Inland Water Transportation News

Future Proof Shipping (FPS) joined FLAGSHIPS, a European innovation project, to bring the shipping company’s second zero-emissions inland container vessel, the FPS Waal, to Europe’s waterways.FPS will strengthen the FLAGSHIPS consortium and expand its green hydrogen-fueled fleet with the addition of the FPS Waal to the project. The FLAGSHIPS consortium aims to raise the readiness of zero-emission waterborne transport to an entirely new level by deploying two commercially operated zero-emission hydrogen vessels in the coming years.Over the coming months…

KOTUG International B.V. (KOTUG) established an inland shipping division to provide electric powered pusher tugs and smart AI-driven dispatch and route planning applications for the inland water transportation industry, aiming to support the worldwide energy transition and the modal shift from road transport to waterways while meeting the growing demand for electric-powered vessels. "The inland shipping market offers a great opportunity for sustainable logistical solutions," says Ard-Jan Kooren, CEO of KOTUG International B.V.

Indian Ministry of shipping has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with IIT Kharagpur on Wednesday for setting up a Centre for Inland and Coastal Maritime Technology (CICMT).CICMT will provide technological, vessel design and applied research support for inland waterways and coastal shipping, said a government release.Speaking on the occasion, Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Shipping said, “Indigenous technology is the need of the hour for the maritime sector, and we are determined to promote Make- In- India as per the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.”Detailing about the state-of-the-art centre which is being set up the under the flagship Sagarmala Program…

India and Bangladesh discussed various issues pertaining to the protocol arrangements and improvement of inland water transportation between the two countries in the 19th Standing Committee meeting under ‘Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ (PIWTT)held at  New Delhi.The meeting was attended by high level delegations that included representatives of Ministries of  Shipping, External Affairs, Home, Finance, DONER and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and officials from Bangladesh belonging toMinistry of Shipping, Board of Revenue, DG (Shipping)  and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).The two sides agreed to consider inclusion of Rupnarayan river (National Waterway-86) from Geonkhali to Kolaghatin West Bengal in the protocol route.

Next generation economizers are being introduced by Ulmatec Pyro. This will carry on the history of 35 years of heat recovery from ship’s exhaust – a technology that’s still unknown for many in the marine industry. You can’t ignore waste energy recovery systems if you want to participate in discussions about efficient marine designs. That statement is based on the fact that most diesel engines on board a vessel still operate on an efficiency scale in the 30 percent range. The remaining 60-70 percent represents losses, converted into heat.

Coastal shipping provides benefit in the form of less environmental pollution due to lower per km consumption of fuel. However, unavailability of consolidated cargo, return cargo and general lack of awareness among shipper community make coastal shipping unviable. On the contrary, the high penetration level of road followed by rail coupled with the ability to effect door-to-door movement of cargo makes the field tougher for coastal shipping. In order to increase the share of coastal shipping and inland water transportation to 10% by 2019-20 and to promote cruise tourism leading to development of coastal regions, the Ministry of Shipping has prepared a vision for “Coastal Shipping…

The Ministry of Shipping, India has prepared a Vision Document for “Coastal Shipping, Tourism and Regional Development” for optimum utilization of the shipping sector and coastal resources. The document envisages increasing the share of Coastal/Inland water transportation, development of coastal shipping as part of an end to end logistics supply chain, integration of inland waterways with the coastal routes and development of regional centers to generate cargo for coastal traffic. Further, a National Perspective Plan for comprehensive development of India’s coastline and maritime sector has also been prepared under the Sagarmala Programme. The development of National Waterways will also take place in a phased manner.

The policy for reimbursement of freight for movement of phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilizers under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy and for urea has been extended to movement by coastal shipping and inland water transportation. The subsidy that was earlier only applicable to the movement of fertilizer by rail from the plant or the port to various rake points in various districts, will now also apply to the movement of fertilizers through coastal shipping and inland waterways. This would promote transportation of fertilizers through coastal shipping under the Ministry of Shipping’s flagship programme Sagarmala. The Origin destination study conducted as part of the progarmme identified that the total opportunity for coastal movement of fertilizers is 9-10 MTPA by 2025…

The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) Andhra Pradesh will soon have a world class maritime university. AP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Russia's State Marine Technical University to promote marine education and technology. The agreement was signed at the port city of St. Petersburg on the first day of AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's visit to Russia on Wednesday. The Chief Minister held consultations with the heads of the university during his tour. The representatives of the university have also signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh government on exchange of investment and naval technology between the two states.

The year 2015 has been a busy year for The American Waterways Operators, the national trade association for the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, and for the industry AWO is privileged to represent. It’s a dynamic time for a vital industry that constitutes the largest segment of the U.S. domestic fleet, as companies throughout the industry are investing heavily to meet evolving customer needs; the industry stands on the verge of historic regulatory change; and AWO pursues an active public policy agenda to support members’ needs for predictable and practicable government policy.

For enhancing the draft in ports or undertaking major dredging projects, India still relies on foreign dredging giants, a situation not likely to change unless the government comes out with a policy encouraging investment in the dredging industry. European dredging giants continue to make a clean sweep of all major Indian dredging projects, a market condition largely attributed to the lack of an environment conducive to encouraging Indian companies into large scale dredging. In short, there are no parallel “protectionist policies” in place like those that exists in several maritime countries. Big players in the India dredging market…

With consumers increasing their spending as the economy recovers, and manufacturers likewise boosting their production, demand for inland water transportation will get a boost. Additionally, rising fuel costs will lead to operators earning more money from fuel surcharges. However, the industry will experience some turbulence from rail transport providers, which are often seen as cheaper, faster and more environmentally friendly. For these reasons, industry research firm IBISWorld has added a report on the Inland Water Transportation industry to its growing industry report collection. The Inland Water Transportation industry dipped as the economy sank into recession. Over the past couple of years, consumers have decreased spending, and manufacturing industries have decreased production.

Due to rising flood waters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is closing nine locks and dams on the upper . Lock 16 in , was the first to close on Thursday, June 12. The last to close will be Lock 25 in . The closures will temporarily halt barge traffic on more than 200 miles of the UMR. The Corps of Engineers notified industry of the closures on Sunday June, 8 and update industry and other stakeholders daily. Industry representatives have reported that they have had plenty of warning to get their boats moved out of the closed portion of the river to avoid being trapped.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the U.S. National Science Foundation will hold its 82nd Annual Meeting