S H O RT S E A P R O M O T I O N

C E N T R E H O L L A N D

Sea-river shipping

sendaal Breda

Sailing into Europe

Sea-river shipping is one of the forms of shortsea transport. Its concept is simple: one vessel, sailing both coastal and inland waters. Sea-river vessels share certain specifications such as draught, height and

Den Bosch Tilburg B R A B A N T Eindhoven Turnhout

Belgium
Albert Canal
length width draught air draught tonnage 134 m 12.5 m 3.4 m 6.7 m 1500/2000
E

ANTWERPEN Antwerpen

A KALBE NA RT AL

VLAAMS BRABANT

EN

LIMBURG
IN
Hasselt Born

AU RH

M G
LIMBURG

ES)

G
T

Genk

He Maastricht

DU

length, relating to the navigational restrictions of rivers and canals. Sea-river vessels do not normally exceed 3,000 dwt, with draughts limited to 5 m and bridge clearance to 9 m. They generally carry conventional and bulk loads, although container transport is now on the increase.

length width draught air draught tonnage*

Zeekanaal: Schelde till Ruisbroek 240 m Puurs

24 m 8.80 m 44 m 10000

OOS Charleroi TN nt

SE MEU

ANTWERP Antwerpen

Puurs

SCHELDE

VLAAM BRABA

ANDEREN

BRUSSEL

Zeekanaal: Ruisbroek till Brussel (Voorhaven)

length width draught air draught tonnage* 200 23 5.80 33.4 4500 m m m m
Stockton on

Tees

Middlesborough

YORKSHIRE
ate
OU SE

Leeds

York Goole

Hull

HUMBER

United Kingdom
Humber till Goole
length width draught air draught tonnage* 110 m 24.5 m 5.5 m n.v.t. 3000/4000
port nt
FORD

Huddersfield Doncaster

LINCOLN
Sheffield Mansfield

SHIRE

DERBY SHIRE

Derby

TR

Nottingham T Kings Lynn EN

Leiden ue
Delft

ZUIDHOLLAND UTRECHT
Utrecht Gouda LEK Gorinchem

NETHERLANDS
Apeldoorn
Amersfoort

OVERIJSSEL

GELDERIJS SE L

terdam
Dordrecht

RIJN

Arnhem

Enschede LAND

BERGSE

Nijmegen

Emmerich

The Netherlands
Maas
length width draught air draught tonnage* 135 m 12 m 3 m 6.8 m 1000/1500

MAAS

N O O R D Breda Den Bosch Tilburg B R A B A N T Eindhoven Turnhout

EIN RH

N O

Juliana Canal
135 m 12 m 3 m 6.15 m 1000/1500

ANTWERPEN Antwerpen

Oberhausen

A KALBE NA RT AL

VLAAMS BRABANT

LIMBURG
IN
Hasselt Born

S Venlo

Duisburg Krefeld

Ess D sseldor S

AU RH

LIMBURG

M nchen Gladbach

Genk

Heerlen Maastricht Aachen

W
K ln

The advantages
The main advantage of sea-river shipping is its unique market range. Sea-river vessels can connect the hinterland with overseas destinations without the need for intermediate transhipment. This results in lower transport costs and a reduced risk of damage caused by additional handling. Minimum total load for transportation is about a 1,000 tons. However, since separate holds enable sea-river vessels to carry various types of cargo at the same time, there is tremendous flexibility in how the total can be made up. There is also the added benefit of floating stock - reducing the need for storage in the company's silo or warehouse. And finally, apart from being cheaper, transportation by water is also environmentally friendly.

Sea-river shipping in Europe

The European sea-river fleet (Eastern Europe not included) comprises about 400 vessels at an average deadweight capacity of 2,000 dwt. The Dutch fleet, currently about 80 vessels, is steadily growing.

Portugal
Douro till Sardouro
length width draught air draught tonnage* 87 m 11.4 m 3.9 m 7.5 m 2000/2500

Karlstad

STER
Mariestad

GVLE BORG RG
Falun dvika Avesta

Gvle

UPPSALA
Uppsala

SKARA BORG
Uddevalla

STOCK HOLM

Vnersborg
Bors

GTEBORG & BOHUS

Sweden
Jnkp
JNK
LAGAN

VST Sala MANLAND

Vsters Eskilstuna rebro

Stockholm

Sweden
Mlren Lake (Vsateras, Sdertlje, Kping)
length width draught air draught tonnage* 135 19.6 7.5 41 9000 m m m m

Trollhttan Canal
length width draught air draught tonnage* 88 m 13.2 m 5.4 m 27 m 3000/4000

EBRO
arlskoga
tad

Gteborg

LV S BORG

ERAK

Varberg HALLAND KATTE Halmstad

Nykping Norrkping

BA

STERGTTLAND SKARA
Linkping Visby

possibilities seaM nster

BERGSE
Nijmegen Emmerich

D
daal

MAAS

N O O R D Breda Den Bosch Tilburg B R A B A N T Eindhoven Turnhout Venlo

RH EIN

Viana do Castelo

MINHO
Braga

N O R D R H E I N Hamm Dortmund Essen Bochum Hagen

ANTWERPEN Antwerpen

Oberhausen

A KALBE NA RT AL

VLAAMS

P voa de Varzim Matosinhos Porto (Leixoes) Villa Nova de Gaia

Guimar es

LIMBURG
IN
Hasselt Born

Duisburg Krefeld D sseldorf

AU RH

BRABANT

M nchen Gladbach
LIMBURG
Heerlen K ln

Wuppertal
Solingen

S)

