Yard transport by water takes 2,500 trucks off the road
At Tech Lane Ghent, construction is in full swing: the POM East Flanders has started the construction of Fabriek Logistiek and ALINSO GROUP, private partner in Eiland Zwijnaarde, is planning a logistics hub called 'WATERFRONT' at the same location. In order to minimize any disruption caused by truck traffic during the first phase of the works, the vast majority of the supply will take place via the waterway. For the elevation works alone, this avoids nearly 2,500 truck trips.
ALINSO GROUP and the East Flanders provincial government are fully committed to developing Eiland Zwijnaarde / Tech Lane Ghent in a sustainable manner. "We want to capitalize the assets of this unique location as much as possible, being the excellent access routes, completely surrounded by water and greenery. We are proud to complete this project in full harmony with the environment." Ivan Lokere, CEO ALINSO GROUP.
POM, ALINSO GROUP and Stadsbader focus on construction logistics by waterway
Tech Lane Ghent is adjacent to the Scheldt River and all opportunities for using this waterway are available. Therefore, the building owners POM and ALINSO GROUP, together
with contractor Stadsbader, which is responsible for elevating the site, opted to maximize the supply of soil via the waterway.
Stadsbader's facilities are situated in strategic locations near waterways and transportation hubs. This reduces transport distances and thus maximizes the use of inland waterway transport. In fact, hundreds of thousands of tons are transported on Flemish waterways every year.
Stadsbader also sought to strike a balance between the budgetary and ecological concerns relating to transportation as part of the site elevation works. By the end of this week, the first 12 (out of a total of 25) ships will already have landed their cargoes.
Climate neutral East Flanders as a top logistics region
"Since the Province of East Flanders aims to become completely climate-neutral and, to that end, among other things, wishes to invest in a transport shift to inland navigation, it is evident that POM will also put all its efforts into waterway transport for its own projects," says Kurt Moens, chairman of POM. POM wants to play a pioneering role in the realization of innovative and sustainable logistics and thus support the development of East Flanders into a sustainable top logistics region. To realize this, the POM Factory is building Logistics, a logistics test and training centre where companies, using their own personnel and goods, can try out and compare existing and new warehouse operation concepts in a realistic environment and making use of a complete process flow. In addition, an external training provider provides them with competent logistics workers.
ALINSO GROUP
Real estate developer and investor Alinso Group is the developer and owner of the first building on Tech Lane Ghent: a 9,000-square-meter cross-dock centre occupied since 2018 by global logistics group Mainfreight. Alinso Group, a subsidiary of Domo Investment Group, is a real estate player primarily active in the development and management of corporate housing and business parks, both in Belgium and abroad.
