New Delhi, July 26, 2021: Barge operators, inland terminals, and deep-sea terminals are working hand in hand to keep the containers moving along corridors connecting Rotterdam and the hinterland. The Port of Rotterdam has applauded such initiatives to boost the inland container shipping chain. These corridor initiatives are the outcome of the efforts taken by the Port Authority in 2017 by organizing consultations on inland container shipping. The consultation program was a response to the increasing waiting times for inland container vessels at Rotterdam Port terminals.
On the connecting route between Rotterdam and hinterland regions, numerous inland terminals are used by the inland vessels. These inland terminals have joined hands with barge operators to move the containers destined for deep-sea terminals. The inland vessels are maintaining their schedule in line with the deep-sea terminal schedule so that container movement is smooth with no waiting periods cropping up. On the other side, the deep-sea terminals and barge operators have agreed to load and unload containers during pre-decided time slots and to ensure a minimum number of container movements through inland vessels.
Such collaboration is a win-win situation for all the parties involved in the chain. Barge operators will now have better capacity utilization of their fleet at the same time they will also have assured weekly scheduled calls at different deep-sea terminals. For the barge operators, it is an opportunity to uplift their profile as reliable transport partners for freight forwarders and shippers. The large volume of bundled containers brought by inland vessels will help the deep-sea terminal to efficiently use their crane and quay capacities according to the reports published in fleetmon.com.
With the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s support, back in 2018, the first two corridor partnerships came into existence. Both partnerships developed over the years and delivered good results which later started a series of collaboration and bundling initiatives across inland corridors of the Netherlands and Germany. The success rate of these corridor partnerships is such that now every important shipping route between the port of Rotterdam and its hinterland has some form of corridor partnership.
Now the port of Rotterdam is working together with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and provincial administrations of Gelderland, Zuid-Holland, Limburg, and Noord-Brabant for the long-term infrastructure and transport program “Freight Transport Corridors”.
