InCom Working Group 229
Terms of Reference
Guidelines for Sustainable Performance Indicators
for Inland Waterways
1. Preamble
This WG has as main objective to tackle “sustainable performance indicators”, with a specific
target on the hazardous emissions and greenhouse gas production aspects induced by the
IW navigation. PIANC is aware that performance indicators should also relate to technical
performance, economical performance, maintenance performance, etc. But these are not in
the scope of this WG.
In addition, IW performance depends on:
- The characteristics the waterway (blockage coefficient of confined water, channel
design, etc.)
- The shape of the ship hull for propulsion efficiency (hydrodynamics optimisation
performed during early design stage of a vessel.
These are not in the scope of this WG. The WG targets alternate propulsion technology (e.g.
LNG, electric, and others instead of typical fossil fuels) to get lower “environmental ship index”
and drive to a more sustainable IW navigation.
2. Background
Inland navigation trade, until today, has been predominantly dependent on the use of fossil
fuels. The use of fossil fuel in the energy conversion of assets in modern life meets increasing
pressure to eliminate hazardous emissions and greenhouse gas production. Post-IPCC2015
regulations, national and regional climate measures and regulations, and developing IMO
regulations in terms of CO2, NOx and SOx reflect this pressure. The environmental performance
of the inland fleet is part of this development. The state of the art is, that a broad portfolio of
new and alternative fuels (i.e. hydrogen or biofuels), innovative propulsion configurations (e.g.
fuel cells) and innovative ship designs (i.e. air lubrication) are proposed or even built to address
these environmental requirements. But as observed in the past for LNG propulsion, there are
the concerns as to what comes first, the infrastructure development to support alternate
propulsion or a sufficient number of vessels with these alternate propulsion systems to make the
infrastructure development economically feasible/profitable. This gives rise to the need for
collaborative and complementary design of both infrastructure and ships?
As a result, from a societal and economic perspective, there is great interest in assessing proper
benchmarks to grade upgrades, modifications and innovations of inland ships and to assess
the effect of design-, operational- and regulatory measures on the holistic environmental
performance of ships, corridors and ports.
TOR , V9b, 12th Nov 2019
In maritime trade, there exists a global system (1) to evaluate and further rank the vessels based
on their environmental performance and given/provided incentives for costs and priority.
(1) Environmental Ship Index developed under the IAPH World Ports Climate initiative, now
World Ports Sustainability Program
https://www.environmentalshipindex.org/Public/Home )
In maritime trade, there exists a global system to evaluate and further rank the vessels based
on their environmental performance and given/provided incentives for costs and priority. This
system was developed by a consortium of European ports to encourage the owners of
maritime vessels to opt for better designs that meet the current and expected future
environmental standards of ports and transit canals. A similar yet different system is also
applicable to evaluate the environmental performance of the ports/canals. While inland
navigation trade is progressing towards an environmentally sustainable transport system, we
observe that no such assessment framework has been established yet. As the inland trade is
different from maritime trade, it has its own set of constraints, concerns and requirements. The
aim of this working group (WG) will be to propose guidelines to develop Sustainable
Performance Indicators for Inland Navigation. A common system for both navigation
infrastructure and vessels is proposed to provide governments, ports, canals, waterway
managers, supply chain operators, ship owners, ship operators, ship designers and shipbuilders
with a tool to assess the environmental performance of their assets.
3. Objective
The objective of the WG is to develop guidelines that can assist waterways
managers/operators/governments/ship designers/shipbuilders, in classifying ports and vessels,
based on their environmental and operational performance, and to develop sustainable
design for both vessels and infrastructure. The first need of complementary design is to establish
a common goal by having a feedback system from all concerned members of the trade.
The WG will collect from its members from these sectors feedback on the needs, concerns and
requirements, so to develop a procedure to classify ports and rank the vessels. The WG will also
suggest measures to modify/upgrade the design of infrastructure and vessels. The aim would
be to suggest modification in infrastructure to address those constraints that cannot be
achieved by modification of vessels. These guidelines will then help in classifying the ports and
ranking the vessels. Based on these ranking/classification, ports/transit canals can develop
their respective incentive programs.
The proposed guidelines must drive to resilient design/concept, as various parameters (i.e. cost
of energy, rise of other technology, etc.) are uncertain and cannot be forecast for the long
term.
Furthermore, the methods involved may develop a guidance instrument to evaluate the
environmental emission performance of inland shipping in designated waterways and ports.
This will include the evaluation of greenhouse gases (CO2) and hazardous emissions in air (SOx,
NOx, particulate matters).
4. Scope
The scope of the WG will include the following:
- A review of current practice, codes and standards (possibly including gap analysis);
- Review of the methodology proposed in the paper “Maritime environmental perfor-
mance indicators for urban waterways in Amsterdam”, Journal of Engineering for the
Maritime Environment, September 2016);
- A comparison of emission improvements in different mode of transports;
- Methods for collation of available data on emissions, fuel consumption, passenger kilo-
metres and cargo kilometres;
TOR , V9b, 12th Nov 2019
- Collation of emissions produced by inland ship propulsion systems and the risks involved;
- Environmental classification of a series of ships;
- Selection of waterways to be investigated;
- Proposals for existing and possible future use fuels and related technologies ;
- A feasible roadmap on how waterways and ports could prepare themselves for changes
(e.g. provision of facilities for alternative fuels);
- A study/inventory of ongoing projects both in maritime and inland waterways. Also pro-
pose adoption of existing practices in maritime transport;
- Present inventory of environmental performance based incentives in transport sector
and possibility of similar incentives in inland waterways (as for instance the Smart Freight
Centre, a PIANC partner, who have extensive experience of carbon foot-printing meth-
odologies and have been working to coordinate and standardise approaches for the
wider freight sector;
- Inventory of global initiatives from various government and administrative bodies to pro-
mote rules and regulations to focus on environmental efficiency & performance of ves-
sels (for instance the UN Sustainable Development Goals in helping to set the stage for
developing appropriate metrics);
- Organise presentations and workshops in order to share knowledge and ideas, and to
spread awareness. The results of the WG will also be presented in various conferences
and distributed in the form of newsletters and/or (e)pamphlets.
