Call to integrate inland navigation
Alternatives on the water are important solutions for Universal Transport, an oversized and heavylift specialist that is a part of Gruber Logistics. In the face of a tense situation in the heavylift industry the company has called on politicians and shippers to work together to find ways to make better use of the potential of inland shipping as part of integrated logistics networks.
Inland navigation scores on sustainability and ecology, with an inland barge’s greenhouse gas emissions per tonne-kilometre coming to just a quarter of that of a truck. But when it comes to weighing the matter up, the ship often gets the short end of the stick because it’s more expensive and slower.
Holger Dechant, the managing director of the Gruber Logistics subsidiary Universal Transport, pointed out that “inland vessels can definitely be a sensible alternative, and can also shorten long approval procedures, for example. Shippers should involve us in their planning at an early stage, so that we can shift suitable consignments to the waterways.”
This is entirely doable. At the beginning of September two plant components weighing 25 and 36 t were transported from Bratislava to Belgium and the UK by truck and barge by Universal Transport’s Czech branch, Universal Transport Praha. (sh)