5. Inland Navigation in the ARA range
*(ARA – Antwerp – Rotterdam – Amsterdam)
•Benelux – Rhine-Ruhr Geography
•Inland Waterways Network
•Inland Navigation Fleet –Types
•Stakeholders & Critical Successfactors
•Inland Navigation – Facts & Figures
5
6. 6
Inland Navigation Network
Total Europe (27) – 52,148 Km
Network Inland Waterways
Benelux – France - Germany
20,000 Km (40%)
United States – 41,000 Km
China – 110,000 Km
Geo-Reach ARA
• Hamburg – Bremen
• Paris
• Basel
7. 7
Benelux – Rhine – Ruhr Hubs & Connecting / Crossing Hubs
2,600 Passages
per day
950,000 Passages
per year
37Transit Points
16. 16
Main Engines 3 x 1200 pk/mtu 3600 pk totaal
Bowtrusters 2 x 820 pk/mtu 1640 pk totaal
Generators 2 x 130 KVA
Generator: 1 x 45 KVA
Reefer plug: 16
ADNR: Dangerous Cargo - Unlimited Incl Class 1 & 7
Classe: Bureau Veritas
Container vessel Double hull vessel / 2P–ADNR.
Class: Vb
Flag Dutch
L.O.A. 135 m
Beam 17.30 m
Airdraft: Fully loaded: 13 m - Empty: 8,6 m
Draft 3.52 m
3.00 m – load 4,000 Mts
2.50 m - load 3,000 Mts)
Capacity 5.307 Mts (possible upto 6,800 Mts)
Hold Depth 5.50 m
Hold Length 105 m
Hold Beam 15.20 m (6 x 8ft breed)
Inland Barge – Self Propelled
25. 25
INFRASTRUCTURE
COOPERATION
&
COLLABORATION
EFFICIENCY
IT Logistics Management Systems on Open
Platform
End-to-EndTransportation ChainTransparency
Load & Discharge Equipment
Commodity Specific
Centralised Full Chain Control
End-to-End Interactive Communication Systems
VTMS -VesselTraffic Management System
State of the Art & Commodity Specialised
Handling Equipment
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
Paperless & Automated Customs Processes
How peaceful !! – Would you not like to be engaged in Inland Navigation Transportation of Grain in the 1800’s ? No logistic challenges – no worry’s right ??
No – Not right. Lets observe and analyse what we see. The barges have to cross on a narrow river – logistic challenge Nr 1. That has forced both barges to slow down and reverse power – see the horses are slowing down both barges – coordination and collaboration. Additional challenge here is that the horses are walking on the same side of the canal and also need to cross without mixing-up the towing lines. What else do we see? Communication !! The captain of the barge is clearly using advanced communication tools to make sure that the other barge captain understands well his intentions. And don’t forget to feed the horses. My point is that the basics of inland navigation logistics have not fundamentally changed and i will try to show you where we are today.
In the first part I will try to give you an insight into Inland Navigation in the ARA (Antwerp – Rotterdam – Amsterdam) – Rhine-Ruhr Triangle. Brief view on the complexity of the geographic area, inland waterways network, who are the stakeholders and what are the critical success factors, Barge types and their specificities and some facts and figures on the operation and economics of Inland Navigation
In the 2nd part I will address a few of the findings regarding the state of affairs of Inland Navigation in Ukraine. Looking into Modal split and Inland Navigation Fleet evolutions and go through few of many challenges and opportunities I see for Ukraine’s Inland Navigation Development
One can be critical to the ways and actions of Napoleon but one cannot ignore his “out of the box” thinking. Although often motivated by military drivers he had a clear and holistic view on what was needed from a logistic point of view to support his military ambitions. This was the driver for the development of the port of Antwerp behind the protection of locks and the part of a wide network of canals connecting the northern and southern corners of the French Empire. The famous Canal Du Midi is an example and although today mainly serving touristic purposes the current Scheldt-Seine canal network is high on the agenda’s of Belgian and French politicians. Holland being the “waterlands” of central Europe is likewise covered by a very dense inland canal and river network. Last but not least is the Scheldt-Maas-Rhine corridor the most used inland waterways network in Europe and with exception to China most used on a global scale. This means that one can navigate overland from Hamburg to Le Havre, from Antwerp to Vienna, from Basel to Bremen, from Rotterdam to Paris and beyond.
An example is Rotterdam where from the inland gateway of the Port to the hinterland inland waterways and through the different transit points we noticed over 950,000 passages per year. Or 2,600 passages every day
Here you see the complete European Inland Navigation network. With a barge type “Spits” we can connect Marseille with Hamburg or Stettin, Le Havre with Budapest, Prague with Paris. A Spits is 38,5 x 5,05 with a maximum draft of 2,20 and a cargo carrying capacity of 350 Mts. It can replace 14 trucks.
