Session 2

Building Connectivity & Networks for the Future – Linking Short Sea & Feeder Shipping to Intermodal Transport Routes

PATRICK VERHOEVEN

Managing Director of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH)

BIOGRAPHY

Patrick Verhoeven is Managing Director of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), responsible for policy and strategy. The organisation represents about 170 ports and some 140 port-related businesses in 90 countries worldwide.

Prior to joining IAPH in 2017, Patrick spent twenty-four years in Brussels representing the interests of shipowners, port authorities, terminal operators and ship agents at EU level. He started his career in 1991 with the Antwerp-based ship agent Grisar & Velge. In 2019, Patrick joined the supervisory board of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority as deputy chairman. Patrick holds a PhD in applied economics and a bachelor’s in law from the University of Antwerp. He is assistant professor at the university’s Centre for Maritime and Air Transport Management (C-MAT). Patrick lives in Antwerp with his wife and three children.

DR. IVEN KRAEMER

Head of Department - Port Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping - The Ministry for Science and Ports, Bremen

BIOGRAPHY

Iven started his career in the maritime business in the middle of the nineties. With an apprenticeship at Hamburg Sued he became a ships mechanic and gained first experience on several container ships and routes. Later he studied regional and economical geography at the University of Leipzig. After that, he worked with Bremenports - the port management company of Germany’s number two seaport Bremen/Bremerhaven - first as a Port Planner and later as a Management Assistant.

Since 2009, Iven has headed the division for Port Economy, Infrastructure and Shipping, at the Ministry of Science and Ports of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. In this role, he is responsible for port and hinterland development, financial and real estate issues, port railway activities, deep sea and short sea shipping, high water protection, port economy and logistics for the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven.

In 2015 Iven completed his extra-occupational PhD studies with a work on “The German seaports in focus of supra-regional development policies.” Besides his profession, Iven gives lectures at various Universities and Institutes and publishes articles and books. His latest lecture engagements include Hochschule Bremen - City University of Applied Sciences on Maritime Technology & Port Operations, and, the University of Split in Croatia on current maritime issues.

His active memberships are:

9 PIANC - World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure, 9 HTG - German Port Technology Association, 9 STG - German Shipbuilding Association, 9 DVWG - German Transport Research Association, 9 Nautical Society Bremerhaven and 9 Friends of World Maritime University – German Division

Challenges and innovations in last mile port and hinterland railway operations

*Preliminary Notice: This paper is based on the authors article “Shunt-E 4.0—Autonomous Zero Emission Shunting Processes in Port and Hinterland Railway Operations” in the Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering 7 (2019) 157-164z, doi: 10.17265/2328-2142/2019.04.002, David Publishing.

Abstract

The port railway operation in Germany and Europe is not least due to its long history of technological and regulatory developments characterized by a high number of players and a lack of comprehensive planning and optimization of all relevant processes. Innovative technologies and business processes are therefore useful and needed to achieve key steps on the way to an overall optimization of rail transport within global supply chains.

A substantial part of the European rail freight transport has its origin or its destination in sea or inland ports. Considering the railway system, ports play a more important role for urgently needed innovations than the pure interfaces between sea and land transport. Especially ports with their own railway system have an own responsibility in this matter. Insofar the goal of the Bremen Port Railway - which already now has a leading share of railway in modal split in Europe – is to exploit the opportunities offered by automation and digitalization. Significant steps for this are the optimization and gradually automatization of rail operational processes on the last mile including modern and transparent IT systems and the designing of autonomous shunting processes. Together with research partners ISL (Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics Bremen), BIBA (Bremen Institute for Production and Logistics) and IVE (Institute for Transport, Railway Construction and Operation in Brunswick) and in connection with associated business partners the project Rang-E has been applied for at the Ministry of Transport in the funding initiative IHATEC (Innovated HArbour TECnologies) – and had won a grant to perform the proposed work.

Basic thoughts of this project, which aimed to speed up procedures, save capacities, better utilize rare infrastructures and though improve the modal share of rail in ports and hinterland operations are outlined in the following article.

