Antwerp’s €1.4m truck trip reduction plan

The projects to be invested in by the port over the next three years, with a maximum €200,000 of support for each venture, are aimed at making port-generated freight traffic smoother and more efficient.

The initiatives include DP World aiming to improve existing rail products and attract new rail services, logistics service provider Delcatrans developing a reefer platform for barge transport at its River Terminal in Wielsbeke and digital collaboration platform Hakka using the platform for an application that identifies return loads for trucks.

Other ventures chosen for funding include Dutch company Port-Liner’s construction of five hybrid barges and European intermodal operator Danser’s creation of a hub-and-spoke concept along the Brussels-Scheldt canal, as well as its introduction of a corridor system between northern France and Antwerp.

Euroports Inland Terminals’ project to bring in a new rail connection between Liège (Ile Mosin) and the Port of Antwerp, as well as Slovak Shipping and Ports’ introduction of a rail link, made up of combined trains with a mixture of intermodal and conventional wagons, between the port and the terminal in the Slovakian capital Bratislava, have also been chosen for funding.

The different initiatives were selected on the basis of a Call for Proposals (CfP) by Antwerp Port Authority at the start of 2017.

Submitted projects were assessed with regards to various criteria, including whether they offered a reliable and price-competitive alternative to existing, less-sustainable solutions and whether they were based on a profitable business plan.

The Flemish government, which is building on the CfP, will release a further €1.4m in the next few months in order to increase the sustainability of transport in and around Antwerp.

However, officials from Antwerp Port Authority have said that extra infrastructure alone will not be able to boost mobility in and around the Belgian city.

“In the next few years, work will start on various projects aimed at improving mobility in and around Antwerp, but additional infrastructure alone will not be enough,” said Jacques Vandermeiren, the authority’s chief executive.

Port alderman Marc Van Peel added: “A modal shift towards more sustainable methods of transport that place less of a burden on our roads, or even avoid them altogether, is crucial for more efficient mobility, not only at present but also in the future.

“That’s why the Port Authority will be supporting private sector projects over the next few years that contribute to more efficient truck and other transport in and around the port.”