The objective of this project is to both encourage a shift from road to water transport and increase the use of rail in port hinterlands where inland waterways cannot be used. The three and a half year project, which is being led by the City of Mulheim in the Ruhr, will promote multi-modal integrated transport chains designed to make better use of ship transport and rail connections with port hinterland areas. The 17 partners will analyse the bottlenecks holding back enhanced short-sea, inland waterways and port-hinterland rail transport. The project will then identify and implement measures for their removal, working with logistics partners to design improved inter-modal transport arrangements. Knowledge gathered on potential transport flows will be fed into an information network, available over the internet both to partners and interested parties, particularly logistics providers. Initially, the network will contain information on transport and available sites in harbours for the location of new logistics and production companies. The project is essentially trans-national in nature and it is hoped that other ports will join the initiative as it develops. Achievements: More marketing required if small inland ports want to survive; Change of attitude: a long process; Marketing training required