DST delegation diligently on duty in Dublin
With a total of six ongoing projects, DST was represented well at the European transport research conference “Transport Research Arena 2024” in Dublin.
(Photo credits: DST)
Transport Research Arena (TRA) is a conference organized by the European Commission on research in the field of transport and mobility in Europe. This year’s edition took place in Dublin, Ireland, from 15 to 18 April 2024.
Presenting results of the SYNERGETICS Innovation Action, Dr. Igor Bačkalov gave a talk on retrofit options for greening of shipping in his presentation “Exploration and synchronization of greening of shipping by means of retrofit: The SYNERGETICS perspective” in the Technical Session “Environmental Sustainability” while Benjamin Friedhoff represented the consortium as the SYNERGETICS coordinator at the booth of Waterborne TP.
NOVIMOVE was present at that booth as well and saw a brief get-together of the consortium members present in the Irish capital. Moreover, Peter Shobayo from University of Antwerp presented the findings from an examination of the cargo consolidation and reconstruction, one of several NOVIMOVE innovations, in his talk entitled “Impact Assessment of Cargo Reconstruction on the IWT Logistics System”.
Dr. Igor Bačkalov spoke about the SYNERGETICS project and possible retrofit options for inland vessels to sustainable propulsion systems. (Photo credit: DST)
Parts of the SYNERGETICS consortium took the opportunity in Dublin to discuss current tasks in the research project. (Photo credit: Erwin van der Linden)
The Waterborne TP booth as a central hub at the TRA project fair was an ideal place to present the research projects of DST. (Photo credit: DST)
With Maarten Flikkema, Peter Shobayo and Benjamin Friedhoff (from left to right), all three innovation areas of the NOVIMOVE project were represented in Dublin. (Photo credit: DST)
The SEAMLESS consortium also took the opportunity for numerous bilateral discussions with each other and a joint photo opportunity. (Photo credit: ALICE)
Project coordinator Vassilis Podimatas (NTUA) talks about the SEAMLESS project and its ambitious goals with regard to automation on the water and ashore. (Photo credit: NTUA)
Project coordinator Jan-Christoph Maaß (Duisburger Hafen AG; 3rd from left) presents the seven demonstrators of the MultiRELOAD project and their contribution to efficiency gains and emission cuts at a special session of ALICE ETP. (Photo credit: DST)
In another special session of ALICE ETP on automation of inland waterway transport, Cyril Alias (1st from right) talks about the AUTOFLEX project and the quest for new forms of operation and business for inland waterway transport in the wake of automation. (Photo credit: DST)
Cyril Alias (1st from right) emphasizes the difference between the research approaches in the projects AUTOFLEX and SEAMLESS and refers to the predecessor project DeConTrans. (Photo credit: DST)
The RESHIP project was also represented in Dublin with a presentation and part of the consortium. (Photo credit: DST)
The SEAMLESS project was presented at the booths of both ALICE ETP and Waterborne TP. Vasileios Podimatas from NTUA presented the approach in his poster “The SEAMLESS Approach to Enabling Fully Automated Waterborne Freight Feeder Loop Services”. Moreover, Prof. Nikolaos P. Ventikos, coordinator of the SEAMLESS project, and his MRG team were present and active in Dublin themselves as well. Similarly, the RESHIP project was represented by Benjamin Friedhoff and Dr Weichao Shi from Newcastle University with the latter presenting a poster called “ Development of Energy Efficient Solutions for Hydrogen Powered Vessels: RESHIP project“. The MultiRELOAD project was presented at the booth of ALICE ETP and in the Special Session “Ports and Airports for a Green Transition of Mobility & Logistics” by Jan-Christoph Maaß from Duisburger Hafen AG, who is the MultiRELOAD coordinator.
In the Special Session “Decarbonizing Freight Transport and Logistics by Increasing the Use of Waterways” organized by ALICE ETP, Cyril Alias presented the AUTOFLEX project, a Horizon Europe research and innovation action footing on DeConTrans and AutoBin, two of DST’s national research projects completed earlier. In his talk, Cyril Alias highlighted the double approach of utilizing automation of inland waterway transportation for logistics purposes. While SEAMLESS focuses on serving traditional IWT businesses with automation solutions, AUTOFLEX seeks new logistics services and new markets using automated inland navigation. The special session also saw a series of related projects including SEAMLESS.
Cyril Alias talks about the Horizon Europe project AUTOFLEX and the development of new logistics services with small emission-free automated inland vessels. (Foto: DST)
DST expresses its gratitude to Waterborne TP and ALICE ETP for the joint exhibition of multiple projects, the organization of and invitation to the Special Sessions, and the diverse support on site – and looks forward to the 11th edition of TRA in Budapest in May 2026!
More information on the TRA 2024 can be found here: Transport Research Arena 2024
Contact:
Benjamin Friedhoff, Phone: +49 (0)203 / 99 369 29, Mail: friedhoff@dst-org.de
Cyril Alias, Phone: +49 (0)203 / 99 369 52, Mail: alias@dst-org.de
