The definition of the European ITS, and the place of freight transport in this, calls for careful definition of a user driven system architecture, and specifications that will form the backbone upon which the various market oriented applications and systems will be developed, marketed, and applied in practice. This is seen as the main focus of the THEMIS project. 

THEMIS is therefore, about understanding and defining the position of Freight Transport within the future European ITS, and how to best organize the Freight ITS components (or modules) to achieve the most effective result for the users and the society as a whole. Also it is about defining the implications of using different types of ITS components in freight transport, and communicating this understanding to all of those developing and/or using the ITS, as well as to the European Commission. 

The current components in the THEMIS related ICTs include: European Air Traffic Management Systems (EATMS), European Rail Traffic Management Systems (ERTMS), Road Traffic Management (RTM), Vessel Traffic Management and Information Systems (VTMIS), E-commerce and Standardisation.

The new approach as related to the Freight Transport system can be expressed by the notion that intermodal transport operation cannot be seen anymore in isolation, as a “goal in itself”. Is has to be considered as part of the deployment and operation of an overall Intelligent Transport System (ITS) that has to be established at European level. ITS in this context is an enabling tool for a sustainable European (freight) transport system, i.e. efficient, environment friendly and save.

The above context for freight and intermodal transport is fully compatible with the Technical Description and contents of the THEMIS contract and thus it does not  necessitate and changes in that contract. However, the focus in the various Work Packages and other activities of the project, has to reflect this new emphasis on ITS and the place of Freight Transport (including intermodal) in it.