BE Logic Benchmark Logistics for Co-modality - Background and Vision

Why BE LOGIC?

While large companies may have their own experts in-house to assess the transport options and select optimal logistics alternatives, we know that small and medium enterprises (SME) may lack this expertise. The logistics process is complex, and SMEs, with limited resources and assets may focus on the maximum involvement of their equipment (say vehicle) instead of looking for potentially attractive alternatives.
In our opinion, the major improvement potential in logistics performance is thus among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), including shippers with relatively small transport volumes.
Why then a benchmark? A benchmark of logistics chains can give SMEs insight into the potential gains of reconsidering their logistics choices in terms of:

Costs and performance: what cost savings are associated to alternative choices, and what will be the performance in terms of reliability, transit time, etc.?

Environment: how can other choices, including co-modality, contribute to sustainable company activities?

Quality: on the longer term, benchmarking can contribute to the introduction of a common quality label.

What is BE LOGIC ?

The scope of BE LOGIC is co-modality. This implies that we seek for logistics alternatives that offer the potential involvement of other modes. This does not imply that we only look at terminal – terminal sections; door to door may also be relevant, as well as terminal to door, or door to terminal.
The approach of BE LOGIC has both a micro and macro involvement:

Micro, looking at the performance of both transport chains and terminals:

Transport chains: by benchmarking transport chains we are able to compare the costs, performance (quality) and the environmental impact of alternative transport chain solutions, e.g. unimodal road transport vs. comodal transport, using road and rail or road and inland shipping.

Terminals: are important nodes in the logistic chain and often are considered bottlenecks. Benchmarking terminals can give insight in their relative performance and help to learn from successful colleagues in the market. The aim is to contribute to an improvement of the performance of the entire chain.

Macro, looking at the policy perspective and what can be learned from other countries?
What kind of policies to support co-modality do they have? Are there any barriers in legislation hindering the use of co-modality?