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:
- Informative repositories
- Freight planning services
- Cargo/Truck booking platforms
- Auction platforms
- 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.
