The role of inland ports in urban logistics: back to basics

We all learned it in our history lessons that medieval towns were set up on the river banks or at the crossing of two waterways. This is not without any reasons, at that time, water was the only way to bring goods to the town and the only way to run a trade with other towns and regions. These medieval towns still exist and are the big urban agglomerations and European capitals of today. But what was centuries ago a fact, isn’t any longer. For a long time, urban citizens were turning their backs to the water and river banks became abandoned areas. Only in recent years, rivers and their banks were rediscovered, and not for logistics purposes however.