Danser Containerline sees future growth in Europe and other continents

”The process of containerisation is still continuing”, managing director Ben Maelissa of Danser Group notes. ”All kinds of cargo of which shipping in containers would have been unthinkable a decade ago, nowadays gets transported this way, even cargo types that are typical bulk or general cargo.”

”The advantage of container transport is of course the possibility to have delivery of small amounts, that still can be handled in a standardised way”, he continues. ”Ordering a whole ship of bulk cargo is a big investment beforehand and requires warehousing. On several continents the volume of container shipping is still increasing, as it has been since the embracing of container shipping in the 1970s, but especially in developing regions, container shipping offers possibilities for small-scale companies and businesses in remote areas. Container shipping over rivers, like we offer, is a business I believe has great growth potential, both now and in the future.”

Like any maritime company, an international orientation comes with the trade at Danser Group. From their headquarters in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands, they sail all navigable inland waters connected to the Dutch delta. The company has offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Switzerland – the countries upstream. They operate a varying fleet of about 60 ships, ten of which are their own vessels. These are all push-tow combinations, sailing under Dutch (six), and Swiss (four).

Hardly empty

A workforce of 140 people manages the whole process of the company’s container handling, 55 of them as crew aboard the ships. Since 2008, the company handles over one million TEU annually. ”We aim to quickly grow towards 1,500,000 TEU”, Maelissa reveals. ”The container flow is very unstable, that is the reason we have a very flexible fleet. With ten own ships and a multitude of that as hired vessels from mostly owner-captains, we can adapt to temporary rise and decline in the demand for container transport. In Europe, we maintain connections between a lot of container terminals and inland ports. This requires a lot of vessels, but at the same time allows us to virtually almost have load aboard. After delivering cargo to one port, we seldom need to sail back empty as there is mostly some load to be transported to the next terminal. Recent developments have brought our company among the top operators of inland container shipping.”

Danser is a privately owned company, with the founders’ family Danser as the important shareholders. Container count started in 1982, as Hein Danser realised that container shipping over water did not stop at the seaside main ports with containers transported further by road or rail. Operating his own container ship Marla, he opened a container service over the river Rhine. With two ships, there was a Rotterdam or Basel depart every week. The demand for container transport proved high, so Danser formed the Penta Group with other barge operators Natural Van Dam and SRN. Each brought in one barge into the operation, while Danser delivered two barges and went on planning logistics for all the vessels employed in the group. Following 22 years of cooperation, most operations have nowadays been incorporated into the Danser Group.

International activities

Quite remarkable are Danser Group’s intercontinental activities. They have been involved in advising the establishment of inland container shipping in Egypt, Senegal and Brazil. ”Egyptian government has been developing plans to establish container transport over the river Nile”, supervisor Ad Schroot shares. ”Traffic around the metropolis of Cairo is horrible, so it is hard to deliver all the city’s necessities by road transport. We have gained a lot of knowledge over the years about managing reliable and cost efficient river container logistics. We advise developing countries about setting up such a system.” Maelissa adds: ”Of course, we hope to see new business activities to emerge from our advisory work, once container operations have started.” In Egypt, development of container shipping over river Nile has ceased as a result of political developments. Danser Group has also advised in Senegal and Brazil. ”A lot of the ports in Africa and other developing regions still do not have container possibilities”, Schroot explains. ”This means setting up container logistics is much more than starting operations with a number of barges that carry containers. Yet, thanks to the opportunities container transport offers for smaller scale companies, it is advised as a big potential driver for local economy. Our work in these countries adds to development, we hope, as they need expertise on inland container vessels. In Senegal, we sold a couple of vessels and were involved in training local people in the handling of them.” – ”In Brazil, signs are that we could start container shipping within the next few years”, Maelissa adds. ”The Amazon river offers great potential. We have the experience and knowledge, so if the opportunity arises that we can participate in container handling in these countries, we will take our part.”

Container transport over the rivers and canals of the Netherlands and the hinterlands of Germany, Belgium, France and Switzerland may also see continuing growth, with the beginning of harbour activities on the Maasvlakte 2 at the Port of Rotterdam. To achieve continued accessibility of the port by road, rail and waterways, the percentage of cargo handled by containerised transport over inland waters should increase significantly. ”This could be a problem”, Maelissa foresees. ”The waterways themselves offer enough capacity of this increase in vessel movements. Bottlenecks could always be the locks and opening bridges. Capacity there is nowadays just about big enough. With any increase of inland shipping, investments should be made to prevent traffic jams with long rows of barges waiting to get through locks. With the economic backshift government is now facing, such investments are not made. It would be wise to do this in anticipating the growth of river transport as an economic driver.”

Sustainability

Danser Group was officially announced one of the winners of the ‘Lean and Green Award’ with their dedication to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses by 20% compared to 2008. ”We will achieve this goal next year”, Maelissa ensures. ”We are making a transition towards LNG-powered vessels. Inland shipping, as opposed to road transport and even in comparison to rail transport, is by far the most emission-efficient mode of transport. Still, sustainability is a main company strategy. We try to make clever and greener sailing schedules. It will save fuel and emissions when a ship navigates slowly towards a destination, for instance a lock, to arrive there just in time to get through – as opposed to rushing there at the expense of a lot of extra fuel and then waiting a the destination with the engines running idle for a few hours. We also train our crew to adopt to sustainable methods, try to charter ships that have modern and fuel-efficient propulsion and offer a smartphone app that allows our clients to track and trace their containers along the way. IT investment has more advantages, as we may sail with less paperwork. Being able to overview the documents involved on a laptop or tablet computer allows for easy transfer to officials and saves paper. This way, we want to maintain a position as preferred transporter for our clients.”

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