does not have strong dependencies on the message formats. This allows the metrics and KPI’s used by the terminal to easily incorporate data from external sources.
The core developed system was written in Scala and consists of the following components:
• An end point built using Apache Camel, which can receive messages in 80 protocols including HTTP, SOAP, FTP, EDI, SMTP or JMS and can convert these messages to Json.
• Esper complex event processing wrapped in an Akka actor which can extract useful information from sequences of messages.
• Storage of data in MongoDB
Additionally the system was further developed within the context of the IFB and AK demonstrators and integrated with the truck appointment system. Example dashboard visualisations were developed in this context for real-time monitoring, identification of utilisation, identification of temporal patterns and identifying haulage companies that are having problems adapting to the new system.
9 – Main EcoHubs demonstrators
The work undertaken under this topic carried out the demo activities for the various main EcoHubs demonstrators as specified in the following. IBI as Task Leader coordinated the task by providing the template for the reporting of the demonstration activities and consolidating the outputs.
The Green Network BOLANO: Consorzio IBI was responsible for such demonstration, where business cases satisfying the following Use Cases were demonstrated:
• UC1: Intermodal terminals as integral parts of the multimodal transport management;
• UC2: Intermodal terminals as dynamic service providers;
• UC3: Cargo consolidation in the terminal proximity network;
• UC4: Repair services sharing.
For all the Business Cases, the definition of Users, demo storylines and details on demo tool implementation were developed.
The related EcoHubs Tools developed by IBI in the EcoHubs framework were exploited:
• Transport/Terminal Services Publisher (T2SP) - open service, for the dynamic and unified publishing/ discovery/ updating of detailed terminal services weighted per time, cost and CO2;
• Cargo consolidation in the terminal network - based on "Proximity Network" concept, involving collaborative terminals supported by a consolidation tool;
• Repair Service sharing - publishing/ discovery/ reservation solution facilitating the optimised recovery of wagon damages on the spot.
For all the cases, a data collection activity in order to achieve availability of data to run the demonstrators and involvement of stakeholders was undertaken. Cooperation with Users for the provision of the information as well as familiarisation with the applications were also carried out.
The Cross-border Eco-Gateway Ljiubljiana: Adria Kombi demonstrated the following EcoHubs components:
• Container Interfacing and Consolidation System CCIS) – A system for sharing information with the Port of Koper to increase the capacity of the port without any investment in Physical infrastructure (Container Interfacing and Consolidation System – CCIS);
• Ecohubs Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting Status Services (ecoTAURuS) – A system for optimising operations in and around the terminal through seamless integration of truck appointments systems and consolidation of Unit status information;
• The ITEC calculator - the terminal eco-efficiency calculator.
Design of eco-modal hinterland logistics centre: IFB aimed to design the eco‐modal hinterland logistics center to practically improve its Zomerweg/ATO terminal in Antwerp, Belgium. The initial plans of IFB as demonstrator in EcoHubs were the creation of a logistic center acting as an interface between maritime and continental flows within the port of Antwerpen and the extension of the Antwerp Main Hub to allowing the operation of mixed trains carrying both maritime and continental transport units. As IFB decided in June 2013 to stop the operation of the Antwerp ‘Main Hub’, the initially intended creation of a logistic center was not be realized in the timeframe of EcoHubs. The demonstrator exploited then an analysis of the current situation to finally clearly define and describe the functions of the new terminal, and of the new processes and services offered to the various stakeholders involved. In this analysis, the following EcoHubs Tools were applied:
• the Eco‐efficiency Calculator
• the Measuring and Benchmarking System.
• the EcoHubs Ecosystem facilitated the interaction between road hauliers, seaport, hinterland terminal, authorities and other stakeholders involved.
10 – Extended demonstrators with related prtojects
EcoHubs created a cloud based infrastructure and ecosystem which was used to demonstrate Value added services in two related projects, namely: iCargo and Contain. The work performed included the adjustment and integration with the InleHUB ecosystem of the following services:
• iCargo CO2 Calculator IT is a dynamic calculator tool which enables the calculation of greenhouse gases and energy consumption per transport leg, taking as input the vehicle types and the trip-leg planned for the vehicle. This services also utilizes the Access Points architecture and the messages passing are ISO 19845 standard TSD messages.
• T2SP - Terminal & Transport Services Publisher involving terminal publication capabilities, to define and advertise the services offered by a Terminal. Through InleHUB the terminal capabilities can be promoted to a wider transport community regarding logistics, administrative services, and their environmental profiles.