Preamble

Hinterland connectivity on road, rail and inland waterways is one of the most competitive distinguishing factors for today’s sea- and dry ports. Therefore innovations with a clear focus on autonomous and emission free port and logistics operations are crucial to safeguard a prosperous future of global ports. In this context the German Federal Government set up a program to support innovative port solutions and thus supports the project “Shunt-E 4.0 -

Autonomous zero emission shunting processes in port and hinterland railway operations.”

This practical research program focusses on improvements in last mile rail operation. It is conducted together with Bremen’s port railway which is regarding the modal share of rail hinterland transport already one of the leading European port railway systems. This article describes the overall objectives, ambitions and expected outcomes of the Shunt-E project.

Rail transport - a competitive advantage not just for the environment From the early days of railway operation towards today it has always been a success factor to many European ports that there were direct rail connections and a dense rail network between the ports and their hinterland. As a result we find some of the most focused rail ports in the so called North-Range, a comparatively short coastal stretch in northwestern Europe between

Le Havre in France and Hamburg in Germany which serves some the strongest industrial and consuming areas within Europe.

Right there the four largest European container ports to date Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg and Bremerhaven are concentrated. All of them have a significant rail share in their container hinterland transport with the German ports clearly in the lead. The following figure demonstrates the development of container numbers in million TEU transported by rail to and from the leading EU seaports over the past 15 years.

Figure 1: Container Hinterland Traffic to and from leading EU Seaports on Rail in mill. TEU

Source: Port Authorities of Hamburg, Bremen, Rotterdam and Antwerp. As the figure shows the modal share of rail in hinterland transportation reaches in ports like Hamburg and Bremerhaven already 50 percent and gives these ports a very high score regarding their environmental performance. Regarding the overall number of containers transported by rail to and from the seaports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven these ports are by far the leading rail-ports on the European continent although there are some smaller ports like Gothenburg in Sweden or Koper in Slovenia which have a slightly higher rail share.

Compared to the total rail share in EU land based transport these figures are more than twice as high as the average, which demonstrates that the European maritime transport chains as part of global supply networks are the forerunners in the climate change driven necessary transport shift.

Historical development of rail cargo transport – a burden for a modern industry

Aside from this successful status port and hinterland railway operations today are comparably complex processes. The reasons are manifold and may first of all be seen in the long historical development of rail transport on the European continent both in terms of technology as well as in regulation. Within the more than 150 years of railway development processes every single European nation and also the for a long period of time mainly state owned railway undertakings and infrastructure providers, which were typically integrated organizations, “invented” their own rules and regulations, technical and regulatory requirements, operating procedures, organizational structures and so on. Even if there were no specific needs may be except from the unspecified intention to protect the national rail markets each European country and each national railway organisation created explicit procedures that varied more or less from those of the neighbors. Key words like

Interoperability and Intermodality only popped up recently and thus the European rail cargo sector today appears more than just a bit antiquated.

The general rail cargo process within EU ports

The general process which involves many different partners like railway undertakings, shunting operators, infrastructure providers, energy providers, terminal operators, port management organizations etc. is on the example of a typical European railway system (Bremen’s port railway) divided in various steps as follows: 1. Separation of main-line locomotives (electrical) after train arrival in the port area 2. Transport of train section or wagons with shunting locomotives (diesel or hybrid) towards forwarding groups and later on to the terminals

3. Terminals have do conduct control and supervision works on the train and on the cargo (i.e. seal-check) The first point means that the physical rail transport between EU seaports and hinterland destinations which may be cargo villages, inland or dry ports is typically conducted by railway undertakings. In some cases they are the owner of wagons and locomotives and sometimes they are operating with chartered or leased equipment. Over the longer transport legs rail transport within the EU is in most cases electrified, so that a typical cargo train between the ports and the hinterland destinations operates with a total length of 740 meters including one or two electrical locomotives. These locomotives are not able to operate on the non-electrified last mile, which is why they have to be separated from the wagons after arrival within the port area.

In the ports area step two starts. Typically fossil fuel powered shunting locomotives with separate drivers take over. They manually couple to and push the wagons into the loading terminals. Before this process starts physical checks of the wagons and the cargo are being carried out. Therefore specifically qualified wagon technicians are needed. The shunting locomotives, their drivers and the wagon technicians are typically provided by dedicated port shunting companies. Depending on the size of ports there are different companies in competition to each other active in the shunting business.

