Six NIWE partners have submitted in January 2017 the Interreg NSR project: BLUEHUB, under the leadpartnership of the Province of Antwerp (BE).
The partnership will develop a successful and transverable model for “blue hubs”: multimodal switching points alongside inland waterways, connecting the traditional on land mobility networks with the (not yet developed) potential of inland waterways as transport veins between rural areas and urban centers for personal and small freight transport.
The partnership will develop this orgware through transnational cooperation on 3 key objectives:
- Developing a transferable choice model (a blueprint) for an inland waterway hub
- Working out effective methods and measures to achieve a behavioural change from single car use to multimodal transport modes
- Creating business models and new services for public water transport and regional freight companies
Partners
BE Province of Antwerp with subpartners: Scelta Mobility and NautiV
University of Antwerp
Antwerp Port Authority
NL Waterways Netherlands
GB Canal & River Trust
DE Erlebnis Bremerhaven with subpartners: swb Bremerhaven
GmbH and Magistrat Bremerhaven, Referat für Witschaft
NO Telemark Canal Regional Park
SE Municipality of Karlstad
If the project is agreed on, the partnership will start at the beginning of November 2017 on a three year journey to develop the following products for its stakeholders and target groups: an attractive sketch book for a blue hub choice model with the program of requirements and a signage toolkit; a recommendations & strategies report for modal shift, an attractive communication campaign to stimulate modal shift, a calculation model for water transport providers, an attractive platform for new services & an animated app for mobile life.
Pilots for blue hubs will be rolled out in the Province of Antwerp (Antwerp & Boom), the Netherlands and Bremerhaven.
