Background
Increasingly waterborne transport gets political support based on environmental, cost and infrastructural aspects. However, intermodal transport has commercially a weak performance in terms of service, reliability and speed. Lack of interoperability between different modes and operators make the overall performance insufficient in the opinion of the customers. Most experts are convinced that an intelligent sharing of transport information through a neutral and well controlled information system may be one part of the solution. This has to be combined with organisational innovation based on clear procedures and agreements. This combination can lead to a dramatic operational improvement and in consequence give intermodal transport in general and waterborne transport in particular, a higher service quality and lower cost.