This article is based on the findings and plans of the European Commission's Interport project in transport telematics. Every year, about 12-14M lorries and trailers are shipped on ferries within the European Union (EU). Although no longer used for customs in most of the EU, border crossings are still used to collect statistics, tax information and other details. Ferry companies want to minimise ferry turnaround time, and offer a convenient thus competitive service. Automatic Fee Collection (AFC) for road traffic provides opportunities for other applications. Applications of its communication facility for identification/payment include automatic access control, territorial taxation, and transport monitoring. The new European tachograph will use a smart card, its Driver Card, to store the necessary information for working/driving hours for several days. Standardisation of the Driver Card is governed by the development and related legislation of the electronic tachograph. There are standards for tag position and a related numbering scheme for containers, but not yet for semitrailers and swap bodies. There is still an urgent requirement for communication standards, position standards, numbering schemes and data definitions, especially in intermodal transport that includes transport by ship.
Samenvatting