• RSP - Repair service Publisher involving publishing and real time management of wagon repair workshops (regular or mobile). It allows advertisement and distribution of services via InleHuB of the utilization of wagon repair services activities around a geographical area, the better organization of resources and technical team coordination.
• Re-planning CONTAIN transport chain, involving services for major incidents taking place in a terminal which lead to re-planning. Such incidents usually result into serious delays in the handling of cargo services. Using this service a terminal pushes to T2SP the updated terminal characteristics.
Potential Impact:
1 – Summary
The vision of EcoHubs was to create the mechanisms to enable the terminals of the future to take a more active value-‐adding role in the transportation chain. This will be facilitated by a number of solutions in the areas of:
• Collaborative environment & models;
• ICT infrastructure;
• CO2 assessment; and,
• Measuring tools
Below we illustrate the benefits that will accrue to the various actors from the results of EcoHubs.
The actors are of two types: there are, first, the end-‐users who will benefit from the implementation of the results and there are also, secondly, the product sellers who will benefit financially from the sales of the products to outsiders.
Summarizing what is presented in detail below, EcoHubs will lead to:
• A 20% increased capacity in the Port of Koper;
• A 15% increased capacity for Adria Kombi;
• An increase in turnover of between 1.6 and 2.3 million euro for Adria Kombi;
• Savings of many millions of euro in each of the 4 Use Cases in the Bolano demonstrator;
• Savings of over 800 thousand euro a year in IFB;
• A CO2 footprint reduction of 56% in Jernhusen;
• A payback period of less than 2 years for BMT and Inlecom not just for all investment made in EcoHubs but also for investment made outside of the project to enhance the market potential both in Europe and in Asia;
• A payback period below 2 years for Marlo and for Sintef;
• A payback period of 3 years for the ITEC core partners;
• Similar benefits being achieved by UIRR members not in the project to those presented above for the UIRR members who are partners in EcoHubs.
It is therefore clear that EcoHubs justifies the investment made by the partners and the EC, without which these results would have been unattainable.
2 – End-user-led Economic Impact
2.1 - IFB
The Zomerweg terminal is an old terminal that has to cope with different constraints inherited from the past. In the same time, the Zomerweg extended its activities to the ATO terminal. This extension brought the Zomerweg from a bimodal (road-‐rail) to a trimodal (shortsea, road-‐rail) terminal including large scale stuffing activities.
As a demonstrator, the expectations of IFB in EcoHubs were various and multiple. First, the measurement of the CO2 footprint has a twofold objective: the revision of some processes and infrastructure in order to optimise the operations and as marketing tool. Secondly, the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution will be deployed in order to ease the accommodation of trucks on the terminal and improve terminal operations.
As all terminals, the Zomerweg potentially generates nuisances on the public road and traffic. At infrastructure level, an entrance parking has been build allowing to avoid any congestion on the public road and to improve the access towards the gates of the terminal. Proactive checks are done and trucks proceed towards the terminal when all controls are ok. Also, trucks proceed towards a specified gate allowing to minimise movements of trucks and idle handling moves on the terminal.
Without a binding framework with regard to CO2 footprint the use of the CO2 calculator is limited to the willingness and own policy of each actor in the market. The way customers uses intermodal terminal and intermodal transport services has an impact on the CO2 footprint of the supply chain. The results from the CO2 calculator combined to those of other calculators like EcoTransit reflect the behaviour of logistic companies when choosing for transport options. These results should be communicated to the customer when choosing a transport option and confirmed on the invoices. The communication may be extended to a kind of ranking where “the best of the class” could be rewarded.
Terminal Zomerweg intends to demonstrate the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution. The application is designed to support both terminal operators and trucking companies optimise their operation and at the same time their environmental performance.
It is expected that by implementing the ecoTaurus truck appointment system the variability of traffic volume can be reduced by 20-40%. This reduction in the variability of demand will reduce queuing delays and capacity requirements throughout the process. This will result in direct benefits for the terminal in terms of a reduction the number of Dockers required for the current average volumes by 0.5 FTE (equivalent to €100k year on year saving) and a 50% reduction in the space required for parking with an alternative use value of €260k. Administrative costs will also be reduced not only by load balancing but also by automating check-in resulting in an overall saving of €50k in administration costs.
