Investing in inland shipping

De Scheepvaart nv was established in 2004 as an autonomous agency and limited liability company under public law for the maintenance, operation, management and commercialisation of the Albert Canal, the Kempen Canals, the Schelde-Rhine River connection and the common Grensmaas. Its most important task consists of stimulating goods traffic on the Albert Canal and the Kempen Canals and thereby contribute towards improved mobility and safety on the road. The agency not only invests in infrastructure on and around the canal, it also owns a significant amount of real estate along the canal banks which it leases to companies.

To be able to carry out an integral waterway policy De Scheepvaart nv continually works on maintaining and renovating the canal infrastructure. An important step in the promotion of inland shipping, for instance, was the investment in quay walls. It furthermore manages its real estate in a commercial and market-oriented manner. Companies that wish to make active and intensive use of transportation via water enjoy priority when it comes to granting concessions. In this respect De Scheepvaart nv finds itself in the privileged position of being able to co-determine who may occupy land connected to waterways. Industrial areas are after all becoming scarce in Flanders, especially those situated next to waterways.

An inland navigation vessel of 1.200 tons can transport freight corresponding to 40 railway carriages and 50 lorries on the road. Hence it is immediately clear that a further expansion of transport along our inland waterways will mean significant relief of the congested roads. Inland shipping has done well in previous years. The waterways have not only seen increases in the volume of traffic, but also a larger diversity in the types of goods. If in the past the emphasis was on more traditional segments such as fuel oil, concrete, fertilisers, construction materials etc, today an increasing volume of containers are also being transported by water. Container transport has increased uninterruptedly over the last few years by an average of 10 percent per year, so that to date approximately 330.000 TEU container units per year are being transported along the Albert Canal. Several new container terminals have been built along the banks, often belonging to private logistics companies such as Euroshoe in Lummen. The companies which run the terminals often charter their own vessels, using these to offer scheduled services to their clients.