Low water levels on the Rhine and limited barge capacity are currently a major concern for shippers and logistics companies along the river. How can container transport between Rotterdam, Antwerp and North Rhine-Westphalia be planned reliably in the long term? What options does rail transport offer, and what role do inland barges, trucks and synchromodal transport concepts play? We spoke with Karsten Scheidhauer, Managing Director of Optimodal Nederland B.V.
Low water: an exception or the new reality?
Low water on the Rhine is nothing new. Should shippers fundamentally rethink their transport strategy between Rotterdam, Antwerp and North Rhine-Westphalia – or even along the entire Rhine – instead of looking for short-term alternatives every time water levels fall?
Low water is indeed not a new phenomenon. However, if you follow the discussion in the media and politics, you might sometimes get the impression that low water is a completely new problem every year. As soon as water levels fall, the issue once again receives a great deal of attention.
Our experience with industry is similar. With only a few exceptions, we see little willingness to fundamentally question existing transport routes and rethink them strategically. At first glance, inland barge transport often appears to be the most cost-effective solution. However, integrated transport concepts still play too small a role – at least in my personal view.
I am convinced that a good transport concept makes the overall operation more efficient, provides greater security for supply chains and ultimately leads to better economic results.
Rail instead of barge – but planned early enough?
In your view, is it a strategic mistake to consider rail transport as an alternative to inland barges only when Rhine water levels are already falling and barge capacity is becoming scarce?
That is exactly what happens: when there is not enough water in the Rhine, everyone suddenly starts looking for alternatives at the same time and expects rail operators to provide solutions at short notice – regardless of the provider. And if this capacity cannot be made available almost immediately, rail quickly gets the blame.
Unfortunately, that is not how rail freight works. Rail freight requires long-term planning, predictable capacity and volumes that are as stable as possible in both directions.
Rail can absorb a significant share of the required capacity as part of an overall transport concept. But it needs to be included in that concept at an early stage and not considered only after a bottleneck has already developed on the Rhine.
Can rail handle the additional containers?
If many shippers want to shift containers from inland barges to rail at the same time, can rail freight absorb these additional volumes at short notice – or does the capacity bottleneck simply shift from the Rhine to the railway?
It is not possible to move all containers from inland barges to rail at the push of a button. Neither the available infrastructure nor the handling capacity at the seaports is sufficient for this. Moving large volumes at short notice can also be very difficult and challenging in the hinterland.
At Optimodal, however, we have learned over many years that the two modes of transport can complement each other very well. Some providers in the market regard rail and inland barge as competing modes of transport.
We see it differently: inland barge and rail complement each other extremely well.
We have been successfully applying this concept via our hub in Neuss for 17 years. Around 20 percent of our volumes are transported by inland barge, specifically complementing our rail services.
Synchromodality: real flexibility or just a buzzword?
Many logistics companies today talk about flexible and trimodal transport solutions. What does a provider need to offer in practice to enable shippers to switch effectively between rail, inland barge and truck?
We operate synchromodally and, incidentally, have also protected the term because it is now used almost excessively.
Synchromodality means that at seaport terminals with both rail and inland barge connections – essentially the terminals on the Maasvlakte – we offer our services at the same price. Based on the delivery schedule specified by the customer, our planners decide which mode of transport is most suitable for each individual container.
In import operations, for example, 200 to 300 40-foot containers for a single customer may arrive at the seaport at the same time. Rail cannot move all of these volumes immediately. That is why we combine both modes: time-critical containers are transported by train, while containers that only need to reach the consignee three or four days later are scheduled by inland barge.
That is exactly what we mean by synchromodality in practice. For the customer, synchromodality primarily means price certainty, because prices are agreed for one year.
Price or predictability – what really matters?
Is the lowest transport price still the decisive factor, or is the predictability of container transport becoming increasingly important for shippers in view of recurring disruptions?
In my view, the transport price alone is not the only decisive factor. What matters more is how economically and reliably the entire transport chain operates. Particularly in the case of recurring disruptions, predictability and the ability to respond flexibly to changing circumstances are becoming increasingly important.
A transport from A to B that appears inexpensive at first can ultimately become significantly more expensive if, for example, additional storage costs arise or alternative transport solutions have to be arranged at short notice.
That is why the focus should not be solely on the price of an individual transport movement, but on the costs and predictability of the entire transport chain.
Rotterdam, Antwerp & North Rhine-Westphalia: What does the right transport strategy look like?
A shipper wants to move import or export containers reliably between Rotterdam, Antwerp and North Rhine-Westphalia while becoming less dependent on individual modes of transport. How would you structure their transport strategy today, and what role could the “Quirinus Express” between Rotterdam and Neuss play?
This brings me back to the subject of transport concepts. A good concept must always be tailored to the customer’s specific requirements. That is exactly what we have been doing for 17 years – and we are certainly proud of that.
One example is one of our major import customers. We handle around 6,000 40-foot containers per year for this customer and achieve an on-time performance of more than 99 percent. The customer’s central warehouse is located near Neuss. We have a clearly defined transport concept for this operation: around 80 percent of the containers are transported by rail and around 19 percent by inland barge. Approximately 1 percent is transported by truck – exclusively for particularly time-critical goods, for example when a container arrives today and is required at the warehouse on the same day.
In practice, the share transported by inland barge can sometimes be higher. Particularly during peak season, large volumes of containers arrive at the seaport at the same time. The objective is then to avoid storage costs at the port and move the containers into the hinterland as quickly as possible.
There, we can temporarily store the containers and subsequently deliver them on demand to the consignee with our 24/7 service. That was the customer’s specific requirement – and we designed the transport concept accordingly.
Another example is a major customer from the chemical industry that we have been working for since April last year. We started with around 6,000 20-foot export containers per year. Through our punctuality and reliable communication, we were able to gain the customer’s trust. As a result, the customer is now gradually transferring its import flows to us as well.
For this customer, however, the requirements are completely different. In export operations, the objective is not to keep containers in the hinterland for as long as possible, but to bring them to the seaport at the right time. If the ocean-going vessel is delayed by three or four days, the containers should not arrive unnecessarily early at the port and incur storage costs there.
This customer has also recognised that the transport price from A to B alone is not what matters. What matters is the economic efficiency of the entire chain – from the factory to the ocean-going vessel.
This is precisely where a predictable rail product such as the “Quirinus Express” between Rotterdam and Neuss demonstrates its strength. Combined with inland barge and truck, it enables us to develop a transport concept tailored to the customer’s actual requirements.