Antwerp Port Focus on Sustainable Modal Shift
The port of Antwerp is to invest 1.4 million euros over the next three years in projects aimed at making port-generated freight traffic smoother and more efficient.
The seven projects that have been selected for financial support will together reduce the number of truck trips by up to 250,000 annually. The Flemish government in turn is building on the Call for Proposals by the Port Authority, and in the next few months it will release a further 1.4 million euros for projects to make transport in and around Antwerp more sustainable.
“Mobility on the Flemish roads concerns all of us,” declared Antwerp Port Authority CEO Jacques Vandermeiren at the sixth Intermodal Event organised by the Port Authority.
“Many people live with the idea that the port is the main source of congestion on our roads, but in reality the port is only one of the many users of the road network. The fact is that our region is a major economic crossroads between the Netherlands, northern France and the German Ruhr area. In the next few years work will start on various projects aimed at improving mobility in and around Antwerp, but additional infrastructure alone will not be enough,” Vandermeiren warned.
Port alderman Marc Van Peel explained further: “A modal shift towards more sustainable methods of transport that place less burden on our roads or even avoid them altogether is crucial for more efficient mobility, not only at present but also in the future. That’s why the Port Authority will be supporting private-sector projects over the next few years that contribute to more efficient truck and other transport in and around the port.”
The seven projects that will receive financial support have been selected on the basis of a Call for Proposals issued by the Port Authority at the start of this year. With the CfP the Port Authority aimed to stimulate the market “to come up with new, more sustainable mobility solutions, or improvements to existing mobility solutions for handling the flow of maritime trade.”
The projects that were submitted were assessed on the basis of various criteria, including among others whether they offered a reliable and price-competitive alternative to existing, less sustainable solutions, and whether also they were based on a profitable business plan. The seven projects that were ultimately selected can each count on maximum support of 200,000 euros spread over a period of three years.
