Safely from A to B: Scaling up freight routing in Antwerp
Freight and mobility in harmony.
In a region with a major maritime port such as the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, freight transport plays an important role in the mobility system. In order to foster safe freight transport and safeguard a good connection and integration (in)to the TEN-T network and hubs, freight needs to be transported efficiently and safely from origin to destination. This means amongst others avoiding unnecessary transport through cities and village centres as well as encouraging transport via higher road networks. For this purpose, the City of Antwerp, the Antwerp Transport Region and Be-Mobile are developing a dynamic routing tool and scaling it up to the Antwerp Transport Region.
Interface of the new Route Planner application.
The tool is based on a pilot that the City of Antwerp has initiated in 2019. Based on a number of questions companies received, specific route advice was given, which takes into consideration different parameters to make the route safer than conventional routes. However, every route had to be requested separately and could only be provided for routes within the city. Furthermore, advice was static and did not consider for example real time events. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a tool with more dynamic route advice for the whole transport region which drivers can also access more easily.
When planning the routes, the tool takes into consideration extra parameters compared to conventional route planners. Those parameters are car free areas, areas with specific delivery windows, road categorization, tunnels, bridges, live events (such as markets), sharp turns, school perimeters and streets that are closed during the beginning as well as the end of the school day. By integrating those parameters, the tool generates a safer and more comfortable route for the drivers.
A first version of the tool was tested in May/June 2022 by drivers of supermarket chain Colruyt as well as services of the City of Antwerp. Based on the feedback, the tool was adjusted and further developed. At the moment, the improved tool is open for testing by companies. Are you a company or do you know a company that delivers with trucks (no delivery vans) in the Antwerp Transport Region and can help with testing the tool? Registration is still open:
With the feedback and experiences of the companies from the second testing, the tool will be further developed. The tests are carried out using Be-Mobile's navigation app Truckmeister, that was developed as a companion app for truck drivers. However, also an API is developed that can feed existing (route) planning and traffic management tools used by other navigation tools and transport companies.
Author: Franziska Kupfer (ATR/Lantis)