Minister Schultz van Haegen of Infrastructure and the Environment presented the Blue Road Awards for the first time during the conference 'Cashing in on Logistics Opportunities'. The awards, which were won by Bavaria, N + P Recycling Group and container terminal BCTN Nijmegen, are intended to put Dutch companies that transport their goods via inland shipping in an innovative way in the spotlight.
Relieving road congestion
The award ceremony was initiated by the Bureau voorlichting Binnenvaart (BVB). By involving inland navigation more in the shipping of goods, the Dutch road network is relieved. This also reduces CO2 emissions.
Project for targeted advice
"Due to Maatwerk Voorlichting Binnenvaart, the project in which the BVB provides companies with targeted advice to apply inland navigation in the logistics chain, more than 45,000 truck movements have been transferred to waterways," the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment writes on its own website. "As a result of this approach, besides the aforementioned nominees, other companies such as Aviko, Heinz and Mars have also switched to inland waterway transport, opting for sustainable transport with three to six times lower CO2 emissions compared to road transport."
Minister Schultz satisfied
The minister said he was proud of the way inland shipping takes the work out of trucks, thus contributing to better utilisation of waterways and reducing CO2 emissions. "Waterways are coming more and more into focus with shippers and logistics service providers. It is important to keep enticing shippers; the limit of our rivers' capacity is far from being reached. We can still capitalise on many opportunities with water to make transport more sustainable and efficient."
Dutch inland shipping
The Netherlands has Europe's most modern inland shipping fleet with 365 million tonnes of cargo being shipped by an estimated 7,000 vessels on an annual basis. It would take 11.9 million trucks to ship the same amount of cargo. This makes the use of inland shipping leading the way in Europe.
Editorial LogistiekProfs
