The project for the implementation of NAIADES held its annual report back session in Rotterdam on 15th and 16th June. The Steering committee meeting, the third in the project’s lifetime, was attended by high-level delegates from the European Commission, representatives of 9 different Member States, the inland navigation industry as well as the 22 partners that make up the PLATINA consortium. The PLATINA consortium reported back on their achievements over the last two years, and their plans for the future. [more]

The project for the implementation of NAIADES held its annual report back session in Rotterdam on 15th and 16th June. The Steering committee meeting, the third in the project’s lifetime, was attended by high-level delegates from the European Commission, representatives of 9 different Member States, the inland navigation industry as well as the 22 partners that make up the PLATINA consortium. The PLATINA consortium reported back on their achievements over the last two years, and their plans for the future.

Amongst the many achievements announced at the Steering Committee was the planned admission of EDINNA (Education in Inland Navigation) as a full member of the PLATINA consortium. EDINNA, which was founded with the support of PLATINA in 2009, is a consortium of 24 inland navigation educational and training institutes.

The PLATINA consortium also reported back on

• the monitoring report on administrative barriers (with an updated report due to be published shortly)
• The continuing publishing of good practices in inland navigation – the second collection was released recently via  www.naiades.info/downloads
• Ongoing work on innovation, with the establishment of an innovation expert group and interactive database (www.naiades.info/innovations)
• Start of pilot implementation of a European Hull database
• The publication of an inventory of inland waterway education and training demands
• Ongoing work towards developing a strategy for harmonised education and training standards
• The establishment of a Joint Working Group including Social Partners, EDINNA and representatives from river commissions
• The initiation of the development of a recruitment campaign for inland navigation
• Ongoing work on the dissemination of a strategic communications plan for inland waterway transport
• The planning and development of a headline conference to showcase inland waterway transport to the rest of the world
• Ongoing work on identifying infrastructure bottlenecks and missing links, with a report due to be publicised soon
• The development of a single portal (www.ris.eu) for all the River information services (RIS) initiatives taking place across Europe.
• The development of a manual on good practices in sustainable waterway development, due to be disseminated during 2010 and 2011.

The meeting was addressed by Mr Dimitrios Theologitis, the head of unit “Maritime Transport Policy, Ports & Inland Waterways“(DG MOVE), who thanked the PLATINA consortium for their efforts and assured the meeting of the support of the Commission for inland waterway transport, which, he said plays a key role in the growing of Europe’s internal market. Mr Theologitis called PLATINA a key instrument for the promotion of inland waterway transport and noted with satisfaction that the consortium was successful in all areas and would continue to deliver results.

The PLATINA project, adopted under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, covers a broad set of actions in five strategic fields of NAIADES: improve market conditions, modernise the fleet, develop human capital, strengthen the image of inland navigation and improve the infrastructure.

PLATINA provides technical and organisational assistance by ensuring active participation of key industrial stakeholders, associations and Member States administrations. Among the major project partners are via donau from Austria (coordinator), Voies navigables de France, Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschiffahrt (Germany), Promotie Binnenvaart Vlaanderen (Belgium) and the Rijkswaterstaat Centre for Transport and Navigation (The Netherlands).

Source: PLATINA, Photo credits: Roeland van Bockel, Editorial: Caroline Smith

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A group of companies have formed a partnership to use inland waterways to transport pot plants. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the Netherlands, has required the development of a new logistics chain system. The pot plants are transported from a large nursery in the Northeast Polder by barge to Flora Holland flower auction at Aalsmeer. [more]

A group of companies have formed a partnership to use inland waterways to transport pot plants. The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the Netherlands, has required the development of a new logistics chain system. The pot plants are transported from a large nursery in the Northeast Polder by barge to Flora Holland flower auction at Aalsmeer.

The project, dubbed “Shuttle Plant” is a pilot project within the project Pieken in Bereikbaarheid, which sees several companies entering a partnership to create a sustainable supply chain making use of a combination of sea and inland ports, road hauliers, inland shipping, shippers, and containers. Flora Holland and Port of Amsterdam hope to improve the accessibility of ports and land in the Randstad and simultaneously make freight transport significantly more environmentally friendly.

