Project Information

A new EU project entitled “Supporting EU’s Freight Transport Logistics Action Plan on Green Corridors Issues” (abbreviated name “SuperGreen”), with NTUA-LMT assuming the role of Coordinator, has started on Jan. 15, 2010. The 3-year project is a Coordinated Action supported by the European Commission (DG-TREN) in the context of the 7th Framework Programme. The purpose of the project is to promote the development of European freight logistics in an environmentally friendly manner. Environmental factors play an increasing role in all transport modes, and holistic approaches are needed to identify ‘win-win’ solutions.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the SuperGreen project concern supporting the development of sustainable transport networks by fulfilling requirements covering environmental, technical, economic, social and spatial planning aspects. This will be achieved by:
Benchmarking of Green Corridors Based on a total picture of relevant parameters (KPIs) like energy consumption and emissions, operational aspects and SCM issues, external costs (including social and spatial planning aspects), infrastructure costs and internal costs: identification of areas and candidates for improvement (i.e. bottlenecks).
“Green technologies”  Methods for improving the identified bottlenecks. Among the green technologies considered may be novel propulsion systems, alternative fuels, cargo handling technologies, new terminal technologies, cleaning technologies, heating and cooling technologies, or novel concepts of any kind relevant for the multimodal Green Corridors.
“Smarter” utilisation of ICT-flows already available in the multimodal chain may improve the identified bottlenecks and make the Green Corridors even greener. The influence of issues like e-freight, supply chain management, smarter planning (vehicle navigation technologies), scheduling and track & trace need to be considered.
Recommendations for R&D Where the available “Green technologies” and present knowledge about “Smarter utilisation of ICT-flows” are not sufficient to improve the identified bottlenecks, recommendations for future calls for R&D proposals will be suggested.
Policy Implications The implications of related regulatory policies on the possible solutions proposed by the project will be examined, so as to provide assistance to the Commission in the formulation and harmonisation of policies on Green Corridors.
Dissemination and Awareness Raising The project is paying particular attention to dissemination and creation of awareness on its results. This would involve liaison with stakeholders involved in the topics addressed by SuperGreen (infrastructure managers, transport and terminal operators, shippers, logistics operators, national and local authorities, etc.). It would also include the development of a dissemination plan, promotional material, workshops and other events with stakeholder participation.