INLAND terminal operator BCTN has introduced fixed windows of service for its barges and in the month since introducing the new system congestion has been reduced at the port of Rotterdam.
The three-month pilot bundles containers to create 250-plus TEU interchanges on its barges, which then travel to and from Rotterdam's deep-sea terminals.
Six hundred of the company's transport customers have started using the service at three of its terminals in Belgium and five in The Netherlands, helping to better connect deep-sea ports in Antwerp and Rotterdam to its inland terminals, reported London's Port Technology.
As a result, the handling of 1,000 truck moves daily through BCTN's terminals is now much easier as it no longer has to rely on the ports to provide sailing times - a process that would take between three days and one week owing to congestion, particularly caused by port calls by larger ships.
BCTN deputy director Bert de Groot was quoted as saying: 'In the past year congestion became so bad that we had to tell our customers that we didn't know when the container would arrive or whether containers would get to Rotterdam on time for a large sea call.
'There was such uncertainty that a lot of the customers decided to move to truck instead of going over the water as they didn't know whether the containers would come or be delivered on time.'
The three-month pilot bundles containers to create 250-plus TEU interchanges on its barges, which then travel to and from Rotterdam's deep-sea terminals.
Six hundred of the company's transport customers have started using the service at three of its terminals in Belgium and five in The Netherlands, helping to better connect deep-sea ports in Antwerp and Rotterdam to its inland terminals, reported London's Port Technology.
As a result, the handling of 1,000 truck moves daily through BCTN's terminals is now much easier as it no longer has to rely on the ports to provide sailing times - a process that would take between three days and one week owing to congestion, particularly caused by port calls by larger ships.
BCTN deputy director Bert de Groot was quoted as saying: 'In the past year congestion became so bad that we had to tell our customers that we didn't know when the container would arrive or whether containers would get to Rotterdam on time for a large sea call.
'There was such uncertainty that a lot of the customers decided to move to truck instead of going over the water as they didn't know whether the containers would come or be delivered on time.'