Dear Friends and Visitors,

It is with great pleasure that I accepted the patronage of the 3rd European Conference on ICT for Transport Logistics (ECITL'10). We are proud to present the Hanseatic City of Bremen as a business centre with high logistics competence and extensive commercial relations to the whole world.

The state of Bremen is still in a process of structural transformation but both the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven have developed into centres of technological competence and innovation. We are proud of an impressive mix of global industries: automotive engineering, aviation and space travel, food and beverages, mobile technologies, life sciences, biotechnology and logistics, all excellently positioned. Bremen's ports have been reporting record volumes of traffic over the last decade, which emphasizes the importance of logistics not only for the regional but also for the global economic development. Nowadays logistics is one of the main supporting pillars of the European economy.

Unfortunately, growth in global transports has negative impacts on the environment. Therefore the focus on optimization of transport processes gains importance not only for economical but also ecological reasons. Green logistics concepts in combination with intelligent ICT systems will lead to optimized resource utilization and reduced burdens for the environment. The topic of this year's ECITL congress "Intelligent ICT and Green Logistics" takes account of the overall development.

Therefore, I appeal to all interested logistics companies, research institutes and authorities to participate in this essential event in Bremen. I wish the enthusiastic organizers and all participants a highly successful conference.