• Demonstrator makes project results visible
• Company to be formed to market the new data hub

(Frankfurt/Main, 19. März 2021) The KV 4.0 digitalisation project, which is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) within the framework of the Modernity Fund research initiative (mFUND) and aims to achieve the end-to-end digitalisation of intermodal supply chains, was brought to a successful conclusion on 28 February 2021. As the companies involved in the project have now announced, they managed to deliver all scheduled work packages within the three-and-a-half years of the project and present a demonstrator. The resulting findings were fed into the technical design and programming of a data hub. An operating company is currently being formed with a view to developing the data hub further in the future and marketing it to prospective users. The potential customer base of the new company includes all players in the intermodal transport chain, from forwarders and terminals all the way to railway undertakings and operators.

With its user interface, the demonstrator already gives the project members an efficient tool for the management of master data such as the contact and communication details of terminals. The user permissions can also be allocated and controlled via the web interface. Timetable data are added to the data hub through standardised interface solutions. The data of the intermodal transport chain can be transferred to the in-house IT systems of connected users. This is enabled by the EDIGES format, the standard language for the exchange of data within the intermodal supply chain.

"All project partners showed enormous commitment and brought their own valuable areas of expertise into play throughout the project period, from the initial concept through to implementation, so we can now all be justifiably proud of what we have been able to achieve," states project manager Katja Schräder. "Even the change in working practices due to Covid restrictions couldn't stop up bringing the project to a successful conclusion. With the results that we now have, we have laid the foundation for the further refinement of the initial idea behind the project, which was to optimise the delivery of intermodal transport. As many more companies joint the KV 4.0 data hub, live operation will show that the sponsorship of the Federal Ministry of Transport and the hard work of all project partners have more than paid off."

The "Digitalisation of intermodal supply chains – KV 4.0" project is an important scheme driving the modernisation and future viability of the intermodal sector within the logistics industry. The partners – DB Cargo, Lokomotion, SBB Cargo Deutschland, KTL Kombi-Terminal Ludwigshafen GmbH, Hupac, HOYER Group, Paneuropa Transport, Hupac Intermodal, Bertschi and Kombiverkehr – had started their work on the project back in September 2017. The primary goal of KV 4.0 consisted in making the logistical process more transparent and manageable along the entire intermodal transport chain, starting with the collection of the transport unit from the shipper to its delivery to the recipient. The project was broken down into a number of technical work packages, including for instance "Timetable data KV operators", "Order information forwarders", "Status reports terminal" and "Train running information RU" With the development of the new data hub, the project group has now also opened up the possibility of exchanging the information that is so vital for end customers, the arrival time of their transport unit at the destination terminal ("ETA arrival/readiness").

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In the KV 4.0 project, the project partners worked on nine different work packages.

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Further information about the "Digitalisation of intermodal supply chains – KV 4.0" project can be obtained from:

Katja Schräder, Project Management, Kombiverkehr KG, +49 69 / 79505116, kschraeder@kombiverkehr.de

Aldo Puglisi, Technical Project Manager, Hupac Intermodal S.A., +41 588558091, apuglisi@hupac.com