Inland Water Transportation

With our broad knowledge of inland waterways, including vessel types, the shipping process, locks and other structures, we are fully equipped to meet our customers’ requirements. Aktis Hydraulics offers a range of inland waterway consultancy services which can be applied to:

Evaluation of nautical bottlenecks
Evaluation of the impact of construction and upgrade works on the inland shipping process
Nautical design of inland waterways, harbours and outer harbours near locks
Design of lock levelling systems with water-saving basins
Design of mooring systems in outer harbours and locks (during lock levelling)
Determination of lock capacities
Accessibility of seaports for inland vessels (e.g. limiting wave conditions in the outer harbour)
Feasibility of berthing in and along waterways also accounting for passing ships.

Harbour layout optimisation

Overnachtingshavens are inland water transport harbours to enable shippers to park their ship, rest, and continue their journey. The evaluations were undertaken with our Rembrandt (portable) Inland Bridge to investigate the harbour entrance and harbour layout configurations. Further, the real-time manoeuvring simulations can be used during public participation. The simulations can support both the layout development as well as test the accessibility and operability of the designed port to be.

Manoevuring simulations for port entry – wet layout – breakwaters config; turning circle requirements

Example projects

Overnachtingshaven Doesburg
Overnachtingshaven Giesbeek
Overnachtingshaven Lobith (Tuindorp)
GroeneWaarden bij Doorwerth

Publications by our staff

Publications by our staff

Veldman, J.J., Bousmar, D., Berentsen, R. & Dam, M.A.C. Performance of a lock with vertical lift gates after renovation; case study including measurements and optimisation of levelling system; Smart Rivers Conference – Lyon, France; October 2019.
Veldman, J.J., Bousmar, D., Kortlever, W. & Dam, M.A.C. Simple but accurate calculation method for vessel speed in a minimum capacity lock, Proc. of PIANC World Congres, Panama City, Panama, May 2018
Veldman, J.J., Dubbeldam, J.P. & Zuiderwijk, W.M. Design Guidelines for River Harbours and Verification of Harbour Layout in the Portable REMBRANDT Inland Bridge Simulator Including Public Demonstration, PIANC Smart Rivers Conf., 2015, Buenos Airs, Argentina, 2015, paper #136, 7-11 Sept. 2015
Bousmar, D., Schweter, L. & Veldman, J.J., Navigation Studies for the Seine-Scheldt East Project, PIANC Smart Rivers Conf. 2013, Maastricht/Liege, The Netherlands/Belgium, paper #90, 23-27 Sept. 2013
Veldman, J.J., IJmker, E.L. & Dubbeldam, J.P. Room for the River, cross-currents and Inland navigation, PIANC Smart Rivers Conf. 2013, Maastricht/Liege, The Netherlands/Belgium, paper #62, 23-27 Sept. 2013
Hurdle, D.P., Onassis, J. & Veldman, J.J. Probabilistic Computations of Downtime for Inland Shipping in the Second Maasvlakte, Proc. of OMAE 2002-28402, 21st Int. Conf. on Onshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering, Oslo, Norway, 22-28 June 2002,