EDITORIAL
This first issue of our newsletter in 2012
highlights some of the key steps
taken place over the first 3 months of the
year. Generally speaking, the Connecting
Citizen Ports 21 project is now fully active. If
2011 was the start-up year of th
2012 will be an implementation
the 7 CCP21 Partners are already working on
their infrastructure works, like the Port of
Paris for instance. The first deliverables of the
project are expected in the coming months
and will be disseminated among Partners and
to the Interreg Programme to ensure that they
benefit to the greater number.
SITL IN PARIS
The international transport and logistics fair
(SITL, Semaine International du Transport et
de la Logistique) took place in Paris
30 March.
CCP21 Partners met at the exhibition, which
brought together the main logistics and
transport actors in Europe: seaports and
multimodal platforms, operators,
innovative handling equipment providers etc.
The ports of Paris, Lille and Liège had a stand
on the fair, usually shared with other ports
and logistic platforms. Such fair makes it clear
that inland ports are more and more
acknowledged as key nodes in the transport
NEWSLETTER
This first issue of our newsletter in 2012
steps that have
over the first 3 months of the
Generally speaking, the Connecting
Citizen Ports 21 project is now fully active. If
up year of the project,
2012 will be an implementation year! Some of
are already working on
their infrastructure works, like the Port of
Paris for instance. The first deliverables of the
project are expected in the coming months
will be disseminated among Partners and
to the Interreg Programme to ensure that they
al transport and logistics fair
(SITL, Semaine International du Transport et
Paris from 27 to
at the exhibition, which
brought together the main logistics and
transport actors in Europe: seaports and
operators, shippers,
innovative handling equipment providers etc.
Paris, Lille and Liège had a stand
on the fair, usually shared with other ports
and logistic platforms. Such fair makes it clear
that inland ports are more and more
acknowledged as key nodes in the transport
chain and that collaboration is key to their
development. Partners had agreed to organise
their Steering Group meeting on the
the SITL fair Paris and met to discuss the state
of play of local projects and the ongoing
reporting phase.
VISIT BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
On 9 March, the DG Transport
the European Commission
visited the Port of Brussels with a delegation.
The purpose of the visit was to learn about the
European projects that the Port is involved in
and also to concretely see what activities take
place in an inland port the size of Brussels’.
The EC is considering changes in
regarding inland navigation in the coming
years. To ensure that this is positive for inland
waterway transport, the Commission visited
the infrastructures of the
learned more about the type of goods that are
currently shipped on the waterway and how
this takes place.
The future will tell us if this short tour was
convincing enough to demonstrate the clear
potential of inland ports.
Commission is in any case already a positive
sign!
NEWSLETTER 1/2012
collaboration is key to their
Partners had agreed to organise
their Steering Group meeting on the fringes of
the SITL fair Paris and met to discuss the state
of play of local projects and the ongoing
VISIT BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
nsport and Mobility of
the European Commission, ESPO and EFIP
visited the Port of Brussels with a delegation.
The purpose of the visit was to learn about the
that the Port is involved in
and also to concretely see what activities take
lace in an inland port the size of Brussels’.
is considering changes in the legislation
regarding inland navigation in the coming
years. To ensure that this is positive for inland
waterway transport, the Commission visited
Port of Brussels and
learned more about the type of goods that are
shipped on the waterway and how
The future will tell us if this short tour was
convincing enough to demonstrate the clear
potential of inland ports. The interest of the
is in any case already a positive
1/2012
NEW CALL FOR PROJECTS
On 30 January, the European Commission
organised an info-day on the upcoming call for
projects of the TEN-T Programme. The Port of
Liège and the Port of Brussels both attended
the meeting. Due to its gigantic Trilogiport
project, the Port of Liège was eager to know if
Europe could further help the port to develop
its logistic platform, a part of which is already
financed by FEDER, through CCP21. Upon the
kind offer of EFIP, which was also present,
both Partners had the opportunity to ask
more specific questions to TEN-T Agency
delegates about how to make a project
application successful. Due to the short
deadline (project applications had to be ready
by 13 April), no concrete project would be
submitted under this call.
INNOVATIVE CITY DISTRIBUTION: FROM
THEORY TO REALITY
Thanks to the initiative of Franprix (part of the
Casino distribution group), the Port of Paris
takes the lead in innovative city distribution
concepts. By September 2012, Franprix will
indeed use the waterway to deliver goods in
80 stores in the heart of Paris. This pioneering
approach in logistics, in partnership with
transport group Norbert Dentressangle, is
another example of how an inland port can
contribute simultaneously to a greener
environment and to more efficient logistics.
