Last time we discussed how Inland Ports need Always-On Maritime Connectivity. Since then our team of Maritime Connectivity experts have been discussing the needs of vessels using the world’s rivers and canals to transport freight as the advantages of moving freight on water has moved up the political agenda.
For example, The European Parliament recently agreed measures to future-proof inland waterway transport across the continent. These bureaucracies have quite a way with words (!) so to save you having to wade through the weighty text we’ve summarised the key points:
- Inland waterway transport is an essential pillar in the shift towards multimodal sustainable transport with untapped potential in urban areas which are becoming more and more congested whilst building new road infrastructure is becoming less desirable
- Inland waterways currently represent 6.1% of freight transport in the EU compared with roads at 76.3% and rail 17.6%
- Increasing the amount of freight which is transported by water will reduce road congestion, enhance safety, reduce emissions and ensure a more sustainable transport system as a whole
- Inland waterway transport could play an important role in creating scale for zero-emission propulsion solutions, such as electrification and hydrogen
- 50% of the EU population lives close to the sea and along rivers and so inland waterway passenger transport offers an environmentally friendly alternative in terms of both energy consumption and noise emissions
The report says that the EU needs to
- Develop proposals to increase the amount of freight on Europe’s inland waterways
- Support and incentivise all stakeholders within the waterway transport sector to work together
- Ensure harmonisation and standardisation for navigability, and facilitate the coordination of investments and improvements
Cross-Border Journeys, Maritime Connectivity and Global Roaming
The European Parliament also reported that for freight that travels cross-border on inland waterways 54% is on the Rhine-Alpine corridor, 35 % on the North Sea-Mediterranean corridor and 38% on the North Sea-Baltic corridor.
The Rhine Alpine inland water corridor stretches from Rotterdam and Amsterdam to Antwerp, then down to Basel and the port of Genoa. It passes through five countries - The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland
Whatever type of vessel is currently travelling along the corridor, seamless connectivity will be required throughout the journey as borders are crossed and the available mobile networks change.
Whether it’s a ship travelling from China to Europe laden with containers, or a sunny Sunday on a yacht, our Global Roaming Service is all that’s needed to stay connected.
Telecom26 is a mobile service provider and a maritime mobile operator and offers always-available voice and data connectivity for vehicles of all shapes and sizes with the ability to connect to any available network.
For vehicles travelling across borders, our Global Roaming Service is attractive as it requires only a single SIM.
Our SIMs can access any terrestrial network. Not all networks are equally available – some offer better coverage in some locations than others. And, every country has its own range of terrestrial network operators. This means that, as any vessel moves within and between countries, different networks become available.
Telecom26 enables devices and routers to hop between different networks with ease – and benefit from the bundle pricing we offer. This means there’s no need to worry about the hidden costs of global roaming.
To learn more about our services, our new paper Nearshore Services A short guide to nearshore cellular services is an interesting read.
And, if you’d like to discuss how our maritime connectivity and maritime cellular communications services can support ship to shore data services, as well as crew welfare while at sea through our cellular at sea solutions, then please get in touch.
