From 25th April – 4th of May FHOO was on a study visit to the Netherlands and Belgium to talk with experts in the field of inland navigation and ports about the different topics covered by the DAPhNE project. In the port of Amsterdam an expert was interviewed on the topic of sustainability and industrial ecology (circular economy). At the Port of Rotterdam and the Erasmus university, the topic of Human Resources in ports as well as the importance of digitalization and the Physical Internet for ports were discussed. All visited experts were happy to hear about the DAPhNE project and its topics which are also important for ports situated in Rotterdam or Amsterdam since the actions undertaken in the project may also facilitate an increase of inland waterway transport from the Netherlands/Belgium to the Black Sea via the Danube.

At the end of the study visit, the Siga2 WCTRS Conference – focusing on the port and maritime sector - was attended in Antwerp. FHOO presented the results from the survey foreseen in Activity 4.3 concerning the status-quo of human resources in Danube ports. About 30 people attended the session and were very interested in the topic and mentioned that it is very important to pursue research on this topic. This shows that the topics included in the DAPhNE project are of high interest for different stakeholders (research, industry and education) in the IWT sector on European level and that further projects building on the results from the DAPhNE project are initated.