When the wagons with the containers or other kind of cargo finally have made it to the loading terminal tracks additional checks for the cargo, the seals and the papers accompanying the train section or wagons are being conducted, typically by terminal operators staff. For that port workers go along the up to 710 meter long wagon units and back to report the status and their findings. If everything corresponds to the expected standards the unloading process by highly efficient rail mounted gantries, rubber tyred gantries or other types of equipment can finally begin. As a consequence of these steps the first cargo movements can and do only start hours after train arrival in the port area.

A comparable long procedure is also needed after completion of train loading process. Cargo trains with import goods also need to have specific checks, brake tests and load control works with following shunting processes. Just by these rules already technically ready cargo trains typically remain in the port area for an average of two more hours before they can start their trip back towards the national and European hinterland destinations. As a result port railway operation in Europe today is much more complex than truck and barge processes, which gives the rail mode a competitive disadvantage. The reasons are as mentioned mainly sector, country and or company specific rules and regulations.

Figure 2: The port of Bremerhaven as a testbed for autonomous shunting processes

Source: Bremen’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Ports

Need for a modernization of rail procedures more than obvious

Real innovations within the European rail cargo sector are rare, even if good ideas do exist and pop up again and again. Many previous projects on automatization and process optimization failed or were stopped by various reasons like the comparatively small market for cargo railways, the long-lasting lack of political support for the sector and the complex and long-lasting approval procedures. In fact technical solutions like automatic clutches, automatic brake tests, remote train control systems, automatic load controls, obstacle detection and many more rail related optimization measures are technically for a long time feasible and were already successfully tested in the past. But, they didn’t make it to the broader European market. One reason lies in the typically decades long life span of locomotives, wagons, steering and control equipment with consequently very long innovation cycles. Another reason is the comparatively small number of new locomotives that can be sold within the European market in combination with only very few technology providing companies. For them it is simply not lucrative enough to spend much money and efforts on research and innovation. As a consequence rail transport of cargo until today is in many European regions very traditional and old-fashioned. Especially in comparison to truck transport the rail sector is falling back. Ongoing innovative projects like truck-Platooning in combination with autonomous trucks endanger the overall system advantage of rail and thus the future perspective of rail transport.

So, if global and especially European ports want to improve railway transport they strongly need innovative port and hinterland railway systems and processes. The aim for the sector must be that trains that arrive in port will spend a maximum of 30 minutes before the first containers or other commodities will be discharged and loaded to and from the wagons. After completion of the loading procedures in the terminals trains should be ready to leave the port area without any additional treatments or checks within minutes. Only if this is reached there will be a level playing field between railway and truck or barge operation and a prosperous future for rail cargo transportation.

Long-term perspective autonomous emission free shunting processes in port railways

With the support of Germans Ministry of Transport Bremen’s port railway has been selected as a test bed for autonomous emission free shunting processes. The port railway network in Bremerhaven is non-discriminatory accessible and part of the public infrastructure company “Bremische Hafeneisenbahn” who belongs to the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen which takes care of its infrastructure with related operational and technical service providers.

Currently the tracks are regularly used by over 30 European railway companies with 70 more having license agreements. These companies connect the ports of Bremen with national and international hinterland traffic. Several competing shunting companies take the task of transporting the trains and wagons – which are usually loaded with vehicles or containers in Bremerhaven – from the starting rails to the receiving terminal and vice versa. They carry out the tasks on behalf of the corresponding railway company which in return make sure to provide

the electrical operated mainline locomotives including their destined train drivers for entering and leaving the port area right on time. Currently there are 13 shunting locomotives of different type and age – all Diesel operated- being active 360 days a year in a 24/7 system. To operate a shunting locomotive a train driver and a shunting worker is needed. Shift planning for them is done by the on-site managing clerk of the respective railway company. The actual driving and shunting operation is based on the regulations of Bremen Port Railway. Their managing staff organizes the track use and their dispatcher at the signal box sets and authorizes the driving route. The handling companies set with their loading and unloading processes the pulse for the train movements. In Bremerhaven, loading and unloading containers as well as automobiles follow slot times specified beforehand. The processes also take into account the load levels of the specific wagons to avoid idle and waiting times.There is no direct contractual relationship between the terminals, the port train operator and the shunting companies so that communication and coordination between the involved parties is of major importance. Actors agreed on autonomous shunting as long-term objective, also because the expected shortage of train drivers.

