Chair of Corporate Management and Logistics promotes dialog on Combined Transport in Hesse and Germany

Combined Transport (CT), i.e. the transportation of goods in a truck or in loading units such as swap bodies, containers or semi-trailers, refers to transports in which the majority of the total route is carried out by rail, inland waterway or sea vessel and the other, shortest possible part by motor vehicle. With the increasing volume of freight traffic on German roads, also forecasted by the German government, there is no way around CT: We are working on future-proof and sustainable formats to strengthen the railways and waterways and relieve road congestion.

In order to achieve a sustainable shift in freight transport by means of road/rail freight transport (CT) in Hesse and Germany, we organize the “Combined Transport Forum” every two years together with the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM) in Frankfurt am Main. Together with representatives from business, science and politics, we are looking for opportunities for CT to make a contribution to achieving climate targets and to relieve the burden on road transport.

In 2023, the forum took place for the third time and led to a heated debate between representatives of Hessian state politics, particularly with regard to the (at the time) upcoming state elections in Hesse. This discussion was framed by two key notes with true prospects for the future.

In 2021, the forum took place with a focus on digitalization, the key to profitably combining the specific strengths of the two modes of transport, road and rail. The newly built Combined Transport Innovation Lab was also opened during the event together with Dr. Sigrid Nikutta.

In 2019, the “Combined Transport Forum” format was launched with the question: “Does the future belong to Combined Transport?” In addition to numerous exciting specialist presentations, there were lively discussions with the audience.

With the “Combined Transport Innovation Lab” at the House of Logistics and Mobility (HOLM), we are pursuing the goal of promoting a diverse dialog with different people from the transport and logistics industry, as well as from politics and society. This enables us to transfer results and at the same time reflect on the practical applicability of our solutions and identify new innovative fields of research.

In addition to basic information, we present innovative research results for increasing the productivity and efficiency of Combined Transport. We also take into account society's perspective on achieving climate targets and reducing other negative external effects (realized through traffic avoidance, traffic reduction and modal shift to environmentally friendly modes of transport). In order to convey all of this interactively, selected tasks related to CT are available at an interaction table. The corresponding solutions can be examined in greater depth at the dedicated workstations for freight forwarders, terminals and CT operators. For this purpose, we have prepared our research results for the touch screens at the workstations for “self-study”. We are happy to explain the detailed functionality of our solutions in the meeting area, where we can carry out further simulation experiments and test new optimization methods just like in a laboratory.

With our multifunctional “Combined Transport Innovation Lab” at the HOLM, we are addressing several target groups at the same time. Together with the companies involved in CT, we want to further increase the efficiency of CT and involve both shippers and politicians in an inspiring way. We also want to inspire our students, who can develop, discuss and test new ideas for CT here in the lab.

Would you like to visit our innovation lab? Get in touch with our contact person now: Eva Hartmann, Team Assistant

The “Combined Transport Initiative” is an exclusive group of decision-makers in the Combined Transport industry. Together with the representatives, we discuss the opportunities and challenges Combined Transport faces in Germany and develop future perspectives for mapping within the framework of the Combined Transport Forum and the Combined Transport Innovation Lab at the House of Logistics and Mobility.