Eswaco, a logistics service provider specialised in supplying deep sea carriers, is increasingly avoiding the congested roads around the port of Rotterdam. On 15 April 2010, the company started a new inland waterway service to supply the deep sea vessels of Maersk. Annually, this should save 800 truck movements on the already congested A15 highway. [more]

Eswaco, a logistics service provider specialised in supplying deep sea carriers, is increasingly avoiding the congested roads around the port of Rotterdam. On 15 April 2010, the company started a new inland waterway service to supply the deep sea vessels of Maersk. Annually, this should save 800 truck movements on the already congested A15 highway. 

Supplying deep sea carriers with spare parts, service and maintenance materials, as well as food is a very specialised business. Three such suppliers located in the port of Rotterdam have teamed up and chosen a new way of supplying some of their customers;  Estron, Waalhaven Groep and Companero have launched a new inland vessel to provide supplies to the tankers of Maersk, which call at the Rotterdam port about 600 times a year. A crane on board of the inland vessel BOW1 (“bevoorraden over water”) lifts the pallets with ship supplies onto the deep sea vessels.

The current traffic jams on the A15 make timely delivery of supplies via roads increasingly difficult. Starting from a distribution centre in the Botlek port, the BOW1 travels twice a day to the deep sea vessels mooring at the Europoort. Inland navigation allows Eswaco to maintain their on-time performance, while at the same time saving about 500 Euro per saved truck journey. It is planned to extend the waterway service to deep sea container carriers in June 2010.

Source: www.nieuwsbladtransport.nl, www.ttm.nl, Editorial: Gert-Jan Muilerman

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The UK government has significantly reorganised aid schemes for intermodal transport and inland waterway transport. The Freight Mode Shift Grant Schemes (MSRS) programme has been approved by the European Commission to operate until 31 March 2015. The scheme will assist companies with the operating costs associated with running rail or inland water freight transport instead of road. It is designed to facilitate and support modal shift, generating environmental and wider social benefits from reduced lorry journeys on Britain’s roads. [more]

The UK government has significantly reorganised aid schemes for intermodal transport and inland waterway transport. The Freight Mode Shift Grant Schemes (MSRS) programme has been approved by the European Commission to operate until 31 March 2015. The scheme will assist companies with the operating costs associated with running rail or inland water freight transport instead of road. It is designed to facilitate and support modal shift, generating environmental and wider social benefits from reduced lorry journeys on Britain’s roads.

A new funding programme for modal shift has been launched in Great Britain for the period between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2015. The Modal Shift Revenue Support (MSRS) is designed to buy lorry miles off the road by bridging the cost gap between road freight and inland waterways or rail during the start up of a new service (for a period of up to three years). Eligibility is based upon environmental benefit and financial need. An approved grant will provide revenue funding of up to 30%.

The scheme operates in two parts, ‘Intermodal’ and ‘Bulk and Waterways’. ‘Intermodal’ is strictly concerned with rail freight. All water freight applications will be made under the ‘Bulk and Waterways’ rules. MSRS is a direct replacement for both the Rail Environmental benefit Procurement Scheme (REPS) and the Waterborne Freight Grant for inland waterways.

MSRS is administered by the UK’s Department for Transport, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government. For further information www.freightbestpractice.org.uk and www.naiades.info/funding

Source: www.freightbywater.org, www.freightbestpractice.org.uk, www.scotland.gov.uk , Editorial: Simon Hartl

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The European Commission has opened the fourth call for proposals for the creation and upgrade of freight transport services under the Marco Polo programme. The projects that will be chosen will fight congestion on European roads and improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system, which are the two main objectives of the EU transport policy. Companies across the European Union and beyond are invited to submit proposals. [more]

The European Commission has opened the fourth call for proposals for the creation and upgrade of freight transport services under the Marco Polo programme. The projects that will be chosen will fight congestion on European roads and improve the environmental performance of the freight transport system, which are the two main objectives of the EU transport policy. Companies across the European Union and beyond are invited to submit proposals.

The general aim of the Marco Polo programme is to help companies introduce services that shift freight off the road and on to more environmentally friendly modes such as inland waterway transport. The top-ranked projects in the competitive evaluation process will be offered grant contracts of up to five years.

