Keynote 1: What happens the day after we stop dredging? Why is dredging necessary for navigation and trade?
Type:
Presented during:
CEDA Dredging Days 2007 - The Day After we Stop Dredging, Rotterdam
Authors:
Freddy Aerts, Head of Department, Flemish Community, Maritime Access, Belgium
Abstract: What would happen to our jobs, trading position and general welfare if we could no longer accept larger ships in our ports? Does the use of more smaller ships or more road transport imply greater adverse environmental impact?
Over the last decade the world trade of goods, especially transported by container, has increased substantially. This tendency has enabled shipping companies to employ bigger ships and by doing so, reduce the cost of transportation. Consequently the employment of bigger ships in turn stimulated the growth of world trade. Because of the expected increase in the scale of container shipping, the ports will do whatever it takes to attract the giants of the sea, and they know why. Large shipping companies often select only a few ports in their pendulum services. If a port loses the interest of shipping companies, it is not only our jobs that will be in danger, but also the prosperity we enjoy today. Keeping ahead of developments in container trade and container shipping is not just an option; it is a necessity. The social cost-benefit analysis of the deepening of the Scheldt, carried out in 2004 by CPB (Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis), revealed the impact of deepening the Scheldt on the welfare of Flanders and the Netherlands. From a bi-national point of view (Flanders plus the Netherlands), deepening is socially profitable. In this case, the project will yield a positive balance of 0.6 to 1.6 billion euros. By going ahead with the deepening of the Scheldt, the port of Antwerp will not only maintain its position in the international container market, the goods will also be transported in a cost-efficient way. Taking into account the legislative limits on the emissions of seagoing ships and the results of decreasing the emission of hinterland transport, the shift to larger ships and the optimal routing of hinterland transport will have a positive impact on the human environment.
Keywords: Scheldt, navigation, trade, social cost-benefit analysis