DeConTrans

Innovative concepts for a decentralized waterborne container transport

Development of a concept for container distribution in North Rhine-Westphalia using small inland vessels and decentralised transhipment points

In metropolitan regions such as the Rhine-Ruhr area, the increasing container transport and the associated growth in road freight traffic are pushing the road infrastructure to its limits. The congestion of the roads leads to increased noise pollution and environmental pollution, as well as increased traffic jams. Inland navigation and the German waterways, especially in the western German canal network, offer logistics a considerable amount of unused capacity.

Therefore, an increased use of inland navigation presents itself as a solution to the initial situation. This offers more cost- and energy-efficient transport, but decision-makers are often not sufficiently aware of this fact and so inland navigation is primarily used in the metropolitan areas along the Rhine. The DeConTrans project focuses on the possibilities of container hinterland transport on the West German canal network as a feeder transport to and from the Rhine ports. DeConTrans offers an innovative approach to container transport by inland vessel, building on existing transport concepts and complementing them in a meaningful way. It is a decentralised concept based on small, hybrid-electrically powered (and in future automatable) vessels. According to the current project status, the concept can be divided into four interconnected sub-concepts:

Logistics concept: After conducting intensive research and interviews with experts, a total of 105 possible transhipment points and six suitable navigable canals were identified in the western German canal network. The 105 transhipment points include the ports of Dortmund, Hamm, Herne, Münster and Osnabrück, but also suitable port structures of disused coal plants, among others. Destination ports for container transport are Duisburg and Wesel, via which further transport to the North Sea ports runs. Complex allocation rules were used to determine which transshipment point receives which freight volume. The transport network thus has a realistic flow of goods. A cost comparison with existing transport concepts that do not use the West German canal system is still pending.

Vessel concept: Small ships (8 to 36 TEU) suitable for the canal system are being developed. The transport can be carried out with one or, if necessary, two container layers. The configuration of the ships is adapted to the conditions of the canal system and includes a hybrid electric drive and automatic mooring systems. Scenarios with different personnel deployment plans are also being examined.

Transshipment concept: If available, the existing container transshipment structure of the transshipment points will be used. Further handling systems, a fixed crane stationed on the ship and a mobile shipboard crane, will be examined for suitability. These are to enable transshipment at transshipment points that do not have active or sufficient structures.

Integration concept: In order to demonstrate the viability of the West German canal system in existing transport and economic structures, a proof of integrability in today’s (global) supply chains will be presented within the framework of DeConTrans, involving all actors involved (ships, transhipment system, trucks). For this purpose, existing IT services and data management applications will be used, which are already successfully in use for existing supply chains.

A simulation environment will be created that prototypically models the relevant system components of the four concepts mentioned and enables the simulation of different scenarios. On the basis of this, an evaluation of different design options will be carried out with the help of predefined criteria, which will form the basis for the choice of the integrated transport system.

Together with the two research projects SPaCiH – SmartPark City Hubs and Virtual Infrastructure and iWALD – Integral World and Local Delivery, DeConTrans forms a consistent process flow of the future in which the goods are brought from the seaports via the waterway to North Rhine-Westphalia and unloaded at the numerous transhipment points in the western German canal network (DeConTrans), where they are fed into various value-added processes, such as sorting or finishing steps, and prepared for further transport (SPaCiH) and then transported in standardised small load carriers to the final recipient in urban distribution (iWALD). For this reason, the three projects have joined together to form a project family in order to align the respective developments with the sister projects and thus ensure future compatibility of the results as well as the feasibility of the process flow.

Overall, the DeConTrans project thus contributes to relieving the burden on the road and rail modes of transport and to the economic utilisation of the domestic waterways and their infrastructure. At the same time, emissions are reduced and sustainable management is made possible.

As part of the online event “Urban supply via inland waterways” in the ‘JRF on site’ event series, the final event of the research project “DeConTrans – Innovative concepts for a decentralized container transport on the waterway” – with participation of the two JRF member institutes, DST and RIF – took place on 28 March 2022.

In addition to a series of technically related talks from all over Germany, the results of the DeConTrans simulation study could be presented there. Moreover, representatives from the shipping and port industries as well as from politics and research discussed the potentials of city logistics on inland waterways and the conditions necessary for this in a panel discussion.