9.1 Introduction
The European Commission has stated in its Freight Transport Logistics Action
Plan, launched in October 2007, that ‘‘Logistics policy needs to be pursued at all
levels of governance’’ (EU 2007a). This plan is one in a series of policy initiatives
to improve the efficiency and sustainability of freight transport in Europe. In the
Freight Transport Logistics Action Plan, a number of short–to medium-term
actions are offered to aid Europe meets its challenges. The goal is a competitive,
sustainable system of European freight transport. Among those actions is the
‘‘Green transport corridors for freight’’. In such a corridor, freight traffic between
major hubs is concentrated and transport distances are relatively long.
Green Corridors should be environmentally friendly, safe and efficient. But
what really is a Green Corridor? A precise definition of the term is still elusive;
one of the most important contributions of ongoing research would be to develop
an explicit and workable definition. Still, one can mention a couple of high-level
definitions:
According to the European Commission, ‘‘Green Corridors are a European
concept denoting long-distance freight transport corridors where advanced technology
and co-modality are used to achieve energy efficiency and reduce environmental
impact.’’ [By co-modality, one usually means the use of different modes
on their own and in combination, with the aim of obtaining an optimal and
sustainable utilization of resources in the supply chain (Guthed and Jobenius 2009)].
The Swedish Ministry of Transport characterizes a Green Corridor by:
• Sustainable logistic solutions.
• Integrated logistic concepts with utilization of co-modality.
• A harmonized system of rules.
• National/international goods traffic on long transport stretches.
• Effective and strategically placed transhipment points and infrastructure.
• A platform for development and demonstration of innovative logistic solutions.
These definitions are not very precise, perhaps deliberately. However, in the
quest for sustainable transport solutions, there is a clear need to move to a defi-
nition level that can ultimately help both policy-makers and the industry achieve
verifiable progress towards a more environmentally friendly supply chain.
The environmental performance of the various modes of transport, in terms of
energy use and emissions, is quite diverse (Table 9.1).
Figure 9.1 shows the contribution of each transport mode, and of other energyconsuming
industries, to the overall level of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions
worldwide. It is seen that among transport modes, road is by far the main
contributor of GHGs (21.3 %), with international shipping second but far behind
(2.7 %), and rail the least contributor (0.5 %). On a per ton-km basis, maritime
transport fares the best among modes while air transport fares the worst.