NexTrust (www.nextrust-project.eu) a 30 member consortium of some of Europe’s leading thinkers on collaborative logistics, has secured a grant from the European Commission (EC). The grant has been awarded in a competition entitled “Fostering synergies alongside the supply chain (including e-commerce)” under Horizon 2020 and is administrated by the EC’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA). The project duration is 42 months.

NexTrust’s objective is to increase efficiency and sustainability in logistics by developing an innovative business model with interconnected, trusted, collaborative networks along the entire supply chain. These trusted networks, built horizontally and vertically, will fully integrate shippers, LSPs and intermodal operators as equal partners. To reach a high level of sustainability, NexTrust will as one trigger bundle and consolidate freight volumes and as another trigger shift them off the road to intermodal rail and waterways. NexTrust will build these trusted networks bottom up, with like-minded partners, adding multiple layers of transport flows that have been de-coupled and then re-connected more effectively along the supply chain. C-ITS cloud based smart visibility software will be developed to support the re-engineering of the networks, improving real-time utilisation of transport assets. NexTrust will focus on research activities that create stickiness for collaboration in the market, validated through pilot cases in live conditions.

The project engages a diverse group of major shippers and logistics service providers (LSPs) as partners managing freight volumes of well over 1,000,000 annual truck movements across Europe.
Partners also include SMEs with proven experience and a track record in supply chain and ICT innovation, and LSPs & Intermodal operators who move more than 1,000,000 shipments, via rail, barge and road with their own multimodal assets.

The pilot cases cover a broad cross section of the entire supply chain (from raw materials to finished goods to retail inbound and to end consumers) for multiple industries.

The creation and validation of trusted collaborative networks will be market-oriented and implemented at an accelerated rate for high impact. NexTrust expects its pilot cases to reduce deliveries by 20% and with modal shift to reduce GHG emissions by 50%, load factors shall increase by 50% given the emphasis on back-load/modal shift initiatives. First results of the pilot cases are expected to be presented in 2016 and published on the project website.

The full consortium comprises: 2degrees, Arcese, Beiersdorf, BLUEWAVE, Borealis L.A.T, Colruyt Group, CRITT Transport et logistique, Delhaize, ELUPEG, EVO Dutch Shippers Council Fiege Logistik, Giventis International BV, GS1 Belgium & Luxembourg, GS1 Germany, GS1 Switzerland, Kimberly Clark, Kneppelhout Korthals Lawyers, Mondelez E.B.S.C., Norwegian Logistics AS, Panasonic Europe, Pastu Consult, Pinguin Foods, TRI-VIZOR, TX Logistik (Co-ordinator), Unilever, Vlerick Business School, VU University Amsterdam, Wenzel logistics GmbH, Wolters Kluwer Transport Services, YSCO.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 635874