Did you know that a flurry of activity starts around a ship as soon as it arrives in port? Cargo is loaded and unloaded, any required maintenance work is carried out, and the ship’s basic needs – such as waste management, fuel and provisions – are taken care of. For passenger ships, the disembarking of both passengers and vehicles must also be coordinated alongside all these other activities. But what happens at the port when a ship is late?

If a ship arrives five hours late at a different location than agreed, operators face multiple challenges. Schedule data has not previously been available in real time from a single source. Instead, it has been provided to all of the various operators by phone, in messages, and through several different systems. Port Activity is an app that has been developed to solve this problem. It seeks to improve information flow between the various stakeholders operating at ports, in order to enable the most efficient and economical port visits possible.

“The pilot version of Port Activity was developed in cooperation with the Ports of Rauma and Gävle. However, we quickly noticed that there’s high demand for this kind of service, as the app started spreading to other ports on a market-driven basis,” says Olli Soininen, Project Manager at Fintraffic VTS.

Ingredients for international cooperation

More than ten Finnish ports have already signed up to use Port Activity, and it is also being used in Sweden. The Baltic Sea is one of the world’s busiest shipping areas, with more than 2,500 vessels on the move around the clock. Every year, 17 per cent of all global maritime transport passes through its ports. The aim is to encourage other countries around the Baltic Sea to start using the app, before sailing on into global waters.

“By sharing schedule data, and thereby making ports more efficient, the app can generate considerable savings in terms of both money and emissions.  This definitely has the ingredients for international cooperation,” says Soininen.

The port app was born as part of the EU-funded STM EfficientFlow project, which sought to create new tools to streamline maritime transport, improve safety and reduce emissions by utilising modern data and information sharing. The project’s closing seminar was held at the beginning of June, and Port Activity will now continue on its own journey to promote more efficient port visits.

Port operators’ schedule data in one place

The real-time sharing of schedule data boosts the efficiency of the entire logistics chain. The app collects schedule data on the port’s various stakeholders from a number of different systems in real time and then collates it in one place. It informs users of any potential schedule changes. This enables everyone to keep fully abreast of the situation, so they can plan their own schedules accordingly.

“If the app informs a transport company that the ship won’t make it to port that day after all, the driver won’t need to wait around and spend the night at the port. Instead, the driver can arrange to come back later, when the ship is actually arriving,” says Soininen.

The app works both ways, meaning that not only the ship but also other users can report their schedule information in real time. For example, if a waste management vehicle has broken down on the way and its replacement will be a little late, others will be able to prepare for this.

App can be customised for each port

Port Activity is an open source app, which means that ports can customise it to meet their own needs in cooperation with their chosen development partner. This will help promote internationalisation, as although port operations are often fairly similar the world over, there are national requirements that can be taken into account in the app. Ports have already been actively developing the service. An SaaS-based version of the app that is already in use in Finland is now scheduled to be launched in Sweden during autumn 2021.

A mobile and desktop version of the port app have been created, making it easy to use both in the office and in the field. The results of the pilot project indicated that it was the right time to go digital.

“Phones are the most important tools for many port operators. It was therefore important for the app to be as easy to use as possible on mobile devices. Now you can check, edit and inform others about schedule data with just a couple of clicks,” says Soininen.

Fintraffic VTS’ mission is not only to improve the safety of shipping, but also to promote smooth and efficient vessel traffic. Port Activity is a good example of a service in which these smoothness and efficiency goals can be mobilised on a broad front with the aid of evolving digitalisation.

Read the original article to learn more.

Since the middle of 2018, CEVT (China Euro Vehicle Technology AB) has been active in the vibrant start-up ecosystem of Oulu. At the beginning of 2020, a test-car was dispatched in Oulu to increase the possibilities to collaborate and recently the test-car has been upgraded and CEVT will now take the next step. Up until today, CEVT has had great support from Business Oulu to scout and organize events in Oulu, and now we would like to announce the additional collaboration with a very innovative and agile company, Kaira Clan.

