A Green and Economic Future of Inland Waterway Shipping

Abstract Presently, Central European waterways are utilized below their capacities while traffic volume on rail and road is increasing constantly. Especially road transport leads to high external costs caused by air pollution or congestion. Facing these problems, a new inland waterway ship called NEWS (FP7 Project, Development of a Next generation European inland Waterway Ship and logistics system) is being constructed. The resource efficiency is going to be increased by up to 30% due to the adjustable LNG-gas-electric propulsion system. Additionally the fuel consumption can be decreased by 10% due to a new hull design. The main targets of this new development are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and to shift transport volumes from the road to inland waterways to enable sustainable freight transport. This new development will be integrated in a ready-to-use inland waterway transport concept to fulfil the goals for competitive and resource efficient transport of the European Commission.