Federal Minister of Transport Dobrindt experienced inland navigation first-hand

At the invitation of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt (Federal Association of the German Inland Shipping) Transport Minister Dobrindt visited Duisburg on 12 July to get an updated impression of the situation within the inland navigation sector by a stay on-board the coupling convoy “Rhenus Duisburg” and the training ship RHINE as well with the support of the shallow water ship handling simulator SANDRA.

A boat trip on the Rhine illustrated Transport Minister Dobrindt work and life aboard a modern inland vessel. On the training ship he also spoke with ship boys and girls to learn of their career prospects. Eventually, Traffic Minister Dobrindt took over the command of an inland vessel in the simulator SANDRA and navigated the ship on the river Rhine. With the help of this simulator, it is possible e.g. to learn to navigate different types of ships under realistic conditions on various waterways. The DST has also used SANDRA in several projects to simulate and analyse the manoeuvring behaviour under shallow water conditions.