Genk

W E S T F A L E N

Maastricht
Aachen

DOURO

Vila Real
Charleroi Namur
MEUS E

Li ge

Bonn

Germany
Upper Rhine Central Rhine Lower Rhine
Frankfurt am Main Wiesbaden Frankfurt am Main Koblenz Koblenz Wiesbaden

DOURO

L A M U R

G E R M A N Y
R H E I N R H E IDN- L A N D - P F A L Z L A N P FA L Z
MO SE L MO SE L

N RHEI

Bastogne

Ovar Aveiro Viseu

NNES

LUXEMBOURG

LUXEMBOURG
Arlon Trier Trier

Mainz Darmstadt

Mainz Darmstadt

LUXEMBOURG
Thionville
SA AR

G
Worms

Gernsheim Worms

Gernsheim

P A G N E -

Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern Mannheim L d i h f Ludwigshafen

Mannheim

length width draught air draught tonnage*

110 m 11.4 m 2.5 m 6.8 m 1000/1500

110 m 14 m 2.5 m 8.3 m 1000/1500

135 m 22.4 m 3.5 m 9.1 m 2000/4000

ME

US

RHEIN

RHEIN

E AISN
C

N E A L S A C E

SA AR

SAARLAND
Saarbr cken Germersheim

Heidelberg

Karlsruhe

Mikkeli

Y
a

Imatra

Lappeenranta

Finland
Vyborg

Karhula

Saima Canal
length width draught air draught tonnage* 82 m 11.8 m 4.3 m 24.5 m 2000/2500

F FINLAND

St. Pe

H A N N

Roubaix Brusse (Bruxel Boulogne Lille Bthune Douai E L PAS-DE-CALAIS Valencie Arras
Dieppe Amiens

Dunkerque Calais

B E L G

France
Seine till Gennevilliers (Paris)
length width draught air draught tonnage* 120 m 15.5 m 3.5 m 8.7 m 1500/2000

St. Quenti
Compigne

Le Havre
Rouen en
SE

P I C A R D I E
R
IN E

CHA

O R M A N D I E
Versailles

Paris

MARNE

AR

ILE-DE-FRANCE T

RHNE

rmontrand St. Etienne

Lyon

Annecy

R
RHNE

H A L

N E

E S

ERGNE

Grenoble

Valence

France
Rhne Sane
135 m 11.4 m 3 m 5.1 m 1000/1500
Mon

PROVENCE-ALPES
Avignon Nimes Montpellier

CTE DAZUR
Aix en Provence

QUEDOC
Ste

Marseille
Toulon

GOLFE

length width draught air draught tonnage*

135 m 11.4 m 3 m 6.2 m 1000/1500

* dependent of the water-level

-river shipping

Future
Although sea-river transport has been a forgotten market segment for some time, we have recently been witnessing renewed and considerable investment in this area, with various (Dutch) shipping companies placing orders for new sea-river ships. New technology has resulted in increased bridge clearance and lower draught developments, which have made a growing number of European inland destinations more easily accessible. Trends in shipbuilding often lead to bigger vessels, but this would be counterproductive for this type of coastal shipping as increased size would almost certainly result in a decrease in shipping reach. The new generation of sea-river vessels is also smaller by tonnage. An example of a new type of sea-river vessel is printed on the back, showing a vessel measuring 80 metres in length, 6.3 metres in height and 1,700 dwt in tonnage, all at just 3.4 metres draught. Moreover, its box-shaped hold makes it suitable for all types of load, including containers.

Geographic reach
This brochure contains an overview of sea-river shipping options within Europe. Although there are other shipping options apart from the canals and rivers indicated, these are only navigable by a small number of special seariver vessels. The Humber in England and the Trollhattan canal in Sweden are also navigable, either fulllength or in part, by conventional coaster. So is the Nene river and a few ports close to its estuary. Although Russia has many rivers allowing navigation by sea-river vessels, this is at present restricted to vessels under the Russian flag. With its abundance of waterways, our country the Netherlands has a number of rivers and canals such as the Rhine, Maas and IJssel rivers and the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal, all of which are accessible to sea-river vessels. However, the existence of navigable waterways is not enough in itself: loading and unloading terminals are also required. For this reason, the development of so-called ROCs (Dutch for Regional Transhipment Centres) is important. Already there are ROCs in Kampen, Heijen, Stein and Oss, mainly for container loading and unloading purposes, but also for handling sea-river vessels with conventional loads.

Type of load
Sea-river vessels carry mainly bulk loads such as coal, grain, raw building materials and fertilizer. They also carry neobulk loads such as steel, steel products, sawn timber and paper, and are used for container transportation. The two major users of seariver shipping are the German steel industry, which is concentrated in the Ruhr area, and the Swedish and Finnish timber industries. These regions of origin are determining the predominant transport pattern in this market. Steel products flow downstream on the Rhine, while Scandinavian timber and paper products go upstream, both destined for all parts of Europe. Transportation of bulk products such as grain and ore, in the form of return loads from the Ruhr area and to Scandinavia, is also considerable.

S H O RT S E A P R O M O T I O N
C E N T R E H O L L A N D

Shortsea Promotion Centre Holland s P.O. Box 938

3160 AC Rhoon s The Netherlands

Tel: +31 10 5061931

Fax: +31 10 5061935

www.shortsea.nl s E-mail: shortsea@shortsea.nl