The self-loading truck of the future!

FNTR – at the heart of regional innovation

The federation I represent in PACA works on regional and national goods transport projects, mainly with groupage and peri-urban delivery. We focus on a number of areas, including traffic, road access issues and new technologies and their consequences on the profession. Electronic consignment notes ( e-CMR) now serve as the legal basis for our work, which represents a huge leap forward for the profession. We now just need to ensure that they are rolled out everywhere.

I am currently part of the CARA cluster*, a working group created by the French Ministry for Transport and the Environment, which is working with the Aix-Marseille Provence metropolis on autonomous vehicles, alongside shippers and road haulers. There are two steps involved in deploying autonomous vehicles. The first is to have self-driving trucks with a driver in the cab and the second is to have fully autonomous, self-driving trucks with no driver on board. The first step can be tested quickly as these trucks are already available. We need to define the business sectors that will conduct tests in urban areas and on strategic transport routes. Self-parking cars already exist and we could do the same for trucks.

Preparing the future of logistics, today

The Marseille-Fos port community understands the importance of road haulers in the supply chain. We are now invited to information meetings concerning developments in Marseille port and in terminals used by road haulers.

As manager of a transport company, I often work on the ground to see for myself the challenges drivers face. I still have my truck driver’s licence and sometimes load or unload a container in Fos. I mention any anomalies I observe during meetings in order to improve safety and streamline goods flows.

In order to prepare for the near future on both a national and international scale, I’m working on how to adapt the latest developments for our region, which is why I’m part of the autonomous vehicles working group. If self-reversing trucks exist in the future, I want them in the terminals of Marseille-Fos, with a private fleet and an integrated wire system in the tarmac. The day that drivers can leave their trucks to manoeuvre themselves for loading and unloading operations, there will be fewer men in the terminals and therefore a lower risk of accident. We could even make the system profitable by working day and night: a hauler who lives in the port city could drop off their truck to be unloaded in the evening, before returning home and collecting the loaded vehicle the following morning.

Road haulers finally integrated into Cargo Community Systems (CCS)

85% of goods traffic currently travels by road, so involving our profession in CCS development is vital. With Ci5 in Marseille-Fos, we will have real ship arrival dates, the unloading status, and goods ready for collection, helping us to better manage flows, especially for dangerous goods.

The Channel 5 tool will also be valuable, allowing us to adapt journeys and rounds on the basis of real-time traffic notifications for the terminal and access routes.  This will make our job easier and help us to avoid contributing to traffic jams and port congestion. Last but not least, it will reduce air pollution and our carbon footprint.

 

* Working Group for Autonomous Freight Transport

Interview with Jean-Yves Astouin, President of FNTR PACA, and Manager of Provence Astouin.
By Marie Pavesio, Marketing and Communication Manager.