Supporting EU Strategy for the Danube Region: New FP 7 – project “NEWS” launched
Inland waterway transport is more and more losing its significance, especially in Central Europe: Cargo transported on the Danube is only 10-20% of that transported on the Rhine. Supporting the EU Strategy for the Danube Region’s target "To improve mobility and intermodality of inland waterways", NEWS (Development of a Next generation European Inland Waterway Ship and logistics system) main objective is to increase transport flows on inland waterways (especially container transport on the Danube) by developing a Next generation European Inland Waterway Ship and logistics system to make IWT more cost-, time- and ecologically efficient. Customers will be convinced to invest into NEWS with the help of a preliminary approval, logistics concept, port preparation, a finance and business plan and the demonstration of usability and performance. NEWS combines technical and logistical innovations to assist cross-border European challenges for an optimized inland waterway transport and the integration of waterborne transport into the intermodal logistics chain. Its most decisive innovative features are: • An increase of transport efficiency (up to +100% TEU) by re-designing a container-specified hull • A patented central ballast tank enabling the ship to vary draught and air draught might increase the days of navigability • An increase of resource efficiency (up to 30%) by installing an adjustable LNG-electric energy- and propulsion system • A special-designed logistics system for the respective demands of the targeted markets • New river ports infrastructure concepts • The possibility to adapt NEWS for UN-classes III and IV to make secondary waterways in Europe accessible for effective container transport NEWS is coordinated by Vienna University of Technology (Austria). The international and well-balanced consortium consists of four universities and research institutes, five SMEs and one enterprise from five different EU Member States and associated countries: • Ziviltechnikerkanzlei DI Anzböck / Austria • First-DDSG Logistics Holding GmbH / Austria • Regional Development Agency of the West Region Romania / Romania • Lindenau Maritime Engineering and Projecting / Germany • University of Duisburg Essen, Department of Economic Geography, esp. Traffic and Transport Logistics / Germany • TU Dortmund University, Institute of Transport Logistics / Germany • University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences / Serbia • Intermodal Concepts & Management AG / Switzerland • Projektkompetenz.eu / Austria The project started in March 2013 and will end in August 2015. If you are interested in further information and/or current results, please contact www.news-fp7.eu. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under the agreement SCP2-GA-2012-314005.
Länder
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom