No abstract

Sustainable transport, such as using inland waterway transport (IWT), represents a major pillar of the European Green Deal to reduce global warming. To evaluate the different inland transport modes (road, rail, IWT), it is crucial to know the external costs of these modes. The goal of this paper is a critical review of external cost categories (e.g., accidents, noise, emissions) and external cost calculation methods of IWT to provide ideas for future research. We identified 13 relevant papers in a literature review dealing with external costs of IWT. In a meta-analysis, the papers were assigned to the seven external cost categories: accident, noise, congestion, habitat damage, air pollution, climate change and well-to-tank emissions. The most investigated external cost categories are climate change, air pollution and accidents. Two studies were identified as the major external cost calculation methods for IWT in the abstract. Our paper shows that the data basis of IWT is significantly lower than for road/rail. The measurement of energy consumption and related emissions of IWT needs to be qualitatively and quantitatively improved and brought up to the level of road traffic, to ensure an accurate comparison with other modes of transport.

Learning from the effects of past crises allows the transport sector to handle future crises effectively and proactively. The goal of this paper is to identify and classify types of crises that have hit Europe in the previous 20 years and to identify the effects of these crises on the freight transport modes. Moreover, further research on each transport mode is derived. To reach this goal, we conducted a systematic literature review by using five well-known databases, which resulted in 296 search results, of which 29 references were relevant. We identified four crises that hit the freight transport modes in the previous 20 years in Europe: the 2008 financial crisis, the 2015 migration crisis, the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, and the ongoing climate crisis. However, the effects of the different crises on the transport modes can be both positive (e.g., the introduction of a new maritime slow-steaming service) or negative (e.g., a reduction in safety). The insights, gaps, and future research directions identified will encourage researchers, as well as practitioners, to learn from previous crises and be prepared for proactive actions during future crises, thus contributing to more reliable and sustainable transportation systems.

The assessment of fuel efficiency represents a vital element when it comes to the deployment and business model development of truck platooning. In this chapter, the methodological approach implemented in the Connecting Austria project to assess fuel efficiency is presented. The approach covers the following assessment aspects: (1) the assessment of the road infrastructure in terms of the suitability of road segments for truck platooning, (2) the assessment of driving behaviour and strategies for truck platoon formation and dissolution and (3) the assessment of efficiency in terms fuel savings for certain routes.

Road damage on highways and freeways lead to numerous construction sites and maintenance activities every year, causing congestion, increased environmental pollution and costs. In addition, road damage exposes road users to an increased risk of accidents. The EU project ESRIUM aims to help reducing both the number of road works and the associated problems by using new digital services for intelligent road infrastructure use and predictive maintenance. The aim of this study is the presentation of four use cases and the elaboration of nontechnological requirements of the offered digital services, which should lead to a deep understanding of the requirements of all stakeholders in the early phase of the project.