Cooperating to connect logistics data backbones

The industry cannot wait for a single global standard over multiple modes and the time to act is now, argues Robert Mellin, Engagement Lead New Industries, Ericsson, and Vice Chair of TIACA’s Shippers’ Advisory Committee, in the latest issue of TIACA Times.

Robert Mellin will participate in the “Launch of New Quality KPIs for Shippers” session at TIACA’s Executive Summit in October 2017

The time to establish the multimodal hub of the future is now. Rapid changes across the global logistics supply chain, including demands for greater sustainability, environmental pressures, and rising costs, have put huge strains on the traditional transport model. We need stronger collaboration across the industry to encourage innovation and embrace multimodal solutions.

The technology to realize this already exists. And some global supply chain stakeholders, as previously referenced by Rogier Spoel at the Dutch Shippers’ Association (EVO), are already moving fast to implement true multimodal solutions.

The Trade & Cargo Facilitation Association (TCF) is a recently launched initiative encompassing all stakeholders in the market. Ericsson’s support of TCF started at the end of April as host of the inaugural event held in Stockholm, Sweden. Likewise, The European Union Directorate General for Mobility & Transport (EU DG MOVE) has created the Digital Transport Logistics Forum (DTLF).


The technology exists

One common conclusion in most branch gatherings and workshops, independent of mode of transport, is that the technology needed to implement multimodal solutions already exists. When scanning the landscape of existing logistics associations, it is clear gaps exist between modes.

TCF seeks to bridge the gap, while also drawing industry players closer to DTLF umbrella initiatives led by research and academic institutes. The best possible outcome will be shortened testing and implementing cycles of the theoretical solutions proposed.

Logistics players all strive for improvements in quality of service, efficiency, lead-times, cost- effectiveness and, most importantly, real-time visibility of the supply chain end to end. An ocean of new opportunities is waiting to be created on the future multi-backbone/pipeline reality.

Excluding hardware, some criteria on software design need to be taken into consideration for seamless communication between stakeholders.

The reasons for Ericsson becoming actively engaged in TCF are multiple; we are a major shipper requesting better service levels. We are also a software provider for the new telecom technology (5G) enablement.

Furthermore, we are active in enabling the Internet of Things (IoT), and we believe that a great part of the 29 billion connected devices by year 2022 will be in the Track and Trace domain — in other words connected ‘boxes’ (containers, cartons, etc).

The telecom industry is busy collecting requirements from ‘use cases’ in order to set the new 5G standard. Our task is to collect these requirements while explaining to industry how the future can look in the light of a new standard.

The similarities between mobile phone roaming over multiple operators and countries to cargo moving across multiple modes of transport and countries is clear to us, we need to engage with industry players to implement it as such. Ericsson, together with other companies willing to lead, is proposing selected use cases to be implemented under the observation and guidance of the TCF.

A significant outcome of the TCF inaugural meeting was agreement that the following criteria should govern these use cases:

  • Platforms need to be open to enable inter- operability between multiple service providers.
  • Information-sharing principles should be cleared between stakeholders.
  • Solutions must be able to work with multi- standards and these should preferably be open.
  • Use cases should migrate from present legacy (EDI-EDIFACT) to use a ‘new’ paradigm — a URL over an open collaboration layer.
  • Data model and data integrity/security need to be agreed and followed across whole backbone/pipeline.

For the multi-standard requirements, the TCF meeting concluded that we cannot wait for a single global standard over multiple modes, including different regulatory requirements. Ericsson believes that technologies such as semantics make it possible to handle this complexity and cater for multiple standards in a flexible way. As one attendee expressed it: “… semantics gives us the possibility to agree upon what we disagree…”


EDI connectivity

Regarding electronic date interchange (EDI) connectivity, we should all understand that this very old technology has been largely surpassed by better alternatives in a global, multimodal, connected world.

Finally, in a multi-backbone environment, data integrity and security is vital and requires consensus. Thereby, the ability to prove data integrity preservation with tools such as Blockchain becomes a major building block for the TCF project. Given the nature of the logistics, we in Ericsson accept and are providing solutions for major industry requirements such as acceptable response times for public key generation and separated data storage.

As mentioned, our shared goal for TCF is to create an open collaborative association to drive change more efficiently in a multimodal environment. We welcome all companies that would like to contribute to the endeavor to reach the vision.

*TIACA’s Shippers’ Advisory Committee published a Position White Paper earlier this year calling for change to maintain industry completiveness.

For more information visit www.tiaca.org

Read the latest issue of TIACA Times

For advertising opportunities, contact Lina Imbrusaite

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)

Written by

The International Air Cargo Association. Our next event: Air Cargo Forum 2018, October 16th-18th, Toronto, Canada. #TACF18 http://tiaca.org/

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