A major three-year cross-border initiative aimed at modernizing freight transport and reducing bottleneck congestions across Central Europe has officially come to a successful close.
The ACCESSMILE project (Improving ACCESSibility of last mile connections of rural and peripheral regions to main TEN-T nodes in Central Europe through ICT), co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg Central Europe Programme, brought together 10 project partners spanning six countries—Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, and Poland. Together, the consortium tackled one of logistics’ most persistent hurdles: connecting remote, rural manufacturers and agricultural regions to Europe’s core Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) through cutting-edge IT tools.
Breaking the Rural Bottleneck
For decades, hauliers operating in peripheral regions have faced significant delays at major port gates and inland intermodal terminals, where lengthy manual check-ins and paper documentation consumed precious driving hours and increased fuel consumption. By introducing automated gate technologies and digital tracking solutions, ACCESSMILE has successfully streamlined entry and exit procedures to under an hour, enabling drivers serving rural hinterlands to complete round-trip transports within legal daily shift limits.
Major Technical Milestones Across Central Europe
The project delivered targeted pilot actions across three main logistics operational areas:
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Automated Port & Terminal Gates: At Poland’s Baltic Container Terminal (BCT Gdynia), the project deployed Weight-In-Motion (WIM) automated axle scale systems paired with a Truck Appointment System (TAS) to eliminate road congestion and detect overweight vehicles without stopping traffic. Similarly, the Port of La Spezia (Italy) and Luka Koper (Slovenia) integrated advanced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software into their Port Community Systems and Terminal Operating Systems to automatically recognize container credentials at test gates.
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Enhanced Inland Hub Integration: In Italy, ZAILOG upgraded IT infrastructure at the Verona Freight Village Interterminal to facilitate real-time intermodal booking and data sharing. In Hungary, national authority RSOE integrated a dedicated pre-registration and driver-guidance module into the country’s inland port platform (KIR APP).
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Digital Cargo Bundling: Logistics operator Gruber Logistics deployed its “MyDesk” platform and advanced accounting software across Poland to group smaller freight shipments from non-central regions onto major transport corridors. Meanwhile, ROSTOCK PORT in Germany launched specialized freight-matching tools to aggregate last-mile cargo from rural areas, facilitating a direct shift of freight volumes from trucks onto regional rail lines.
Environmental Impact and Key Lessons
Beyond operational speed, ACCESSMILE has achieved substantial environmental benefits. Replacing paper-based customs procedures with paperless digital exchanges and reducing idling truck queues outside port gates has led to a measurable drop in greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, and localized noise pollution.
The project’s final evaluation highlighted critical takeaways for future transport infrastructure initiatives:
1. Hardware Resilience Matters: Field tests showed that complex physical sensors, such as high-speed weigh-in-motion scales, require continuous calibration to endure severe climate conditions and heavy maritime terminal traffic.
2. Integration Drives Success: Digital tools yield maximum impact when individual cargo-bundling platforms seamlessly exchange data with public Port Community Systems and private Terminal Operating Systems.
3. Transnational Collaboration is Vital: Standardizing data formats across national boundaries prevents digital isolation and ensures that freight moves unhindered across the European Union.
With the pilot solutions now successfully integrated into daily operations across the participating ports and intermodal hubs, the legacy of ACCESSMILE leaves Central Europe’s supply chains more resilient, efficient, and environmentally sustainable for years to come.