More cooperation
Focus on Rotterdam–Basel–Genoa.
The Swiss Rhine ports, the port of Rotterdam and the Basel Region Logistics Cluster are seeking closer cooperation to improve the trans-European exchange of goods.
A further milestone has been set for pan-European cooperation with an agreement between trade gateways in the north and south. To further improve the Rotterdam–Basel–Genoa freight corridor, three parties – the Swiss Rhine ports, the Basel Region Logistics Cluster and the Dutch maritime port of Rotterdam – have renewed an agreement. A memorandum of understanding the three partners first signed in 2016 set the goals for the coming years. It was about digitalisation, green energy and making transport routes more sustainable.
The presence of a Swiss government representative – minister Simonetta Sommaruga, the head of the environment, transport, energy and communications ministry – underlined the overarching importance of the corridor and the collaborative effort. In addition to the agreement reached in 2016, the use of hydrogen as a future fuel for freight transport, the circular economy and more efficient handling of inland navigation are on the agenda. The latter in particular is more than just lip service, as more than 50% of the volumes between Switzerland and Rotterdam are already handled by inland waterway barges, around 33% by train and only 1% by the road networks.
Promoting intermodal infrastructure
Further expanding the national and cross-border intermodal infrastructure is one of the important instruments to promote inland shipping and the railways in the modal split. The planned construction of the Gateway Basel Nord, a trimodal container terminal whose link to the inland waterways is to the port of Basel’s basin 3, is thus very timely.
Facilitating the exchange of data through intensified coordination between the digital port management systems Rhein Ports Information System (Swiss Rhine ports) and Portbase (Rotterdam) is another focus.