Safety on the water with control

In issue #96 of Maritiem Courant, I wrote a column about how we can gain more control over our waterways and everything happening on and around them with the help of corridor managers.

Colomn by Poul van den Elshout in the Maritiem Courant of may 2026

You can read the article in the Maritiem Courant as well as blog posts.

In the interior of the house, there are lots of ships, motors, tools, books and regulations. That is understandable, here lies a large part of the tagline complexity. In conversations with friends who shared their lives, I started with some questions: Will my understanding come to fruition? Can I explain my life? And what about my CO₂ souls?

That sounds almost too simple. Yet that is precisely the challenge of our time.

Today's shipper lives in a different world than ten years ago. He must organize delivery reliability in a supply chain where terminals can become full, low water levels are becoming a current issue again, personnel are scarce, fuel prices fluctuate, and customers are increasingly asking for demonstrable CO2 performance. At the same time, pressure on costs has remained. Sustainability has become more important, while the spreadsheet of transport costs is still present in every purchasing decision.

Added to this is something that receives too little attention: the availability of the right vessel has become less of a given. Smaller vessels, in particular, are slowly disappearing from the market. With them, tonnage and reach are disappearing. On small waterways, regional corridors, and during low water levels, it is precisely that smaller vessel that is often the key to keeping cargo on the water. If that capacity disappears, the shipper's choice shifts imperceptibly back to road transport. In terms of content, inland shipping can still be the best alternative, but the appropriate vessel is simply missing.

Ultimately, for the shipper, the concrete performance level within his own supply chain is what counts. He must be able to deliver tomorrow. He must know where his cargo is. He must be able to report what the emissions were. And he must be able to react quickly in the event of a disruption. His purchasing choices thus give direction to the market. If inland shipping is only purchased as a single trip at the lowest price, the sector remains vulnerable.

The shift begins with the question of which part of the risk the shipper wants to organize together with the supply chain. In most cases, a shipper does not need to buy ships himself to do so. However, together with logistics partners, he must start viewing capacity as a strategic prerequisite rather than merely as a purchasing rule.

This requires a new way of organizing. The charterer plays an important role in this. His strength lies in market knowledge, ship availability, and connecting cargo and capacity. At the same time, the structural demand is greater than a single chartering assignment: which fleet will we need on which waterways in five, ten, or fifteen years? For this, a corridor manager is needed: a neutral or public-private organization that brings together shippers, charterers, shipping companies, skippers, terminals, ports, financiers, and the government around specific waterways and cargo flows.

Map out structural and potential cargo. Determine which vessel types are needed. Make agreements regarding minimum capacity, CO2 performance, data, fallback during low water levels, and investment security, and combine this with long-term contracts or capacity guarantees.

The coming years require additional collective organizational strength. The sector must continue to navigate what is offered tomorrow and design together what is needed the day after tomorrow.

The shipper seeks certainty. If inland shipping manages to organize that certainty—with better data, smarter contracts, corridor management, and a fleet suited to the waterway—then there may well lie the greatest growth opportunity of the next ten years.