The ISTEN coordination meeting was held on December 4-5 2019 in Trieste and represented the opportunity to share thoughts on how to implement synergies with other cross-border and transnational cooperation projects dealing with the enhancement of multimodal connections, logistics nodes efficiency and sustainability. Stakeholders from two ADRION countries (Montenegro and Serbia, invited by the Port of Bar and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia) had the chance to attend the meeting and contribute to the exchange of views on the most pressing issues concerning intermodal transport and logistics planning and how transnational cooperation can contribute to the research and development of joint solutions to overcome such issues.
In particular, Fondazione ITL and the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea, ISTEN partners, presented respectively Inter Green Nodes and REIF, co-funded by the Interreg Central Europe Programme and COMODALCE and PROMARES, the latter a cross-border initiative under the Italy-Croatia Programme.
The discussion allowed the ISTEN partners and stakeholders involved to better understand which kind of tools and what specific aspects of common territorial challenges will be tackled by the different projects, to define the scope of potential interactions and sharing of methodological instruments.
During the meeting the work packages coordinators shared the state of the art of the technical deliverables developed until now in the framework of the project:
– the consolidated report on the outcomes of local context analyses at ADRION level, highlighting the relevance of infrastructural and operational bottlenecks in port-hinterland connections and paving the way to the action plan each partner is currently elaborating at local level;
– the ISTEN best practice database, covering a range of innovative solutions implemented by port authorities, terminal operators and railway undertakings from several EU and non-EU countries to overcome issues related to the limited coordination among public and private actors in the port-hinterland logistics chain and the lack of standards for exchanging data;
– the ISTEN toolbox, whose objective is to provide criteria for defining the technical, operational and technological conditions that make the port and its hinterland an efficient hub.
– the local action plans the partners are currently working on in close cooperation with the relevant stakeholders.
These deliverables, as well as the e-newsletter covering the activities of the Transnational Cooperation Network established within ISTEN, will soon be available in the relevant sections of our website.