IIC Istituto Internazionale delle Comunicazioni

The efficient and effective transportation of goods is compromised by congestion at key transport hubs and ports. The difficulty of managing the flow of goods at these hubs is exacerbated during periods of high-traffic volume, whether transport is by road, rail, sea or air. Better integrating the use of alternative modes of transport is one approach to reducing congestion and can contribute to reducing negative environmental outcomes and meeting climate policy targets.
Information and communications technologies are critical to effective management of intermodal traffic, and innovation in the use of ICT—technological, process and policy based—offers to improve the efficiency of transportation services and the management of hub bottlenecks. One approach is the development of open access web-based services to match loads but can they be extended to help optimise choices of mode, routing and the transport operator? The logistics sector is in constant evolution, with the rise of third party logistics providers for example; what further innovation can be foreseen?
Discussions at the Round Table will be initiated by a set of papers by renowned experts with different backgrounds. Leading logistics and ICT experts, researchers and industry will then address these issues and take stock of the potential for ICT to change the way freight transport is organised.
The purpose of the Round Table is to provide a report on the potential for ICT to improve freight transport for policy-makers to consider at the 2010 International Transport Forum on Innovation and Technology: Unleashing the Potential, to be held 26-28 May 2010, in Leipzig, Germany.