ECTA digitalization workgroup – intermodal digital data standards

Given the fragmented landscape to handle transport and logistics operations within the chemical industry, the number of digital tools that transport companies have to cope with, is growing exponentially. Often these IT tools are serving just one specific purpose of one specific key customer, which creates an enormous complexity in terms of IT costs, administration workload and training. Therefore, The ECTA digitalization workgroup have launched since 2019 several best practice guidelines on digital data standards which aim to improve the electronic collaborations while speaking the same language across the partners in a logistics chain.
Using common data standards are an important pre-cursor to digitally integrate such IT tools via the cloud using industry-standardized, open source API calls (= set of rules or protocols that enables software applications to communicate with each other to exchange data, features and functionality).

For that reason, ECTA, together with EFTCO and Cefic–essenscia founded the ECLIC vzw which facilitates technology independent collaborations on logistics commodity processes (like the digital EFTCO cleaning document or eECD) using open source API solutions and with respect for the business data being exchanged.

Within the ECTA digitalization workgroup, the minds are ripening across different intermodal associations and stakeholders to create digital data standards to enhance the intermodal operations and competitiveness by reducing the administration costs while improving the data visibility and reliability on intermodal-rail to start with. A new workgroup is being formed in Q4 2024 and more information about this workgroup and its intermodal digital data standards is to come in 2025.