Robust hinterland connections in times of drought and heat : subproject 2 of NWO-project “Extreme droughts and the Dutch water sector: impacts and adaptation”

The increased occurrence of extreme drought impacts the inland waterways in the Netherlands and beyond, leading to reduced river navigability and thereby resulting in high additional costs for the inland waterways logistics sector. In this report we explore knowledge gaps and adaptation options for the sector, to ensure more robust hinterland connections in times of droughts. We explored three perspectives: ship performance, river navigability and the future of logistics flows in times of sustainability transitions. This generated three avenues of further research. Given the small assignment it was impossible to address all aspects of the international water transport chain and assets of the waterway network.