SEAMLESS aims to demonstrate to the transport community that autonomous feeders can solve today’s transport problems and overcome any real and perceived obstacles. SEAMLESS will achieve this by developing three missing building blocks and integrate them with already existing results from other projects into a fundamentally new concept for fully automated waterborne freight feeder loop service for SSS and IWT. The SEAMLESS enablers will then be used to document the positive effects of the new systems and to provide a roadmap for technical and policy initiatives.
To accommodate the integration of autonomous and automated technologies in the supply chain, SEAMLESS will redesign the logistics system to support seamless, safe, synchromodal, resilient cargo transport with improved efficiency for servicing the hinterland.
The scope of SEAMLESS within the supply chain includes:
- cargo handling, from ship-shore and within the port, at intermodal SSS and IWW ports with other maritime and hinterland connections (i.e., trucks and rail)
- loop transportation of various cargoes (incl. containers with RoRo and LoLo, bulk cargo) between SSS-IWW or IWW-IWW ports,
- information flow throughout the supply chain with respect to the transportation means, the cargoes, and the supporting shore-side infrastructure.
Within its scope, SEAMLESS will develop innovations towards minimising bottlenecks and delays in the following three interconnected layers:
- Physical Assets,
- Logistics System, and
- Digital Assets.
