West Flemish inland shipping has no problems (yet)

She does this in response to the problems in Germany. Large parts of the Rhine are unnavigable because in some places there is hardly any water in it. But not so in West Flanders. Christa Sys: “The water levels are still okay. There may be a slight reduction in the amount of goods they transport. At the moment there are no major problems in West Flanders.”

“Long-term vision needed”

Christa Sys lives in Bruges and is a professor at the University of Antwerp. She believes that the government urgently needs to develop a long-term vision for inland shipping that takes climate change into account. “As academics, we are sounding the alarm. Both economically and in the field of environmental sciences, attention must be paid to this. It is about monitoring data, so that people have an overview of how things are evolving, but it is also about new designs of ship types. “

Innovation, also in West Flanders

The sector itself is already fully committed to development and innovation, also in West Flanders. “We are already seeing unmanned vessels on the Yser carrying building materials, for example. We are seeing very nice developments in the south of West Flanders with a view to the Seine-Scheldt connection,” says Sys. Many bridges over the Lys have been raised and two new river terminals were built, in Roeselare and in Wielsbeke. According to Sys, we must continue to invest because inland shipping has many advantages.