In order to align barge carrying capacity with the capacity of the respective inland waterways, the Conference of Ministers of Transport of the EU have established a classification. This will not only ensure safe navigation on inland waterways as each waterway or canal will have its maximum permissible CEMT class barges but at the same time it allows for the planning of infrastructure in terms of canal width, draft and airdraft.
We will not mention the Class I and II as they are almost exclusively used on the very small canals in France. The Class IV – Europaship is a classic but more than this is class Va which is the most used ship in the ARA – Rhine-Ruhr triangle and it can navigate on most of the Dutch, Belgian and German canals and rivers – and via the Main-Donau canal all the way up to the Black Sea. Interesting to know is that there is currently an overcapacity of this type of ships.
Depending on the Trade Type and Commodity the Push Barge concept can be an advantage. It allows for example for direct transhipment between Barge to Ocean vessel and it will be the most economic solution when the timing of transhipment is not aligned and idle time needs to be avoided.
Fast show
Fast show
Fast show
Specifications of a Class Vb motorbarge. Observe that 0,5 meter less draft will impact the capacity with 25% from 5,500 Mts to 4,000 Mts.
Fast Show
Security & Protection is very important and this is a low-cost although difficult to monitor and control device.
Remarkable is the fleet in The Netherlands – Dutch Flag. This fleet is relatively new and sized in class V.
The synchronisation of different transport modes is the future while it is also the biggest challenge. I will try to give you a high-level of success criteria aswell as stakeholders and what the are foundations of successful inland navigation logistics – remember our grain barge on the Eire canal in the 1800’s
In a typical import process we see the Ocean Shipping company, The ocean port and cargo handling parties, the different transport service providers, the inland terminals in the event of a multimodal transport else cargo moves often direct to the distribution centre or to the consumers or end-user. The reverse process in case of exports is evident. While all these parties are stakeholders and contributors they are also process dependencies. It means that each of these parties can have a positive or negative impact on the efficiency and cost of the logistics process.
The foundation is a solid Hinterland Market Analysis. Establish the minimum critical mass required to support the product. Be aware that exclusivity does not exist meaning what you do everybody can do – its called “competition”. Be ambitious but also realistic with respect to your product and commercial approach. Look at the geography and intraport distribution. A project is to be break-even within 3 to 5 years depending on the cost of money. Offer open access but have a sufficient number of customers and volume spread. Related with maritime volumes to a limited extend as these can easily move to alternate ports covering the same hinterland. Cooperation and Transparency is a must. These will be the main elements of sustainable intermodal solutions and provide a long-term foundation for efficient logistics.
There are 3 essential critical successfactorts – Infrastructure providing the physical foundation framework for multimodal logistics, a process driven efficiency framework and an attitude of cooperation and collaboration. Its all about hardware, processes and attitude.
First the hardware Infrastructure. GO OVER THE LIST
Next and equally important is Process Efficiency and Tools allowing the execution of process efficiency. GO OVER THE LIST
Last but not least – attitude or cooperation and collaboration. GO THROUGH THE LIST
So to recapitulate – Its about standing with the right attitude supported by efficient processes such as a.o. BTS and centralised planning in an environment of well established and maintained infrastructure – just like the 3 musketeers – I wonder where D’Artagnan is?
An example of a Class Va round trip from IJmuiden in Holland to Basel Switzerland and a return trip from Breisach Germany to Utrecht Holland. Here you can see that fuelk and variable cost included a dayrate of abt. 3,000 Euro is a minimum while the return voyage would need abt. 2,400 Euro. vvv
Same story – different show. While our focus is on the Rail – Truck – Barge part it cannot be disconnected from the other stakeholders.
Duisburg is an excellent example proving how the 3 critical successfactors interact to a sustainable success story. Large volumes of containers move from the ports of Rotterdam & Antwerp by barges to the Inland Port of Duisburg. Duisburg is Tri-Modal facility meaning that it consolidates Inland Navigation with Road and Rail. From Duisburg the same containers move by majority by Rail to all European destinations. The reverse operation ensures cost efficient operations from many inland points to overseas destinations. The concept is very successful mainly because of all the critical elements being addressed and the rail part is running mainly on German territory and is thus domestic transportation.
Let me show you an example of a typical inefficiency trap. Inland Navigation is handled by multiple operators who own both the barge operation and the inland terminal. Through untransparent tariff constructions whereby the respective tariff elements are not clearly identifiable they have offered different tariffs to different stakeholders. They have thus gained power and control over the cargo and will consolidate the containers they handle in function of the barge they operate. This will result in one barge leaving their Inland Terminal to one Ocean Port. What they will ignore is the fragmentation in the ports. In this example the Barge will serve several of the 16 ocean terminals averagely serving for 33 containers / facility. One single barge will for example hold 191 containers for Antwerp however discharge 20 on terminal K504, 66 on K1207, 15 on K913, 31 on K1742 and 59 on K1700. Serving these 5 facilities will take at least 2 days – if lucky.