Parliamentarians from NRW Visit RheinCargo in the Neuss Port

The ‘Parliamentary Group Inland Shipping’ of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament visited the Neuss Port from the water. On board the MS Riverstar, the politicians of the inter-factional association also informed themselves about the business areas of the logistics service provider RheinCargo, which operates one of the largest European inland port networks with locations in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Neuss.

(Düsseldorf/Neuss) Jan Sönke Eckel, the managing director responsible for port logistics at RheinCargo, assessed the informal exchange, which was of course conducted in compliance with Corona regulations, very positively after the event: “Support from politics is very important for our industry. The event has contributed to deepening our dialogue. We are very pleased when the concerns of the ports and inland shipping are recognized and supported by politics in North Rhine-Westphalia.” The ‘Parliamentary Group Inland Shipping’ was founded in autumn 2020. “Inland shipping has long not received the attention it actually deserves,” the politicians justified their commitment. Although around 30 percent of goods in North Rhine-Westphalia are transported on the Rhine, its tributaries, and canals, the waterway system has so far been treated as a stepchild politically.

Create Better Conditions for Inland Shipping

One goal of the group is to create further and better conditions for shifting more traffic from trucks to inland shipping. The chairman of the group is Ulrich Reuter. “As a transit and industrial country, the Rhine and the canals have outstanding significance for goods and freight transport in NRW. Shifting traffic to the waterways and railways are significant tasks for NRW in the context of the transport transition, and thus the exchange with the stakeholders is particularly important for our political work to achieve these goals,” said the FDP member of the state parliament. Photo: © RheinCargo / Caption: Jan Sönke Eckel (6th from left) welcomed the ‘Parliamentary Group Inland Shipping’ on board for an informational trip through the Neuss Port