The partnership between German transportation software provider PTV and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) continues to expand with the launch of new services in Poland and Spain.
The new services come as rising transport costs are putting more pressure on freight operators and shippers to improve efficiency through better route planning. Road transport associations ZMPD in Poland and SETIR in Spain will now offer the first professional route planning services tailored to local conditions. Similar services were launched in the Czech Republic and Romania in May this year. Work continues on rolling out the partnership in new markets for transport operators, shippers and logistics planners, developing a consistent route planning standard with comparable operational, cost calculation and billing elements, which are intended to provide greater efficiency, lower costs, and reduced vehicle emissions.
The partnership between the global road transport organization and the PTV Group is developing new standards and services for route planning across Europe and beyond. In this partnership PTV is responsible for software development, hosting the cloud-based solutions and customer invoicing. The IRU works with a range of leading international organizations and companies, such as PTV, to help develop standards and offer innovative services to passenger and goods transport operators around the world.
Based on PTV’s market-leading route planning software product Map&Guide, the new services are fully tailored to local conditions and challenges, and are being developed and promoted in cooperation with IRU member associations in each market. A common route planning standard across Europe and beyond will bring huge benefits to the freight sector, for both operators and their clients, boosting cost transparency and helping make quotes comparable.
In order to save driving time and transport costs, PTV’s Map&Guide route optimization software calculates the optimal truck route, and considers all relevant criteria for an efficient truck routing.
The route planner software enables operators to plan truck routes all over Europe based on important truck and hazardous goods data from more than 10 categories, such as example height and weight restrictions or transit bans.
The route planner software enables truck operators to factor in different road types to avoid ferries, low-emission zones, or toll roads entirely, and can also route heavy-load vehicles on motorways as much as possible. It also takes into account permanent roadworks, long-term road closures, and the latest live traffic reports, as well as prescribed driving and rest periods and remaining driving and shift times of drivers.
“We are excited to be launching this new phase of a common route planning standard,” said Zeljko Jeftic, the IRU’s head of global innovation. “It is proving to be a powerful tool for road transport operators to transform the economic and environmental costs of freight transport.”
Speaking at the launch event, Andrzej Lenkiewicz, director of the commercial department at ZMPD, and Ramón Fernández Morales, managing director at Setir, both agreed that, “Being able to offer PTV’s leading products through our members means that even the smallest operator will be able to lower transport costs and make freight transport across Europe greener.”
