Shorter handling times for inland vessels at Port of Antwerp
BDB afraid of negative effects on inland container shipping Since 22 July 2009 most of the terminals in Antwerp charge and discharge inland vessels only from Monday until Friday between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.. Outside of these hours PSA HNN, the biggest terminal operator in Port of Antwerp, only charges or discharges inland vessels if the customer pays the additional costs for overtime. At the same time all “fixed windows“ were cancelled. The quays affected by these measures are 408, 869, 913 and 1742. Until now 30 to 50 per cent of the containers forwarded with inland vessels were handled at the PSA HNN terminals in Antwerp outside of the time window of the new regulations, which means between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and on weekends. Member companies of the Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschiffahrt e.V. (Association of German river shipping) say the new regulation provokes additional costs of 10 to 30 per cent. This measure will affect that the share of inland navigation in the modal split at Port of Antwerp will considerably decline “, worries Heinrich Kerstgens, Managing Director of Contargo GmbH & Co. KG. The new regulation causes not only damage to loaders, terminals, the river shipping industry and the people, but has also a negative impact on environmental policy aims in Europe, he added. Quelle: Österreichische Verkehrszeitung |