Friday, 18 December 2009 12:40

Dryport Research Trip

In the first half of December 2009, TRI's Dr Jason Monios visited Gothenburg to hold a number of meetings and interviews with the dry port partners in Sweden. The trip provided an opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of freight terminal implementation in Sweden, the research underpinning this development, and the management of public and private motivations and investment decisions.Research exchanges were undertaken with Gothenburg University and Chalmers Institute of Technology, where previous and current research relating to dry ports and the wider field of intermodal transport were discussed. Plans for the dry port conference to be held in Edinburgh in September 2010 were also developed, and a research agenda was drafted to take the project forward. The opportunity was also taken to attend the public defence of Dr Violeta Roso’s PhD thesis on the dry port concept, a publication that has advanced research and promoted the concept and the project.

Dr Monios also visited the Falköping dry port and held extensive discussions with Leif Bigsten, strategic development manager at Falköping municipality who is developing the site. Considerations of terminal operation, public investment and business development in the municipality were discussed in detail, in order to learn about how these may be applied in the Scottish context. In addition, Dr Monios was able to be present at a meeting with consultants Ramböll who presented the first draft of their 3D visualisation of the dry port site to the steering group.

Meetings were also held with the regional planning authority Region Västra Götaland. A number of meetings were held with Dry Port project manager Dirk Harmsen and infrastructure analyst Christian Bergman to discuss regional planning and public and private cooperation with regards to demand for infrastructure and how different levels of government interact. The Swedish system will be compared with the Scottish system in research currently being undertaken by TRI, in order to develop greater understanding of how best to develop large infrastructure projects within public-private partnerships, and the role of government in planning and/or regulating such development.

The research trip was a valuable experience and was an opportunity to forge stronger links between the two countries and to enable greater advantage to be taken of knowledge that has been developed by other partners. A return visit is currently being organised for February, when Christian Bergman will spend time in Scotland, attending meetings with TRI and the regional transport partnership SEStran, as well as a programme of site visits, which will form the basis for discussions with numerous stakeholders regarding infrastructure planning, investment and development.

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