Electrification of maritime and IW vessels shows a low progress, since there are several challenges that need to be overcome before battery energy storage systems (BESS) can compete with other solutions towards the decarbonization of vessels. The main challenges are related to the: (i) weight of the BESS, since a high storage capacity represents a significant share of the vessel’s cargo capacity in small/medium sized vessels, (ii) the reliability so that to ensure the trouble-free routing and reduction of operating and maintenance costs, and (iii) the safety that is the key to enable the large-scale adoption and remove any concern of vessel owners. These three aspects constitute the Innovation Pillars of HARPOONERS, and drive the development of a unique modular concept for interfacing with HV on-board grids, characterized by a high compactness due to the integration of key components in a single configuration, thus eliminating the transformer and a cooling system. This “AC battery system” will be developed together with the management systems for a reliable operation in future powertrains of all-electric or hybrid vessels with reduced emissions. The outcome is a reduced weight, reliable and safer BESS that will allow the uptake of the HARPOONERS solution in both maritime and IW vessels, to further increase the battery capacity and achieve a longer autonomy. This is extremely beneficial in small/medium vessels, in which full electrification will be possible, thus eliminating the use of the combustion engine and its associated CO2 and other emissions, but also on large vessels in which the HARPOONERS solution with less use of raw materials will lead to a reduced environmental impact and lower manufacturing and maintenance costs. To achieve this, HARPOONERS has gathered a balanced European-wide partnership with organizations from the key value chains, such as research, battery system and power electronics manufacturers, shipping owners, and a Classification Society.

SETO will deliver an innovative digital solution that will allow authorities to access all information required for the smart enforcement of transport and safety legislation in real-time using the ‘one-click’ principle. This will address the significant challenge of handling unstructured transport data from different streams (paper and digital), sources, and languages, reducing the administrative burden/time while achieving increased control efficiency and consistency. SETO will utilise state-of-the-art information exchange technologies and expand the system to multimodal transport (e.g. port to the inland waterway to the road). The project will validate its comprehensive ecosystem technically and economically in a Pilot Living Lab designed for future pan-European scaling. In particular, SETO will develop innovative technologies for direct enforcement of overloaded road vehicles using weigh-in-motion (WIM) and on-board weighing solutions. The project will also introduce technologies based on enhanced global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to enforce lane positioning and cabotage regulations. Our deployment of the connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) technologies will allow SETO to estimate the carbon footprint of the transported goods, leading to effective policies concerning their import and export. Moreover, the project will explore different business models and build a business case for both the operators and the authorities to utilise SETO's unified system of information exchange. SETO will address the inclusion of different stakeholders and their under-represented groups (e.g. self-employed or foreign drivers, small SME's, women in transportation) in its activities to characterise the social practices emerging from enforcing such digital tracking systems. SETO seeks to foster the collective intelligence of all stakeholders to build a viable system based on "incentives" rather than forcing its adoption.

FOREMAST R&I activities are structured along 4 ambition Pillars: (P1) Selectable level of automation Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) architecture and interfaces and situational awareness model for interfacing GNC and sensory hardware and processing systems to efficiently solve the control problem unique to IWT. Combined with balanced human-autonomy collaboration (navigation, mooring, cargo handling, propulsion) and safety implications in mixed traffic utilising tailored Galileo/EGNOS services will lead to a Next-generation Remote Control Centre TRL 5 and Small Flexible Automated Zero-emission (SFAZ) autonomy control system TRL 5 protypes. (P2) Zero emission energy management solutions dynamically optimised for prevailing operating conditions. Hybrid Electric and Fuel Cell zero emission solutions will be evaluated against power and energy requirements, lifetime, costs and life-cycle emissions of alternative fuel/energy systems. (P3) Innovative Macro Designs for SFAZ vessels in intramodal & intermodal transport networks reflecting innovations from P1 and P2. Vessel design concepts, verified through simulation, will provide systematic evaluation of SFAZ designs for confined areas and shallow waters, providing an increased operational flexibility in terms of cargo capacity, types, and load units, tied with hydrodynamic and propulsion models and control architectures. (P4) A modelling simulation design and operational optimisation tools (Digital Twining Platform) enables both design and operational measurement and optimisation of Living Lab (LL) solutions, supporting solutions for European coastal and inland or congested urban regions, incorporating if needed third party innovative components, ensuring transferability and sustainability. 2 LLs in Ghent and Caen, that represent coastal and inland congested urban regions, will demonstrate the SFAZ Prototypes integrated through Automated Smart Terminals in optimised logistic networks. A 3rd virtual LL in Galati will demonstrate replicability.

ReNEW represents a multidisciplinary group composed of 24 participants from 11 countries of the European Union capable of playing a key role in supporting the transition of IWT to smart, green, sustainable and climate-resilient sector. To achieve this, the project will build on previous results, will capitalise on cooperation opportunities with ongoing projects and initiatives and will deliver: 1. An interdisciplinary IWT Resilience and Sustainability decision-support framework incorporating innovative models for IWT infrastructure networking interdependencies linking to probabilistic risk and safety analyses and resilience quantification (Resilience Index), supporting the identification of short- and long-term measures that enhance resilience utilising SOA building blocks from Reference Projects 2. Targeted innovative infrastructure resilience and sustainability solutions building on autonomy developments and maturing green energy options; 3. A Green Resilient IWT Dataspace and generic Digital Twin providing primarily data sharing between infrastructure monitoring, RIS and traffic management and emergency systems and climate solutions; 4. Four Living Labs designed to provide exemplars from a) LLs focusing on integrated IW and hinterland infrastructure [Gent-urban, Douro- corridor, Netherlands – EU network perspectives] and a LL addressing specifically inland waterway resilience; 5. ReNEW Outreach and Upscale activities designed to maximise impact pathways.

IW-NET will deliver a multimodal optimisation process across the EU Transport System, increasing the modal share of IWT and supporting the EC’s ambitions to reduce transport GHG emissions by two thirds by 2050. Enablers for sustainable infrastructure management and innovative vessels will support an efficient and competitive IWT sector addressing infrastructure bottlenecks, insufficient IT integration along the chain and slow adoption of technologies such as new vessel types, alternative fuels, automation, IoT, machine learning. The Living Lab will apply user-centered application scenarios in important TEN-T corridors demonstrating and evaluating the impacts in simulations and tests covering technological, organisational, legal, economical, ecological, and safety/security issues: 1) Digitalisation: optimised planning of barge operations serving dense urban areas with predictive demand routing (Brussels-Antwerp-Courtrai-Lille-Valenciennes); data driven optimisation on navigability in uncertain water conditions (Danube). 2) Sustainable Infrastructure and Intelligent Traffic Management: lock forecasting reducing uncertainty in voyage planning; lock planning; management of fairway sections where encounters are prohibited; berth planning with mandatory shore power supply and other services (hinterland of Bremerhaven via Weser/Mittelland Canal). 3) Innovative vessels: new barge designs fitting corridor conditions and target markets: barges with a high degree of automation for urban distribution (East Flanders-Ghent); new barge for push boats capable with low/high water levels optimising capacities (Danube from Austria to Romania); use of GALILEO services for advanced driver assistance like guidance, bridge height warning and automatic lock entering (Spree-Oder waterway close to Berlin). Accompanying activities are stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and the delivery of a European IWT development roadmap with policy recommendations for increasing the IWT share.