On 12 July 2023, the Application Scenario 1A “Application and Testing of Advanced Digitalisation Technologies” team successfully ran a real-life tests of the digital tools developed within the IW-NET project.
The empirical tests were done during a logistics operation of delivering OBD drinks wholesaler’s pallets of beverages to the heart of Paris. The pallets identified by an IoT tracker were loaded from a truck onto the vessel “Zulu”, a small barge that is dedicated to waterway transport in urban areas. During this operation, raw tracking data was collected from an IoT tracker as well as the vessel’s transponder. This information was used to format and display processed data, such as the successive status of the goods loaded. Additionally, the team simulated incidents such as damage to goods or a delay in delivery to better analyse the system’s effectiveness.
To make these advancements possible, the following technical and logistics partners worked together:
Technical partners implementing IW-NET solutions:
- UPHF and ICCS – Revenue management optimization & data analytics
- IT-Optics, NGS, and Multitel – Hierarchical tracking (EPCIS – IoT)
- Inlecom and ICCS – BlockChain
Logistics partners testing IW-NET solutions:
- Sogestran & Blue Line Logistics with Zulu and its onboard crane
The success of this trial has shown the potential for transforming inland waterway transport through digitalization, thereby addressing major industry challenges while improving efficiency and revenues, and ultimately, customer satisfaction.
About Application Scenario 1A
The innovative solution, created by the Application Scenario 1A (AS1A): Application and Testing of Advanced Digitalization Technologies, addresses the key logistics challenges of cost reduction, revenue increase, and customer satisfaction, while ensuring remote monitoring and control of the barge. The Open IWT Platform and Services Digitization components are designed to augment Inland Waterway Transport stakeholders’ systems and solutions to create smarter, real-time decision making within shipping logistics.
One of the major highlights of the AS1A toolset is the ability to implement embedded IoT sensors to track real-time hierarchical cargo movements, providing greater efficiency in choosing the optimal multimodal route at different operational decision levels. This information allows for tactical, operational, and execution optimal planning & allocation of residual capacities for scenarios such as late delivery, damage to goods, and suspicion of a break in the cold chain. By applying revenue management optimization and taking advantage of a novel blockchain paradigm introduction, Inland Waterway Transport stakeholders will be better equipped with the tools to monitor and control their fleets.
