Pia Julin: We can do a lot more with data to make logistics more efficient

The Digilog seminar was held for the second time this autumn, bringing together a wide range of professionals working in logistics. The presentations began with the Key Note speech from Fintraffic CEO Pia Julin.

“We are pioneers in digital competence, but we can still do a lot with data to make logistics more efficient. Companies and households in Finland spend more than 10 per cent of their available funds on transport. Using digitalisation to increase the efficiency of transport and logistics by 5% would increase the purchasing power of households by approximately €600 million per year and reduce companies' costs by €1.5 billion per year. We should not miss this opportunity!”

At the end of her speech, Pia encouraged her listeners to join in the efforts of the Traffic Data Ecosystem to carry forward the digitalisation of logistics. 

“This ecosystem, which was established three years ago, already includes 190 organisations. Work is carried out in working groups which focus on different areas – and one of these is logistics. Everyone is welcome to join this open ecosystem and take things forward.”

In goods traffic, information is still exchanged in paper form between companies and authorities 

The EU eFTI Regulation encourages the digitalisation of goods transport and logistics. As well as to being cheaper and more quickly delivered, the digitalisation promoted by the eFTI increases security, efficiency, trust and sustainability and reduces misuse of information in different stages of the logistics chain. In addition, eFTI creates metadata on consignment notes for use by authorities. 

This metadata allows the authorities to retrieve the original consignment note from the original source, using for example the truck’s registration number.

In his own DigiLog presentation, Fintraffic's Logistics Development Manager Teemu Heikura emphasised the importance of pilots for verifying the benefits of eFTI. The aim is to focus pilots on the areas where they will be most useful now and in the future. This project calls for cooperation with companies!

Finland is one of nine countries involved in the CEF-funded “eFTI for EU” project. 

The need for cooperation and data sharing

Both Pia and Teemu encouraged organisations to engage in data cooperation. 

• Share data
• Tell us how we can improve our data  
• Bring good use cases to our attention 
• Actively participate in the work of the ecosystem

The recording and presentations from the event can be found on the ITS Finland website (external link)

Take a look too at the video sections below from Pia Julin's Key Note and Teemu Heikura's presentation.