Archivio : Publications

This paper presents the results of the survey on international freight transport carried by TRT for Bank of Italy (the central bank of Italy) in 2020, as part of the compilation of the national balance of payments.

Based on the sample surveys carried by TRT since 1998, the paper describes the key costs trends in the Italian freight transport sector. In 2020 TRT interviewed about 210 international freight operators from different transport segments and collected data on over 6.200 shipments, namely on freight rates and ancillary costs between different origins and destinations. s part of the compilation of the national balance of payments. For the statistics of the balance of payments, moreover, TRT estimates the market shares of freight carriers by nationality.

During 2020, the incidence of transport costs on the value of goods exported to and imported from Italy increased, reversing the downward trend observed in the previous years. The transport sector has been inevitably affected by the Covid-19 emergency. The air transport sector suffered most due to a drop in passenger flights, leading to a severe shortage of “belly” capacity and a sharp increase in freight rates. In the maritime sector, significant price increases were observed in the container, ro-ro and liquid bulk sectors. As for land transport, transport costs slightly increased in the rail sector and slightly decreased in the road sector.

Link to the project page.

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The 2011 Transport White Paper “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system” is the document with which the European Commission has outlined the strategy on the future EU transport system and which defines the political agenda for the next decades.

The main objectives of the strategy are (i) reduce carbon dioxide emissions in transport to a level that is 60 % below that of 1990; (ii) reduce the transport sector’s dependence on oil; (iii) reduce congestion growth.

The strategy is articulated through 40 action points and 132 initiatives aimed at achieving 10 operational targets at different time horizons (2030 and 2050).

TRT, member of the consortium led by Ricardo NL and participated by M-Five, E3Modelling and TEPR was responsible for carrying out the mid-term evaluation of the effectiveness of the strategy in order to support the European Commission in identifying any proposals for revising the document.

The evaluation provides a robust evidence-based assessment of the White Paper and the actions following from it since its adoption in 2011. It examines the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of the White Paper in line with the Better Regulation Guidelines.

The evaluation looks at the identified needs for transport policy, the objectives and goals set in the White Paper, the proposed initiatives, reached outcomes and their results, as well as the overall impact of the strategy since it was put in place.

The results of the evaluation are intended to inform subsequent decisions of the Commission on possible priorities for the future agenda of EU transport policy.

Link to the project page.

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TRT has published a new article (available only in italian) about Logistics 4.0 and the interesting insights form the COG-LO Project where concepts as “collaborative” and “cognitive” logistics has been deeply investigated with the support of international organizations and logistics providers such as Ekol Logistics, Croatia and Slovenia Post.

Please have a look on the COG-LO Project and find out more on our website page or on the official website.

The evaluation support study of Regulation (EU) No 913/2010, coordinated by TRT on behalf of the European Commission Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport, covered all the provisions of the Regulation, all the European countries participating in a Rail Freight Corridor (RFC) and addressed the period from the establishment of the RFCs until 2020.

The study identified the impact of the Regulation by comparing the actual developments in the rail freight sector, i.e. with the Regulation in place, with respect to a baseline situation describing the likely developments that would have occurred without this policy intervention. The study also took into account the activities related to the RFCs going beyond the provisions of the Regulation, addressing for instance technical and operational interoperability along the RFCs. Furthermore, the study covered the activities of the rail sector undertaken in the period of analysis and contributing to the objectives of the Regulation.

TRT was responsible for the design of the evaluation, the definition of an evaluation baseline, the analysis of the stakeholders consultation, the analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Regulation and the estimation of costs and benefits from the implementation.

Link to the project page.

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The future energy system in Europe needs to be decarbonized and thus be based almost exclusively on renewable energy sources. Therefore it is challenged by the intermittent nature of renewables and requires several flexibility options. The interaction between different options and the impact on environment and society are in the focus of this contribution. It has been the core objective of the Reflex research project funded by the H2020 EU research programme and is reflected in the book “The Future European Energy System – Renewable Energy, Flexibility Options and Technological Progress” appjust published by SpringerNature.

The book analyzes the transition toward a low-carbon energy system in Europe under the aspects of flexibility and technological progress. By covering the main energy sectors – including the industry, residential, tertiary and transport sector as well as the heating and electricity sector – the analysis assesses flexibility requirements in a cross-sectoral energy system with high shares of renewable energies. The authors apply models and tools from various research fields, including techno-economic learning, fundamental energy system modeling, and environmental and social life cycle as well as health impact assessment, to develop an innovative and comprehensive energy models system (EMS). Moreover, the contributions examine renewable penetrations and their contributions to climate change mitigation, and the impacts of available technologies on the energy system.

The study, carried out by TRT on behalf of the European Commission (DG MOVE), provides the analysis of the impacts on the combined transport sector of Regulation 2020/1055 amending Regulation 1072/2009/EU (Mobility Package 1); specifically, the new provisions allowing Member States to apply the so-called “cabotage restrictions” to road legs of international combined transport (CT) operations if those road legs do not cross a border. In order to gather input for a qualified ex-ante assessment on the potential impacts, a survey was carried out addressing two types of CT operators: transport organisers and terminal operators, covering all modal combinations and a wide range of Member States. The data and the information collected focuses on the compliance strategies envisaged by the CT operators and on the impacts that the new rules could have on their activity.

Link to the project page.

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This document, written by TRT for “Cluster Cargo Aereo” (ANAMA, Assaeroporti, Assohandlers e IBAR), analyses and compare Italian air cargo market with European competitors.

This study is completed with the results of a survey sent to manufacture and shipping companies, which made possible to deepen the knowledge of the strategic role of air cargo traffic, and with a statistical analysis that covers the period 2008-2019 and different categories of products.

Eventually, this document is enriched with an annex dedicated to Covid-19 impact over air cargo traffic, which revealed an high degree of resilience for all of players in this economic sector.

Link to the project page.

Report available only in Italian.

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This study, carried out by TRT who had lead a multidisciplinary international consortium made by OIR, Arcadia International and M&E Factory, further supported by CORTE, checks how EU Member States have transposed the package from the road safety perspective, determines whether the transposition has effectively led to the application of common standards, and check whether the national measures transposing the safety provisions of the package are sufficient and adequately shaped to achieve its safety objectives.

These goals required the analysis of legal transpositions by Member States, performed by considering the national legal measures transposing the roadworthiness package as they had been notified to the EC (more than 450 documents from 27 Member States), and a direct survey among responsible authorities at national level involved 23 different organization from 21 MS completed by 7 direct interview to ministries and other national authorities.

Link to the project page.

The study is available here.