Enhancing the competitiveness of inland waterway transport: A multi-methodological approach applied to port barge congestion and urban areas.

Inland shipping could provide a competitive and more sustainable mode of transport in Europe, as it could take advantage of this region's large and dense inland waterway network. However, this is not the case due to the different challenges faced in the Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) sector. Furthermore, there have been growing concerns about the negative societal impact of road transport within dense cities and urban areas. This brings an opportunity for inland shipping to utilize the dense IWT networks that connect to the city centers to use last-mile transport to the urban areas. By doing this, inland shipping can offer a better alternative to road transport and take over some urban freight flows, enhancing its competitiveness and maximizing its underutilized capacities. The rationale of this thesis stems from the need to enhance and strengthen the competitiveness of IWT. IWT competitiveness in this research is a multifaceted concept involving a range of factors that affect the ability to transport cargo to shippers efficiently and effectively. This includes the ability of IWT to provide reliable, efficient, and cost-effective transportation services compared to other transport modes (mainly road transport). Thus, enhancing competitiveness is examined in two stages: the IWT port-hinterland container transport (specifically focusing on port barge operations) and the IWT urban freight transport. These two stages are examined due to the major issues they generate in the hinterland supply chain between the seaports and urban areas, such as barge congestion in seaport operations and the increasing negative externalities of urban freight delivery with trucks. Based on this, three main research questions were identified and addressed in the thesis. These are: 1. What are the main challenges of container barge operations in seaports in North-Western Europe? 2. How can these challenges be addressed? 3. Is it possible to deploy (small) inland vessels for urban freight use from a private and welfare viewpoint? These questions were answered through a multi-methodological approach. A quantitative survey was used to answer the first research question. In contrast, multiple quantitative techniques, such as the agent-based and economic assessment models, answered the second research question. Finally, a social cost-benefit (SCBA) model answered the third research question. The main answer to the first research question reveals that the challenges of container IWT are interrelated and can be categorized into three main themes: handling, coordination, and flexibility. These three themes can further be broken down into specific problems. These include the interference of deep-sea vessels, lack of dedicated barge spaces, small call sizes, poor planning, fixed slots, flexible schedules, and low service levels due to port congestion. The analysis further reveals that while some problems could be addressed by innovation within the container IWT sector, others can only be addressed through a change in mentality within the industry. Based on this finding, the thesis focuses only on problems that can be addressed via innovation within the sector, such as barge handling in sea terminals, small call sizes, dedicated barge space, planning, and barge slots/scheduling in sea terminals. xv The answer to the second research question suggests that dedicated barge space could solve container barge challenges in seaport operations. In this sense, if the terminals can create a dedicated handling space and invest in suitable infrastructures for the container barges, it could significantly reduce the waiting time of the barges and ensure that they do not spend an extended period at the terminals. With this, there could be a shorter lead time leading to more reliability and the enhancement of the logistical operations. Based on the above, a further analysis was conducted to examine the economic feasibility of a Modular Mobile Terminal (MMT) as a potential concept for the dedicated barge space solution for port-barge operation. This was analyzed for the Port of Antwerp-Bruges (PoAB) and the Port of Rotterdam (PoR). The overall conclusion of the analysis suggests that the MMTs are most suitable for regions and vessels with small cargo volumes and can deal with the effects of a high seasonality pattern (caused, for example, by a disruption). Regarding the specific ports, the study indicates that four MMTs would be optimal for PoR, while two MMTs would optimally be installed in PoAB. The main answers to the third research question reveal that the small vessel concept for urban freight delivery appears feasible for the vessel owner both from the private and the welfare point of view. A possible reason is a short distance from the pick-up to the drop-off point in the vessel trajectory. Regarding the Total Logistics Cost (TLC), the analysis reveals that the small vessel concept is the cheapest option for low-value goods from the private point of view, while trucks remain the cheapest option for high-value goods. However, when internalizing the external costs, the small vessel option offers the cheapest option for all categories of goods for the cargo owners from the welfare viewpoint.ISBN: 978-90-5728-790-9 Deposit number: D/2023/12.293/1