Project ENABLE - TRIMIS · This document describes the Forum of stakeholders established in Latin America, in the framework of the project ENABLE. The mission, scope, organization

SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME

Coordination and Support Actions (Supporting)

Grant Agreement No: 233910

Project ENABLE Stimulate Sustainable Freight Transport Systems with

Latin American countries

Deliverable D4.1 Forum of freight transport stakeholders in Latin

America

Version: 1

Date: April 29, 2010

Dissemination level: Public

Deliverable code: D4.1

Deliverable D4.1

Forum of freight transport stakeholders in Latin America

April 2010 Page 2

PROJECT INFORMATION Title: Stimulate Sustainable Freight Transport Systems with

Latin American countries Acronym: ENABLE Grant Agreement no: 233910 Programme: 7th Framework Programme Funding Scheme: Coordination and Support Actions (Supporting) Start date: 1st September 2009 Duration: 24 months Web site: www.enable‐project.net

CONTROL SHEET

Version history

Version number

Total Pages

Date Main author Contributors Summary of changes

0,5 16 February 12, 2010

Pamela Cuda Bruno Agosta

‐ ‐

1.0 25 April 18, 2010

Pamela Cuda Bruno Agosta

Karina Peixoto, Yannis Tyrinopoulos

Addition of Brazilian members and e‐Forum

Abstract

This document describes the Forum of stakeholders established in Latin America, in the framework of the project ENABLE. The mission, scope, organization and actions of the Forum are described along with the roles and contact details of the stakeholders that are considered members of this Forum.

Approval

Name Date

Prepared Pamela Cuda Bruno Agosta

April 18, 2010

Reviewed Yannis Tyrinopoulos April 22, 2010

Authorized Yannis Tyrinopoulos April 26, 2010

Circulation

Recipient Date of submission

European Commission April 29, 2010

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report forms part of the ENABLE project, which addresses EU’s primary aim to contribute to the external relations between EU and Latin American countries, specifically Argentina and Brazil, in the area of co‐modal and intermodal freight transport. ENABLE will stimulate extensive networking and partnership actions, strengthening the dialogue between Europe and Latin America in the subject matter of the project and will fostering international cooperation between the two geographical areas.

ENABLE entails strong and extensive networking activities in Latin America and especially in Argentina and Brazil. The Forum of freight transport stakeholders in Latin America is an intergral and very important part of the project. Its aim is to bring together representatives of all types of stakeholders. Entities such as freight providers, forwarders, transport companies, transport experts, user groups, authorities, policy makers, associations, and others will be approached and engaged in the activities of the project.

This deliverable reports on all aspects of the Forum, such as mission, role, thematic areas, members, communication approaches and organization issues. The ENABLE partners have allready identified many stakeholders from Argentina, Brazil and the wider LA region that will be urged to become members of the Forum.

A significant component of the Forum is the e‐Forum, i.e. an electronic form of the Forum, through which the members can interact between them or with the project partners in a range of issues that concern the project.

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CONTENTS 1. Introduction ________________________________________________________________________________6 2. FORUM Description________________________________________________________________________7 2.1. Mission and thematic areas __________________________________________________________7 2.2. Members _______________________________________________________________________________8 2.2.1. Selection criteria _________________________________________________________________8 2.2.2. Stakeholders approach___________________________________________________________9 2.2.3. Identified stakeholders __________________________________________________________9

3. Organization elements __________________________________________________________________ 17 3.1. Members involvement ______________________________________________________________ 17 3.1.1. Forum sessions _________________________________________________________________ 17 3.1.2. Conferences _____________________________________________________________________ 17 3.1.3. Other types of members involvement ________________________________________ 17

3.2. Roles and responsibilities __________________________________________________________ 18 3.3. Forum coordination office__________________________________________________________ 18 3.4. Reporting ____________________________________________________________________________ 18

4. E‐Forum __________________________________________________________________________________ 19 4.1. The general idea_____________________________________________________________________ 19 4.2. Registration to the Enable site and Forum________________________________________ 19 4.3. Discussion boards in the Enable e‐Forum_________________________________________ 20 4.4. e‐Forum administration ____________________________________________________________ 24

