In this unique situation, freight transport and logistics is on the “hot” spot. It is more visible than ever for all citizens why freight transport, logistics and supply chains are so important so we are able to access food, healthcare products, pharmaceuticals and all kind of goods needed to manage this situation.
The year ended very well with the announcement of the European Green Deal and the release of the Roadmap towards Zero Emissions Logistics 2050. We visited Mr Henrik Hololei, Director General at DG-MOVE, to hand in the roadmap and discuss potential next steps. We hold our ALICE/ERTRAC/ERRAC Urban Mobility working group meeting on the 31st of January, the Physical Internet workshop and Logistics in Horizon Europe Event February 12th and 13th, we started to go deeper in the Zero Emissions Roadmap: Fleet and Assets use Lowest Emissions Energy Sources Feasible section, we keep the POLIS & ALICE strategic dialogue meetings that were moved online on the last week of march, 1st and 2nd of April and were preparing the TRA Conference organization. As we have been informing you, all face 2 face activities have been cancelled or moved online, the planned Artificial Intelligence in Logistics Collaborative Innovation Day (has been postponed) and we have been busy to rearrange our plan of activities focussing on the same aspects and expected value but with a different approach as we cannot hold large in-person workshops at least until summer.
- Fleet and Assets use Lowest Emissions Energy Sources Feasible. We are collecting information and having small telcos/exchanges with selected players to understand existing experiences, challenges and what companies need to transition to new technologies relying in Low Emissions Energies. These are done in association with Smart Freight Centre / GLEC focussing on:
- Different fuel/energy sources (electricity, Hydrogen, LNG/CNG/LPG, biofuels) for different applications Urban/Long Haul.
- Calculating and reporting of emissions from different fuels/energy types.
- Urban Logistics. As announced in the Plenary, we are working together with ALICE leadership team and POLIS to develop a joint document on Urban Logistics so we can define an actionable framework for cities and industry on moving towards Zero Emissions City Logistics by 2030. On the 6th of May from 10.00 to 12.00 (Agenda and Registration) we will hold a webinar with all ALICE members to share the state of play of that document, gathering input and inform on other running activities within this theme including the results of our latest POLIS & ALICE web-meetings, the development on the Horizon Europe Mission on Cities, etc. ALICE members in this Theme will receive more information through e-mail soon.
- Supply Network Coordination and Collaboration. We are following up with interesting developments of the project in the Netherlands analysing the development in the last 10 years of Cross Chain Control Centers-4C. A preliminary study will be available end of April and will be presented and discussed with all ALICE members on the 7th of May from 10.00 to 12.00. (Register here)
- Horizon Europe Programme Preparations and Green Deal call. We have been quite actively involved in the preparation of the relevant partnerships proposals and recommendations as a result of previous discussions and our workshops in Vienna:
- 2ZERO partnership: aiming at climate neutral and tailpipe emission free road transport in Europe.
- CCAM-Connected, Cooperative Autonomous Mobility partnership (key to enrol: ALICE2020). Accelerate the implementation of innovative CCAM technologies and services. It aims to exploit the full systemic benefits of new mobility solutions enabled by CCAM: increased safety, reduced environmental impacts, and inclusiveness. On 23rd of April from 10.00 to 11.30 we participate in ALICE liaised project LEVITATE Webinar on the future impacts of automation in freight transport (Agenda and Registration) and will give a summary of our views on the partnership. You are all welcome!
- Tranforming Rail. Capitalizing on our Customers Requirements workshop in Vienna and participation in the impact assessment exercises we are in close dialogue with the EC and S2R.
- Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. We prepared a letter to the Board of the mission on freight transport and logistics contribution to the mission.
- Promote Logistics topics as discussed in Vienna event for the upcoming calls of the Horizon Europe.
- A Green Deal call with the remaining funds of the H2020 programme is in the oven. Still to be seen if it will go out due to prioritizing COVID-19 topics but there are a couple of interesting topics for ALICE, including a focus on Ports and Airports, Food Supply Chains, Circular Economy & Waste.
For those of you interested in a particular partnership, mission or subject, please let me know as we are creating specific groups in the Knowledge Platform/intranet on them so you can follow up and be involved easily. We are planning a Logistics in Horizon Europe & the Green Deal Call Webinar on the 27th of May from 15.30 to 17.30 (Agenda and Registration)