Project to raise awareness of goods transportation costs

The collaborative two-year project aims to increase the awareness of the financial and environmental cost of transporting goods by road, rail, air and marine transportation modes for all stages of a consignment’s journey including the last mile.

This will be realised through the development of a standards-based data hub that will integrate data from vehicle tracking, consignment tracking and monitoring driver behaviour systems through a platform-independent, open application programme interface (API).

Data fusion and subsequent data analysis will then provide an opportunity for the partners in the project to develop new applications that will enable their customers to improve the efficiency of their transportation businesses.

The consortium of companies believes that the system will lead to a more effective use of the transport infrastructure through reduced congestion, reduced emissions and a better measurement of CO₂ emissions.

David Weatherby, senior consultant at GS1 UK, said: ’With many companies today focused on improving their supply chain efficiency to reduce carbon footprint and at the same time cut costs, the work of the ERTOC project is timely for transport and logistics operators and their customers. By improving the visibility of goods in the supply chain and providing access to standardised information, the project could drive significant benefits for the transport, logistics and retail sectors.’