The future of freight transport

Just like passenger transport, the freight transport sector is in the middle of a complete transition. Challenges and drivers to change are high, as concerns about climate change, air quality and congestion are becoming at the top of the political and societal agenda, while the sector on its own is expected to further increase significantly over the next years. How to reconcile these trends? At the COP21 in Paris in 2015, the European Union’s (EU) objective was to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, and transportation must play a vital role in achieving this target. At this moment the transport sector is responsible for 32% of the CO2 emissions in the European Union (EEA, 2017). Can we find solutions in innovative concepts or technologies for the logistics sector? How do we see this sector evolve in the future? During a 2 day workshop organized by the NECTAR 3 cluster, the future of freight transport was discussed. NECTAR is a European-based scientific association with as a primary aim to foster research collaboration and exchange of information between experts in the field of transport, communication and mobility from all European countries and the rest of the world. Cluster 3 is a subgroup of researchers working on logistics and freight transport. In March 2018 this cluster 3 meeting was organized at the premises of IUAV University in Venice, we looked at how freight transport would look like in the future. This Topical Collection comprises six papers discussed