5. Conclusions_______________________________________________________________________________ 25

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Argentinean stakeholders __________________________________________________________ 10 Table 2: Brazilian stakeholders ______________________________________________________________ 13 Table 3: Greater LA region stakeholders____________________________________________________ 16

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: e‐Forum users registration________________________________________________________ 20 Figure 2: Discussion boards in the e‐Forum ________________________________________________ 21

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Figure 3: Searching in the e‐Forum__________________________________________________________ 22 Figure 4: Posting a new Thread in the e‐Forum ____________________________________________ 23 Figure 5: Replying to an existing Post in the e‐Forum _____________________________________ 24

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1. INTRODUCTION As part of its mission, Enable’s key objective is to establish a “stakeholders Forum” ‐ to be organised in Argentina and Brazil ‐ to bring together all types of stakeholders of the local and regional freight transport systems. Furthermore, Forum sessions, conferences and other dissemination actions will contribute to the visibility of the project results and engage the stakeholders of both sides in a fruitful dialogue.

The aim of this report is to provide the goals of this Forum, its contribution to the various project activities, and organizational elements. A number of stakeholders have already been identified that will form candidate members of this Forum. Many of these stakeholders have already been approached and engaged in the project activities.

The report has been structure as follows:

Chapter 2 describes the Forum’s mission, thematic areas for the interaction with the Forum members and detailed information the members, including selection criteria, ways to approach them and lists of stakeholders that will be approached to become members of the Forum.

Chapter 3 provides organization aspects of the Forum, such as administration office and project partners roles, as well as the ways that will be used for the involvement of the Forum members in the various project activities.

Chapter 4 presents the e‐Forum, the electronic board of discussion among the members or between the members and the project partners.

Finally, Chapter 5 provides some general concluding remarks.

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2. FORUM DESCRIPTION 2.1. Mission and thematic areas The purpose of the Forum is multiple:

• Debate forum where the outcomes of the project activities (e.g. preliminary results from WP1) will be discussed, cross‐examined and debated;

• Networking forum where its members will have the opportunity to initiate an active and constructive dialogue, exchanging views and opinions;

• Dissemination channel for awareness building and wide promotion of the project outcomes.

Once identified, the local and regional stakeholders will be invited to participate into discussions, formalised through the Forum. Therefore, Forum members will be asked to comment on main aspects of freight transportation in LA, in particular for the Argentinean and Brazilian experience, including, but not limited to:

• Infrastructure: Available main infrastructure would be analysed and scrutinised in order to get a real perception of the advantages and disadvantages available in the region. Analysis of the EU trade channels, current status and future options will be examined too.

• Legislation: The discussion will be concemtrated on the actual implication and limits of Argentinean and Brazilian trade policy, the available regulatory legislation, as wel as MERCOSUR agreement, which aims to ease the trade between LA countries. EU experience will also be discussed.

• Bureaucratic obstacles: A realistic examination of private institutions (eg Buenos Aires Port) and government agencies involved on trade decisions, operation and regulation will be undertaken in order to get a clear understanding of the relationship between them.

• Perspectives of growth: The stakeholders will be asked to provide their ideas and opinion about improvements on the intermodal transport system in LA and perspectives of growth, in both on the private and public sector.

• Technologies: EU experience and approach to this issue will be essential, especially on technologies trends, barriers, system implemented and used. ENABLE partners will be asked to share their experience with the Forum members and improvements to the current LA state‐of‐the‐art would be proposed. Feasibility of transfering European technological advances will be examined and eventually proposed between stakeholders.

• Investments and markets: This thematic area addresses the investmants that are reguired for the improvement and modernization of many transportation infrastructures in LA (e.g. on railways and ports). The LA freight market and its major needs will be discussed too.

• Implementation plan: ENABLE results and suggestions must be followed by concrete action plans that will enable their successful deployment in LA. It will be imperative to establish a realistic and useful programme to improve region’s

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capacities. These future improvement actions must be supervised in time to guarantee the success of their implementation.

