Intelligent cargo ‐ enabling future’s sustainable and accountable transportation system
| Date | 01 August 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20425945201000016 |
| Published date | 01 August 2010 |
| Pages | 253-262 |
| Author | Henrik Sternberg,Andreas Hagen,Paolo Paganelli,Kent Lumsden |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management |
World Journal of Science, Technology & Sustainable Development, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2010
253
Copyright © 2010 WASD
Abstract: Today, the transport industry is facing increasing demands on reducing
both the environmental impact and cost of freight transports. Another demand,
coming from the end consumers, is the demand for ecological accountability,
so-called ecological foot-printing, meaning that the emission of every freight
movement is distributed to the freight. Previous research shows that transport
planning, system integration and control are some of the key factors to achieve
more sustainable transport setups. One of the major obstacles preventing these
factors is the complexity of international supply chains, with several involved
actors. Smart Freight is a holistic concept, integrating transport management and
state-of-the-art technologies for freight tracking and vehicle monitoring, in order
to enable improved management and accountability of freight transportation. The
purpose of this research is to explore how Smart Freight can be used to control,
track and reduce the environmental impact of goods transportation. This research
is based on two in-depth case studies and a demonstration prototype of one of
the studied transport setups. An extensive amount of data was collected between
2006 and 2008 through interviews, video filming, document studies, physical
travel with the freight flows, seminars, prototype building, literature and desktop
studies. The result of this research highlights the weaknesses in today’s control of
transport operations and presents a model for how Smart Freight enables a more
environmentally friendly and accountable transport system.
Keywords: transportation, intermodal, information sharing, information systems,
environment, smart freight.
Henrik Sternberg*1, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Andreas Hagen1, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Paolo Paganelli2, Insiel S.p.A, Cesare Battisti, Italy
Kent Lumsden1, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
INTELLIGENT CARGO – ENABLING
FUTURE’S SUSTAINABLE AND
ACCOUNTABLE TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
Environmentally effective logistics systems
are crucial to environmental sustainability
(Litman and Burwell, 2006). Freight trans-
port’s direct impact on the ecosystem is testi-
fied by its large carbon footprint, amounting
for over 14% of global green house gases
(GHG) emissions (Stern, 2007). Despite
policy support and industry investments
in favour of modal shift and inter-modal
freight transport, the unabated growth of
road transport continues. While attempts
to direct cargo toward environmentally
1* Chalmers University of Technology, Div. of Logistics and Transportation, 412 96, Göteborg, Sweden,
Email: Henrik.Sternberg@chalmers.se
2 Insiel S.p.A, Cesare Battisti, 25-27, 401 23, Bologna, Italy
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