Inland Waterways Logistics Operational Requirements & Vessels’ Characteristics

Abstract

Inland waterway transport (IWT) is a complex system with numerous components and specifications; performance and competitiveness of IWT rely, to a large extent, on the fleet, the vessels’ structure and capacity, the vessels’ equipment and management. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse and distinguish the fleets according to their performance, equipment and technical parameters. The purpose of this master’s thesis is to investigate the operational requirements and vessel characteristics required for the well-functioning IWT in the area of Göta älv - Lake Vänern. The data for the study was collected through the relevant literature, study visits and interviews as well as cross-referencing them with the authors own experiences. This objective however would have been achievable only by investigating the vessels characteristics, operational features and reasons behind those in Northern Europe’s main Inland waterways. The main and dominant of these inland waterways are, the Danube and Rhine; also including some countries on the routes investigated. Sequentially, it follows the general characteristics of inland waterways’ vessels in those two routes, the operational features and reasons behind, in the two main dominant Inland waterways. In the same way, operational requirements and conditions of IWT for the area of project have been investigated to find out shortcomings and render a SWOT analysis developed for the presenting of recommendations for the threats and weakness on the bases of key learnings and finding from the Northern Europe Inland waterways vessels characteristics, operational features of vessels and terminals. Findings on the Rhine and Danube IWT indicate that vessels’ characteristics and operational features as well as the ports conditions are regionally different and are affected by various factors such as the locks’ allowance, nautical status of waterways, economy of the region, etc. The recommendations for the promotion of IWT business in the Göta Älv-Lake Vänern are made in the domain of vessels’ characteristics and operational features, the facility requirements, such as futures locks’ dimensions, lifting gear for the container operation either on the vessels or ports, and the regulations’ requirements for the ice and pilotage, etc.