How will you take care of logistics? How many crew members do you envisage and when/where will they be recruited? Will the crew sail continuously?

Regarding the personnel, we are analysing how inland navigation can be as competitive as possible. The self-propelled barges are only deployed on shorter distances. On the larger waterways convoys are put together and a push boat navigates the barges. The rules for navigating push boats are clear and are applied.

From an economic point of view, this aspect corresponds with the Watertruck+ concept. With regards to the operational costs, we are investigating how we can keep personnel costs as low as possible by only deploying on-board staff for sailing and not for waiting until the receiver has loaded or unloaded. Furthermore, the fuel costs will be kept as low as possible. As for investment costs, the design of the barges is based on standardization, modularity, versatility and a large load capacity, both in terms of weight as well as volume.