Freight should be identifiable and locatable regardless of the mode it is transported on in the European Union. A necessary condition for this is that standard interfaces within the various transport modes are put in place and their interoperability across modes is assured. The European Commission has announced that it would create the appropriate legislative framework for the deployment of tracking and tracing technologies and other technological components contributing to the e-Freight concept, while ensuring the appropriate technical security for the protection of personal data and the compliance with data protection legislation.
The simplification of freight and transport information exchange could substantially reduce the cost of multimodal transport. This concerns in particular the possibility for economic operators to provide information only once – in electronic form – (“single window”) and to have the goods and vehicles controlled only once and at the same place (the much-debated “one stop administrative shop”).
Such development will require connecting and completing the networks for the exchange of information between administrations and for facilitating the access to this information by businesses. This vision of a paper-free, electronic flow of information associating the physical flow of goods with a paperless trail built by ICT includes the ability to track and trace freight along its journey across transport modes and, in line with the EU competition rules, to automate the exchange of content-related data for regulatory or commercial purposes. This will be made more practical and affordable by emerging technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and the use of global satellite navigation systems such as Galileo.
There current weaknesses and gaps in liability regimes are both within sectors and across sectors. The absence of a European liability regime for relations between railway undertakings and infrastructure managers represents a barrier to the entry on the rail market by operators of other Member States.
Information technology instruments should be broadly implemented within the primary transport network of the European Union to simplify administrative procedures, to localise and track goods, improve timetables and the traffic flow (e-Freight). These instruments should be encouraged by demanding their implementation within the TEN-T infrastructure and by progressively integrating modal systems.
“The e-Freight system for customer assistance has been developed especially for Rail Cargo Hungaria and its partners. The aim of the IT programme consists in ensuring the exchange of electronic data and revealing these data within the technological processes of the freight transport activity”, declared the representatives of Rail Cargo Hungaria.
The International Rail Transport Committee (CIT) believes that adopting the information technology is a method for rail undertakings to stay competitive. The faster they can answer to the customers’ demands, the better, this being the ultimate criterion in determining the customer’s choice of supplier.
A balance has to be drawn between security procedures fulfilling the highest requirements and the free flow of trade. For instance, the overall added value and the effects of full, 100% container screening on trade flows would have to be carefully considered before making decisions. Smart technologies can be used to avoid delays. Standardisation and best practice can be used to minimise the effects of security requirement on trade flows.
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