During a green inland shipping event that took place on 16 October, five innovative vessels called at the Port of Brussels to show technological solutions for cutting CO2 and air emissions to a minimum. These included zero-emission technologies, such as battery-electric, gas-electric, ultra clean biofuel power drive-trains and hydrogen.
High-ranking representatives of the European Commission, Council and Parliament were guided around on the five vessels and praised the innovative developments in the sector.
They took note of the significant modal shift potential of inland navigation and the sector’s ongoing work to reach the sustainability goals of the European Union.
This comes against the background of the recently released Agenda for Europe “A Union that strives for more: My Agenda” of the new Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which lays down a European strategic long-term vision, including a focus on emissions reduction.
Inland waterway transport offers quality solutions to keep path with the ambitious decarbonisation challenges.
Inland ports, as enablers of green logistics, are supporting this transition by rolling out alternative fuels infrastructure and market measures.
Annual congestion costs reach 1% EU GDP and the GHG emission share of transport continues to rise instead of decreasing.
With over 40,000 km of navigable waterways and 250 inland ports, inland waterway transport carries some 560 million tonnes of goods per year and is of increasing importance in the field of cruising and passenger transport.
Among others, an initiative of an electric ship for urban delivery of parcels was presented in combination with cargo bikes, completing the last mile.
Other innovative solutions demonstrated were unmanned shipping remotely controlled from shore and a pilot with fuel cell/hydrogen technology for zero-emission container shipping.
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