Key artery feeds the dragon

Moscow has submitted a draft bill to the national parliament for the privatisation of infrastructure facilities in Russia’s river ports.

Over 130,000 containers have been moved by barge between Virginia and Richmond in the past decade.

Low water on the Rhine always presents serious problems for inland navigation, and now the giant BASF chemicals group wants action taken, including the possibility of having special barges built to ensure continuity of supply

Almost 43,000 TEU were handled in 2017 in the German Elbe River port of Riesa, located in Saxony, an increase of 13% on 2016. The container business is booming, but Heiko Loroff, who runs SBO Sächsische Binnenhäfen Oberelbe GmbH (Saxony Upper Elbe inland ports), said that the port
is now at the limit, and is already having to shift containers by truck from the Nordkai to the Südkai, and this is very costly.

The German Elbe River port of Magdeburg, located around 150 km inland from Hamburg, has put a new slant on the disruptiveness of 3D printing (3DP)/ additive manufacturing technology. It entails not only a reduction in deepsea transport, but also an enhanced role for sea ports and inland ports, such as Magdeburg itself.

Russian investors have been linked to the development of a new Paraná-Paraguay inland waterway port at Ramallo, in a province of Buenos Aires that is important for cereals production. There will be facilities for handling general cargo, project cargo and fuel, as well as agri-bulks.