PPP reduces road congestion in Flanders
05 June 2017
To stimulate the use of the waterways, a sufficient number of modern, well-situated quay walls allowing the transhipment of goods need to be available. For an increasing number of companies close to the water, the construction of a quay wall is a vital step toward durable and future-oriented management.
Since 1998 companies in Flanders can build loading and unloading facilities along navigable inland waterways waterways through a public-private partnership with waterway managers De Vlaamse Waterweg and Waterwegen en Zeekanaal. 104 projects have been set-up, for all types of goods and all types of waterways. Almost 10 million truck movements have this been avoided, almost 1 million in 2015 alone.
The government contribution for the infrastructure of up to 80 percent makes this PPP arrangement very attractive and very successful. By 2011, 162 companies has submitted an application and 81 projects across Flanders were operational. They are located along main and secondary waterways. Transhipments concern all kinds of goods: solid and liquid bulk goods, containers, waste products and both indivisible and general cargo.