Bremen’s port railway system is demonstrated in the following picture.

Figure 3: Railway network within Bremerhaven port

Source: Bremen’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Ports

The port railway plan in this picture highlights not to scale all rail tracks within the port area. The yellow marked tracks are electrified and the purple lines stand for non-electrified tracks. The overview shows that almost every corner of the port has a direct rail connection and the track arrangement in the upper area of the container terminal furthermore demonstrates the general technical development over the past decades. Whereas it was state of the art in the early days of containerization to place the rail tracks directly under the Ship to Shore (STS) cranes, it later turned out that rail tracks should be better placed in the middle of the yard. Nowadays modern rail operation takes place behind the yard with dedicated rail handling terminals, which can be seen here in the upper right area. The main-line transport between Bremerhaven and the national and European hinterland is currently conducted by railway undertakings which also take care that enough train drivers and wagon technicians are in place at the time when they are needed for the port leave.

The railway undertakings are the purchasers and contract partners for shunting services. The shunting companies in Bremerhaven to date operate 13 shunting locomotives, most of them

decades old and all running on fossil fuels. They operate 24/7 like the loading terminals within the port and despite the fact that they compete to each other to have a cooperation agreement for cases of unexpected locomotive failures or shortages in personnel. The overall rail traffic within the port is controlled and steered from a control tower in the center of the port, where dispatchers on behalf of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, the overall owner of the ports infrastructure fulfil their duties.

Even if the port organisation, structure, ownership and responsibility within EU seaports differ from port to port the general system of port railway operations is pretty much comparable. It is depending on many different actors, their communication and collaboration and it depends today much more on people than on technology. Automatization and digitalization therefore are needed for the long-term perspective of autonomous emission free shunting processes in port railways.

Figure 4: Railway container loading terminal within Bremerhaven port

Source: Bremen’s Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Ports Expected effects of autonomous shunting operations in ports

The description of the status quo of typical port railway procedures has shown that the aim of a totally autonomous shunting operation can and will only be reached with intermediate steps like process automatization. In general the expected effects of autonomous emission free shunting operations to date are the following:

1. Simplification of operational processes 2. Avoidance of empty-drives 3. Reduction of the overall shunting stock (Savings of about 30 percent are expected) 4. Avoidance of communication-interfaces 5. Optimization of infrastructure use with savings on future investments 6. Reduction of operational efforts and costs (on the locomotive and in the offices) through reduction of personnel 7. Safety-Improvements 8. Disruptions reduction in port railway operation

A fully autonomous shunting operation is a long-term perspective which is preceded by many intermediate steps of process automation and generation of corresponding structures of infrastructure, processes and legislation. An essential step will be the implementation of a centralized remote-controlled shunting operation. With the active commitment of all involved parties this is possible within the upcoming decade.

Basic consideration will be to organize the entire port train shunting operation process autonomously. As a result a smaller number of locomotives would be needed. The electrical operated shunting locomotives Shunt-E would be able to almost completely avoid the empty runs currently caused by lack of interaction and overall optimization.

Completely interlinked and optimized IT interfaces between terminal operators and port train operator - as well if necessary also with the DB Netz AG (managing the majority of the railway infrastructure throughout Germany) and train operators - are building blocks contributing to process optimization in rail freight transport. Concepts in current innovation areas such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, digitalization in ports and Self-controlled logistic units find a grateful application field.

An autonomous operating shunting locomotive Shunt-E must have access to all status information of railway infrastructure companies, such as Bremen Port Railway, port terminals but also to DB Netz AG, to always receive a complete overview over the current operational situation. At the same time it is necessary to secure for continuous access to information on plans and malfunctions, loading and unloading time schedules in terminals, planned slots, actual arrival and departure of trains, availability of train drivers and so on via standardized IT interfaces.

