FTRI operates with these concepts as the pillars of our organization
Data and Technology in Transportation and Logistics Operations
The Freight Transport Research Institute looks for ways to increase the standardization, visibility and use of technologies in transportation, especially in transportation operations. Transportation operations are typically slow to adopt new technologies, and today there are an increasing number of applications that can increase the efficiency of operations, and keep information visible among the different people in the transportation network. The Big Truck Guide project is one that is bringing information to the industry in a way that has not been done before.
Designing Sustainable Systems with Positive Ecological Outcomes
Transportation systems need to become dramatically more sustainable in the coming years. The sector is a major contributor to carbon emissions and other forms of pollution. Additionally, the negative impacts that transportation systems have upon urban environments is large in terms of environmental and noise pollution. FTRI strives to design sustainable freight transportation networks that have ecological and systems thinking at its heart, but at the same time are based on scaleable business models that will endure into the future. Sustainable freight transportation systems can be classified as those which:
• Shift freight to less energy intensive modes
• Increase the efficiency of existing operations
• Reduce negative impacts of freight transportation on urban environments
• Accomplish these three tasks while reducing costs to shippers and increasing final consumer choices
• Shift freight to less energy intensive modes
• Increase the efficiency of existing operations
• Reduce negative impacts of freight transportation on urban environments
• Accomplish these three tasks while reducing costs to shippers and increasing final consumer choices
Solving Complex City Logistics and Last Mile Delivery Problems
The interface between the public and private sectors is complicated at the level of the urban environment and it is extremely challenging for both governments to reduce the impact of freight traffic, especially in the urban context, and for private companies to make deliveries into urban environments. The rising trends of omni channel retailing and increasing deliveries of non-traditional goods to residential addresses are challenging freight movements to be effective in the urban environment.