Inland shipping is the professional transport of countless different types of cargo along European inland waterways. It is an excellent alternative or supplemental mode of transport to other types of transport in the supply chain management. Inland shipping offers the economy, people and society dozens of advantages and opportunities, which can be summed up as follows:

• relatively environmentally friendly and safe;
• operates domestically and internationally;
• has access to huge free capacity on the waterways;
• operates a sizeable and modern fleet featuring a tremendous diversity of ships;
• offers modern logistics and innovative solutions;
• is in the advanced stages of integrating IT in the logistics process and traffic management;
• entails relatively low (societal) costs;
• offers a high degree of reliability and punctuality;
• stands an excellent chance of becoming a trendsetter in sustainable transport.