• Training and education: A key component of the above implementation plan is training and education: courses, conferences and related training tools will be proposed, based on the region’s needs. Funding for this training programme will be pursued among public and private sector interested in promoting new horizons to the freight market.

2.2. Members 2.2.1. Selection criteria

UBA (from Argentina) and RFF (from Brazil) are responsible for the identification of key stakeholders from the LA region that will be incolved in the Forum activities.

Stakeholders refer to logistics providers, government agencies, associations, port authorities, customs, forwarders, shippers, ctistomers, transport companies, and in general all relevant entities involved in the decision‐making, formulation, operation and development of the freight transport system.

According to the exploitation plan devised within the ENABLE project, all the different intermodal transport stakeholders can be classified in three major groups:

1. Administration or public bodies: Ministries with transport and logistics competences and other policy makers, Customs, Port Authorities, Railway Infrastructure companies, etc.

2. Enterprises: Logistic and transport companies (for example: truck companies, rail companies, shipping companies, maritime agents, forwarders, 3PL, terminal operators, etc.).

3. Training and Research centres: Universities’ transport departments, Institutes and Foundations for transport and logistics, etc.

Stakeholders’ selection must be consistent across the LA region to assure the most from the inter‐regional interchange of opinions and experiences. The selecion of the Forum members was based no the following criteria:

• Relevance of the project: stakeholders involved in the intermodal freight transport in LA.

• Geographical coverage: covering the entire LA region, but placing particular focus on Argentina and Brazil.

• Sector coverage: involving all types of stakeholders from the local and regional transport system.

• Intermodal: involving firms that operate different transportation modes.

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2.2.2. Stakeholders approach

The invitation addressed to stakeholders will be made through direct contacts with various actors and once accepted, the stakeholders’ involvement requires constant monitoring to ensure their participation and interaction. This management is of vital importance for the success of the forum.

With respect to the persons to be invited, people with extensive knowledge in the practices of various project aspects (see Forum thematic areas) will be approached, looking for a productive dialogue space.

2.2.3. Identified stakeholders

The ENABLE LA partners have already identified a vast number of stakeholders from the LA region that will be approached and engaged in the project activities. Many of these stakeholders have already been approached and involved in the project.

The following three tables contain the stakeholders identified in Argentina, in Brazil and the wider LA region.

Table 1: Argentinean stakeholders

Target group

Freight transportation

PROPOSED ARGENTINEAN STAKEHOLDERS JUSTIFICATION of selection

Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

Secretaría de Transporte www.transporte.gov.ar

Agency of the Argentine government that deals with subjects from all transport sectors.

ARLOG www.arlog.org

Asociación Argentina de Logística Empresaria, professional association of people that work in logistics.

Cámara de Puertos Privados Comerciales www.camarapuertos.com.ar

Chamber that joins private ports in Argentina.

Fundación Profesional para el Transporte www.camarapuertos.com.ar

Institution, which mainly aims at training human resources in the cargo transport sector.

Supply Chain Summit www.supplychainsummit.com.ar

The SCS is a Research Project for the analysis, discussion and diagnosis of the mayor topics that affect Argentina’s supply chain.

Logistics and Supply Chain Managers of Unilever/P&G As one of the leading loaders of consumer products.

Cargill www.cargill.com.ar

For more than 15 consecutive years, Cargill in Argentina has been distinguished as the leading agribusiness exporter in the country.

Aceitera General Deheza www.agd.com.ar

Aceitera General Deheza today is an integrated agricultural‐industrial complex mainly involved in the crushing of oilseeds for the production of vegetable protein meals and pellets, edible oils and the vegetable oils and the biodiesel production.

Ente Administrador Puerto Rosario (ENAPRO) www.puertoderosario.com.ar

It is the government agency administering the Port of Rosario.

