On March 17th, 2026, Lisbon became the epicenter of logistics innovation as the 4th Cold Logistics Seminar gathered industry leaders at the Museu do Oriente.

Representing the HOLOGISTICS project, Christine Weiker, Secretary General of ECSLA, delivered a keynote presentation titled “The Future of Cold Logistics,” focusing on cold chain market trends and legislative developments. Christine also used her keynote to introduce HOLOGISTICS and detailing how our European initiative is transforming the sector.

The Vision: Green & Holistic Optimization

The presentation included the core mission of HOLOGISTICS: to create holistically optimised logistics operations through green and innovative solutions. With a total project budget of €13,119,560, the initiative aims to bridge the gap between operational efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Key Focus Areas Discussed

• Decarbonization & Modal Shift: A primary goal is reducing GHG emissions by encouraging a shift toward zero-emission transport solutions, including autonomous vessels and electric vehicles.
• Digital & Physical Integration: The project moves toward the Physical Internet (PI) by implementing AI-driven hub optimization and IoT-enabled visibility.
• Multimodal Efficiency: Streamlining logistics at ports, rail terminals, and inland waterways to ensure cost-effectiveness across the entire supply chain.

Industry-Centric Innovation

Christine Weiker emphasized that HOLOGISTICS is built on win-win design principles. By modeling complex business rules and operational constraints, the project ensures that industry stakeholders benefit from improved flexibility while naturally achieving strategic goals like reduced congestion and carbon footprints.

Project Timeline and Collaboration

The HOLOGISTICS project, coordinated by UNIMORE, officially kicked off in July 2025 and will run for 42 months until December 2028. With a consortium of 25 partners, the project is currently testing innovations across three major pilot demonstrators focusing on multimodal nodes, zero-emission vessels, and shared resource models.

The engagement at the APLOG seminar underscores the growing demand for sustainable logistics solutions in Europe. As HOLOGISTICS continues its journey, the insights shared in Lisbon will serve as a foundation for further collaboration across the cold storage and transport sectors.

HOLOGISTICS: innovative tech for greener cargo

HOLOGISTICS is a European Union-funded research project that accelerates the transition to zero-emission, data-driven, and highly efficient freight transport. The project develops an open and scalable ecosystem for multimodal logistics, enabling seamless interoperability between vehicles, vessels, nodes, and digital platforms.

By integrating zero-emission transport units, advanced IoT interfaces, AI-enabled flow optimization, and collaborative resource-sharing models, HOLOGISTICS demonstrates practical pathways toward a new Physical Internet for Europe, reducing emissions and improving efficiency across European supply chains through real-world demonstrators.

Co-funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101202556 and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

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Learn more: hologistics.eu
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