The Interreg North Sea project InnoWaTr (“Innovative Waterway Transportation”) is working to shift freight transport from congested roadways to more sustainable inland waterways. Through innovative strategies, InnoWaTr aims to strengthen the role of inland shipping, making it more competitive, resilient, and attractive to businesses across the North Sea Region.
To support this mission, InnoWaTr partners have developed the Generic Strategy Plan; a framework that outlines the collective vision, ambitions, and practical steps needed to stimulate a modal shift toward inland waterway transport (IWT).
Key Goals and Outputs
At its core, the InnoWaTr project is about building the future of IWT. The strategy identifies several crucial outputs, including:
Freight Flow Coalitions (FFCs): Regional coalitions that bring together shippers, logistics providers, and public authorities to tackle local challenges and unlock the potential of inland shipping.
Business cases and pilot projects: Real-world demonstrations that show how innovative solutions can make IWT a viable and attractive choice.
Practical guidance and tools: Resources to help stakeholders initiate and scale up inland waterway transport initiatives.
- Awareness raising: Initiatives that highlight the environmental, economic, and congestion-reducing benefits of shifting freight to waterways.
What's in the Generic Strategy Plan?
The document provides a structured roadmap for achieving these goals, starting with an in-depth analysis of current challenges facing the sector. It highlights the urgent need for collaboration between public and private actors and stresses that a one-size-fits-all solution does not exist. Regional conditions and needs must guide local initiatives.
The Strategy Plan outlines:
- Strategic building blocks for successful FFCs, from stakeholder engagement to business model development.
- Actionable steps to foster innovation, pilot new ideas, and capture lessons learned.
- Recommendations for scaling successful models to other regions and ensuring long-term impact.
InnoWaTr’s approach is built on collaboration, creativity, and a shared commitment to sustainability. By linking local action to a broader strategic framework, the project aims to deliver practical results that can be replicated and adapted across the North Sea Region and beyond. The current version of the Strategy Plan will be validated by the Freight Flow Coalitions (FFCs), and a final validated version will be published by the end of the project.
Explore the full InnoWaTr Generic Strategy Plan here