On May 20th 2015, the FUTUREMED project’s final conference on “perspectives and recommendations for the competitiveness of the Mediterranean port systems” was held in Civitavecchia, at the Port Authority Conference Hall.
In this occasion, the Institute for Transport and Logistics Foundation (ITL) presented the results of the business pilot on agro-food supply chain to the business sector and to the public authorities present at the event. This pilot is focused on the optimisation of the agro-food perishable goods supply chain with particular attention to high quality products.
The pilot realised a realistic agro-food flow analysis of inbound and outbound perishable goods across the MED area. The collected data have been used as the basis to investigate on possibilities of improvement of the logistics and distribution of perishable goods to Central-East Europe countries (market presence), and to discover optimal solutions of inbound logistics for large-scale retail trade (optimization).
The business solutions proposed as a result of the pilot project confirmed logistics to be a determinant factor for the reduction of environmental and cost externalities along the agro-food supply chains. By means of an analysis aimed at reducing logistic nodes, actors and processes involved in the existing supply chain, these solutions helped to understand how to optimise the distribution network from farm to fork of perishable products. The results improved the respect of shelf life, increasing the quality of the product for the end-consumer.
Finally, the pilot’s results have highlighted the real need to continue doing research at European level in the sector of logistics and transportation for the food chain, studying solutions for integration and strategic development of ports and logistics nodes in the Mediterranean. The agro-food chain clearly represents a high priority sector for the economic development of the MED area. Logistics has a duty to increase the competitiveness of this sector, encouraging the expansion into the main consumer markets in Central and Northern Europe, Middle East, Asia and America.
FUTUREMED is developed under the MED Programme European Territorial Cooperation 2007-2013. The Project aims to improve the competitiveness of port systems in the MED area by promoting accessibility through technology and procedural innovations, and guaranteeing sustainability of transport. The idea focuses on the realization of interoperable management information systems and on the reduction of externalities.
Consult the project website: www.futuremedproject.eu
For more information please contact:
ITL, Institute on transport and logistics foundation, Phone: +39 0515273159
Stefano Dondi: sdondi@regione.emilia-romagna.it
Iorfida Chiara: ciorfida@regione.emilia-romagna.it
More information :
Final_Conference_2 Futuremed_online Press_release_Futuremed_EN
