L’OFFICIEL DES TRANSPORTEURS N°3179 – December 2025
Supported by the AI Cargo Foundation, the Appel d’aiR program has designed a series of AI-powered tools to develop modal shift. Several of these, such as Cumulus, are used for studies, strengthening existing services, or creating new combined services.
The operation of several million square metres of warehouses offers opportunities for transport consolidation and modal shift. To implement these, FM Logistic ‘has launched a collaborative initiative involving rail operators, shippers, logistics providers, freight forwarders and road hauliers,’ explains Sylvain Philippe, the company’s European multimodal development manager. To identify flows that can be transferred from road to rail, the logistics company shared its data with Hexafret, formerly Fret SNCF. Together, they used the Cumulus tool developed by AI Cargo as part of the Appel d’aiR programme funded by energy saving certificates. ‘Cumulus is a digital modal shift platform that uses artificial intelligence to easily search for and find rail and river services, develop a carbon-free transport plan and participate in the creation of new combined services,’ explains Guillaume Desveaux, president of AI Cargo.
In the case of FM, a ‘transferable’ potential of more than 4.6 million pallets was identified, representing nearly 140,000 full road journeys loaded with 33 pallets! ‘The data processed by Cumulus is anonymised, which made it easier for our customers to participate in the study,’ emphasises Sylvain Philippe. Based on this survey, an initial daily door-to-door combined service was launched in September 2024 between Avignon and Valenton in both directions. It has recently been supplemented by a service between the ports of Arles and Lille, and a corridor between Poland and France. The latter, launched at the end of September, connects Krzewie to Dourges (62) directly once a week, and Kutno to Dourges via Duisburg three times a week. In France, FM is also currently testing a service between Château Thierry (02) and Toulouse (31).
Between Avignon and Valenton, the logistics company operates a fleet of 12 45-foot sheet metal swap bodies that can hold 33 pallets, like a road semi-trailer. They were built by Combipass. A subsidiary of the Berto Group, Combipass specialises in the design and rental of intermodal transport units (ITUs), which are eligible for Energy Saving Certificate funding, and in the study of combined services. ‘For the studies our customers entrust to us, the data is processed by the Cumulus tool, in particular to identify existing or future rail services that could be used to decarbonise their transport operations,’ says Gilles Delvigne, Director of Combipass. One of the company’s added values is designing ITUs tailored to the traffic and goods studied: powdered, granular, liquid, palletised, etc. ‘The cost difference between combined rail-road transport and road transport is only 3% at most, while offering 81% CO2 savings,’ he points out.
Possible return flows
Cited by FM Logistic and Combipass, Hexafret has ‘a dedicated team to facilitate modal shift to rail. It carries out up to 800 studies per year,’ says Gilles Cattani. The Cumulus tool is at the heart of these logistical and economic feasibility analyses. ‘Counterflow searches are also possible with other shippers,’ adds Hexafret’s development director, knowing that more than 80% of trains and wagons return empty with known and scheduled routes.
Using a personalised approach, Hexafret studies supply and road shipment data over a minimum period (ideally one year). ‘In France, our databases list more than 2,000 rail-connected sites and freight yards in service.’ The operator already relies on a network of shared routes that accept shipments from a single wagon adapted to the goods being transported: pallets, containers, swap bodies, tanks, dump trucks, etc.
Simulation tools
Finally, two projects illustrate the computing power of AI in Cumulus. The first, called ‘National Rail Loop’, consists of ‘bringing together manufacturers and distributors to design a rail service and supply supermarkets’, says Julien Darthout, General Delegate of Club Demeter. The project, which uses Cumulus to simulate and define new rail services or strengthen existing ones, brings together three distributors and ten manufacturers. The identified potential amounts to 115,000 full truckloads of groceries, pet food, frozen foods and beverages. The second project is led by France Supply Chain‘s SC4Good Lab. ‘It brings together Michelin, Saint-Gobain, Legrand, Pepsico and Renault for national and European flows,’ explains Florence Ughetto, sustainable development and logistics expert at Renault. Their work has identified 11 common corridors, three of which have been selected for consultation with railway companies with the assistance of the Argon consultancy.
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