Small inland shipping in the Netherlands: Operating below the radar?

Abstract

As the need for more sustainable and flexible transport continues to grow, inland shipping is emerging as a sector of interest. This paper is about small inland shipping in the Netherlands with a focus on dry cargo ships. There is currently only a limited number of studies specifically focussed on small dry cargo shipping. It has been at the centre of a societal and political debate in the Netherlands in which it has alternately attracted both positive and negative views. The recurring themes in this debate have been the shrinking of the fleet, the age of ships, the lack of entrepreneurial spirit among skippers and the sustainability of small inland shipping. Despite these discussions, there is currently no analysis of the dry cargo shipping market in the Netherlands.This paper presents an analysis of small dry cargo shipping in the Netherlands from three perspectives: fleet, cargo transport and inland ports. The analysis revealed that the size of the Dutch active small fleet is decreasing significantly. The transport performance also follows a negative development trend. However, there are also positive developments such as a slight increase in the number of trips, the average number of tonnes per loaded trip, the average number of kilometres per loaded trip and the average load factor. Another positive development is the increase in cargo throughput at inland ports situated along small waterways. Previous studies used different market definitions of small dry cargo shipping. This has an impact on the assessment of small dry cargo shipping’s development.