The OT Logistics Capital Group, a leading inland shipping operator in Poland, intends to resume coal transport from Silesian mines to the Kogeneracja Wrocław energy company. This will be the first river transport of coal on the Gliwice Port – Wrocław route in several years.
The first trial transport to Kogeneracja Wrocław (2,000 tons of coal) is scheduled for mid-July: OT Logistics barges will transport the coal to Wrocław from the port in Gliwice. The coal will be delivered to the port from the Sośnica mine by full train sets consisting of 40 special Fas series wagons. Transshipment from wagons to barges will be handled by the Silesian Logistics Center on behalf of OT Logistics. If the voyage does not encounter obstacles on the waterway, OT Logistics plans to transport 20,000 tons of coal to Wrocław per month until the end of the year.
– Resuming coal transport on the Oder Waterway can be seen as a symbol of the coming changes in river shipping in Poland. We hope that commercial voyages will return to the Upper Oder first. Silesia needs an inland river connection with the rest of the country. Inland shipping is an indispensable element of developing intermodal transport and should become a strong third branch of transport alongside roads and railways – said Andrzej Klimek, Vice President of the Management Board and Director of the Inland Shipping Division of OT Logistics. – We are counting on the success of the government’s plans to unblock the Oder Waterway and restore the most important Polish rivers to their transport function, which they have performed since the Middle Ages, but which has died out in recent decades. Water transport is the most environmentally friendly form of transport, which will support the growth of trade in the country and help relieve road transport. For our part, the OT Logistics group is ready to support Polish logistics by significantly increasing the volume of goods transported by rivers – added Andrzej Klimek.
The investments planned by the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation, defined in the “Assumptions for the development plans of inland waterways in Poland for the years 2016-2020 with a perspective until 2030”, aim, among other things, to achieve international navigability class on the Oder Waterway and integrate it into the network of European waterways. Additionally, by acceding to the UN AGN convention, Poland has committed to adapting its main waterways to class IV navigability. Coal transport on the Gliwice Port – Wrocław route will be carried out by three sets of barges pushed by Tur-type pushers. The barges have to cover a distance of approx. 200 km through the Silesian Canal and the Oder. The voyage requires passing through 27 locks.