On his 24 April 2017 visit to Duisburg the new Secretary General of CCNR Bruno Georges, who replaced Hans van der Werf in November 2016, was able to see for himself, which role an inland shipping simulator can play within education and training.
At the shallow-water navigation simulator SANDRA located in Duisburg-Homberg he navigated a large inland container vessel under realistic conditions out of the port of Duisburg downstream the River Rhine heading for the Dutch border.
Mr. Georges was welcomed by Dr. Gunther Jaegers (Reederei Jaegers GmbH, Duisburg), since April 2016 President of the European Barge Union (EBU), and Martin Staats, President of the Bundesverband der deutschen Binnenschifffahrt, BDB, (Federal Association of German Inland Water Transportation). The current situation of inland waterway transport in Germany was discussed in detail – also with regard to innovations (reduction of emissions, environmental friendliness).
The Duisburg based Entwicklungszentrum für Schiffstechnik und Transportsysteme e.V., DST (Development Centre for Ship Technology and Transport Systems) with long-term focus on research and development has particularly been active in the fields of up-to-date and future innovations and is of great importance to the shipping industry. Its Director Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bettar Ould el Moctar as well as its Managing Director Dr.-Ing. Rupert Henn gave Mr. Georges an insight into the activities of the institute and its research work, repeatedly initiating significant technical developments within inland navigation (interaction ship – waterway, shallow water hydrodynamics, etc.)
