Back in early 2015, Ton van Meegen, PortLiner’s initiator, recognized the irreversible trend in inland waterways towards emission reduction and greening of the fleet. He has developed solutions that provide PortLiner its competitive “zero emission” edge.
By the end of 2015, the “Paris Agreement” came into place, with world-wide targets on CO2 emission reductions. This has triggered national climate targets that will significantly impact the transport sector, including inland waterways.
In 2019 the Dutch maritime "Green Deal" reinforced PortLiner's vision that sustainable inland shipping is the way forward. In the course of 2020, the European Union will decide on a much broader "Green Deal" that will definitely include the (greening of) inland navigation. Last but not least, also the CCNR, the Central Commission for the Navigation on the Rhine, is giving serious consideration to means of achieving reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
In The Netherlands specifically, (the reduction of) NOx nitrogen emissions have become a high priority issue in 2019. Agriculture is a major source of NOx emissions, but inland navigation has now also been identified as a contributor that needs to take reduction measures, again confirming PortLiner's view that zero emission shipping is the sustainable way forward.
Ton van Meegen, CEO/President
CORE TEAM
EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD
Ellard Blaauboer
Venture Capitalist and Financial-Strategic advisor
Menno Braakenburg
Inland shipping lawyer (Van Dam & Kruidenier)
Michiel Rexwinkel
Founder Greenchoice
Renewable Energy Investor
HISTORY
PortLiner is an initiative by Ton van Meegen. Ton has a long and outstanding track record in inland waterway transport, in both freight and passenger transport. This includes the development of new ship design and architecture. In the past 20 years, Van Meegen has been involved in ship development and (re)building of around 36 ships, with an investment value of over €125m.
Headquartered in Huissen, in the Nijmegen-Arnhem region, on the borders of the Rhine and Waal rivers, Van Meegen unites companies which all together provide overall expertise in inland shipping, mainly covering three fields: river cruises, intermodal transport and ship design & architecture
Ton van Meegen has been in the inland shipping business since 1974. His choice of activity was not a coincidence, for the Van Meegen family has been in shipping since the 17th century.
Passionate about ships, Ton van Meegen has developed significant specialist knowledge and has broad and in-depth experience in various fields of the maritime industry: ship design & architecture, ship building contracting and supervision (river cargo vessels, river cruise ships and yachts), nautical management and inland shipping operations.
