25 January 2017
The port of Calais has opened earlier this week its new facility for unaccompanied trailers. This upgraded service is now entirely managed by an innovative collaborative information system.
The adaptation of the site and the development of the new intelligent traffic management system, which required many months, now allows the port of Calais to propose a better service to road haulage companies guaranteeing time savings and the optimal traceability of their trailers.
This service is available to all transport companies for their trailers travelling without tractor and driver, whether local of international, and using road, rail and maritime transport modes.
A new smart storage area available 24/7
Totaling and available space of 10 500 sqm, the new parking area for UK-bound unaccompanied trailers was built within close vicinity of the T4 RoRo linkspan and the VIIA rail motorway terminal.
Equipped with a license plate reading system at the site’s entrance, this new equipment is entirely automated and accessible through a dedicated itinerary, opened 24/7 and separated from regular traffic flows.
The already existing import parking area, which welcomes trailers bound to Dover, was also modernized and equipped with automated gates.
E-modal: the innovative collaborative information system at the heart the service
E-modal is the non-visible but essential element of the new system: a dematerialized data-sharing tool, tailor-made to manage unaccompanied traffic on the port of Calais.
E-modal operates as a genuine single desk gathering all the actors of the supply chain – transport companies, shipping and handling services, maritime companies, Harbour Master, border control Authorities, etc. – this new innovative tool allows an entirely dematerialized management of unaccompanied trailers. It makes it possible to remotely control the entire process from the bookings, the handling and all the way to the boarding of unaccompanied trailers onto ferries or trains.
A guarantee of better reliability and traceability, E-modal will help to improve the logistical performance of transporters as well as the optimization of driving times and drivers’ allocation.
Thanks to the new dedicated access route, drivers will no longer need to check in with maritime companies nor at the border and security check points as these will be entirely managed by personnel of the Port Boulogne Calais during the shunting to the cross-channel terminal.
Requiring a total investment of 1,5 million Euros, this new equipment received the financial support of the European Union through the BRIDGE project.
According to Jean-Marc Puissesseau, CEO of the Port Boulogne Calais « The reorganization and modernization of the management of unaccompanied trailers prefigures the future modes of logistical management. Improved fluidity, traceability and security, these are the expressed needs of road haulage companies that we are dedicated to fulfil.
This new tool to support intermodality is essential in order to stimulate the adoption of transport and logistical modes ever more efficient and durable and which will be fully integrated in the future Calais Port 2015 infrastructure. »
Press Contacts
Isabelle FAUQUET
Tel : +33 7 85 54 04 47
isabelle.fauquet@portboulognecalais.fr
Xavier DECRAMER
Tel : +33 6 04 67 36 46