On this basis an autonomous operating shunting locomotive Shunt-E would be able to always know which shunting tasks are next as well as the order of the following ones which would subsequently result in an optimized usage of rail tracks (infrastructure optimization). It would coordinate itself autonomously with other shunting locomotives (in sense of an auction as already used for optimizing multi agent systems), book the necessary infrastructure and by extent – in case of a problem – find a solution by co-operating with her „colleagues“ by herself. Compared to today’s train operating procedure in port areas Shunt-E would not need resting time and would run emission-free. Certainly, it is necessary to generate answers to multiple questions of operational, railway law, entrepreneurial, financial and organizational nature before implementing such an autonomous shunting operation on the grounds of Bremen’s Port Railway.

Outlook and Relevance for the global port community

As outlined the goal of a fully autonomous operated shunting service on one of the most important European port railway systems is - still – a fictional picture but with this vision it is possible to achieve noticeable efficiency gains by consistently implementing interim steps. Remote controlled locomotives as well as the automation in the area of testing breaks, coupling, train handling, train configuration, identification of rear of a train etc. are important elements on that route. There are technical solutions for all these areas; the objective is to combine them step by step in an intelligent way for the sake of the entire rail sector – and to achieve a joint breakthrough.Hence it is necessary to break up the very common rail sector approach of „keep the proven“ and to lead it to a clear innovation orientation as it is daily business for other transport sectors.

“Shunt-E 4.0 - Autonomous zero emission shunting processes in port and hinterland railway operations” is of high relevance to the global port community as it combines the necessary innovation approach for future port development with a sustainable greenports strategy. The above described aim of highly efficient last mile railway procedures and productions will therefore be seen in ports from the year 2028. It is most likely that first installations will

become operational in new green port projects, whereas the upgrading of existing ports with autonomous shunting systems will take longer due to the higher complexity.

References

Krämer, I. (2019): „Schiene und Häfen – Lösungen für einen reibungsfreien Transport vom Werk zum Schiff“, In: InfrastrukturRecht, Ausgabe 03/2019; ISSN 1612-7803, S. 82-85. Eickmann, C. & Krämer, I. (2018): „Bundesverkehrswegeplan 2030 – die Chancen nutzen“, In: Internationales Verkehrswesen, 70. Jahrgang, Heft 3/2018, S. 2-5. Krämer, I & Arendt, F. (2017): „Autonomes Rangieren auf der Bremischen Hafeneisenbahn: Innovationen auf der letzten Meile im Bahnverkehr“. In: Internationales Verkehrswesen, 69. Jahrgang, Heft 2, April 2017, S. 26-27. Trialog Publishers Verlagsgesellschaft in München. Krämer, I. (2016): „Autonomes Fahren auf den Hafengleisen“. In: HANSA, International Maritime Journal, 153. Jahrgang, Heft Nr. 11, 2016, S. 82-83, ISSN 0017-7504.

STEPHEN CARR

Group Commercial Director, Peel Ports - Liverpool, Peel Ports Group Ltd

BIOGRAPHY

Stephen joined Peel Ports in 2009 as Head of Business Development for the Mersey Division before moving to his current group role, Commercial Director in 2017. He started his career with BP, working across a variety of sales and marketing roles for the best part of 12 years, before becoming Sales Director for Manchester based chemicals firm TGD. Based in at the Port of Liverpool, Stephen is responsible for driving the businesses forward with new and existing commercial opportunities across the group’s diverse portfolio. During his time with Peel Ports, he has played a leading role in strategic projects including the development of container terminal Liverpool2, the growth in the use of the Manchester Ship Canal (as a multimodal logistics hub), and the development of port-centric warehousing throughout North-west England.

A look at the recent evolution of Peel Ports

It’s around 10 years since the Port of Liverpool last hosted the Coastlink conference. Then, in 2011, Peel Ports were talking aspirationally about its growth plans, ambitions and – perhaps controversially – why we thought the market was not presenting the answers that the owners of cargo wanted. We were outlining how we would reposition the Port of Liverpool through its flagship investment, Liverpool2.

