Shipping company HGK Shipping has been authorised to conduct the first remote-controlled inland waterway vessel on the German canal network for six months.
After the push barge combination consisting of “Niedersachsen 2” and “Hannover” had completed test operations on one part of the route without any problems at the beginning of May, Europe’s largest inland waterway shipping company has now been given the green light for this new phase by the German General Directorate for Waterways and Shipping (GDWS).
German Federal Minister, Dr Patrick Schneider, said, “Inland waterway shipping is facing enormous challenges. The shortage of skilled workers, which will particularly become even more critical in the near future, must not be allowed to become a serious obstacle for this hidden champion among the different modes of transport.
“After all, it’s a fact that inland waterways are the only means of transport that we have in Germany with free capacity. Pilot projects such as this remote-controlled push barge combination can therefore become a game changer. The approval procedures have been completed. It’s now necessary to get the technology out of the laboratory onto the water and put it into action”.
HGK Shipping has been pushing ahead with using SEAFAR technology for some time in order to be able to counter the enormous shortage of skilled workers among skippers.
“We’re putting our faith in increasingly digitalising inland waterway shipping together with our technology partner, SEAFAR, which is operating a so-called Remote Operations Center in Duisburg, in addition to modernising our fleet. This is an effective lever to increase the attractiveness of this profession when seeking to attract qualified workers,” says Steffen Bauer, the CEO of HGK Shipping, emphasising the motive behind this project. “Based on the careful preparation and implementation of the individual approval stages, we’re hoping that we can quickly move to the next stage after this test phase and operate vessels with a reduced crew.”
Remote-controlled operations on a trial basis with a full crew on board were previously allowed on the river Rhine with a Belgian permit on the basis of the relevant recommendations from the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine.
A full crew will still be on board the vessel during this new test phase, which will be performed on the German canal network between the communities in Scharnebeck and Salzgitter.
The next stage of the test programme could then mean operating refitted vessels with a reduced crew. The aim is to use personnel in a more flexible manner and enable skippers to spend more time on dry land.