Editorial

Dear reader,

In the Balkan area, road freight transport activity appears a high share with more than 60% of national modal split for road transport. Therefore, there is a high necessity for innovative measures and new digital applications in order to assure competitive freight transport markets comparing to the average European level.

The SCOPE project aims to address inefficiencies and improve the performance of the road freight transport system in the Balkan area by providing a transnational, innovative and market-driven Freight Exchange Platform. In the context of the implementation of the SCOPE project, the first step involves (i) the assessment of local and transnational road freight transport conditions, (ii) the identification of needs and requirements of stakeholders and (iii) the indication of the critical issues.

Join us in this journey!

Afroditi Anagnostopoulou
Hellenic Institute of Transport / Centre for Research and Technology Hellas Senior Reseracher, SCOPE project coordinator

Project deliverables

D3.1 “STATE-OF-THE-ART & PRACTICE”

During the implementation of Interreg Balkan-med “SCOPE” project, a new modern freight exchange platform (FEP) will be developed that is expected to greatly facilitate the negotiation process applications – orders and offer a unique feature of cargo/truck search optimization tool according to the users’ needs. The users’ needs have been identified by investigating the current state-of-the-art algorithms provided and examining all the most recent state-of-practice applications developed for freight exchange transportation by key industry stakeholders.

During the deliverable D3.1 “State-of-the-art & practice” , a high-level categorization of the recorded freight exchange platforms (66 in total) has been made. The outcomes could offer indications on the key industry players’ requirements and potential clients’ goals on EU and Balkan level later on. The proposed categories are:

1. Informative repositories
2. Freight planning services
3. Cargo/Truck booking platforms
4. Auction platforms
5. Advanced freight services

These offered services will be considered during the development process and will be under discussion in the workshop to be held with selected carriers – supporters of the project activities.

D4.1 “SYSTEM’S HIGH-LEVEL ARCHITECTURE”

The deliverable completes the preliminary work of WP3 aiming at identifying users’ needs and requirements regarding SCOPE platform. Based on the local workshops organized in Albania, Greece and Bulgaria, this deliverable provided feedback from freight industry stakeholders and analyzed current business models in an attempt to facilitate the development of the platform’s high-level architecture.

Several services have been introduced to national freight industry stakeholders for examination, analysis and discussion:

• User account management
• Search for cargo (carriers) and for vehicle (shippers)
• Smart optimization algorithm
• Offer submission & Transaction process

Local working meetings

In the context of the SCOPE project, three local workings organized in each participated country.

• 1st hybrid (virtual & physical in Sofia, Bulgaria) local workshop organized by P4 – Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and took placeon 2nd of July 2020.
• 2nd virtual local workshop organized by the PP8 – Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy (Albania) and took place on 6th of July 2020.
• 3rd virtual local workshop organized by the PP2 – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & PP3 – Professionals’ Chamber of Thessaloniki (Greece) and took place on 8th of July 2020.

More than 60 representatives of industry, research and public authorities participated and fruitful outcomes and recommendations delivered regarding the development of SCOPE platform’s architecture and services.

Editorial

Dear reader,

The whole consortium of SCOPE (Shared freight transport services connecting shipper and carrier operations) project is pleased to welcome you to its first newsletter.

An efficient freight transport system is essential for supporting regional economic growth and competitiveness and plays an important role in productivity and the social welfare of the Balkan-Med region, where road freight transport is the predominant mode. Recent political stability and improvements of living standards have reactivated the commercial market between Balkan countries and reinforced trade with Europe. To this end, there is a pressing need to address current inefficiencies and improve the performance of the trucking sector. Challenges regarding productivity, capacity utilization (e.g. 60% of trucks return empty) and environmental sustainability, resource use mismatch and lack of coordination and fragmentation of activities render the need of a valuable tool to provide to its users access to new markets and customers. Heavy administrative procedures hinder seamless freight transport flows, especially between North European and Balkan countries, highlighting the need for adopting solutions that will provide efficient road freight transport services. Freight exchange platforms aim to address the aforementioned needs and requirements offering services of real added-value.

The SCOPE newsletter aims to keep you informed about the project’s progress, news, events and results.

Wishing you an enjoyable reading!

Afroditi Anagnostopoulou
Hellenic Institute of Transport / Centre for Research and Technology Hellas Senior Reseracher, SCOPE project coordinator

Description & Objectives

The Project “Shared freight transport services connecting shipper and carrier operations” with the acronym“SCOPE” is being implemented under the “Transnational Cooperation Programme Interreg Balkan -Mediterranean 2014-2020” and is co-funded by the European Union and National Funds of the participating countries. The Project Partnership includes 8 partners that come from 3 countries(Greece, Albania and Bulgaria).

SCOPE project aims to address existing inefficiencies and improve the performance of the road freight transport system in the Balkan-Med region by providing a transnational, innovative and market-driven freight exchange platform. The SCOPE platform will build upon available knowledge and experience and will carefully consider local and transnational road freight transport conditions, providing value-added services (operating cost estimation, routing applications, cargo monitoring, etc.) meeting its users’ needs and requirements, socio-economic and environmental benefits to its users; facilitating their access to new markets; improving their competitiveness; creating employment and investment opportunities.

The main objectives of SCOPE project include:

• The development of an innovative web-based platform that will facilitate shared road freight transport services efficiently connecting national and transnational shipper and carrier operations.
• The enhancement of territorial competitiveness and sustainability, thus contributing towards a more efficient business environment in Balkan-Med region.
• The early establishment of transnational cooperation between relevant industry stakeholders by creating business friendly conditions for the platform’s start-up and easy access to the market.

SCOPE Kick-off meeting

On 8th of November 2019, Interreg Balkan-med “SCOPE” project launched its work during a successful Kick-off-Meeting. The consortium consist of 8 members from Albania, Bulgaria and Greece. Throughout the event, the partners emphasized on the SCOPE project’s outcomes and agreed upon the future collaboration requirements and expectations. along with the upcoming working goals that should be reached.

Thanks also to the attendees, Stefan Kostadinov (BCCI), Dimitrios Nalmpantis (AUTh/TSRG), Pavlina Lazaridou (AUTh/TSRG), Vasiliki Amprasi (AUTh/TSRG), Evangelos Genitsaris (AUTh/TSRG), Aristotelis Naniopoulos (AUTh/TSRG), Arbi Hoxha (CCIT), Majlinda Lila (MIE), Pervin Pasholli (MIE), Ivo Tsarev (RIA Smolyan), Maria Baxevani (PCTh), Pavlos Kazantzidis (PCTh), Aneta Shehonova (SmCCI), Nedko Pashamov (RIA Smolyan) and Irina Kehayova (RIA Smolyan).

Lastly thanks to Dr. Maria Boile (CERTH-HIT) and the moderator Dr. Afroditi Anagnostopoulou (CERTH-HIT) for their speeches, presentations, photos and for hosting the event. We would like to thank all the participants that brought their expertise and experience, and engaged in the fruitful and constructive discussions.

Latest News

SCOPE publication about digitalizing freight transport services in Balkan area

The publication of a new article entitled “Digitalization in freight transport services: Balkan area”, by A. Akac, A. Anagnostopoulou (CERTH-HIT) and D. Nalmpantis (AUTh/TSRG) was submitted and presented in the 5th Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility Virtual CSUM2020.

Read more