EMMA

Under the lead of Hamburg Hafen Marketing e.V.

ISL and 20 additional project partners from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Poland will jointly work on the strengthening of inland waterways transport in the Baltic Sea Region. EMMA has a project duration of three years and is funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme with a project budget of 4.42 million €

In view of the fact that transport volumes are rising in Europe, in many countries a rethinking in relation to transport routes and modes of transport is called for. In the Port of Hamburg for example, there are large potentials especially in the field of inland waterway transport (IWT). The transport by inland vessels is environmentally friendly, efficient and is able to reduce congestions on roads and railways. A medium-sized inland container vessel is able to transport approximately 100 TEU - which corresponds to the cargo volume of about 63 trucks.

In the countries of the Baltic Sea Region the challenges are similar. The EMMA - partners are going to determine companies and industrial sectors for which the integration of inland waterway transport into their supply chain will be economically viable. Based on the evaluation of these results, possible new liner services will be defined mutually. On the political level, EMMA seeks an even closer link between industry associations in order to be able to better represent their interests. In addition EMMA strives to raise awareness on issues relating to IWT among politicians in order to gain the necessary attention in future legislation processes.

Furthermore, there will be a number of local measures: an inland waterway information system in the Elbe region will be implemented in whose development ISL will play a major role. In the other regions, the following activities are planned: in Lithuania activities involving heavy cargo, in Poland regarding the navigability of the Vistula, in Sweden the implementation the guideline from 2014 on the introduction of IWT and in Finland concerning bio energy and raw timber transport.