Consorcio de Gestión del Puerto Bahía Blanca www.puertobahiablanca.com

The Bahía Blanca Port Consortium is a public organization not funded by the State. Since September 1st, 1993 the Port Consortium is in charge of the administration and exploitation of the Bahía Blanca harbor complex.

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Target group



Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

América Latina Logística (ALL) www.all‐logistica.com.ar

América Latina Logística (ALL) is the largest independent provider of logistic services in South America operating, on an integrated basis, railway and highway modes serving several clients in countries such as Brazil and Argentina.

Managers/Directors EXOLOGÍSTICA www.exologistica.com

Exologística is a leading logistics services provider in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, operating the entire logistics chain, regardless of the type of cargo or it’s geographic location.

Hidrovía www.hidrovia‐sa.com.ar

Hidrovía S.A. is the concession company of the Paraná River, the most important maritime export route in Argentina. This navigable waterway concentrates 80% of local agricultural exports, the highest siderurgical traffic in the country, and gathers the transport of general fluvial and vessel loads that originate in or are destined to the Buenos Aires port.

FERROCAMARA Argentinean Federation of Rail Transport Companies. FEPSA ‐ Ferroexpreso Pampeano FEPSA commercially exploits the whole concession (operation

and infrastructure) of part of the formerly national railway Gral. Roca.

FERROSUR FEPSA commercially exploits the whole concession (operation

and infrastructure) of part of the formerly national railway Gral. Roca.

Andreani Logística www.andreani.com.ar

Road Transport leader company and logistics services provider.

Expreso Fueguino Road Transport Company to Tierra del Fuego. Transportes Conte www.transportesconte.com

Road Transport Company leader in Buenos Aires province.

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Target group



Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

Manager/Director Terminales Río de la Plata www.trp.com.ar

TRP holds the concession of port operations of three Terminals of the Buenos Aires until October 2019. It is made by DP World, Latin American Infrastructure Fund and other international partners. DP World is the responsible for the management of the terminal, is a major port terminal operators in the world, with 45 container terminals in 29 countries.

AGP – Administración General de Puertos www.puertobuenosaires.gov.ar

It is the government agency administering the Port of Buenos Aires.

Manager/Director Nuevo Central Argentino www.nca.com.ar

NCA commercially exploits the whole concession (operation and infrastructure) of part of the formerly national railway Gral. Mitre.

FEDERACION ARGENTINA DE ENTIDADES EMPRESARIAS DEL AUTOTRANSPORTE DE CARGAS –FADEEAC www.fadeeac.org.ar

Argentinean Federation of Road Transport Companies.

LAN Cargo www.lancargo.com

Leading transportation company in the Argentine market.

TCA Terminal de Cargas Argentina www.tca.aero

TCA (Terminal de Cargas Argentina) provides full logistics and storage services to all foreign cargo agents.

DHL ‐ Freight forwarders www.dhl.com.ar

Leading Freight Forwarder.

ShipWay ‐ Freight forwarders www.shipway.com.ar

Local Freight Forwarder.

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Table 2: Brazilian stakeholders

Target group Freight

transportation

PROPOSED BRAZILIAN STAKEHOLDERS JUSTIFICATION of selection

Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

América Latina Logística – ALL http://www.all‐logistica.com/

One of the major logistics companies from South America, with operations in Brazil and Argentina. Transports grain by Ferroeste.

Archer Daniels Midland Company – ADM http://www.adm.com/

Company that owns several crushing plants, grain elevators and silos (42 grain silos in five states). Operates 5 fertilizer blending plants.

Armazéns Gerais Columbia http://www.columbia.com.br/

Storage company leader in integrated logistics with over 1,800 employees, with 1.4 million square meters in area, distributed in their Logistic Centres in strategic locations in South America.

Associação Brasileira de Logística – ASLOG http://www.aslog.org.br/

Non‐profit association, formed by professionals, designed to promote the logistics through the integration of its members, providing services, collecting information, disseminating knowledge, exercising political action and contributing to the increasing competitiveness in the sector.

Associação Brasileira de Transportadores Internacionais – ABTI http://www.abti.com.br/

The organization provides technical guidance, legal and political business associates, as well as logistical support in managing international operations.

