Smart Shipping on Inland Waterways

Abstract

Inland shipping has been struggling with a shortage of skippers for several years. This means, among other things, that smaller vessels disappear and the smaller waterways are no longer used. In addition, it is also difficult for inland shipping to compete with road transport. In time, this will cause a reverse modal shift: cargo will be brought back from the waterway to the road. However, the road is already dealing with a lot of congestion while the potential of the waterway is being used less and less. This will lead to major mobility problems. Over the years, an international consensus has grown that the automation of vessels can be a mean to solve a large part of the above problems and to revive transport via the waterways. In this way, the great pressure on our roads will also be reduced. In order to gain a better insight in the possibilities of Smart Shipping, the PIANC WG 210 was established in 2019. The PIANC INCOM WG 210 Report on Smart Shipping on Inland Waterways has been published in March 2022. This report researches the impact of Smart Shipping developments on the physical and digital infrastructure and on traffic management, with focus on inland waterways. Smart shipping developments were viewed from the perspective of infrastructure providers and traffic managers of inland waterways to stimulate and maximize the deployment of Smart Shipping. The report includes an analysis of the current (until 2019) Smart Shipping developments, what is currently lacking to stimulate Smart Shipping developments, as well as recommendations for the future that can be picked up in other PIANC working groups or research groups. This paper will highlight the findings of the WG and will zoom in on some more concrete examples of Smart Shipping in Belgium, where de Vlaamse Waterweg nv is monitoring a test area in which several 100s of test have taken place since 2019. Recent international legal initiatives will also be described.