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German government authority issues initial permit for test operations for remote-controlled inland waterway vessels  

HGK Shipping is now allowed to operate the first remote-controlled inland waterway vessel on the German canal network during test operations that will last for six months.

After the push barge combination consisting of Niedersachsen 2 and Hannoverhad completed test operations on one part of the route, which has now been approved, 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).

The German Federal Minister of Transport, Dr Patrick Schnieder, handed over the permit for the inland waterway shipping route from Scharnebeck to Salzgitter to the HGK Shipping CEO, Steffen Bauer, on the sidelines of a sector event in Berlin and in the presence of the signatory, Head of GDWS, Eric Oehlmann.

 Schnieder 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 on to the water and put it into action.”