Beet transport by barge: traditional solution for sustainable future

Sustainability doesn't always have to come from innovation. Sometimes environmentally friendly solutions are found in the past. With the closure of a number of sugar factories fifteen years ago, the transport of sugar beet by water died a quiet death. Now new life is breathed into this way of transporting the many sugar beets in Limburg. It can significantly reduce CO2 emissions and congestion on the highways.

The South Limburg loess is fertile soil for sugar beet. Stein, Simpelveld, Meerssen and Schinnen are the 'sugar beet capitals' of the country according to CBS figures and Sittard-Geleen, Eijsden-Margraten and Gulpen-Wittem also produce a lot of sugar beet. But the road to the sugar factory of Cosun Beet Company (CBC) in Dinteloord, West Brabant, is a long one. And certainly not an environmentally friendly one.

Sustainability and nostalgia

Given the sustainability targets the government has imposed on the industry, bulk transport by ship is slowly being revived. Transport by water is not only more sustainable due to significant CO2 reduction, but also helps reduce congestion on highways.

CBC is holding a trial to accelerate the sustainability of the transport chain. The trial will show whether this form of transport by water can reduce CO2 emissions. As in the past, the sugar beet will be loaded on board at the port of L'Ortye in Stein. With the transhipment of the sugar beets, a piece of nostalgia returns to one of the largest inland ports in the country.

Crushed

One of the things the test looks at is whether the beet do not suffer too much damage during loading. When bruised sugar beets are washed, the sugar washes away. "That's the reason for loading them in two different ways," Jean L'Ortye explains. "The first by having them unloaded at the loading quay and brought into the ship via a crane. The second by having them dumped directly into the hold via the loading bridge.

If the trial is successful, it will save some 14,000 road journeys, or over four million kilometers a year. "Of course, the beet must still be transported from the fields to the port. But there is plenty of attention for that too. In the future, that may be possible electrically or with trucks that run on green hydrogen," said l'Ortye.

Source: De Limburger