The Port of Rotterdam Authority has been joined by German Transport Minister Volker Wissing in demanding greater efficiency for cargo transport along the Rhine Corridor.
Calls for an improvement were made during a meeting between Wissing and Vice President of the Port of Rotterdam Authority Emile Hoogsteden, part of a three-day delegation trip to the Netherlands.
According to a statement, the freight corridor from Rotterdam to Genoa is vital to European logistics, especially the movement of goods to and from the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
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To boost this trade route, Rotterdam, Rhineland-Palatinate and its port operations have been working closely together to optimize transport from Europe’s largest container hub, a cooperative effort that has now been extended with a meeting between Hoogsteden and Wissing.
The two said: “With the expansion of Europe's largest seaport and the doubling of container throughput, the capacity of hinterland transport must also be increased.
“To ensure supply for the population and companies along the Rhine, we need an efficient waterway and greater speed in carrying out transport projects along the Rhine corridor.”
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An initiative to expand the corridor – seen an as effective way of optimizing the unloading of cargo along the Middle Rhine – was included in German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer’s Master Plan for Inland Navigation.
In addition to this, plans have been put in place to upgrade rail infrastructure in this region; the extension of the Betuwe line between Oberhausen and Emmerich in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well the construction of an alternative route to the Middle Rhine Valley, are both seen as necessary for optimizing transportation.
