Information Flows Supporting Hinterland Transport: Applications in Sweden

Paper in proceeding, 2010

This article analyses how information and communication technology (ICT) is used to support hinterland transport of maritime containers. The focus is on how information is conveyed between actors using an ICT facility structure and how integrative information is used by different partners’ information systems for making the different transport operations more efficient and enabling an improved service offer. The analysis includes identification of the actor network and the management components in line with supply chain management (SCM) perspectives. To support this analysis a conceptual model showing the relationship between the integrative information and integrative technology was constructed and related to business process and an ICT maturity model found in the literature. Interviews have been conducted with actors involved in Swedish hinterland rail transport. The information flows have been mapped and the analysis shows that the current level of integration and ICT maturity is fairly low, but that several actors currently are modernising their systems. Their main motivation is to reduce the administrative tasks, rather than achieving a supply chain integration. The article shows that a proper handling of the information flow opens up for new business models and can make existing models more efficient. The ICT system must support the proper integration of the ocean, seaport and hinterland parts of the transport chain as well as auxiliary services.