So where are we, 10 years on? There are many metrics that can be used to judge whether a strategy has been successful. Here, I present just one. The tables below show volumes through the UK’s top-10 port authorities as reported by the Department for Transport For 2010 and 2021.

2010 Tonnes M 1 Grimsby & Immingham 54.0 2 London 48.1

3 Milford Haven 42.8

4 Southampton

39.4 5 Tees & Hartlepool 35.7 6 Forth 34.3

7 Liverpool 8 Felixstowe 30.0 25.8

9 Dover 24.1

10 Medway

14.0 Other major ports 150.4

Total Market 498.5

2021 Tonnes M

1 London

51.8 2 Grimsby & Immingham 49.9 3 Liverpool 34.0

4 Milford Haven 31.5

5 Southampton

29.3 6 Tees & Hartlepool 26.8 7 Felixstowe 21.7

8 Dover 19.9

9 Forth 19.8

10 Belfast

19.5 Other major ports 132.6

Total Market 436.8

This evidence suggests the strategy outlined for the Port of Liverpool has been successful. Over the last decade or so, its volume has increased 13% in a market that has declined by 12%. Of course, the observant will spot only two ports that were in the top-10 in 2010 actually saw volume growth – the second being the Port of London. It would be easy to assume the common factor is that both have seen major investments in container terminals and that is what must be bucking the market trend. It is true these investments have enabled the change, but I do not believe they are the cause. Those familiar with the presentation I gave to Coastlink in 2011 and a number of other speeches I made at the time will recall I cited history as a guide to the future, when London and Liverpool were the two dominant ports in the UK due to their proximity to population. I argued they were the right gateways to the country when land transport was difficult, costly and time consuming. I claimed, at some point, that environment would return. Of course, at the time, neither Brexit nor the pandemic registered as potential issues, but my presentation in 2022 will recap what the strategy was, why it is successful and – importantly – why it remains even more relevant in a post-pandemic, post-Brexit Britain than it was before.

LIEVE DUPREZ

Chief Officer Shortsea, Port of Antwerp-Bruges

BIOGRAPHY

Chief Officer Shortsea – Port of Zeebrugge since January 2020 Press and B2B Communication officer – Port of Zeebrugge from February 1999 to December 2019.

Education: Master’s degree in Languages (Dutch, French, English), Master’s degree in Journalism.

Shortsea offer sustained by a vast railway network

The port of Zeebrugge constitutes a state-of-the-art logistic platform at the service of the European and intercontinental markets. The supply of both intra-European and intercontinental liner services has established Zeebrugge as an important gateway to Europe. The coastal port handles a total annual cargo throughput of 50 million tonnes, focusing mainly on container and roll-on/roll-off units. In addition, Zeebrugge is the world’s leading car handling port with a record volume amounting to 3 million vehicles. Zeebrugge is the bridgehead to the United Kingdom offering a high frequency of daily shortsea services to the east coast of the UK, serving the London area up to Scotland. As a result of the Brexit, the direct offering to Ireland has been increased considerably. Since two decades Zeebrugge has also evolved into a prominent hub for the Scandinavian markets, with daily services into Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Rail network

As a non-industrial logistic platform, Zeebrugge has to ‘connect’ its cargo flows from the hinterland by a dense network of rail, barge and road connections. Having a limited access to the European inland waterway system, Zeebrugge has developed into a major rail port. Looking at Zeebrugge’s modal split, the rail transport mode already accounts for 15 % of the cargo movements. Our ambition is to step up this rail share to 25 %.

In order to strengthen our position in the shortsea shipping, we keep on raising on the one hand the offering and the frequency at the seaside, and on the other hand the frequency on the landside through a more dense rail network. In this respect, Zeebrugge aims at creating strong trade axes from the UK up to Italy or Eastern Europe, from Scandinavia up to Spain, Turkey or Greece.

The current and forthcoming driver shortage, the increasing fuel prices, the need to green our transport models are paving the way for more rail solutions and innovative rail projects. Being a platform that receives 5.000 trailers per day, we are amongst other investigating rail solutions where we can load and unload our core business cargo flows, being shortsea trailers, in a horizontal manner onto block trains.