A new strategic partnership between the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the German software developer, PTV Group, will develop new standards and services for route planning across Europe and other regions.
The new IRU-PTV partnership has kicked off with new services being launched for freight operators in the Czech Republic and Romania, in cooperation with IRU member associations ?esmad Bohemia and UNTRR respectively. New services will be successively rolled out in markets in Europe and elsewhere, developing a consistent route planning standard, with comparable operational, cost calculation and billing elements, for transport operators, shippers and logistics planners. Based on PTV’s market-leading route planning software product, Map&Guide, the new services are fully tailored to local conditions and challenges and will be developed and globally promoted in cooperation with IRU members in each market. The new services will also enable transport operators, large and small, to become more efficient through better operational route planning, in order to lower costs and carbon emissions.
There are three partners in the new freight transport and logistics project:
IRU has a global network of more than 80 national transport associations on every continent, and will develop agreements with interested organizations to serve the thousands of transport operators in various countries who are their members; PTV Group plans and optimizes everything that moves people and goods worldwide. In this project the company will be responsible for software development, the hosting of all the cloud-based systems, and customer invoicing, by taking on the role of a contractor; TLN, the Dutch transport and logistics association, and also an IRU member, has been establishing the Benelux (Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg) planner and standards in a long-standing partnership with PTV for more than 20 years. TLN’s partnership with PTV is a proven example of this collaboration model, with over 4,000 users currently using their co-developed systems.
“A common route planning standard will bring huge benefits to the sector, for both operators and their clients,” said Zeljko Jeftic, the IRU’s head of global innovation. “And being able to offer PTV’s leading products through our members means that even the smallest operator will be able to lower costs and make freight transport across Europe greener.”
Frank Felten, vice president of product management and software development at PTV, added, “We gladly accepted the challenge to further roll out our existing route planning products geographically to help meet local market needs. IRU, with its network of member associations, has become a forward-looking and innovative partner with whom we can continue to grow our logistics portfolio internationally.”