The companies which are taking part in the initiative are: FloraHolland, Port of Amsterdam, Kwekerij A. Baas, Coöp. Bloemen Express NOP, Van der Slot, ACT, CTVrede Steinweg, MCS, ROC Kampen, SCS Multiport/Bulcontrans and MIS Cobiva. The initiative takes place with the support of Schoonen Advies and Management and DuBarCo Intermodal Consultancy.

Source: Schuttevaer, Editorial: Caroline Smith

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Promoting better use of all modes of transport and better use of alternative modes to road transport such as inland waterway transport can considerably contribute to new solutions and a new balance between economic growth, social welfare and environmental protection. EBU’s annual report is dedicated to underlining the importance of inland waterway transport within the overall European transport policy. [more]

Promoting better use of all modes of transport and better use of alternative modes to road transport such as inland waterway transport can considerably contribute to new solutions and a new balance between economic growth, social welfare and environmental protection. EBU’s annual report is dedicated to underlining the importance of inland waterway transport within the overall European transport policy.

The European Barge Union (EBU) is the European association of barge owners and barge operators. Since its establishment in 2001 EBU has represented the interests of its members. EBU’s main objective is to defend the interests of inland shipping at European and international level. The organisation deals with all the subjects that promote the development of inland shipping and freight transport by inland vessels.

Titled “Future of Transport:  Inland navigation – a major contributor to a sustainable transport system”, the new annual report contains information on relevant issues in the field of inland navigation and supports decision makers by providing valuable and relevant input regarding the European transport policy and the drafting of the new White Paper.

But EBU also wants to draw the attention of policy makers to the severe consequences of the economic crisis for the inland navigation industry. Amongst other issues the organisation’s annual report therefore suggests both immediate and structural/long term measures to overcome these consequences and to promote inland waterway transport on a national and a European level.

The annual report can be downloaded at www.ebu-uenf.org

Source: European Barge Union (EBU), Editorial: Simon Hartl

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The European Commission has provided EUR 250 000 in a recently launched call for proposals for building up a network of centres for promoting inland waterway transport. The call falls within the framework of promoting the objectives of the common transport policy. The objective of the call is to create centres which can advise transport users at local level and encourage them to use inland navigation by providing logistical solutions, best practices and technical assistance. [more]

The European Commission has provided EUR 250,000  in a recently launched call for proposals for building up a network of centres for promoting inland waterway transport. The call falls within the framework of promoting the objectives of the common transport policy. The objective of the call is to create centres which can  advise transport users at local level and encourage them to use inland navigation by providing logistical solutions, best practices and technical assistance.

The grants are intended as incentives for carrying out an operation which could not be executed without Union financial support, and they reflect the principle of co-financing. The Commission therefore plans to grant only funds which are complementary and subsidiary to contributions made by the beneficiary, the national, regional or local authorities and other bodies.

The Commission is prepared to support multiannual operations of a maximum duration of 36 months. Proposals must be sent to the European Commission not later than 15 September 2010. For further information http://ec.europa.eu/transport/grants/2010_09_15_en.htm

Source: European Commission, DG Move, Editorial: Simon Hartl

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The second edition of the PLATINA Good Practices Report is now available. The information on good practices included in the first version was updated and various new good practices have been added. As a new feature, a special in-depth analysis is provided on the most promising good practice cases. [more]

The second edition of the PLATINA Good Practices Report is now available. The information on good practices included in the first version was updated and various new good practices have been added. As a new feature, a special in-depth analysis is provided on the most promising good practice cases.

In this second round many good practices became more mature and many new good practices were added to the existing set which was published in the first edition of the report. Based on additional literature review and interviews with responsible authorities, stakeholders or developers, an in-depth analysis was carried out on Roll-On-Roll-Off (RoRo) transport, the EDINNA platform of education institutes which was set up in the past year, River Information Services (RIS) and Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), which currently receive much attention in many European countries.

Together with a paper version, the third version of the good practices report will also be drafted as an internet-based handbook, from which interested stakeholders can derive examples on the various themes of NAIADES, and which will also be used as a means of promoting IWT as a whole. It will be published at the beginning of 2011.

Download

 PLATINA good practices report (2nd edition)
   (2010 | Language: English | Format: PDF | Size: 7.6 MB)

Link

 www.naiades.info/platina

Source: PLATINA, Editorial: Simon Hartl

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