The top-level consultations in the inland container shipping sector concluded to a number of results. These results show that shippers, forwarders, barge operators, inland terminals, deep sea terminals and shipping companies take the congestion issues in the port of Rotterdam seriously and want to make a joint effort to resolve them.
19 Dutch and international parties take part in the Inland Container Shipping Sector Consultations. During these meetings, the participants discussed the progress made by three working groups, each of which had been assigned a specific task. One working group is responsible for fact-finding regarding the relationships and balances of power within the inland container shipping sector’s logistics chain. A second working group identifies quick wins within the operational planning process. The third group worked to establish KPIs that can lead to chain-wide insight into the performance of the inland container shipping chain, as well as crucial transfer moments within consecutive links within this chain.
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The Inland Container Shipping Sector Consultations have concluded in the following results:
- Improvement of the slot application procedure for inland vessels that plan to load or unload containers at the terminals. In addition, all consecutive changes to the original slot application will be stored in the Portbase port community system.
- The Port of Rotterdam Authority has awarded funding to two sector initiatives, in which deep sea terminals, inland shipping companies and inland terminals working together to combine cargo and transport this cargo according to a fixed sailing schedule between Rotterdam and the hinterland. The Port Authority will also support the partnership between HTS Intermodaal, the RWG deep sea terminal RWG and the D3T inland terminal in Duisburg aimed at establishing a new fixed sailing schedule between Duisburg, Gorinchem and Rotterdam.
- Development of a chain performance dashboard by the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
- Parties have performed an analysis of the factors causing congestion within the inland container shipping chain. One of the outcomes of this analysis is a variety of directions in which the chain can look for solutions.
- A visible increase in the number of bilateral agreements between chain parties to utilise the available capacity and increase reliability within the chain.
In addition, the Port Authority and the local private sector will invest in initiatives to improve container circulation via the port of Rotterdam.
The Port Authority will continue to invest in Nextlogic, the digital tool that allows barge operators and terminal operators to exchange information relating to the handling of containers. In the future, other parties will also join this information platform.
