HPC Hamburg Port Consulting has been commissioned by the German Directorate-General for Waterways and Shipping (GDWS) to conduct a study on information services for inland waterways ports and terminals. The analysis is being carried out as part of a European project aimed at developing a digitalisation strategy for freight transport on continental Europe’s inland waterways.

As the central federal authority of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, the GDWS is participating in the “Digitalisation of Inland Waterways” (DIWA) project, which is funded by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme and involves four other national inland waterway authorities: the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria. The project aims to develop a common, integrated strategy for the digitalisation of the inland waterways of the TEN-T corridors, making the transport mode more competitive and sustainable in the long term.

“We at GDWS are pleased that, together with our European project partners, we will be able to help shape the future of European inland waterway transport and to contribute to this environmentally friendly mode yielding an even better performance,” say Thomas Wagner, head of department for Inland Transport Engineering and Tobias Aretz, National DIWA coordinator (both GDWS).

HPC has been commissioned to explore the information services for ports and terminals. The focus will be on building an inventory of the data inter-faces between inland navigation operators and European ports, as well as the IT system landscape. The aim is to determine the existing level of digital maturity and future potential with regard to the digitalisation of the processes engaging ports and inland navigation.

” Against the background of the heavy utilisation of road and railway systems, the integration of inland navigation into the overall development of intermodal transport concepts is very welcome, ” says Hartmut Beyer, authorised signatory at HPC. He is convinced that “The digital transformation of the inland waterways network will significantly increase the attractiveness of the mode for customers. At HPC, we are very pleased to be able to input into the strategic development of this important trans-European project with our combined port and IT know-how.”