Associação de Comércio Exterior do Brasil – AEB http://www.aeb.org.br/

Private non‐profit organization that brings together companies exporting and importing goods and services as well as support activities to foreign trade.

Battistella Holding http://www.battistella.com.br/

A private port terminal mixed‐use, exclusively for the handling of containers.

Bunge http://www.bunge.com.br/

A leading food and agribusiness companies in the country, operating seamlessly across the supply chain. It has over 300 facilities between plants, ports, distribution centres, and silos. Is present in 16 Brazilian states.

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transportation


Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

Câmara Brasileira de Conteineres, Transporte Ferroviário e Multimodal – CBC http://www.citamericas.org/

Multisectoral association, nonprofit, bringing together in his picture several sectors related to containerization, the Ferroviari and multimodal.

Câmara Interamericana de Transportes – CIT http://www.cbcconteiner.org.br/

Coordinates and advocates at the international level, the interests of carriers and their representative bodies, as well as their auxiliary or complementary activities, for carriage of international cargo.

Cargill http://www.cargill.com.br/

Is among the largest food industries and one of the 15 largest companies in the country, and also the leading exporter of soybeans from Brazil and the largest cocoa processor in Latin America. In Brazil, it has plants, warehouses, offices and port terminals in about 180 municipalities.

Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional – CSN http://www.csn.com.br/

One of the largest and most competitive integrated steel complex in Latin America. With annual production capacity of 5.8 million tonnes, the CSN is focused on steel, mining and infrastructure.

Confederação da Agricultura e Pecuária do Brasil – CNA http://www.canaldoprodutor.com.br/

Confederation that deals with issues related to agriculture.

Confederação Nacional da Indústria – CNI http://www.cni.org.br/

Confederation of twenty‐seven federations of industries in the states and the Federal District, with unions over a thousand members and almost 100 thousand companies.

Confederação Nacional do Transporte – CNT http://www.cnt.org.br/

Confederation of Transport, which operates in the development and training of professionals through the "School Transport".

Gollog http://www.gollog.com.br/

One of the main suppliers of air cargo in Brazil.

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transportation


Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

Libra Terminais http://www.t37.com.br/

The T37 in the port of Santos is one of the largest container terminals along the Brazilian coast, operating 80 vessels with an average drive of about 50,000 containers per month.

LLX http://www.llx.com.br/

Port terminal company, strategically located in the southeast, the main economic centre of the country.

Log‐In Logística Intermodal S.A. http://www.loginlogistica.com.br/

Company in the logistics sector, originated from the Vale. Is present in 16 plants in Brazil and Argentina.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities Brazil S.A. http://www.ldcommodities.com.br/

It is a leading agribusiness and food in the country. Mesquita Terminais e Armazéns Alfandegários http://www.grupomesquita.com.br/

Storage company, which is an industry leader in integrated logistics.

Ministério dos Transportes – Secretaria de Política Nacional de Transportes http://www.transportes.gov.br/

Secretariat of the Ministry of Transport, which is responsible for supporting the formulation and elaboration of the National Transportation Policy, among other activities.

MRS Logística S.A. http://www.mrs.com.br/

Company that operates the freight railway, linking the states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo (1643 km). Responsible for Ferroanel of Sao Paulo and access to the ports of Sepetiba and Santos.

PETROBRAS http://www.petrobras.com.br/

Company engaged in exploration and production of oil, gas and bio fuels, which transports and sells these products.

Santos Brasil S.A. http://www.santosbrasil.com.br/

Company created from the winning consortium of the privatization auction of the Container Terminal of Santos ‐ TECON. One of the most important providers of port operations and logistics in South America, Brazil Santos is responsible for moving approximately 25% of the containers in the country.

Superintendência do Porto de Rio Grande Local authority responsible for state administration of the Port of Rio Grande.

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transportation


Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

TAM Cargo http://www.tamcargo.com.br/

One of the main suppliers of air cargo in Brazil.

