TRADING LINE GROUP: Transforming the Shipping Industry Through Waves of Innovation

Since early history, the Danube has been a principal trading route in Europe, an important source of energy and drinking water as well as being a unique habitat for wildlife and a recreational area. Rising in the Black Forest in Germany the Danube eventually empties into the Black Sea in Romania and Ukraine, 2,415 km of its 2,845 km length navigable, connecting ten riparian countries.

Built in 2008, Romanian-Dutch river carrier Trading Line operates the youngest and arguably most important fleet on the Danube, boasting modern transport units in top condition with a market value of €123 million. “Young and enthusiastic staff offer professional and prompt services, integrating state of the art technology into one of the most traditional means of transportation,” the company sets out of its unmatched service offering.

“Trading Line is an inland waterway transport solutions provider featuring a high capability and efficiency fleet for both dry and liquid cargo.”

SPECIAL STRETCH

“We started in 2012 with one pusher and 10 barges with a total capacity of 20,000 tonnes,” the company delineates. “Since 2012, we have been growing continuously and by 2022 our capacity stood at 128,000 tonnes of total loading capacity of dry cargo and 20,000 tonnes of liquid, twinned with a pushing power of 55,000 BHP and a 24 hours a day, seven days a week sailing mode.”

Navigation of the Danube is a hugely complex undertaking, the full potential of which can be realised only when the interaction of a system of strongly interrelated elements – the Danube waterway, the vessels and their cargoes and the ports – is achieved.

In recent decades, ports on the Danube have undergone a substantial transformation from conventional inland ports to modern logistical hubs. In addition to their basic function as transhipment hubs and storage sites, ports today provide a broad range of logistical services including commissioning, distribution and project logistics.

Amid key transhipment port locations such as Izmail in Ukraine, Linz in Austria and Romania’s Galați, the seaport of Constantza occupies a special place as one of the main distribution centre for Central and Eastern Europe. It is located at the crossroads of the trade routes linking the markets of the landlocked European countries to Transcaucasus, Central Asia and the Far East, thereby facilitating trade, and is connected to the Danube via the Danube-Black Sea Canal.

Since the advent of the crisis in Ukraine the Port of Constantza’s profile has risen even further, giving it new geopolitical and commercial importance with it now challenged to handle extra cargo with speed, efficiency and safety.

The stretch between this, Romania’s largest port, and the Danube’s northernmost point, the Port of Regensburg, is now the focal point and primary interest of Trading Line and where it seeks to effectuate its top-end, cost effective services unmatched by other players in the market.

SMART NAVIGATION

The benefits of inland navigation are well-rehearsed and oft-cited: it features the lowest specific energy consumption and the lowest external costs of any land transport mode, the ability to transport large quantities of goods per unit (bulk freight capacity) and requires comparably low investment in maintaining and expanding its infrastructure.

In terms of specific energy use, inland navigation can also be described as the most effective and most environmentally friendly mode of transport; an inland vessel is able to transport one ton of cargo almost four times further than a truck with the same energy consumption.

Compared with other land transport modes, Danube navigation offers significantly higher transport capacity per transport unit. A single convoy with four pushed lighters, regarded as the best way to increase capacity, can move 7,000 tonnes of goods, which corresponds to a load of 175 railway wagons each containing 40 net tonnes or 280 trucks each containing 25 net tons.

“Raising the amount of goods transported on the Danube will consequently result in a reduction of traffic jams, noise, pollution and accidents on roads and relieve strain on the railway system,” the company condenses.

In recent years, Trading Line has committed to investments amounting to some €80 million to maximise these benefits even further, primarily in the implementation of smart technology such as artificial intelligence and remotely controlled ships on the Danube. According to Paul Ivanov, CEO, even some years ago there existed already upwards of 40 remotely piloted ships on the Rhine, some of which manned by artificial intelligence computers, and transformation of a traditional ship can be carried out surprisingly easily.

Additionally, the technology can be more easily implemented on the Danube because the river is wider than the Rhine, and the traffic is not so heavy, he pointed out, with the carrier having already purchased a new ship that is partially remotely piloted following a €6 million investment. “We are involved with multiple different research projects for automated shipping,” Trading Line explains, “and this combines with our continuous growth in line with our long-term vision to grow the company up to 100 vessels and cover all lengths of the Danube from Constantza to Regensburg with services.

“We are going to develop, launch and scale a proprietary remote piloting platform and service for inland waterways’ shipping vessels,” says Trading Line of this most exciting of ideas.

“We are aiming to transform the shipping industry by introducing a wave of new technologies in what is a rather low innovation area of the global economy. Following a global trend in the automatisation of transportation that includes self-driving cars, trains and remote-plotted drones, we are looking to make transportation more predictable and achieve sustainable cost savings for the entire value chain.”