Small dry inland shipping in the Netherlands A performance analysis of small dry inland shipping on the Dutch waterways

In this thesis, the performance of small dry inland shipping in the Netherlands is researched. Based on data of Rijkswaterstaat and CBS, five performance indicators are used to measure the performance of small dry inland shipping. Those five indicators are fleet size, waterway availability, tonkilometers, load factor and inland throughput. In addition, a fixed effects model has been run to estimate the effects of different variables on transport with a small ship. The waterway availability and the load factors did not change that much. In terms of fleet size and tonkilometers the ships of CEMT-class 0 to 3 performed negatively. The throughput at inland ports along small waterways increased. Economic growth in a region is accompanied by a decrease in the use of the small ship. The positive effect of low water levels on the use of the small ship was not found. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the small dry inland shipping sector overall performed negatively. On the other hand, there are enough possibilities for the small ship on the small waterways in the Netherlands.