Table 3: Greater LA region stakeholders


transportation


Administrat

ion Public

bodies

Enterprises

Training

Research

centres

Maritime

Air

Road

Railw

ay

Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America– IIRSA http://www.iirsa.org/

It is an important initiative that aims to provide solutions through studies on infrastructure in Latin America, using the concept of transport routes.

LOGyCA Center http://www.logyca.org

Develop joint initiatives between the different actors in the value chain in Colombia is one of the priorities established by the Logistics Managers Group, led by LOGyCA Foundation

Asociación Latinoamericana de Logística http://www.all‐enlinea.com/

The Association is an organization open, non‐profit, and pursues the following objectives that the international community interested in participating countries.

Asociación Latinoamericana de Ferrocarriles http://www.prueba‐alpha2000.com.ar/

The Latin American Railways Association (ALAF), founded in 1964, consists of most of railway undertakings and industrial sector in Latin America, giving the representativeness of this region in the World Council of the UIC.

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3. ORGANIZATION ELEMENTS 3.1. Members involvement 3.1.1. Forum sessions

The discussion among the members of the Forum will be mainly expressed through two Forum sessions that will take place relatively in the beginning of the project. The two sessions will take the form of workshops, in which selected stakeholders will be invited to participate. The purpose is to keep the level of participation between 25‐35 stakeholders in order to allow for constructive discussions and opinions exchange.

The two workshops will be organized in LA, one in Argentina and one in Brazil. Both events will have the following structure:

• Welcome

• Introduction

• Presentation of the ENABLE project (aims, methodology and key results to date)

• Presentation of the results of the local survey

• Open discussion with the participants

• Summing up

• Closing

3.1.2. Conferences

ENABLE foresees the organization of two major conferences close to the end of the project. Both conferences will be organized in LA, one in Argentina and one in Brazil, and their aim is to widely present the project results to the greater LA region.

The involvement of the Forum members will be critical in the organization of these two conferences. Three ways of involvement are foreseen:

1. Selected stakeholders will be invited to make a speech.

2. All stakeholders will be invited to participate in both conferences.

3. Stakeholders will be requested to act as agents for the promotion of the conferences to their own networks.

3.1.3. Other types of members involvement

In addition to the events presented above, ENABLE will employ other communication channels for the involvement of the Forum members:

• The ENABLE partners will encourage the members to enter the e‐Forum (see next chapter) and exchange opinions and ideas either with the project partners or with other members. The discussions will be organized in thematic topics similar to the ones presented in the previous chapter.

• Regular e‐mails will be sent to all members of the Forum informing them about the results of the project.

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3.2. Roles and responsibilities All ENABLE partners will be involved in the organization and operation of the Forum. The role of each parter follows:

UBA Holds the overall responsibility of the Forum activities, including the contact with the stakeholders, the maintenance of the administration office, organization of the workshop in Buenos Aires, the production of the work proceedings (deliverable D4.2a), the communication with the members through the e‐Forum and the communication of regular mails to the members with the project results.

RFF Supports the establishment and operation of the Forum through the identification of potential members, the organization of the workshop in Rio de Janeiro, the production of the work proceedings (deliverable D4.2b) and the communication with the members through the e‐Forum.

FV Facilitates the identification of stakeholders in the entire LA region by exploiting its contacts, communicates with the members through the e‐Forum and participates in the workshops, if necessary.

VTT Participates in the workshops, if necessary, and communicates with the members through the e‐Forum.

CERTH/HIT Assists UBA in the organization of the workshops, administrates the e‐Forum, participates in the workshops and communicates with the members through the e‐Forum.

3.3. Forum coordination office A central coordination office has been established at the Universidad de Buenos Aires (at the Transportation Department) in order to create a database that is going to provide the necessary secretariat and support in the Forum activities. The database will contain contact info for all members of the Forum and it will be used for all communications with the members.

3.4. Reporting In addition to this deliverable, which consists the main document for the description of the Forum, two more relevant documents will be released. These are the deliverables D4.2a and D4.2b, which will include the proceedings and other information about the two workshops (sessions) that will be organized in Argentina and Brazil.