5. Existing Documents to be Reviewed
- PIANC WG Reports (WGs 107, 111, 129, 139, 188, 203);
- ESI system developed for European maritime ports (IAPH-WPSP),
- The paper “Maritime environmental performance indicators for urban waterways in
Amsterdam”, in Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment, September 2016
(this paper provides recognised guidance in this area).
- CE-publications, like: Air Pollution and Energy Efficiency, Study of emission control and
energy efficiency measures for ships in the port area (IPPC Reports)
Documents to be reviewed, referenced and integrated where necessary should include:
- Published articles on the topic over the last 20 years (including IMO, EU and national
articles)
- Recent project case studies / reports which have incorporated novel or ‘best practice’
ship impact assessment techniques
- Impact reports from media and other sources including the type of vessel and
consequences of impact.
6. Intended Product
The intended product is a set of guidelines to develop and define environmental performance
indicators. The WG report is intended to be a guidance document containing discussion on
approach and recommended best practice for vessel impact analysis, for waterway
managers, for owners, operators, designers and builders of inland vessels. It will reference and
be used in conjunction with relevant country-specific standards and research methods. It is
intended to develop this as a globally referenced document for all members conducting
environmental vessel impact assessments.
The WG report will assist in highlighting the needs and requirements in design of infrastructure
development to complement the needs of the vessels and address the environmental
concerns that cannot be addressed/included in vessel design.
TOR , V9b, 12th Nov 2019
7. Working Group Membership
The WG should ideally include waterway managers, ship and port designers/development
consultants, (governmental) legislation experts, operators and asset owners of ships,
researchers, and national and international environmental offices/authorities. It is also
proposed to have several members from EnviCom/PTGCC to provide support and guidance.
The WG will be managed closely by InCom with a co-chairmanship by EnviCom.
8. Relevance to Countries in Transition
The report will be of value in protecting the interests of developed countries and countries in
transition, and will particularly assist decision makers in the assessment of (developments in)
the environmental performance of inland water corridors. The report will enable these
countries to quantify the support of Inland Waterway usage in the context of the Reduction
Measures related to International Paris Climate Conference (2015, update 2018).
9. Climate Change
The objective of this WG is “work to hand-in-hand” and promotes the Working with Nature
(WwN) initiative of PIANC, providing a tool that helps to incentivise and track reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions.
The intended product of this WG will guide and assist all members of inland navigation trade
to transition into an environmentally friendly transport system and will contribute to the shift to
a ‘net zero’ position for the inland fleet
TOR , V9b, 12th Nov 2019
Saatja: Kaidi Katus <
[email protected]>
Saadetud: 19.11.2019 12:38
Adressaat: Signe Paevere <
[email protected]>
Teema: Ed: PIANC set up new WG InCom 229 on guidelines for sustainable performance
indicators for inland waterways
Tähtsus: Kõrgeim
Manused: image009.jpg; image010.jpg; image011.jpg; image012.jpg; 229 TOR -
Sustainable_Performance_Indicators for IW- v9b - 12 Nov 2019.pdf; LETTER 229docx.pdf
Saatja: Sabine Vandevelde [mailto:
[email protected]]
Saatmisaeg: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 10:48 AM
Adressaat: Sabine Vandevelde <
[email protected]>
Koopia: jmuskatirovic <
[email protected]>
Teema: PIANC set up new WG InCom 229 on guidelines for sustainable performance indicators for inland
waterways
Tähtsus: Kõrge
Dear All,
See attached files,
Kind regards,
Sabine Van de Velde
PIANC GENERAL SECRETARIAT
Graaf de Ferraris - 8th Floor
20, Boulevard du Roi Albert II B3 - 1000 Brussels - BELGIUM
Tel: + 32 2 553 71 61
E-mail:
[email protected]
Web: www.pianc.org
PIANC
The World Association for
Brussels, 19 November 2019.
Waterborne Transport Infrastructure
To the First Delegates of the
Qualifying Members of PIANC
To the National Sections’
Secretaries of PIANC
To the Platinum Partners of PIANC
To the Sister Associations of PIANC
Subject: Setting up of a PIANC InCom Working Group 229 on “Guidelines for sustainable performance
indicators for inland waterways”.
Dear Madam,
Dear Sir,
The setting up of PIANC InCom Working Group 229 on “Guidelines for sustainable performance indicators for
inland waterways”, has duly been approved as well as its terms of reference, which are herewith enclosed.
We kindly ask you to inform the secretariat of InCom by 31 December 2019 (copy to the General Secretariat
–
[email protected]) about the name, qualification and (e-mail-) address of the expert,
proposed by your country/organisation. Please enclose a brief curriculum vitae of the proposed expert
together with some details about her/his professional experiences.
An additional expert per country/organisation, being a young professional, can participate in the Working
Group activities. Further I would like to remind you that Working Group Members should either be Individual
Member of PIANC, working for a Corporate Member or Platinum Partner, be an invited expert or a be a
member of a Sister Organisation.
We remind you that in accordance with PIANC rules, the costs incurred in taking part in Working Group
activities are borne by the member countries/organizations.
We thank you beforehand for your collaboration.
Yours sincerely,
Geert Van Cappellen,
Secretary-General.
Reply to:
Ms Jasna Muskatirovic – (
[email protected])