The research work by Committee 2.4 focused on the current status of freight transport in member countries and how the variety of challenges relating to freight transport and logistics should be tackled. These include, butare not limited to, the efficiency of logistics, the environment, and safety, as well as the differing objectives of the stakeholders in freight transport such as shippers, freight carriers, administrators and residents. The main areas of work and findings can be summarized as follows: promoting intermodality in freight transportation; mitigating the negative impactsof freight transport growth; how developing countries can build a sustainable transport system. Promoting intermodality as an alternative to the use of roads in transporting freight can have a variety of benefits. The freight transportation sector is growing, causing a number of environmental and societal problems, not to mention increasing the congestion on the roadnetwork. More collaboration between road and other transportation administrators, as well as government measures that supported intermodality wouldnot only improve the efficiency and safety of the roads, but would have positive benefits on the environment and all freight transportation. Due totheir size, behaviour and routes taken, freight vehicles can have a negative impact on the environment, the society and the economy, and as the amount of freight increases, so do these negative impacts. Therefore strategies must be developed to mitigate these deleterious effects. Technology canplay a contributory mitigation role, as can improving the overall transport infrastructure and implementing measures that regulate freight access away from certain roads and areas. Each country has a unique history and pattern of economic growth to which the transport system makes a distinct contribution. When an individual transport system is developed, necessary aspects of sustainable development must be considered; and yet it is also imperative to pay due attention to the individual characteristics and overall growth of the given economy and society. Developing countries, such as those in Africa and Asia, often face the problem of inefficient freight transport systems that lack good infrastructure and freight management systems. The committee makes recommendations on how these problems can be tackled, as well as raising the issue of how international cooperation and support can be organised to promote sustainable freight transport systems in developing countries. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
Abstract