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4. E-FORUM 4.1. The general idea On online forum software, several forums can exist simultaneously and each forum could have a several number of threads started by each community. People in an online forum can start threads and/or reply to other people’s threads and, whenever is allowed by the forum community, people may start their own forum discussions boards.

Depending on the permissions of community members as defined by the board's administrator, they can post replies to existing threads and start new threads as they wish. A forum administrator typically has the ability to edit, delete, move or otherwise modify any thread on the forum. These moderator privileges are often able to be delegated to other forum members. The reasons for having these abilities are often to allow peace to be maintained and the rules to be enforced.

Discussion forums vary in focus and content. Some are chosen by moderators, and others can be proposed by members and can be moderated or non‐moderated, depending on their purpose.

Forums are very useful because they allow community members to discuss topics with one another, and the discussions are archived for future reference.

4.2. Registration to the Enable site and Forum A stakeholder may become registered member of the Forum by clicking on the “Sign up” link on the right and top part of the website. The registration is taking place in two stages. First, the stakeholder will be requested to provide little information related to name, display name, e‐mail address user name and password (Figure 1). Upon completion, the site will confirm the registration by sending to the e‐mail account of the stakeholder the username, password and a verification code. In the second stage, the user will be requested to enter this information (username, password and verification code), and complete the registration by providing additional information, such as organization, address, telephone, etc.

From this point on, the stakeholder is a registered member of the Forum and may start using it.

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Figure 1: eForum users registration

4.3. Discussion boards in the Enable e-Forum The Enable project provides the ability, to registered members, to have such conversations over the online forum in the project’s web site. The Enable Forum provides to its members the following discussion boards (forums, Figure 2):

• Infrastructure

• Legislation

• Technology

• Bureaucratic obstacles

• Investment and markets

• Training and education

• Perspectives of growth

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Figure 2: Discussion boards in the eForum

In order to participate in the online discussions of the Enable forum, each stakeholder should become a registered member in the project’s web site. This will allow him/her to post a new thread or to reply to an existing one. Becoming a registered member it’s a public process. Once a user has registered and logged in on the site, can access the Enable Forum in order to post a new thread or to reply to an existing one.

In addition to the registered users, visitors can also use the Forum. However, the visitors can view all forums, threads and posts, but only registered members can submit a new thread or reply.

The Enable Forum, apart from posting or replying to a thread, provides the ability to the registered users to personalize their entries, edit their own forum entries, view specific notifications and manage their forum bookmarks, as well as informing for new threads or posts in a forum by e‐mail. Registered members have also the ability to view their own posts and threads or search (Figure 3) for any other thread or posts by Post Author, Subject, date, etc.

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Figure 3: Searching in the eForum

To post a new thread or to reply to an existing one (Figures 4 and 5), the user must select the appropriate command and fill the subject of the post and the text.

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Figure 4: Posting a new Thread in the eForum

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Figure 5: Replying to an existing Post in the eForum

4.4. e-Forum administration The role of the Enable Forum Administrator is to edit, delete, move or otherwise modify any thread on the forum as well as to manage the users of the forum in order to prevent any illegal actions or mistakes in the consistency of the forums.

Apart from the administrator, any user can take part in this role as they may report any other user for illegal actions as well as providing a bad rating to a thread.

The role of the Forum Administrator will be undertaken by CERTH/HIT.

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5. CONCLUSIONS The Forum is a key component for the success of the whole ENABLE project. The Forum needs to bring together the appropriate stakeholders, with the appropriate communication means and with the way of interaction.

The ENABLE partners have placed particular attention on the effective engagement of the Forum members in the various activities of the project in order to guarantee valuable feedback from them. The participation of the Forum members in the project is foreseen through an e‐Forum, two workshops, two major conferences and regular communication via e‐mails.

Documents

Project ENABLE - TRIMIS · This document describes the Forum of stakeholders established in Latin America, in the framework of the project ENABLE. The mission, scope, organization