Further, by using the appointments system to improve coordination between road and rail sides IFB expects to increase the direct loading ratio by 20% i.e. from its current level of 30% to 50%, which based on 3 minutes per unit move is expected to save approximately 1hr of work per shift leading to an overall saving of €400k per year.
Measurements of these indicators will be done not only through the Terminal Operating System (TOS-Interman) which will capture internal terminal information but also though the use of EcoHubs’ MetricHub to capture information on the entire process including those events which are external to the terminal, for example the length of the pre-check in queue, which is not currently captured.
As well as the direct savings for the terminal through improved operational performance, implementation of the system will also result in benefits for hauliers and shippers in terms of reduced turn around times and increased utilisation of assets. At the same time, reducing the idle time of trucks within the terminal and the number of indirect moves will reduce CO2 emissions. By monitoring the trucks though the app and MetricHub this information can be captured from and communicated to these external stakeholders.
IFB also sees potential to market the improved system as an integrated module within Interman TOS which is already in use in the major continental terminals of Port of Strasbourg, Contargo and 15 other terminals including, TC AThus, ETGE Genk, ATO Antwerp, and Port of Barcelona.
2.2 – Adria Kombi
Adria Kombi (AK) provides Combined Transport services. The operations include domestic and cross-border activities, essentially using the Ljubljana terminal as a gateway between South-East and North-West Europe.
Adria Kombi is the largest client of the port of Koper, handling approximately 60% of the container traffic through the port by Rail.
The total traffic volume that Adria Kombi is handling in the Port of Koper reached 200.000 TEU in 2013. The majority of Intermodal units are transported with Shuttle or Block trains abroad. In the year 2013 Adria Kombi handled some 4000 trains through the terminal in Port of Koper.
Between Koper Port and the Ljubljana Container Terminal, the total volume reaches approximately 50.000 TEU per year, where 80% is for distribution within Slovenia and 20% is transferred to other European destinations. Approximately 70% of all Ljubljana Container Terminal Cargo Volume originates in the port of Koper.
The most important optimization motive is that the infrastructure in Port and Railway at present stage is not allowing the trend of growth of volumes through Koper without a major change in the share of Containers within the Port “Cargo Diversity Pie”.
The Port of Koper is a Multi-Purpose Port and the containers reached some 32,5% of total throughput of all Port’s terminals, measured in tones in 2013. The total number of Cargo trains per day from/to Port of Koper on peaks reaches 65 Trains of which only 26 are intermodal trains, the rest are conventional cargo trains.
Therefore it is of the utmost importance to shorten the time needed for manipulations of intermodal trains. To achieve that without some major investments either in infrastructure, superstructure or even changes in information systems such as TOS etc., optimization and seamless information exchange is necessary.
The second important issue is the initiative to attract more Freight Forwarders and road transport companies to consider switching to intermodal. Here not only Maritime Intermodal Units are concerned but more emphasis lies on Continental Intermodal Traffic. To be able to offer affordable and one stop shop service, as the road transport actually is, there is the necessity to optimize the procedures where the two transport modes meet and make this shift (Truck/Train) as seamless as possible.
The CCIS solution developed in EcoHubs will enable the Port of Koper to increase capacity by 20% without doing any physical modification in the port terminal. This capacity can easily be filled through the shipping companies currently servicing the port.
For Adria Kombi, this means that the volume from Koper through the terminal in Ljubljana will increase form 35.000 containers per year to 42-45.000 containers per year.
In order to cope with this increased volume without significant investments or increases staff, the terminal operations in Ljubljana need to become more efficient as well. The ecoTAURuS solution is the system that will contribute to this. By introducing ecoTAURuS, Adria Kombi is able to reduce waiting times for trucks in the Ljubljana terminal, Hence it will be possible to handle an increased number of truck per day, thereby coping with the increased volume.
Implementation of the two ICT systems developed in EcoHubs will enable the cooperation between the Port of Koper and Adria Kombi to increase in volume without any investment in physical infrastructure. For Adria Kombi, the EcoHubs solutions will contribute to an increase of approximately 15% in total volume.
In monetary terms this means an increase of 1.6 to 2.3 M Euro in turnover, without any significant increase in cost of operation.
In addition, the cooperation between the port of Koper and Adria Kombi will emerge as an example for others in relation to have implemented horizontal collaboration between terminals within the supply chain.
