‘Study by Federal Ministry of Transport sends a disastrous signal’

Steffen Bauer, CEO of HGK Shipping, criticises the consistent disregard for inland navigation in the latest study on transport development by Germany’s Ministry of Transport. He indicates that the federal government must take care not to allow the waterway system to fall into decline and then to realise in a few years that a key element for achieving climate goals is missing.

The new transport forecast provided by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) indicated significant growth in road freight transport and new records for rail by 2051, while the waterways would stagnate. Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing is pushing for expansions in the road infrastructure and, in second place, in the rail network. Once again he underestimates the importance of the interplay of all modes of transport and their contribution to decarbonisation in freight transport in Germany, and here in particular he misses the key role of inland navigation.

Steffen Bauer, CEO of HGK Shipping, does not want this state of affairs to remain. “Systematically excluding the waterway system is disastrous for Germany as an industrial location, because competitive industries need all modes of transport for supply and disposal. Not without good reason have major sectors of German industry settled in the commercial centres along the Rhine, the Danube and the western German canal network.”

At the EU level it has long been recognised that inland navigation has the potential, as a CO₂efficient mode of transport, to play a key role in the decarbonisation of freight transport,” explains Bauer. Within the framework of the EU Green Deal, this calls for waterways to account for 25% of the modal split by 2030, and this share will be required to increase further to 50% by 2050. At present, meanwhile, only six percent of all freight is being transported on European waterways, and the trend is downward.

The study now seems to show a completely different picture. It does not take into account many aspects such as the potential available for a modal shift or the logistical consequences of the energy transformation and recycling economy, or does so only inadequately.

Likewise for container-based transports, for example for the growing product groups described in the study (electronics, machine-building and food and consumer goods), the combination of barge, rail and truck is the best solution.

Even if a sufficient amount of new road infrastructure were built to prevent traffic gridlocks in urban regions, the question arises of where the personnel (drivers) for road freight transport should come from. There is already a shortage of 80,000 truck drivers in Germany alone. With a crew of four or five people, a barge with a carrying capacity of 3000 tonnes can replace up to 150 trucks, while a container ship can even replace up to 500 trucks.

The percentage decline in cargo on the inland waterways can be attributed to the fall in coal and mineral oil transports, says Bauer. Nevertheless, important aspects have been incorrectly categorised. For example, in the context of the energy transformation, new goods flows are emerging. The growing hydrogen industry needs not only pipeline supply but also the possibility to transport hydrogen and its derivatives to the point of use. Here again, inland barges and rail should be planned as the preferred modes of transport. “In particular during the ramp-up phase between 2025 and 2050, we will need the capacity to ensure adequate supply to the industrial sector,” stresses the CEO of HGK Shipping.

Nor is the topic of resource-saving production adequately considered in the forecast. The drive for a transformation to a recycling economy has the consequence that larger volumes of recycling material will have to be collected and returned for recycling. Here, all three modes of transport must be deployed in accordance with their individual strengths.