Driving a 'smart platform' along the Rhine
To drive the digitalisation of cargo flows on the Rhine, Port of Switzerland and Ports de Mulhouse-Rhin (CCI Grand Est), as shareholders of Rhein Ports, have inked an agreement in principle on a partnership with Duisburger Hafen (Duisport).
With this commitment, Duisport will also become a shareholder and investor of Rhein Ports. The main goal of the cooperation is to further deepen and widen the "Rhein Ports Information System" (RPIS) operated by Rhein Ports, a digital traffic management platform for container transport by inland waterway, developed and implemented over 15 years.
Among other things, the existing platform is to be become multimodal and to be extended to other freight segments. Furthermore, essential customs processes for inland navigation between Switzerland and the EU are to be handled via RPIS, which will also offer applications for railfreight transport at logistics hubs.
Florian Röthlingshöfer, director of Port of Switzerland: "The partnership with Duisport enables us to make great strides in digitalisation for the networking of ports and inland navigation along the Rhine." (cd)