The Standardised Transport Label

The Standardised Transport Label project involved the formulation of recommendations for the standard form and content of transport labels. The standardised transport label is recommended for consigners who do not already follow established and jointly accepted practices for labelling parcels. The standardised transport label aims to 1) promote the correct filling in of transport labels, 2) reduce the number and costs of extra handling procedures caused by misinterpretations of and insufficient data in transport labels, 3) increase delivery reliability, 4) increase efficiency throughout the supply chain, 5) promote the introduction of automatic identification, handling and management systems. The standardised transport label is based on international standards and includes all the essential information required at each part of the supply chain. The project is based on a similar project carried out in Sweden in 1996-1997 and on an initiative made by Finnish transport operators. The consigners, consignees and transport operators interviewed during the project gave mostly positive feedback about the transport label recommendations. The recommendations were usually not considered to conflict or cause problems with current labelling practices. The interviews also made it clear that many practicable labelling practices are already being used. The new transport label recommendations are not meant to interfere with established and effective labelling practices. They are only meant for use in situations where no special agreements or established practices have been set. Thus the target audience for the transport label recommendations clearly consists of incidental consigners and small and medium-sized companies who do not have established transport service providers or logistics partner. The project helped promote the use of the standardised container address labels by introducing a FITS publication, leaflet and electronic manual that provide both technical details and instructions for users of the address labels. Transport operators, logistics service providers and system providers will be informed of the economic and functional benefits of using the standardised container address label. This report is available at http://www.vtt.fi/rte/projects/fits/ or http://www.mintc.fi