Rhine-Alpine News
18.04.2024
The impact of critical water levels on container inland waterway transport
Symbolic picture by ShafinProtic
The paper “The impact of critical water levels on container inland waterway transport” by Felipe Bedoya-Maya, Peter Shobayo, Joris Beckers and Edwin van Hassel examines how critical water levels affect Rhine River container cargo.
It uses a time series econometric model to analyse monthly throughput and all navigability constraints owing to low or high water levels between 2000 and 2022. The study controls for confounding variables and examines water levels at important areas between economic centres. They found a monthly impact of -0.2% per day of disruption and -5.9% for disruptions over 24 days.
Critical condition vulnerability has quadrupled since 2018 and varies spatially. Localised low water level episodes cause the most significant disturbances and their lagged effects. They demonstrate that inland waterways must be more resilient to climate change to avoid container throughput losses of 7% to 20% by 2050.
The full paper is linked below.
Source:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920924001470#f0030
MEPs adopt stricter CO2 emissions targets for trucks and buses
Symbolic picture by Dimitrisvetsikas1969 on Pixabay
Parliament approved new CO2 emission reduction objectives for new heavy-duty vehicles on Wednesday 10th of April, after Council agreement.
MEPs approved the law addressing emissions from new trucks, buses, and trailers 341 to 268 with 14 abstentions. Large trucks and buses must reduce CO2 emissions by 45% from 2030-2034, 65% from 2035-2039, and 90% by 2040. New urban buses must lower emissions by 90% by 2030 and reach zero-emission by 2035. From 2030, emissions reduction targets for trailers (7.5%) and semi-trailers (10%) will be imposed.
The Commission must evaluate the new rules’ efficacy and impact by 2027 under the law. This assessment will need to decide whether to apply the requirements to small lorries, how to register HDVs only running on CO2neutral fuels, and how a carbon correction factor could help transition to zero-emission HDVs.
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