Tag: inland navigation

Under a program to clean up its canals and waterways, the City of Suzhou in eastern China has commissioned 177 electric workboats, designed specifically to remove floating debris from the water. The river Suzhou Creek, which flows through the city to Shanghai, was once the most contaminated waterways in China.

Washington Governor signed the 2018 state transportation budget, which includes a US$600,000 research fund to Washington State Ferries, to explore conversion of three ferries in the state fleet from diesel to hybrid electric, up to 2019. The three selected vessels of the Jumbo Mark II Class consume 26% of the fuel in the WSF fleet.

The Government of Ontario has accepted Damen's proposal to build two ferries with full electric propulsion, to operate in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. The vessels will be the first fully electric, non-cable vessels in Canada, estimated to reduce emissions by the equivalent of 7 million kg carbon dioxide per year.

Indian Cochin Shipyard Limited has inked a MoU with Russian United Shipbuilding Corporation, to jointly design and develop eco-friendly vessels for inland and coastal waterways. Except for supporting Make-in-India programme, the MoU also enables Indian plans for eco-friendly and economic inland transportation under SAGARMALA.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority unveiled a new incentive scheme for ‘Clean inland shipping and sustainable logistics in Rotterdam’. This scheme provides contributions to new projects that result in reductions in fuel consumption, GHG and air emissions by inland shipping.

Green Award certification scheme announced introduction of a Platinum label for inland navigation ships that keep abreast of the times and operate several hours a day with zero emissions of CO2, SOx, NOx and PM.

DeltaBreaker combines the features of tug, icebreaker and pusher with some added functionalities. The ship uses LNG as fuel, so as to reduce emissions, and the hull shape has low resistance with ability to break ice up to 0.6 m thick.

A naming ceremony was held at the Port of Rotterdam, on 9 September, for the electric container ship BON JOVI, type Gouwenaar 2.0, that was built to transport 600 million beer bottles per year, in a sustainable manner, between Alphen aan den Rijn and Rotterdam.

The Warsaw conference, held on 21st November, was focused on enhancing inland navigation in the Baltic Sea Region. Some important steps have already been taken in promoting inland navigation but it is not yet fully utilized regardless of the benefits it carries.