1. GILBERTO GALLONI “Freight village – Directions for use”
PRESIDENT OF EUROPLATFORMS
The European Association of freight villages
“Freight village – Directions for use”
Istanbul, 28th June 2005
Good morning everybody, first of all I would like to thank the organisers for the opportunity they gave me to make a short presentation today.
Let me introduce myself shortly.
My name is Gilberto Galloni, I am President of Europlatforms, the European Association of freight villages.
I am also the Managing Director of Interporto Bologna since I have been working in the transport and logistics field for 32 years.

2. 60 Freight Villages 9 Countries 2.400 Transport operators FIGURES
Italy–Spain–Germany–Denmark–Portugal–Luxembourg–Greece–France–Hungary-Ukraine
2.400 Transport operators
Before getting to the heart of this presentation, I guess everyone knows Europlatforms, I will tell you shortly that Europlatforms is the european association of freight village, it joins together National transport associations and singular freight villages.
Nowadays, it counts about 60 transport and freight villages so far, representing 9 European Countries and about transport operators.

3. THE MAP
In the map you will not find Liski terminal our last new member.

4. DEFINITION
A freight village is a defined area within which all activities relating to transport, logistic and distribution of goods, both for national and International transit are carried out by various operators.
A freight village must also be equipped with all the public facilities to carry out the above mentioned operations. In order to encourage intermodal transport for the handling of goods, a freight village must preferably be served by a multiplicity of transport modes (road, rail, deep sea, inland waterway, air).
After this short presentation I think useful to explain what is a freight village. This is the Europlatforms definition showing that freight villages are equipped to offer a series of services linked to all transport activities. If a freight village is designed to serve all modes of transport, it should have an intermodal terminal.

5. European Conference of Ministers of Transport & UNECE
DEFINITION by
European Conference of
Ministers of Transport
&
UNECE
FREIGHT VILLAGE
Geographical grouping of independent companies and bodies which are dealing with freight transport (for example, freight forwarders, shippers, transport operators, customs) and with accompanying services (for example, storage, maintenance and repair), including at least a terminal.
Now you have the definition by ECMT (European Conference of Ministries of Transport) and UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for EUrope). It has been elaborated in 2001, ten years after the Europlatforms definition, but the main concept is quite similar.

6. Define the infrastructural necessities and the Logistics Centre layout
ACTVITIES
Define the infrastructural necessities and the Logistics Centre layout
Business Plan
Realize the general infrastructures, the warehouses and the integrated services
Leasing activities (warehouses,offices,etc)
Selling activities (warehouses,offices,etc)
Adiministrative, financial, commercial, operating management of the Logistics Centre
Upkeep and management of common property
The freight village is generally managed by a single Body that has to carry on all the activities you see listed on the slide.

7. Warehouses with raised docking bays
INFRASTRUCTURES
Warehouses with raised docking bays
Warehouses with rail-road interchange
Large-sized warehouses
Public warehouses for storage
Air-conditioned warehouses
Intermodal terminal
The most important infrastructures inside a freight village are the warehouses and the intermodal/multimodal terminal.
The warehouse is the infrastructure where the transport operator mostly performs his business. There are different types of warehouses, depending on the activity the transport operator deals with and the freights he handles.
The intermodal terminal is usually composed of one or more tracks linked to the main railway lines and an adjacent area used for dealing with train loading and unloading operations with gantry cranes or mobile handling equipment. Where feasible, Logistics Centres are additionally linked to inland waterways or short-sea-shipping connections.

8. Post Office/Public telephones/Bus service Motel
SERVICES
Customs District
Post Office/Public telephones/Bus service
Motel
Restaurant/Self-service
Areas for parking and loading/unloading
operations
Filling station with vehicle washing facilities
In short, the freight village, is simply a village planned and built to best manage all the activities involved in freight movement. Just as with a residential village, a Freight Village comprises not only infrastructures but also the services necessary to satisfy and respond to requirements arising from its primary transport activity

9. FREIGHT VILLAGE LOCAL AUTHORITIES POLICY LOCATION INFRASTRUCTURES
The construction of a freight village always implies the involvement of local public authorities whose role is just to supervise and give directions for the territory planning, the razionalization of infrastrucutures considering that a freight village extends over a very large area and needs of big infrastructures.
LOCATION
INFRASTRUCTURES

10. Public-Private Partnership - Public Authorities support for
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
Public-Private Partnership - Public Authorities support for
1 policies on economic
and territorial development
2 environmental policy
3 synergies with ports/rail infrastructures (multi-modality)
This is one most of freight villages are organized on the base of Private Public Partnership model.
The Private Public Partnership is the most popular organisational structure model for the Companies that manage freight villages.
The percentages of public or private funds change in each Country depending on the history of the goods transport policy and the Public Authorities organisation.
The choice of the PPP model, so the participation of the public Authorities in the freight village share capital, is linked to the effects that freight villages have on the local economy, on the environment, on development of the transport system but also to the high investments that building a freight village implies since the very beginning.
The investment have to finance the creation of not only large warehouses but also the high-capacity access to transport modes including intermodal handling facilities. It is true that building a freight village requires high investments, but I would say profitable investments because the demand of logistics warehouses is really increasing nowadays. What costs more are just the group of necessary urban infrastructures: roads, rail, electrical system, sewers and so on.
- High investments

11. PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP
MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Service
Management
Company
Condominium
The PPP is usually organised like you see on the slide.
There is the PPP management Company managing the entire structure on the administrative, financial, economic point of view. The PPP management company has the majority shareholding of the service management company who manages all the services that the freight village provides to the transport operators.
Finally you have what I call condominium. If you think the freight village as a block of flats, that are the warehouses of course, the owners or the leaseholders have to pay all the expenses rising from the use of the infrastructures. The condominium manages all these expenses.

