The Port of Rotterdam Authority, Multimodal Coordination Foundation and Brabant Advice Centre (MCA Brabant) signed a partnership agreement. The goal of the partnership is to realise increased container transport via inland shipping between Rotterdam and North Brabant.
Specifically, during 2018, more than 8.6 million containers were transmitted in the port of Rotterdam.
With more than 1 million containers, North Brabant is one of Rotterdam’s most important hinterland regions. However, it has a high share of road transport, facing increasing pressure on its road networks.
Therefore, inland shipping will provide access in ports and the region, as it will enable more freight volume, in comparison to truck movement.
Emile Hoogsteden, Director of Containers, Breakbulk & Logistics at the Port of Rotterdam Authority reported
Smart connections between the Port of Rotterdam and Brabant will result in structurally higher multimodal transport reliability, and this will contribute to the sustainable accessibility and growth of one of the most important logistics hotspots in the Netherlands.
In the meantime, Hendrik-Jan van Engelen, Director of MCA Brabant noted that good water connections with the port are important in enabling the further growth of Brabant shippers and transport companies.
As Hendrik-Jan van Engelen highlighted
This does not only take a lot of trucks off the roads; good connections also ensure the reliability of the total supply chain. We are very much looking forward to all initiatives that this partnership aims to set in motion.
Moreover, a priority the partners have for 2019 is the further scale-up of digital information exchange between the Port of Rotterdam and Brabant’s inland shipping terminals. Sharing the correct information in time about such things as arrivals of sea-going vessels and containers enables both sides to plan more efficiently and results in fewer delays in transport by inland shipping.
This collaboration is based on past Port of Rotterdam Authority initiatives to bundle more container freight ans to transfer it by using a specific sailing schedule via point-to-point connections.
This lead to the establishment of the West-Brabant Corridor in 2018.
Concluding, this connection between the deep-sea container terminals on Maasvlakte and the Brabant inland shipping terminals in Moerdijk, Oosterhout and Tilburg has already resulted in 20% more freight via inland vessels and 35% shorter port stays for inland vessels.