2.3 - Jernhusen
As a demonstrator in EcoHubs, Jernhusen had the opportunity to get a measurement of the CO2 foot print of Stockholm Årsta Kombiterminal, the Green Urban Hub, before and after the transformation of the terminal from a reach stacker terminal to a crane terminal. Jernhusen’s obligation in the project was to physically implement the transformation of the terminal in order to allow for the “before” and “after” assessment. This is now fulfilled and the terminal has been up and running basically since the shift of the year 2013/14; the official public inauguration was in May 2014.
Apart from the change of handling equipment, the total area used for the terminal operations have been reduced and re-planned for more efficient use and better internal logistics. The measuring of energy consumers has also been segregated to a much further extent, which enables better input to the CO2 calculator.
The old terminal's CO2 footprint was already mapped based on data from already available measurements and estimates on the processes and energy use of the “before” case, though. Also the findings of the first months of the operation of the new terminals brought some measurements and data for the situation “after” the measures were implemented. Very gratifyingly, the data shows that Jernhusen has reduced the footprint by more than half (56 %). On an annual basis, this equates to about 55 car trips around the Earth.
This information is of course very useful in marketing The Green Urban Hub and Jernhusen in general. The vision of Jernhusen is to make a difference for people and for the environment. This kind of data shows that those are not only words but part of our daily work and that positive results are achieved. Efforts to strengthen the brand are of course hard to measure in monetary terms but theoretically, for a company like Jernhusen, that own real estates to a market value of approximately one Billion Euro, a small change in the attractiveness of the brand can actually make a big difference.
Further benefits we see for the Green Urban Hub is that the EcoHubs tool for mapping CO2 emissions visualizes the individual processes' impact on the environment. This means that it is possible to continue to develop and improve the terminal's environmental impact when more process data has been collected over a longer period (at least one year). Again, based on the preliminary results mentioned above, the yearly consumption might already have been reduced by 56 %, by the transformation of the terminal, which could mean many ten thousands of Euros in yearly cost savings.
The result of the CO2 calculation tool is also useful in visualizing the environmental improvements internally at Jernhusen. The CO2 calculator enabled us to report benefits that are not taken into consideration in the standard internal environmental reporting of projects.
The intention is of course to use the CO2 calculation tool in future terminal development projects. The Green Urban Hub is Jernhusen´s first state of the art terminal but we aim to realize more crane terminals in the future, the plan is to start with Malmö Kombiterminal.
We take the opportunity to disseminate the results in conferences and in other official contexts. We were really eager to get the first results duly in order to present it at the opening ceremony of the terminal. The initial result was explained to the audience and information about the project and the result was included in the press release that was given to the Swedish press before the ceremony. This resulted in two news articles so far, where one of them explicitly write about EcoHubs and the CO2-calculator. “Intelligent Logistik” is a trade magazine for companies in the business of transport and logistics.”Lokalnytt” is merely targeting real estate management companies. There were approximately a hundred attendants at the opening ceremony, of which many are terminal owners, operators or users.
Jernhusen also arrange terminal meetings where the operators of all Jernhusen owned terminals are represented. In this group, more detailed result will of course be presented.
3 – Suppliers-led Economic Impact
3.1 – The Inlecom/BMT Economic Impact
The main product developed is the ecoTAURuS Truck Appointment & Unit Reporting status Solution designed to support both terminal operators and trucking companies optimise their operation and at the same time their environmental performance.
ecoTAURuS comprises a set of versatile services (and where required interactive applications) that allow stakeholders (terminal operators, trucking companies, truckers, dispatchers, etc.) around a group of terminals to effectively optimize their operations through seamless integration of Terminal Operating Systems (TOS), Truck Appointment Systems and consolidation of Unit status data from multiple sources (multiple-TOSs, Trucker mobile interface).
The primary benefits, coming out of the use of ecoTAURuS, in all relevant categories will benefit Terminal Operations Optimization, Terminal Customer Experience, Connectivity, Terminal’s Public Image and Direct Application Selling Revenues. They will lead to:
- 20-40% reduced peak load;
- 30-50% reduced truck queues;
- Reduction in admin;
- Reduction in direct loading ratio;
- Higher customer satisfaction;
- Lower connection costs;
- Lower CO2 emissions;
- Better public image and
- More slots sold.
3.2 – The Marlo/SINTEF Economic Impact
Since the establishment of the operations that now constitute Marlo in 1997, SINTEF has been a strategic partner in a mix of commercial and research projects. Marlo staff has previously been instrumental in commercialising the results of such joint activities. This cooperation continues in EcoHubs.
