Intermodal Logistics Centres and Freight Corridors – Concepts and Trends
International freight corridors have numerous benefits. Primarily, they considerably decrease transit times and costs thus extend markets and open new opportunities for regional industries. Moreover, they remove infrastructure bottlenecks and improve technical and organizational interoperability between national systems. However, the development of these corridors requires efficient intermodal logistics centres which serve as cargo generators and play a decisive role as nodes in transport systems and supply chains.
A Freight Village (FV) is a specialized industrial estate consisted of all kind of logistics companies, public services and various auxiliary services. FVs also include an intermodal terminal which facilitates the integration between different modes of transport thus offering the choice and selection of the best possible cost and time effective transport chain for shippers.
The concentration of logistics companies in Freight Villages promotes the application of new technologies. Application of emission free city logistics and electro mobility, formation of freight exchange platforms, development of new security solutions and innovative telematics systems, application of innovative horizontal loading technologies for non craneable trailers, as well as digitalization of supply chains and information platforms are all major trends for the future development of logistics centres.
Freight Corridors and Freight Villages could facilitate each other in their developments and open new chances to each other. Taking this into consideration, the European Commission follows a policy to strengthen the co-operation between rail infrastructure managers concerning infrastructure development and interoperable systems. Recognizing the importance of these functions the EU promotes interoperability and provides co-financing for necessary infrastructure investments through the TEN-T programme and the Connecting Europe Facility.
For more details check our summary on the paper of Norbert, 2017. Intermodal Logistics Centres and Freight Corridors – Concepts and Trends. LogForum 13 (3), 273-283, http://dx.doi.org/10.17270/J.LOG.2017.3.3 here Paper Freight Villages in “Expertise and analysis” folder
