Leading shipment visibility provider Sixfold, application development specialists FoxCom and consulting firm SpaceTec Partners today jointly announce their participation in the Galileo Green Lane initiative led by the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA), the provider of the European Navigation System Galileo.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission requested Member States to designate TEN-T border-crossing points as ‘Green Lane' border crossings, with the expectation that these border crossings, including any checks, should not exceed 15 minutes on internal land borders. Galileo Green Lane will support the management of transit across borders, relieving the pressure of handling goods and allowing the quick passage of critical goods such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including COVID- resistant theatre gowns and masks.
Galileo Green Lane aims to provide transparency to border authorities and freight transporters on the border crossing times at Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) border points. It leverages the positioning accuracy of the Galileo navigation system to locate incoming vehicles in a defined geo-fenced area surrounding critical borders. Location data generated at the border can also be combined with a geo-tagged photo to provide additional information. The solution relies on European GNSS services and infrastructure and demonstrates the resourcefulness of Galileo in crisis situations.
Through Galileo Green Lane, Europe's logistics industry gains access to a real-time overview of border traffic hold-ups, built on the foundation of Sixfold's COVID-19 map. As part of its growing role within Europe's supply chains, Sixfold took the initiative in mid-March 2020 to provide supply chains, retailers and shippers with a free live border crossing map which is updated in real-time. The map enables shippers to better understand the expected delays in receiving shipments as a result of the increasing number of border checks due to the COVID-19 crisis. Over 500,000 logistics professionals across Europe have since used the border map to better plan their transport routes to avoid lengthy delays at borders.
Sixfold, a leading European real-time transport visibility platform, is also the exclusive provider of such data for Transporeon, Europe's largest transport network. Integrating its real-time transportation data and advanced visibility platform into the Galileo Green Lane app forms an integral part of the EU's response to outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease.
The Galileo Green Lane mobile app itself was developed by FoxCom, a leading-edge software architecture and development studio focused on analysis, architecture, implementation, integration, deployment and maintenance of database driven software. Based in Prague near the GSA's headquarters, FoxCom took on the challenge of rapidly prototyping and developing an app solution tailored for freight transporters and border officials.
FoxCom and Sixfold were brought together by the specialized consultancy firm SpaceTec Partners who oversaw the coordination and operational management of this dynamic project. "The combination of Galileo Green Lane data and Sixfold's real-time visibility platform is a powerful tool for logistics companies to better understand delays being experienced by trucks at European border crossings," says Rainer Horn, Managing Partner of SpaceTec Partners. "In these troubled times, the app should become a stalwart tool of supply chains."
Wolfgang Wörner, Sixfold's CEO adds: "Sixfold has grown rapidly over the last couple of months and is now the real-time visibility provider-of-choice for shippers, logistics service providers and carriers. Building upon that momentum, we decided at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis to utilize our market-leading visibility platform to help all in Europe's supply-chains to better manage delays in crossing borders. Clearly, we are delighted to collaborate with the GSA and the European Commission to serve even larger audiences."
"The Galileo Green Lane app is an excellent example of how Galileo is enabling young European smart companies to produce innovative apps that tackle global challenges," adds Pascal Claudel, Acting Executive Director, European GNSS Agency.