Barge Terminal Tilburg Celebrates Anniversary

Recently Barge Terminal Tilburg (BTT) celebrated its 5th anniversary. It was initiated in 1997 by road haulier Versteijnen Bros. on an location marked "impossible" by the experts: along a narrow canal, with low bridges, locks, only 60 km. from Rotterdam and in a region where the truck was king. In its first year BTT handled some 7,000 TEU, in 2002 60,000 en this year 70,000 TEU is expected. BTT utilizes small vessels (63mx7m, 28 TEU, two high), now five, that shuttle to and from Rotterdam. In 2002 the utilization was 95 percent. The success of the terminal can be explained by the integration of various services, including VAL, in adjacent or nearby facilities and the freedom Versteijnen is allowed to choose the optimal modes of transport. This includes rail transport as well. A major customer of BTT is Sony. Source: Rotterdam Briefs