To gain insights into the current inland routing practices within the industry, an internal workshop was organized within the AUTOBarge team from February 26th to 27th, to visit one of our beneficiaries – Periskal. Periskal Group is an IT company focused on river information services and navigation software for inland shipping. The head office is located in Wuustwezel, a neighboring district to Antwerp, the second largest seaport in Europe.
The first day was arranged with technical presentations, given by Marc Persoons, the managing director of Periskal, and AmirReza Haqshenas Mojaveri, our industrial PhD affiliated at Periskal, respectively.
Marc introduced us to key factors to be considered in inland routing and presented demonstrations for some typical cases. AmirReza showcased a currently used trackpliot system in the industry with functionalities, e.g., traffic avoidance, error detection, and system monitoring.
Day 2 consists of sightseeing tours to the nearby facilities and structures essential in inland waterway. The tours were taken at Kempisch Canal, Albert Canal, and big lock complexes like Volkerak. On site it can be observed that barges were busily navigating through locks and canals.
All in all, this mini-Network-Wide Event of the AUTOBarge Project has been successful, and our sincere gratitude to the local team at Periskal for organizing and hosting such an engaging workshop. It was a valuable experience for all of us.
An article by Yuhan Chen.