The call is open to applications for five types of actions:

• Modal shift actions which will shift freight from the road to short sea shipping, rail, inland waterways or a combination of modes of transport.
• Highly innovative catalyst actions which are aimed at overcoming structural market barriers in European freight transport.
• Motorways of the Sea actions which shift freight from road to short sea shipping or a combination of short sea shipping and other modes of transport, offering a very large-volume, high-frequency intermodal maritime transport service and environmentally friendly hinterland freight transport.
• Traffic avoidance actions which integrate transport into production logistics, reducing freight transport demand by road with a direct impact on emissions.
• Common learning actions which will encourage the improvement of cooperation and sharing of know-how between stakeholders in the freight logistics sector.

The budget for the 2010 call is 60 million EUR. The funding intensity is the same as for last year, i.e. 2 Euro per 500 tonne-kilometres of freight shifted off the roads. A single company will be able to apply for a Marco Polo grant this year and the overall procedure has become simpler and faster.

For more information: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/marcopolo

Source: European Commission, Editorial: Simon Hartl

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The Promotion Office for Inland Navigation in Flanders (PBV) recently carried out a survey among Belgian inland waterway transport companies to evaluate their willingness to invest in the equipment of their vessels with Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders. Approximately 75% of all companies welcome the introduction of AIS. The satellite-based system was developed to improve the communication between ships as well as between ship and shore. Efficiency and safety gains are the main positive impacts. [more]

The Promotion Office for Inland Navigation in Flanders (PBV) recently carried out a survey among Belgian inland waterway transport companies to evaluate their willingness to invest in the equipment of their vessels with Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders. Approximately 75% of all companies welcome the introduction of AIS. The satellite-based system was developed to improve the communication between ships as well as between ship and shore. Efficiency and safety gains are the main positive impacts.

Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) enable the exchange of nautical data between ships and between ships and shore installations. To be able to exchange information, a vessel must be equipped with an AIS transponder. A vessel using AIS, automatically and regularly emits information regarding its identity, position, heading, speed and other relevant data. AIS is now implemented in a number of countries. Austria was the first European country which introduced a general equipment obligation. Since 1 July 2008 vessels navigating on the Austrian stretch of the river Danube must be equipped with an AIS transponder. Belgian seaports, like the Port of Antwerp, will also introduce a general equipment obligation in the foreseeable future.The Netherlands and Germany provide financial support for the purchase of AIS transponders.

Flanders currently also works on the set up of an AIS funding programme. To evaluate the willingness of inland waterway transport companies to invest in the equipment of their vessels with AIS transponders PBV carried out a comprehensive survey among Flemish skippers. The results of the survey show that about three-quarters of all shipowners intend to equip their ships with AIS (response rate: 15 percent). The main arguments in favour of AIS are an increase of nautical safety and the foreseeable introduction of an equipment obligation in the Belgian seaports. The most frequently stated argument against the introduction of AIS was the price: too expensive.

Link

Promotie Binnenvaart Vlaanderen

Source: Promotion Office for Inland Navigation in Flanders, Editorial: Annick Javor, Simon Hartl

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Through its high carrying capacity, inland navigation already has a head start when it comes to low exhausts and emissions of greenhouse and other toxic gases. The recently launched vessel „ms Anda“ is however setting new and even higher standards. [more]

Through its high carrying capacity, inland navigation already has a head start when it comes to low exhausts and emissions of greenhouse and other toxic gases. The recently launched vessel „ms Anda“ is however setting new and even higher standards. 

 

The official launching ceremony of ms Anda by former Dutch „first lady“ Ria Lubbers took place in Dordrecht (The Netherlands) beginning of March 2010. What makes ms Anda so special is the combined application of a series of environmentally friendly technologies and innovations to reduce emissions and exhausts. The two engines (1200 horse powers) built in the 135 m long vessel basically only emit warm air thanks to the integrated catalytic converter. Ceramic soot filters additionally reduce the emission of particulate matter by up to 97%. The use of the newest end-of-pipe technologies allows the ms Anda to perform well beyond the EURO-V norms that are applied in road transport.

ms Anda has a carrying capacity of 3,879 tonnes or 264 containers. Should the same amount of cargo be transported by truck, one would be faced with emissions as high as 79 kg NOx and 792 g particulate matter per hour; ms Anda only produces 1.5 kg NOx and 15 g per hour. Obviously ms Anda also operates on low-sulphur fuel. ms Anda started operations in October 2009 and has already sailed on European waterways for almost 1,000 hours. Welcome to the low emission zone!

Source: Binnenvaartkrant, Editorial: Gert-Jan Muilerman

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