“Through what we call open innovation we want to explore what happens if we create a co-creation culture and combine two vibrant high-tech ecosystems – Israel, and Finland. We also have a test-car in Tel Aviv, Israel. Three different cultures, two world-leading innovation hubs with CEVT in the middle as a facilitator, enabler and a way into the mobility market. Win-win!” – Peter Stavered, Head of Innovation at CEVT

“Our goal as facilitators for the Oulu based CEVT Innovation Hub, is to offer Finnish startups and innovation research companies a clear path for the productization of their solutions in the automotive industry.” –Janne Siltari, Kaira Clan Chairman

Kaira Clan will provide educational content, mentoring, and best practices through lectures, master lessons, workshops, webinars, and other supporting services such as rapid prototyping. The focus for the talents will be to push their ideas from their earliest stages, all the way to market readiness.

“We are proud to see Kaira Clan get recognition for the way we innovate and build solutions. We feel it is important to encourage the collaboration of SM Es, large enterprises, and local ecosystems. This collaboration with CEVT Innovation Center will benefit the existing Kaira Clan innovation lab network as well as the local community, businesses, and future startups.” –Tero Blomqvist, Kaira Clan CEO

“Opening of CEVT’s innovation hub in Oulu marks a new milestone in our collaboration which started already in 2018. Companies and researchers in Oulu have globally unique expertise in radio technologies, printed electronics, embedded software, loT solutions and 6G research. We are looking forward to creating new and sustainable solutions for future mobility with CEVT. ” states Juha Ala-Mursula, Director of BusinessOulu.

The innovation center will offer even more possibilities to Oulu. “I’m especially proud to see another significant international company set foot in Oulu and see the possibilities we have to offer. The CEVT Innovation Hub will offer local companies and startups a great opportunity.” –Päivi Laajala, Mayor of Oulu

Get to know more about Kaira Clan and CEVT by reading the original article.

Ramboll have co-ordinated studies on the impacts of teleworking and new transport services on greenhouse gas emissions as the part of the implementation of the Roadmap for Fossil-Free Transport, the aim of which is to help achieve the Finnish government’s pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions from domestic transport by 2030.

The studies, part of the implementation of the Roadmap for Fossil-Free Transport, were completed under the co-ordination of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. According to the studies, teleworking could, on an annual basis, reduce emissions by up to 0.125 megatonnes and transport services by 0.080 megatonnes by 2030. The results obtained in the various studies partly overlap, so the combined CO2 reduction potential of teleworking and transport services is not necessarily the sum of these results.

The impact of telework on emissions is moderate

According to the study, the impact of telework on greenhouse gas emissions from transport is moderate. Owing to the increase in teleworking, CO2 emissions from passenger cars would decrease by a maximum of about 0.125 megatonnes per year by 2030. In the longer term, the lower emissions from the car stock will reduce the impact of telework. By 2045, the increased teleworking could at best achieve an emission reduction of about 0.082 megatonnes. According to this forecast, the number of teleworkers will be 577,000 in 2030 and 582,000 in 2045.

In 2019, there were about 357,000 teleworkers in Finland. During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the number of teleworkers rose to approximately 790,000. This number is estimated to be the maximum achievable figure with the current regional and employment structures. According to the study, teleworking is becoming more common independent of the encouragement from the central or local government.

Services leading to lower car ownership reduce emissions

According to the study, the emission reduction potential of transport services in 2030 will be relatively small, approximately 0.080 megatonnes. For the purposes of this study, transport services were defined as services for sharing and renting cars and other vehicles, as well as taxis and public transport. Further in the future, the emission reduction could be significantly higher by 2045, up to as much as 0.580 megatonnes.

The main explanation for the reduction in emissions is the reduction in car ownership. In the long run, autonomous transport and the widespread use of demand-responsive transport will also reduce emissions. If the proportion of e-vehicles used in transport services grows faster than car ownership, the greater use of transport services could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport even more than the above estimates suggest.

– Challenges to the study were brought about by the fact that data related to new transport services are not yet sufficiently available for modeling purposes. Due to this, changes in car-ownership, for example, could not be modeled, says Teemu Sihvola from Ramboll.

