Present-day logistics systems have to meet complex requirements. With the scope of delivery falling and the number of suppliers and recipients rising, transport needs to be reliable and depart as well as arrive punctually. Traditional waterway transport, however, cannot adequately fulfil these conditions.

New solutions such as intermodal scheduled transport service may resolve this dilemma. Quite similar to passenger ships, a scheduled transport service vessel follows a strict schedule for calling at certain ports where goods are transhipped for further road or rail transport. Both vessel design and the possibility of convoy transport enable the simultaneous transport of different goods (containers or roll-on/roll-off goods) and thus help set off imbalances on the travelled routes.

A transport chain involving inland waterway transport for the main haulage requires at least two transhipments (in the loading port and the consignee) as well as pre-haulage plus end-haulage to and from the transhipment sites. Depending on infrastructure and economic conditions, the “first mile” from the consignor to the loading port and the “last mile” from the consignee to the recipient are covered by either rail or road transport.
Scheduled waterway transport services offer significant advantages:

Departure and arrival times according to schedule,
Maintenance of scheduled services even despite unfavourable nautical conditions by means of e.g. rail or road replacement services,
Regular calling at a minimum of three ports,
All-year-round operation and
Broad access for interested companies.

The often mentioned unfavourable nautical conditions can be grouped into:

Floods and ice which entail a stop of waterway transport by the authorities. As observed over many years, such conditions exist on an average of 3-4 days per year.
Low water: In this case, the authorities do not call a stop to waterway transport but the scheduled services distribute the goods among more vessels (lighters).

All this means that the actual arrival of the scheduled means of transport is irrelevant as long as the transported cargo arrives on time!

RoRo Service

: Catamaran operated by Willi Betz (Source: Willi Betz)

Operating four catamarans as well as two RoRo barges on the route between Passau (Germany) and Vidin (Bulgaria), the Reutlingen-based forwarder Internationale Spedition Willi Betz GmbH & Co. KG offers scheduled transport services for RoRo goods such as semi-trailers, tractors and other vehicles. Stops at ports may be fixed depending on the goods transported; the vessels sometimes depart several times a week. Willi Betz's scheduled transport services thus constitute "floating motorways“ which give companies the possibility to avoid the sometimes badly maintained transit routes throughout South-Eastern Europe and to remarkably increase transport reliability.

Container Liner Service Danube (COLD Study)

The feasibility study provides comprehensive information regarding the prospects of container liner services on the Danube between Austria and the Black Sea.

Information and the final report can be downloaded here.