Daily, 26 containers, i.e. about 450 pallets, will
be transported each day by barge from the
port of Bonneuil-sur-Marne to the Port de la
Bourdonnais, in the very heart of Paris. The
barge will travel 20 km on the Marne and the
Seine, cross two locks, and reach the centre of
Paris, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
The Port de la Bourdonnais is currently being
developed to accommodate the barge and the
equipment on shore, as part of the CCP21
project.
On the long term, the number of containers
per day will reach 48 units and Norbert
Dentressangle intends to use electric vehicles
for the transport of goods to the 80
distribution points.
HOW DO INLAND PORTS PERFORM?
This is a crucial question when it comes to
modal shift and converting trucks into barges:
what are the actual economic and
environmental added values of inland ports
and inland navigation? As part of CCP21, the
Port of Brussels recently launched a study on
the issue. Universities and consultancies were
contacted in Belgium and abroad and tasked
with the difficult challenge to find a new
approach to promote inland ports. The idea is
not to use the usual criteria but to use new
indicators that are more meaningful than the
amount of transhipped goods or of avoided
CO2 emissions, because these huge numbers
do not mean a lot for the average citizen. This
new approach reflects discussions with other
ports like the Port of Antwerp, which is a
pioneer in this area. The first results of the
study are expected by the end of the summer.
COCKPIT TEAM MEETING IN LILLE
In CCP21, the Port of Lille intends to develop
an innovative and ambitious Multimodal
Distribution Center (CMDU, Centre
Multimodal de Distribution Urbaine).
Port of Paris – created by Vectuel
This project is being elaborated with various
stakeholders in Lille and with CCP21 Partners.
They met on 24 February in order to discuss
the first step of the project, which was the
study of the chosen location, in order to
determine if the existing buildings could be
used and reconverted into a distribution
center. Results were very positive as many
existing warehouses will be renovated and
integrated in the distribution center.
Additional new buildings will have to be built,
for the drive-in park for instance.
Experts and CCP21 Partners also discussed the
evaluation criteria and the invariants that can
be duplicated to reproduce such a center in
other settings.
PORT DEVELOPMENT IN UTRECHT
On 30 January, CCP21 Partners met in Utrecht
to discuss the progress in the development of
the new port of Nieuwegein. Currently the
region of Utrecht has a clear lack of
infrastructure to welcome port activities,
which prevents inland navigation to grow,
which is a pity in a country with such a vast
network of waterways.
Next to the Port of Lage Weide, Utrecht will
soon develop a new container platform: Het
Klooster. Its location is currently being
decided and a final decision is expected in the
coming weeks. Most probably, it will be
located near Het Klooster business park, along
the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, east of the
business park.
These latest developments were also
discussed in a meeting with the provincial
government on 22 March. Such a project
obviously triggers interest but also many
questions about side effects: pollution, traffic,
noise, etc. The presentation aimed at
reassuring politicians and giving them a better
understanding of the project by explaining the
actual size of the platform, the number of
trucks expected daily, the number of people
employed on the terminal etc. Here, like in all
CCP21 projects, communication and
information is the key!
CCP21 WEBSITE
Mid-March, the CCP21 website became
available online. The site aims at promoting
the project and its actions, giving a greater
visibility to inland ports’ activities and
commitments in the projects, and creating
links with other stakeholders and projects,
which might be complementary to our own
goals.
The site explains the objectives of the project
and will be regularly updated with the recent
developments and the state of play of local
activities and achievements. The website is
currently available in English, with French,
Dutch and German versions to be available by
the end of May.
A little anecdote: the original www.ccp21.eu
address had to be changed to
www.citizenports.eu. Indeed, not only is
“CCP21” already used by another website, but
it refers to a company active in the container
sector! This would have created a lot of
confusion with our own activities and we
decided to use “CitizenPorts”, which is clearer
and summarises the core message of our
project.
UPCOMING EVENTS
19-21 April: EFIP Executive Committee
meeting in Basel
5-6 June: Interreg NWE Event in
Dortmund
End June: Cockpit Team 2 meeting
CONTACTS
For further information on CCP21, please
contact the Project Coordinator, Xavier
Thirionet ([email protected]).
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