– The project was interesting, and we were able to utilize Ramboll’s extensive experience in using the national traffic model, as well as an understanding of the forms and effects of new mobility service. There will certainly be a need for methodologies used and developed in the project in the future, as the transport servitization will gain momentum in one form or another.

Picture credit: Ramboll

The Six City Strategy, 6Aika, began a new chapter in the development of Finnish cities – an era of co-creation and agile pilots. Since 2014, dozens of projects that have made cities more open, climate-wiser and smarter have been completed as part of the Six City Strategy. Nearly 4,000 businesses have participated in the strategy, and in this way the strategy has promoted the success of various sectors, boosting vitality throughout the country.

Era of Cities is a new publication from the Six City Strategy that summarises experiences and best practices of cooperation and development in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Turku, Tampere and Oulu.

Read the publication on the Six City Strategy’s web page to find out

• What were the benefits of co-creation between cities and companies
• How cities shared gained knowledge throughout the strategy & development processes
• What kind of new operating models were established in the cities
• How cities’ competitiveness was increased by improving the working age population’s skills and prerequisites for finding employment 

As populations grow, traditional traffic infrastructure is pushed to its limits. Mobility is, therefore, expanding into the third dimension – the airspace. AiRMOUR is a research and innovation project supporting sustainable air mobility in urban contexts via emergency and medical services. The project will test both manned and unmanned drones in real-life conditions in 2023.

Moovit will show users where TIER scooters are available nearby, in real-time, for more convenient first and last-mile options

Moovit, an Intel company, a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions provider and creator of the #1 urban mobility app, and TIER, a leading European shared micromobility provider, are announcing a partnership that offers users more convenient first and last mile options. With a shared vision to get more cars off the road, Moovit will show users where nearby TIER scooters are available in real-time in 77 cities across 13 countries including Finland.

Alternative transport modes and micro-mobility made accessible

As more COVID restrictions lift and traffic increases once again in many European countries, offering more alternative travel options will help riders save time getting to their destination and reduce the need for a private car for first and last-mile journeys. About one out of three TIER riders predominantly uses e-scooters during the week for commuting or running personal appointments and almost half of TIER users take e-scooters as a first-/last- mile solution, combining it with other modalities. However, many people still drive their car to connect with main transport hubs.

Moovit, which has served over 1 billion urban users around the world in 112 countries, offers its service in over 1,500 cities across Europe and the Middle East, and TIER, which recently launched in its 100th city — will enable Moovit users to embrace multi-modality and discover TIER scooters in the Moovit app to better connect with public transport. Moovit will show its users in real-time where a TIER scooter is available nearby, including how long it will take to walk there, as well as battery range.

“Offering more alternative forms of transport that can easily get people to their destination is a critical component of any Mobility as a Service platform,” said Yovav Meydad, Moovit’s Chief of Growth and Marketing Officer. “That’s why we are excited to partner with TIER and empower riders to more easily combine micromobility with public transport to enjoy the most efficient ways of getting around some of the most congested cities in the world.”

“Our mission to change mobility for good is largely about creating strong partnerships to expand everyone’s access to sustainable, easily accessible and multimodal mobility solutions,” says Tinia Mühlfenzl, Director of Market Development at TIER. “Teaming up with a leading MaaS solutions provider will allow us to expand access to our micro-mobility services in many cities across Europe and the Middle East.”

Read more about the partnership between TIER and Moovit on TIER’s press release.

A nationwide project led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Lapland is developing mobility and tourism services for domestic and foreign individual travellers in Finland. The aim is to create new types of tourism mobility services and export business that utilize digitalisation.  The new service concepts are being tested in the Fell Lapland, Turku archipelago and Kuusamo areas.

In nearly all competitive procurements last year the number of electric buses chosen for city use exceeded the minimum requirements. Electric buses have made a real breakthrough. This presents a challenge to many communities on how the new equipment should be introduced. Tampere took advantage of VTT Smart eFleet simulation service in preliminary studies for electrification.

