Shipper pooling: the key to accelerating modal shift?
Are you working to develop low-carbon transport solutions? Would you like to create new rail and river routes?
to view the replay and the speakers' detailed answers
Since 2022, a SC4Good LAB group has been dedicated to multimodal transport. Its aim is to identify opportunities for pooling the use of rail transport. The initial group, made up of nine shippers, shared and mapped their logistics flows, identifying common corridors between France and Spain, as well as East-West flows.
However, analysis showed that there weren 't enough of us to create a significant mass effect. To explore the subject of pooling in greater depth, group leader Florence Ughetto, Sustainable Development & Logistics Expert for Renault Supply Chain, organized this webinar.
Academic viewpoint on mutualization: what solutions for modal shift?
Hannah Yee, a post-doctoral researcher at École des Ponts ParisTech, presented strategies for decarbonizing freight transport via a modal shift from road to intermodal rail. She explained that rail is used for long distances, while road is used for the first and last kilometers, using the same loading unit throughout. This reduces carbon emissions, as rail transport is less carbon-intensive than road transport.
The researcher went on to discuss the concept of mutualization, where several shippers group together to share transport volumes, thereby reducing fixed costs and obtaining volume-based discounts. She pointed out that intermodal rail is often more expensive than road transport, due to terminal handling costs and first and last mile charges.
Four stages have been identified for setting up a pooling solution:
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Identify
flows eligible for intermodal rail transport
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Find
partner shippers with similar origins and destinations
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Set up
a cooperation agreement between shippers
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Define
a pooling strategy to organize collaborative transport in practice
She stressed the importance of a holistic approach and supply chain perspective to synchronize shippers and optimize transportation and inventory management costs simultaneously.
The free Appel d'air platform: find or create intermodal transport solutions
Bernard Guilbot presented the Appel d'Air tool, developed by the AI-Cargo Fondation association, of which he is Honorary Chairman, to help decarbonize freight transport by facilitating modal shift. Financed by energy saving certificates, this application is free of charge for shippers.
Appel d'Air uses the Cumulus digital platform to help shippers find existing intermodal transport solutions or pool their flows to create new services. The platform features maps detailing Europe's rail and river networks, with the option of zooming in on stations and ports.
Users can carry out simple searches by entering details such as zip code, city, delivery date, and by defining distance or time criteria for pre- and post-carriage. The tool then provides relevant services, ranked byCO2 savings.
For more complex analyses, users can import CSV files containing their transport flow data. The platform then assesses the eligibility of these flows for modal shift based on existing services, and suggests pooling options to maximize efficiency andCO2 savings . All data is anonymized to protect shippers' confidentiality.
Example of analytical mapping on the platform
Michelin's experience of using the platform to optimize transport flows
For the past five years, Michelin has had an ambitious roadmap for reducing its carbon emissions. The company is working on multimodal solutions, starting with rail transport in Europe, using private trains.
For the past two years, Michelin has been using AI Cargo to optimize the decarbonization of its transport volumes. A collaboration initiated with France Supply Chain.
The benefits of the application according to Denis Brangeon, Network Capacity Analyst:
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Decarbonize our remaining, lower volumes thanks to ai cargo and mutualization
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Provide visibility to open up the train to other, smaller players, by supplying their entire transport plan.
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Chews up some of the work previously done manually
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Easy to use, with support available from a firm
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If, like us, you are convinced that mutualization and massification will enable us to accelerate this modal shift,
contact us and we'll relaunch our group based on this promising Appel d'air project.
Contact us
to discover the replay and all the questions/answers
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Does Appel d'air distinguish between hazardous and non-hazardous products?
Yes, in the templates, we indicate whether products are hazardous or temperature-controlled. What's more, we've launched an algorithm to identify the nature of the flows, to see whether loading is compatible or incompatible.
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How can I get in touch with other loaders?
In fact, the initiative comes from Appel d'air, which means that as soon as there are mass flows that enable the creation of a potential service, Appel d'air will contact the shippers to see if they agree to set up a working group with operators to launch a project.
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What about the platform's perimeter?
The platform's scope is not European.
Today, it's loaded with practically all existing services in France. Some of the European services are included, and I think that before the end of the year, we'll have all the existing services in Europe. On the other hand, for prospective services, it is valid for all 27 European countries.
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What are the frequencies?
On the frequencies, we see the frequencies as I showed them earlier in the search engine. When I display the results of a search engine, the results are displayed over 7 days.
As for the rest, what I forgot to mention is that when we carry out flow eligibility tests, the shipper carrying out the test can download a CSV file, retrieve the entire file with the eligibility results, and then see that there is conformity between the actual departure dates and the corresponding services operated.
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Does Appel d'air work with consular chambers, etc.?
Yes, we're working with the consular chambers, we're working with all the working groups and associations, particularly on the rail and river aspects. These days, we're getting more and more involved in the regions.
I would also like to say that for shippers, when there are difficulties, etc., the Appel d'air program also provides a form of support, i.e. the services of a consultancy firm, for a limited period, of course, but completely financed by the Appel d'air program, i.e. it remains free of charge for the shipper, to enable him to formalize his flows and use the platform. This support is also provided for the duration of the program, so that results can be measured, notably in terms of tonne-km carried and tonne-km carried forward.
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Concerning theCO2 savings given by Appel d'Air, which platforms are calculated?
So, they are calculated according to the standards laid down by ADEME. We're completely in line with ADEME's calculations. And the calculation is made by comparing the road flow with the pre-carriage, main carriage and post-carriage flows.
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What has been the impact of modal shift on delays, service rates, etc.?
As Anna explained, these are generally longer solutions, because there are load breaks on both sides. And it's a different mode of transport. You can't compare road with multimodal.
It's really a transfer, a switch to another mode of transport that requires buffers, because when a train is late, it's not a quarter of an hour or half an hour. It's usually half a day or more. And then it has to recover its slots to be unloaded at the terminals. This can be problematic when the terminals used are congested. So there are impacts that need to be potentially deconstructed upstream with buffers, already to ensure a service rate that is almost equivalent to road. It's also difficult to achieve a modal shift with a service rate that's good enough not to impact supply chains, especially when you're in industry and production.
There really needs to be a desire, a commitment to make this shift. Because today, unfortunately, the ton of CO2 is not sufficiently valued, and there are no real financial gains to be made from a modal shift, because we don't get paid, because we produce CO2 emissions. Logic also really applies to our companies.
There are impacts, but they can be overcome. As shippers, we're not yet where we want to be. Today, we need to achieve a modal shift of around 5 to 6%, compared with 1% five years ago, on 300,000 FTL journeys in Europe. We're continuing to try and create new projects, new corridors on different routes. We hope this will accelerate with tools like AI. We hope to reach 15% by 2030.
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Can your platform be connected to a TMS?
So it can be connected to a TMS, yes, you need to create the appropriate APIs, and depending on the type of TMS, you can even finance the creation of these APIs.
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if I work with a 3PL forwarder who manages my flows, what synergy is there on the platform?
Freight forwarders are not necessarily the companies that are the biggest drivers of change, so that's why, under the Appel d'Air program, we titillate shippers so that they see the benefits of modal shift and can then put pressure on their freight forwarder to switch to these modal shift phases.
So the freight forwarder can play a full part in the Appel d'Air program, there's no problem, we just have to make sure that there's no redundancy of flows, i.e. that we don't get flows from both the shipper and the freight forwarder, we just have to identify them to avoid this redundancy of flow, but the freight forwarder is welcome, on the contrary, to participate since in the modal shift.
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