A ground-breaking ¢ 4.8m ($7.5m) European project is to examine the role that "dryports" can play in maximising the capacity and efficiency of sea ports, while also shifting traffic off the roads and on to rail or inland waterways.
The three-year Dryport project will look at the development, design and effective operation of dryports that are fully integrated with the freight handling systems of the sea port facilities they support. The project will also look at monitoring carbon dioxide effects and the integration of dryports into the European Union's Motorways of the Sea concept.
Dryports - hinterland intermodal freight transport hubs - could play a vital role in reducing transport's energy consumption in the EU and increasing efficiency at ports, said project manager Dirk Harmsen, representing the project's lead partner, the Swedish region of Västra Götaland.
Richard Morton, project director for the Haven Gateway Partnership, one of the Dryport partners, said that with effective planning and careful choice of location, dryports could significantly increase the capacity of existing sea ports.
"Dryports could be a way of extending the sea perspective into the hinterland," said Dirk Harmsen. "But you need good green connections. It isn't enough to have smooth and intelligent systems on the ship side; it doesn't work if you don't have proper solutions for onward transport, and good hinterland connections."