The technological development of electric buses has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years. Meanwhile, pressures to reduce emissions in city transport help promote the electrification of bus services. Urban bus transport is regulated by an EU directive, and the national regulation linked with it is taking effect in Finland in 2021.

According to the directive, 41% of procurements for new buses in Finland should be based on clean energy. This means buses powered by electricity, biogas, biodiesel, or hydrogen. In addition, the directive requires that half of these buses should be zero-emission buses powered by electricity or fuel cells.

High expectations, complicated optimisation

Electric buses come with high expectations: they are expected to be as reliable diesel buses, but they must also be energy efficient, and have low emissions. The user experience should also improve. The introduction of electric buses requires comprehensive evaluation of costs and performance. The actors are not always aware of everything that should be considered in the evaluation.

VTT Smart eFleet solution serves as a roadmap for the electrification of bus transport. It offers unbiased information as a basis for decision-making. With the help of the service, it is possible to ascertain the most cost-effective way to introduce electric buses, while maintaining the quality of service.

Planning infrastructure for charging is one of the key questions. “The type of charging is affected by issues such as the features of the buses, their use, and preconditions for maintaining battery capacity on bus lines. Simulation makes it possible to visualise the effects of different choices. The aim is green transport with lower total costs than those of diesel buses”, says VTT’s Research Scientist Mikaela Ranta.

The VTT Smart eFleet service supports the electrification of public transport in many ways. It can be used as a tool for strategic planning and the anticipation of technological development. Simulation can also help in the planning of investments in infrastructure for charging. It also helps in the planning of tendering out public transport and for comparing the profitability of electric and hydrogen buses.

Electric bus traffic expanding in Tampere

An extensive change is taking place in Nysse, the public transport system of the Tampere area, where tram transport begins this summer. Meanwhile, Tampere and its nearby municipalities are planning the electrification of bus transport. The first four electric buses were introduced in the area already in 2016, but now there are moves for more extensive electric bus transport.

In preliminary studies for the electrification of urban buses Tampere has utilised VTT Smart eFleet solution. The simulation tool has given information to help planning in matters such as technical solutions for electrification and their costs.

“We used the service to model four distinct bus routes. We examined the kinds of situations in which fast charging on a route is the most sensible option, and when it is better to charge the batteries at a charging station at the depot, outside the route”, says Juha-Pekka Häyrynen, Transport Planner at Nysse.

“The key observation was that there are no self-evident solutions for the choice of a suitable charging strategy. Battery technology has made great advances, but it is not profitable to run all transport on depot charging. On some bus lines charging on the route remains an economically sensible option.”

By using the simulation service, Tampere did not aim at a detailed comparison of the options, or to optimise actual transport. Instead, the aim was to find fundamental principles for the bigger picture. ”VTT Smart eFleet is a useful and functioning tool for this kind of advance planning. Without simulation it would have been difficult for us to verify what was examined in the advance report”, Häyrinen says.

Switching the driving power to electricity is a significant move in urban bus transport. “Carriers, bus manufacturers, and those ordering the service have varying degrees of readiness for involvement in the change, and development moves forward at different speeds for different actors. Coordination is a challenge for the transition phase: buses have an operating life of about 15 years and the change in the driving power should be implemented in a manner that does not waste investments. This is a change that we plan to carry out in a controlled manner”, Häyrynen says.

Data promotes success in electrification

The VTT Smart eFleet examines the introduction of electric buses with data in mind. Background data requires information about the buses’ routes and schedules, as well as the planned equipment and its technical information. It is also possible to utilise traffic data from peak times and information on the planned charging locations. VTT also takes urban topography into account.

“VTT can collect a large portion of this information, and information about the vehicles is available directly from the manufacturers. In addition, the more information the client can give, the more detailed analysis can be made”, Mikaela Ranta notes.

The VTT Smart eFleet is the result of decades of research, experimental measurements, and technical data. This data is utilised in the analysis of different kinds of vehicles, infrastructures, and operating environments. The aim of the service is the successful electrification of bus transport and the best possible technical and economic solution for an electrified public transport system.

