Freight transport is becoming more digital

An end to paper-based freight documents, more digitalization in freight transport and logistics services and a uniform legal framework at EU level so that authorities can accept relevant freight transport information in electronic form: These are the three main objectives of the European Union's eFTI Regulation, which was adopted in 2020. “This will enable companies to share transport information not only with each other, but also with stakeholders in public authorities,” Jens Leveling gets to the heart of it. He is responsible for the eFTI project in the Silicon Economy's Electronic Transport Information community. “The eFTI regulation really is a major step forward for the digital transformation of freight transport in Europe. Its implementation will bring significant benefits to all parties involved.”

The eFTI architecture consists of several components. In addition to the eFTI platforms, it also includes the eFTI gates. Both, platforms and gates are particularly relevant from a corporate perspective. Companies can provide the authorities with information on their own platform. This platform is connected to a gate through which all communication between the company and various authorities takes place. The transport information remains on the company's platform. It is only intended to be accessed by authorities in clearly defined cases. The data is only retrieved for inspection, but not stored in other eFTI components.

For the first time, the researchers involved in the Silicon Economy project are now developing an eFTI platform - based on the eCMR, the international transport document for road freight transport. “In the Silicon Economy, we laid the foundation for the digitalization of the consignment note and carried out successful pilot projects with various companies. It therefore made sense to use this expertise to develop an eFTI platform,” says eFTI expert Jens Leveling.

To be more specific, the researchers will develop the software that connects the platform and gate and convert the data from the eCMR into the eFTI data model. Only the data that is relevant for official authorities' checks, such as the start of a tour, the destination or the type of freight, will be transferred from the eCMR data. However, the technical implementation is not as simple as it sounds. Before the Silicon Economy researchers can even get started, all the players involved must first establish a common understanding of the facts and procedures.

This is how the system is supposed to work in practice: Officials who carry out checks in the respective countries - in Germany, for example, the Federal Logistics and Mobility Office BALM for road freight transport - can simply receive the loading information for the mode of transport digitally on a tablet or smartphone instead of having to wade through endless paper-based information. The previous paper-based inspections cost a lot of time, which both parties can now save: the authorities and the drivers. Ideally, officials do not have to stop a truck directly in the event of suspicion but can check the data as they drive past.

The schedule for implementation is ambitious: According to the eFTI Regulation, the authorities must offer the digital service to companies from the 1st quarter of 2027 onwards. The authorities are currently doing their utmost to find a solution that is widely accepted, especially by companies.

Open source is an important success factor for this. “We are way ahead in the Silicon Economy: all of our developments are published as open source,” says Jens Leveling. “The components for the eCMR have been freely available in the repository of the Open Logistics Foundation for some time and are already being used by companies. And the components for our eFTI platform will also be available as open source under the license of the Open Logistics Foundation.”

The European Union is also focusing on open source when implementing the eFTI regulation: in the eFTI4EU research project, nine EU member states and various organizations are working on harmonizing the software architecture across national borders. The project was launched last summer and Germany is a project partner. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV) has also invited the Fraunhofer IML to contribute: “This means we can now devote our research results directly to this big issue and have the opportunity to help shape a European standard,” says Jens Leveling, delighted with this unique opportunity.

Will the open source solution prevail? For Jens Leveling, there is no way around: “The European Union has already come a long way when it comes to open source. Now it is important to convince companies that open source makes absolute sense, especially for a cross-border project such as the implementation of the eFTI platform. Developing open source accelerates the development of a solution since many people are working on it in many places. In addition, every company can use the results. That's exactly what we need for eFTI. Only then will eFTI be a success.“