Shifting tides: FFCs and NABU unite to explore the future of inland waterway transport
For the fifth time, representatives of the northern German FFCs have met. This time, the host was Rhenus Partnership Hanse GmbH in Bremen, under the friendly care of Jessica Nolte. A special highlight was the participating guest Sönke Diesener, Senior Policy Officer from Hamburg's Nabu e.V..
Instead of starting as usual with the status reports of the FFCs, this time the focus was initially placed on exchanging ideas with Nabu e.V.. In an open discussion, Nabu highlighted the positive prospects of inland shipping, and common thematic interfaces with maritime shipping were identified. Although time constraints prevented a deep discussion on the reasons for the decline of inland shipping, it is clear to us that this industry is moving away from its old traditions. For example, the traditional transport of coal and heating oil is expected to decrease in the context of renewable energy supplies.
Therefore, it is time to reimagine inland shipping – and this is precisely where InnoWaTr steps in.
From left to right: Maxim Heinrich, Lars Stemmler, Sabrina Wilms, Sönke Diesener, Thomas Voigt, Jessica Nolte, Amir Ali Bashash
Towards a greener future: Testing new Freight Flows on inland waterways
As part of its real experiments, InnoWaTr examines new goods flows and explores the opportunities and risks of a possible modal shift. FFC2, with the support of the Wirtschaftsverband Weser and Rhenus Partnership Hanse GmbH, continues to work on introducing an alternative and greener transport for containers between Hamburg and Bremerhaven. At the same time, FFC3, under the mutual guidance of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg and carried out by TOP Mehrwert-Logistik GmbH, is planning tests to soon put the theory of city deliveries by inland shipping into practice.
Both approaches provide valuable insights for the Centre of Expertise (CoE) coordinated by bremenports GmbH & Co. KG, as they report directly from the real experiments into the CoE. It is hoped that these initiatives will find imitators and increase the share of inland shipping in the modal split while simultaneously highlighting the sustainability of this mode of transport.