Abstract
The role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in freight transport as key
enabler is well recognised. However the uptake of recent ICT advances for multimodal freight
transport provisions in the UK and Europe has been slow. The aim of our paper is to explore
the potential reasons for such a slow adoption and assess how recent technological advances
such as cloud computing and Internet of Things might have changed the landscape and thus
help to overcome these barriers. Via an extensive review of 33 EU framework programme
projects, we are able to consolidate and present current major efforts in ICT developments in
the freight multimodal transport setting at European level. We further discuss barriers
inhibiting quick take-up of ICT applications in multimodal transport. Resolutions were then
explored by reviewing four key ICT development trends recently emerging and evaluating
their potential impact in reducing such barriers for deployment. Our contribution is two-fold:
it advances current knowledge by presenting an up-to-date overview of existing and emerging
ICT applications in the field of multimodal transport and barriers to e-enabled multimodal
transport. It also captures some of the best practices in industry and aims to provoke a debate
among practitioners and academics via the analysis of how innovative use of recent
technological developments could potentially lower the barriers to multimodal ICT adoption
and lead to a more integrated freight transport network. Therefore it lays the foundation for
further research.