Deltares


Johan Boon, Head of River Dynamics and Inland Shipping


‘CoVadem helps us to bolster our links with the inland shipping sector, to gain new insights in the behaviour of waterways and to translate this into new possibilities for the market, water management and society. The knowledge and data will help us to develop smart tools that will lead to more accurate predictions of flood risk, navigability of waterways and adequate climate change adaptation. By linking CoVadem to the logistic sector maximum benefits and flexibility for society and nature will be generated.’


generation of a real-time, water depth chart, based on the echo-sounder data of the participating ships. The existing echo-sounder, loading gauges and GPS are linked to one another via the CoVadem Box - a dedicated universal multiplexing device. The device gathers raw measurement data from these sensors and forwards it to the CoVadem Cloud.


data is already available on ships, they tend to stand alone, are not logged or combined. Making this data accessible, CoVadem introduces a big data solution that is invaluable for the inland waterways sector. At this moment, measurement data from a growing pool of more than 50 vessels from all over Europe is connected to the CoVadem Servers. It will be used to provide key performance indicators and to make it possible to analyse and decide upon possible improvement measures.


The CoVadem initiative has recently received 1.2 million euro in funding from both the market and the Dutch government (through TKI Dinalog) to continue its efforts.


Staggering 55 million values a day The core of the CoVadem approach is the


Currently, the data obtained from the ships represents a staggering 55 million values a day. However, anticipating future growth, the Covadem Servers are designed for up-scaling and will be able to include 250 vessels and the capacity to flawlessly handle over 500 million values a day.


This requires reliable, scalable, fast and secure 24/7 service, which CoVadem has deployed in a modern Cloud-based data solution. It provides state-of-the-art security to prevent unauthorised use and access by third parties. With the participants consent, measurement data from individual ships is anonymously aggregated and redistributed to the benefit of the industry, research and river management. CoVadem includes hydrodynamic and hydrological prediction models from MARIN and Deltares. Our hydrodynamic prediction


model provides the continuous calculation of dynamic influences, such as squat and trim. While the FEWS-Waterways model of Deltares, is a real-time, hydrological forecasting model, which computes actual and predicts future water depths and flow velocities.


Emission monitoring Studies have shown that real life emissions


of type-approved engines are not necessarily lower than those engines with older type approvals or engines with no type approval at all. As a result the Dutch authority responsible for the enforcement of emission level conformity in inland shipping is studying the feasibility of a new approach based on real- time on board measurements. By providing a trusted and secure network, CoVadem encourages the vessel operator to share relevant data with, in this case, the authorities while still remaining in control.


Benefits for stakeholders For the CoVadem initiative we have identified


four groups of stakeholders.


Shipowners/operators Real time and future water depth data can be used to provide information to maximise cargo capacity and to avoid grounding and collisions. One of CoVadem’s unique abilities


Danser Group Ben Maelissa, Managing Director


Courtesy Danser Group


‘To arrive at an optimal deployment of our fleet it’s important that we have a good insight into the available water depths at the planning stage. Thanks to CoVadem we can now take that step, thereby not only enhancing our own efficiency but also contributing to the inland shipping product in general. CoVadem also helps us to maximise our available cargo volume en adaptively optimise our operations to the actual condition of the river. We can therefore reduce movements and improve environmental performance significantly.’


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