Living Lab 1: Freight Forwarders and combining data for shared route planning and optimization

Europe is considered as one of the global leaders in the logistics sector. Eight EU Member States are ranked among the top 10 countries in terms of logistics performance for the year 2018i, while the market size of the logistics sector in Europe was estimated as being equal to €878bn in 2012ii.

However, in various sectors, logistics costs remain a significant part of total supply chain costs. These logistics costs represent 12% of total cost in the manufacturing sector and more than 20% in the retail sectoriii. Moreover, logistics efficiency could be improved. Statistics have shown that 24% of all vehicle movements per kilometre in the EU are not carrying goods, while the average load factor for vehicles is estimated as being 57%iv.

To enhance efficiency in the EU logistics sector, increased collaboration could improve the current situation. More efficient synchronized networks and a decrease in operational costs are the main benefits for the companies involved in cooperation schemesv , as it has been estimated that cost Living labs 1 – Freight Forwarders and combining data for shared route planning and optimization This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement No 690588. The views expressed in this document are not necessarily those of the EU Commission © SELIS, August 2019 Page | 2 savings and efficiency gains of 6-10%, according to Transport Intelligencevi, or a reduction of 9-30% in distribution costs, could be expectedvi.