The exploitation strategy of both companies is described in the following. Where SINTEF develop software or other “reproducible” results, these are taken over, marketed and sold through the Marlo network, and supported by Marlo. SINTEF receives a royalty for allowing Marlo to market and sale these products.
The target market for products and services developed in EcoHubs are all forms of European terminals and the terminals in the other countries where we have established activities.
There are approximately 1,000 inland terminals and 1,200 seaports in Europe.
Marlo offers access points as software as service and as products. Marlo’s access points use the same specifications as the ones developed in EcoHubs, hence stakeholders connected to Marlo’s access points can connect to stakeholders connected to access points provided by other organisations. DSV Road and Stena Lines have validated Marlo’s access points. Further developments will be required to comply with the EcoHobs specifications. These extra developments are funded solely by Marlo.
Having multiple providers of access points will give credibility to the EcoHubs ecosystem. The industry is normally not content with single supply.
The market for access points is much larger than the number of European terminals. There are more than 1 million enterprises involved in transport in EU 27, according to ”EU Transport in Figures – Statistical Handbook 2013”. Hence, the market is limited by:
• The general acceptance of the access point idea. This is not seen as a limiting factor, since the concept is being promoted by many and is being appreciated by the industry.
• Marlo’s ability to engage with potential client alone or through partners.
Access points are similar to e-mail servers, but they deal with structured information and provide a level of security that satisfies requirements for eGovernment. Because of t this analogy, the Marlo access points pricing is modelled after the Microsoft Exchange server and services.
According to available statistics, about 20% of vehicle kilometres driven in the EU Member States are performed by empty trucks. On average, trucks are half-empty. The average load factor of trucks (in terms of weight) is only 56%. In numbers, the cost saving potential in transport logistics of 100-300 billion EURO p.a. Terminals may play an increasing role in ensuring that trucks and other vehicles are utilised better.
3.3 – The Economic Impact of the Eco-Efficiency Calculator
The main prerequisite for economic impact assessment is the identification, the elaboration and the communication of advantages for the market going along with the (new) product. In this respect the following main aspects became apparent during applications and presentations of the calculator:
• The scope of ITEC closes the knowledge gap to line oriented CO2 calculators and standards (e.g. CEN 16258); this is due to the approach to understand the terminal as a functional entity, incorporating all operations and processes leading to energy consumption and CO2 emission.
• The ITEC can be used ad hoc. No data interfaces to terminal management or other systems are needed; there are no requirements concerning expected IT terminal systems or data exchange formats.
• ITEC allows very detailed capturing of all energy relevant processes possible. On demand some 800 parameters might be modified. In most cases however, the actually needed number of parameters is particularly lower.
• In case of missing terminal specific parameters, experience figures and model calculations are available. As the first applications showed, these approximation figures are very close to reality and to the experiences of the terminal operators. This means that missing terminal specific data does not prevent ITEC applicableness.
• ITEC allows ex-ante and ex-post analyses of single “greening” measures (e.g. replacement of transhipment facilities modified rail/road infrastructure, new road check-‐in or wagon repair procedure) and is therefore suitable to ensure proper investments in greening measures.
• ITEC calculation provides not only the total carbon footprint of a terminal or the total “greening” effect of dedicated measure, but also detailed results:
Identification of “hot spots” (e.g. by processes or mode),
Explanation of deviating carbon footprint of terminals,
Evaluation of greening impact of (single) measures or measure bundles;
• Use of proven GaBi software is in line with relevant standards (e.g. CEN 16258) and respective methodical basics:
1st priority: use of exact, measured data,
Next priority: use of analogy methods and average figures.
• Reports on results (Word/PDF) are generated automatically.
• The i-report allows for visualisation of effects deriving from parameter modifications on the spot.
• GaBi also stands for the consideration of a (country/terminal) specific mix for energy providing.
• ITEC can be provided as desktop and as web application.
• Standardised templates allow for time saving data gathering (energy consumers and their specific consumption) by the terminals.
• Operational procedures can be clarified with terminal operators via video/telephone conference, using standardised check-‐lists (experience value: ca. 2 h).
List of Websites:
Public website address: www.ecohubs.eu
Contact:
Dr Fernando Caldeira-Saraiva
Research Director
BMT Group Ltd
1 Waldegrave Road
Teddington
Middx TW11 8LZ
UK
Tel: +44 208 943 5544
e-mail: fernando@bmtmail.com