12. 362 Million € NATIONAL LAWS THE ITALIAN EXAMPLE: LAW 240/90
“Italian State support for building freight villages and developing intermodality”
The law established the definition – activities – functions of freight villages
Objective: to concentrate traffic flows to make competitive intermodality
The private public partnership companies, as I said before, are usually composed by Local public authorities. Considering the huge investments that building a freight village requires it would be important to have the financial support by National Public Authorities.
Italy is one of the European Countries that firstly, promoted the concept of freight village.
I think that Italy has been the first Country in Europe to issue special laws dedicated to transport infrastructures, intermodality and freight villages.
The most important law that firstly started financing freight villages is the number 240 of The law defined freight villages, their activities and functions; shortly the law has defined the criteria to access the financial support.
The total amount of investment was 362 million euros that have been splitted among freight villages.
The strategic aim of Italian Transport Minister leading this policy was the concentration of freight flows, (managed by transport operators) and the offer of railway transport services, so to obtain, without mandatory laws, the increase of intermodality.
362 Million €

13. MAIN PHASES IN PLANNING A FREIGHT VILLAGE
TRAFFIC
ANALYSIS
LOCATION
ANALYSIS
COST BENEFIT
ANALYSIS
MASTERPLAN
Economical effects
Traffic effects
Ecological effects
Area management
effects
Financial engineering
Possible area
Best location
Traffic links
Area utilization
Future development
Concept
Functions
Blueprint
Masterplan
Infrastructures
Capacity
performance
Traffic potential
Traffic networks
Modal split
Logistics demand
Logistics & transport companies
The realization of a freight village requires a long preparation, these are all the most important phases that can take years before accomplishig.
Developing linkages between Europea and Asia, is an issue with a big potential. I hope my presentation will help Asian Public Authorities to understand how important is to plan corridors considering also freight villages as strategic points for the transport flows.

14. CATCHEMENT AREA
Freight villages are usually located near big and important economic and industrial areas.
Freight villages can exist if there are traffic flows, if there are goods to be moved from one place to another.
The last important aspect is that freigth villages are usually located near important railways lines.

15. PLANNING
Freight villages can not be built without following a precise model.
They are generally devided in specific areas depending on the activities. You can see on the slide the map of Bologna freight village.
You will find the area dedicated to logistics activities, intermodal operations, customs offices.

16. PLANNING
You will see here the example of SOGARIS in France near to Paris

17. Offer alternative transport solutions more efficient and complete
THE ROLE OF FREIGHT VILLAGES
Offer alternative transport solutions more efficient and complete
Move part of the freight transport from road to other modes of transport (intermodality)
Manage the exponential increase of freight transport in the optimal way
After listing the requirements of freight villages I would close my presentation underlining the importance of these infrastructures. If I did not explain the advantages of freight villages nobody would understand why financing them.
These three points can well describe the role that freight villages have in Europe. The advantages concern both the quality and efficiency of the transport activities and the increase of intermodality and I would say multimodality.

18. Limitation of total transport costs
EFFECTS
Limitation of total transport costs
Limitation of de-industrialisation process
Increase of competitiveness of the industrial system
Environement protection
The advantages I have listed before have the following effects.
A greater quality in the transport field has direct effects in the local and national economy. Freight villages are just the infrastructures that can offer this kind of services together with the private operators.

19. 4th Framework Programme
FACTS NOT WORDS
Funded by the European Commission under the transport RTD Programme of the
4th Framework Programme
RESULTS
1.The use of intermodal transport is higher inside the FVs than outside.
2. The transport companies, located inside the FVs, have a higher turnover coming from the intermodality than the companies operating outside the freight villages
3. A higher productivity values of transport companies both for the total flows and the R/R flows.
Maybe someone of you knows the FV2000 project co-funded by the European Commission – DGVII - within the Fourth Framework R&D Programme.
We have affirmed that the use of Intermodal transportation improves the efficiency of global distribution
We have proved in a concrete form and with the support of data, that the increase of intermodality is possible just inside the Freight villages as result of the concentration of all the private freight transport operators, warehouses and goods.

20. CONCLUSIONS
The integrated model of freight village is preferable to the non-integrated one.
The concentration of transport and logistic activities in larger infrastructures is more economic and efficient than several smaller intermodal terminals scattered over the territory.
Co-ordinated planning and funding is necessary to develop freight villages and intermodality.
After what I have been saying, these are the conclusions.

21. Thank you for your attention