KEYSTONE Partners Reflect on Three Years of Achievements at Final Review Meeting
On 31 May 2026, the EU-funded project KEYSTONE reached its conclusion, following three years of successful collaboration between the project partners and the KEYSTONE Stakeholder Community.
Hence, on 15 June 2026, project partners united online with the Project Officer of KEYSTONE, Dr Katerina Deliali from the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), to reflect on the achievements, milestones and lasting impact of the project.
Over the course of three years, KEYSTONE has worked to advance digitalisation and interoperability in freight transport and logistics by simplifying cross-border logistics compliance and facilitating the swift transition towards more efficient and paperless transport operations.
KEYSTONE has conceptualised and developed a web application, the KEYSTONE Web App and API reference model, designed to connect logistics operators, port authorities, and road enforcement authorities within a single digital ecosystem. With these milestones, the project is enabling seamless data exchange among the transport ecosystem. During the meeting, partners discussed the key developments achieved over the past three years, focusing on the progress made in the second half of the project.
Throughout the project, the KEYSTONE Web App was tested in two real-world pilots — a road transport corridor between the Port of La Spezia and the Bologna Freight Village, and an intermodal corridor spanning the Port of Rotterdam, the Rhine–Alpine rail route, and the Novara terminal. The results of the real-world pilots show a reduction of more than 40% in gate check-in times for the road transport pilot, 100% document digitisation and more than 95% ETA accuracy. At the same time, the intermodal pilot figures show a 50% reduction in inspection times, more than 35% improvement in checks performed, and 100% real-time ITU traceability.
The figures from both pilots clearly demonstrate the benefits of the KEYSTONE Web App in terms of cost savings, productivity gains and environmental performance.
The meeting represented a valuable opportunity to assess the project's outcomes, share lessons learned and discuss the sustainability and future uptake of the solutions and knowledge generated within KEYSTONE. It also highlighted the strong collaboration among partners that has been instrumental to the project's success.
As a next step, the digital solutions developed within KEYSTONE will align with the increasing need for digitisation in the logistics sector, as well as with the upcoming eFTI regulatory framework, which will require Member States across the EU to accept electronic freight data from July 2027. The conditions are now highly favourable for solutions such as those offered by KEYSTONE.
The partners would like to thank all stakeholders and contributors who have supported the project throughout its journey and look forward to seeing the impact of KEYSTONE's results continue beyond the project's lifetime!