Participants that started the ‘Efficient Closed loop supply chain Optimization (ECO)’ project are Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, IBM, Contell-IKS, Device Global, RSM, Erasmus Universiteit, Universiteit van Tilburg and Universiteit Twente. The project stems from the important part played by the Netherlands, as well as the Port of Rotterdam, on container transport and return logistics of recyclables. Other participants that play a role in the logistics chain are expected to join. The first results of the project are expected October 2006. The project will be finished at the end of 2008.

Return logistics is expected to become of major importance in global supply chains. Return freight will therefore become an important volume for main ports. From the perspective of the container imbalance, return logistics will become of growing importance for carriers. According to Drewry Shipping Consultants, on European routes 41 percent of the containers came back to Asia empty last year. On US routes, this percentage was around 60%.

It is expected that return flows will contribute to solving the container imbalance. Apart from this, it is expected that the efficiency of return flows can be improved, resulting into less (empty) container miles.

Source: http://www.transportintelligence.com