MOS4MOS

The project

Project focused on demonstrating that the application of information technologies in maritime trade, together with efficient communication and the exchange of electronic information between all the agents involved, can improve and simplify the use of multimodal Short Sea Shipping services on the Motorways of the Sea.

Benefits for the entire port community

The aim of the project, carried out as a pilot study over a period of 12 months, was to prepare the systems of the different agents of the port community (ports, terminals, maritime transport centres, railways, etc.) to be able to offer integrated and interoperable services on the Motorways of the Sea.

The actions were carried out on already established Mediterranean door-to-door routes (Spain-Italy, Spain-Slovenia, Spain-Greece, Italy-Greece and Italy-Malta) which were considered optimal for the study, since they are mainly used for two key traffic modes on Motorways of the Sea such as road cargo traffic (Ro-Ro) and containerised cargo.

By focusing on these routes, the project was able to identify the restrictions, bottlenecks and difficulties that they presented the transfer of cargo from the road, highway or railway, to the sea and propose actions to improve the situation through the use of information and communication technologies such as reducing the volume of paper documentation, integrating the single window concept, services ICT in ports and in port-to-port chains, etc.

Results

The result of the project is increased effectiveness and safety in maritime transport, improving its integration in multimodal and sustainable door-to-door chains.

The project studied the door-to-door chain, seeking to achieve better integration and interoperability, which allowed offering solutions of more sustainable and effective multimodal transport, increasing the competitiveness of the Motorways of the Sea.

Project activities

The activities were:

• Strategic evaluation of the existing situation on the pre-selected routes.
• Creation of prototypes: the solutions identified in the first activity were given a prototype form, adapting and/or integrating information systems and technologies to solve the problems detected.
• Performing pilot tests and demonstration: testing the prototypes developed in activity 2, identifying the success factors of the prototypes, and the impact that the services could have in improving the coordination of administrative services, operators and transport flows.
• Communication and training.
• Management and organisation throughout the duration of the project.