The CORELOG project as an opportunity to improve the situation on our roads: an interview with Marcin Hajdul, project manager in the Greater Poland region
Iwo Nowak: Why does the European Union allocate such large funds every year to the implementation of transport-related projects?
Marcin Hajdul: I do not need to say that transport, or more precisely the organization of transport processes, is very important to all of us. It is also important for those responsible for reducing the number of road accidents and the pollution emitted by various means of transport, especially heavy goods vehicles. Unfortunately, the current situation is that road transport dominates both freight and passenger transport. We all see the consequences of this. In cities, there are troublesome traffic jams, and on main transport routes, there is a very high volume of heavy goods vehicle traffic. Worse still, the share of road transport in freight transport in European Union countries has remained at a very high level for years. In 2005, it was over 76%, and this figure still holds. Poland has almost an identical result in this respect. The European Commission is aware that we are facing a situation where—to put it simply—smooth and safe travel through many regions will simply be impossible within the next dozen or so years. The official position of the EC on this matter was described in detail in the Communication to the Council and the European Parliament entitled “Keep Europe moving,” which speaks of the need for the effective organization of transport processes using one or more modes of transport (so-called co-modality). Consequently, the Commission is allocating significant funds for actions to improve the existing situation, especially in freight transport. These funds are distributed through various financing instruments, such as structural funds or framework programs.
Tomasz Janiak: Who is usually involved in working on such projects?
M.H.: International consortia, established for this purpose, work on the projects, consisting of representatives of authorities, research and development units, consulting firms, universities, and—which is very important—enterprises. It is precisely the involvement of companies from different parts of Europe that allows us to create solutions for real problems arising in transport. An additional advantage of the international nature of the projects is the possibility of exchanging experiences from different regions, not only of Europe but of the whole world. It often turns out that our local problems were solved long ago, for example, in Italy. Conversely, our solutions may prove useful for a partner from Sweden. An example of such international cooperation is the CORELOG project, which concerns joint, coordinated actions by authorities and companies to improve the situation on the roads. In this project, we conducted work within the Regional Logistics Forum, where representatives of manufacturing companies, transport companies, and regional authorities addressed problems that were serious for them. It is very important that the project partners then strove to eliminate these problems, or, to put it more “scientifically,” to rationalize their logistics processes.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 6/2007.