Trends are categorised as: a) general trends (GDP, population, fuel prices etc).; b) transport and logistics trends; and c) rail sector specific trends, with emphasis on rail freight developments.
We would like freight taken onto the rails if possible and locally we have the proposed rail freight developments between Milton Malsor and Blisworth which can again just give a lot of extra traffic on the M1 junctions at 15 and 15a and the A43, too.
"The highways are congested, the railways are headed that way, the waterways have capacity," said Ernest Perry, the freight development administrator for the Missouri transportation department.
It contained four main pillars passenger transport development, freight transport development, infrastructure development and horizontal topic with a focus on sustainability (see Table 1).
The ultimate trend (most notably addressed by the e-freight developments is that shipment information must move from the level of the transport means (e.g. ship, or train, or container) to that of load unit (wagon, box) or even individual item.
Although different in scope, both categories of systems required the development of a number of enabling technologies that are largely thought to be the key "technological drivers" for the Freight ITS developments of the future.
With no national requirements, one way of guiding freight strategy development is by including it in the region or city's sustainable urban mobility plan or climate and energy strategy [6, 11].
Since messaging and data transfer is an integral part of any transport chain, achieving widespread systems interoperability and standardisation has been, and still is, a very important precondition and "enabling" factor for future Freight ITS development.
Increasing urbanization, and the environmental and liveability impacts associated with urban activity, have directed attention to the need for sustainable cities. Achieving sustainable urban development requires including freight systems in strategic urban development plans.
An overview of developments in freight transport modelling concerning the integration of logistics will be given in the section below.
In this framework, as it is mentioned above, the main purpose of this study is the quantitative analysis of recent developments in freight and passenger transport activities (by major category) in the country's main port, Piraeus, and in conjunction with this, the ports of Thessaloniki, Patra, which also show significant freight and passenger activity and relevant data are available.
