37 per cent less CO2 emissions, 1,600 fewer truck trips in the city and a decrease of 19,700 trips outside the city. Those results were achieved over the past two years with the Amsterdam Vaart! Nine construction projects in and around the city involved transporting building materials by water.
Amsterdam Vaart! is an initiative - supported by Waternet, the municipality of Amsterdam, TNO and Port of Amsterdam - that replaces truck traffic in the city with transport by water. Construction logistics plays a major role in this: according to Topsector Logistiek, around 27 per cent of CO2 emissions in the city are related to construction logistics.
Transport by water should lead to fewer emissions, fewer inner-city trips and less heavy transport by road, among other things. This appears necessary, as the City of Amsterdam recently announced that the condition of bridges and quays is very poor.
Nine construction projects
The project works with several hubs in the Amsterdam port. From here, materials are transported by water to construction projects elsewhere in the city. Over the past two years, nine construction projects received support in drawing up a logistics plan for transport by water. For the construction companies, participation meant more efficiency in the process, including lower failure costs for transport by water, as they suffer less congestion.
The results of Amsterdam Vaart! were collected in a report prepared by TNO. The participating parties want to embed waterborne transport in Amsterdam policy. Options are being worked out for waterborne transport without further increasing congestion on the water.