Read more about VTT Smart eFleet solution and contact VTT’s experts.

This article is published on Linja magazine of Linja-autoliitto 06/2021

Energy and fuels, drone systems, airport technology, aircraft components, research, testing and education as well as maintenance, repair and operations form the backbone of Finnish Aviation Landscape. 

The roots of the Finnish aerospace industry take us 100+ years back in time when the primary purpose was to build a national air defence fleet for Finland. Since then the industry has grown massively and the Finnish test beds and development projects run by Finnish research organizations and universities allow continuous development of new services in aviation, airports, autonomy and UAV’s. 

Read the eBook Finnish Aviation Landscape by Business Finland to learn why Finland excels in the reforming aviation industry and what kind of opportunities test beds, ecosystems and research organisations have to offer for foreign players.

A boost for traffic service development: Traffic and transport data now even more comprehensive

Fintraffic will now be able to provide even more comprehensive traffic and transport data to both traffic/transport-sector developers and end users in Finland. In accordance with an agreement signed with Traficom, transport information services, finap.fi, matka.fi and some Digitransit services have been transferred to Fintraffic. This will enable the provision of a globally unique set of traffic and transport data to traffic/transport-sector service developers. It also constitutes an important step in introducing new traffic/transport solutions and building a more functional traffic system.

Transport information services offer a variety of collated data, such as information about the services provided by companies that operate transport connections. The transfer of these services to Fintraffic is the natural next step in collating and making traffic data available for the benefit of the entire sector.  Comprehensive traffic data will give Finland a development environment that is globally unique.

“The breakthrough of new traffic services and solutions requires a smooth flow of information between routes, vehicles, modes of transport, service providers and end users. The collation, processing and sharing of traffic and transport data in Fintraffic’s services is an important step in the development of the transport market. By increasing the level of digitalisation in traffic and creating rules for a fair data economy, Finland can become a leading traffic market in Europe – a market that will create more competitive alternatives to private cars, provide efficient logistics, and offer new business opportunities”, says Fintraffic’s CEO, Pertti Korhonen.

A one-stop shop for traffic situation information and public transport routes and timetables

Fintraffic has already been providing road condition information, road weather cameras and a situational picture of traffic via its Traffic Situation service, for which there is both a web-based and mobile app version. The company also shares a comprehensive range of traffic data with service developers via the Digitraffic service’s open interfaces. About 10 million interface calls are made to this service every day.

Fintraffic’s other digital services include Train Departures, Drone services, Port Activity (a digital platform for ports),  and Traffic Customer Service. The latter is provided in cooperation with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

In addition to these, the transport information services that are being transferred to Fintraffic (finap.fi and matka.fi) will create a firm foundation for developing services that combine different modes of traffic, as public transport routes and timetables will be available in the same place as information about the traffic situation for other modes of traffic.

Almost a hundred operators building the traffic system of the future

Fintraffic has already brought together a hundred operators to build a traffic ecosystem.

“Over the coming years, renewing traffic and developing well-oiled travel chains will, above all, involve making much better use of traffic data.  This requires us, in cooperation with a broad range of other operators, to find ways of promoting the data economy in the development of traffic solutions. This work will be carried out in working groups that will focus on developing areas such as traffic situation data, traffic data system architecture, and logistics data and interfaces,” says Janne Lautanala, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic.

ITS Finland, which is involved in creating the ecosystem, welcomes any proactive action to develop the quality and availability of traffic data resources.

“As a special assignment company, Fintraffic will play a unique role in promoting the data economy in traffic and logistics. In addition to its statutory tasks, it will operate in the market by building an open data ecosystem in which, in line with its strategy, it will act as an enabler and create a framework for data utilisation and the development of new market-based services. Data expertise in traffic and logistics can create a competitive advantage for the entire sector. Now is the time to get involved – to safeguard your company’s interests during the development of the ecosystem, to create a common set of rules, and to actively support industry operators in both national and international markets,” says ITS Finland’s CEO, Marko Forsblom.

Read the original article on Fintraffic’s web page.