Fourth monitoring research meeting

BinSmart focuses on propulsion systems, alternative fuels and innovative ship concepts

Under the motto “Propulsion systems, alternative fuels and innovative ship concepts”, the BinSmart team held the fourth monitoring research meeting at the DST on September 1st. About 40 participants from science, industry and politics discussed the various topics. Discussions were also held on the potential role of politics, authorities and commissions in order to ensure the competitiveness of inland waterway transport in the future.

For many participants, the monitoring research meeting started the night before with interesting and informative discussions during a get-together. On Thursday, Prof. Bettar el Moctar opened the meeting and guided through a program full of interesting topics. Matthias Marx from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) underlined the importance of inland navigation in his opening speech. An interaction of research, new technologies and innovations will define the future. In this context, he informed that the BMWK will support the maritime industry with financial support of 30 million € per year for the next 5 years on the way to a climate-neutral ship. Further greetings and impulse speeches were given by Project Management Jülich, the Federal Association of German Inland Navigation (BDB), the Federal Association of Public Inland Ports (BÖB) / Association for European Inland Navigation and Waterways (VBW). It was mentioned the current challenges and requirements for inland waterway transport and the system of waterways. The importance of reliability in planning for investments in innovative, future-oriented and new technologies and the necessity of appropriate and adapted regulations were pointed out.

An overview of the state of progress of the BinSmart-project and the demonstrator ship formed the basis for the two main topics of “propulsion systems and alternative fuels” and “innovative ship concepts”. Around the topic of propulsion systems and alternative fuels, it became clear that a complete replacement of conventional diesel propulsion systems by alternative energy sources such as green hydrogen is not to be expected in the near future. However, the current developments presented in the field of electrification in connection with DC/DC charging systems also showed that solutions for emission-free inland waterway transport are already available for many areas of application that can be applied in everyday life. The speakers on the topic of innovative ship concepts highlighted how important it will be in the future to develop new concepts around the inland waterway vessel. This includes new ship forms as well as retrofit technologies. The intensive discussions of all participants during the presentations made clear the significant challenges, but also the willingness of all players to address these with new and innovative solutions..

During the meeting, participants took also the opportunity to visit the DST’s experimental facilities, including the experimental tank, the ship handling simulator SANDRA II, the experimental center for autonomous shipping (VeLABi) and the experimental center for innovative port and handling technologies (HaFoLa), which is still under construction.

The next BinSmart monitoring research meeting is scheduled for April 2023.