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 (xthirionet@port.irisnet.be).

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