PIONEERS at the NVB congress 2022

Without an active role of inland ports, sustainable goals will not be achieved!

The Annual Conference of the Dutch Association of Inland Ports (NVB) in Venray, Limburg, with over 250 attendees, had the presence of PIONEERS and its sister project MAGPIE.

PIONEERS was represented at the Market Place by the Municipality of Venlo (Peter van Wijlick), BISCI/Maastricht University (Adriana Saraceni & Gerwin Zomer) and Panteia (Arnaud Burgess).

Starting with four interesting excursions focusing on logistics in combination with nature, innovation, sustainability or health, an exciting afternoon programme in Schouwburg in Venray followed the morning programme. The importance of inland ports in the logistics chain, cross-border cooperation of the inland ports in Limburg and the European ground-breaking shore power initiative were some of the themes discussed by the panel of speakers. There were also two inspiring panel discussions on modal shift with Marjan Beelen on the panel and a session on inland navigation.

“We must start doing what we are good at, working together and showing guts”, said Jan Hendrik Dronkers, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Waterways, during his presentation at the conference.

Some of the event’s biggest takeaways were that cooperation in the logistics chain is crucial to achieving sustainable goals and that Inland ports are essential links in the logistics chain. Modal shift, inland navigation and inland ports are inextricably linked to contributing to the future goals: digitalisation and sustainability.

Have a look at our photo gallery and see #PIONEERSeuports in action! And if you want to ensure you get all the news, join our stakeholder community!