In May, says HHLA, CTD transported 1,058 of a total of 14,469 containers by barge, a record 7.2%. In H1 2017, the average was 6.4% – four percentage points higher than in H1 2016.

Although most transfers are still carried out by truck, CTD’s Managing Director Ralph Frankenstein sees barging as an important alternative for the future: “As container truck operators, we rely on having a well-functioning infrastructure within the port. So we are trying to reduce the pressure on roads and bridges by moving increasingly towards wet transfers.

"Together with our customers and barging partner Deutsche Binnenreederei, we are actively seeking containers suitable for moving by barge. These include very heavy 20fts and containers going to the same place that can be transported in batches."

According to CTD, containers transported on the waterway are normally loaded with very heavy goods, such as intermediate aluminium products or potatoes. A typical transfer carried out with DBR might, for example, involve empty containers being brought from Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA) to the O’Swaldkai multi-purpose terminal, where they are loaded with cars and then taken back to CTA, for which DBR utilises push barges.

Unrelated to the above, due to the closure of the A40 motorway between Krefeld and Duisburg, NESKA Schiffahrts- und Speditionskontor GmbH has started a Rhine water taxi service on the river Rhine for moving empty containers between the two centres.

The water taxi service operates seven days per week and replaces 100 truck loads per day. NESKA is a 100% subsidiary company of the Port of Cologne (Hafen Köln). The terminals served by NESKA are KCT in Krefeld; Rhein-Ruhr Terminals “Home” and “Gateway West,” DIT, D3T, and DeCeTe in Duisburg.