Identification of Potentials for Modal Shift
At the end of 2017, the pilot tests of the developed ChemMultimodal toolbox among selected chemical companies, logistics service providers and terminal operators started. In the course of the pilots, partners stressed the collaboration with selected companies and aimed to select transport routes where infrastructures are adequate to increase multimodal transport, including short-sea haulage. The tests take place in each of the seven regions of the project partners. Since the start of the pilot stage, the project partners were able to attract more than 40 companies to work together and participate in the pilot activities.
Thanks to the pilot activities including workshops and face-to-face consultations, several partners already initiated shift of transport of chemical goods from road to multimodal transport. The pilot workshops organised in each partner region serve as cooperation platforms facilitating communication between chemical companies, terminal operators and logistics service providers about existing as well as planed multimodal activities and transport connections. In particular, bilateral meetings with company representatives have proven as very helpful in getting in touch with companies, gathering information, analysing their current transport situation and identifying potentials for increasing the share of multimodal transports. During the face-to-face meetings, elements of the toolbox have been applied to support project partners and companies in their search of possible multimodal connections. Especially the “Intermodal Links” planner has been very helpful in finding existing multimodal connections on routes that have been previously used only by road transport.
Selected routes for multimodal transport
All partners successfully identified routes that are currently used by 100 per cent road transport and are suitable for multimodal transport. At the 7th Transnational Working Group Meeting in Bratislava (7th- 8th March 2018), partners exchanged about achievements and each partner region presented good examples of routes that will be used for testing the shift road transport to intermodal transport.
CO2 Savings
After identifying suitable routes, the CO2 savings of multimodal transport can be calculated using the ChemMultimodal CO2 calculator and the environmental effects of modal shift achieved become visible. This saving is calculated as the difference between the complete truck solution and the pilot's estimated modal shift solution.
In fact, several partners found real CO 2 savings due to a shift from 100% road transport to combined transport. A good example refers to the Polish pilot project, one of the biggest chemical companies in Poland, which checked the CO2 emissions on one particular road and compared complete road transport with multimodal transport of the same route. It turned out that the company could manage to reduce its transport related CO2 emissions by 40% by shifting its transports to the more environmentally option by combining road, rail and short sea transport modes.
More Information about the project and results of the pilot phase can be found in the current issue of the logistics magazine "Gefährliche Ladung" (05/2018) (German only)
