VAN MOER GROUP

Their core work

Van Moer Group is a Belgian logistics operator with deep roots in port and inland waterway freight transport, based in Zwijndrecht near the Port of Antwerp. Their H2020 participation shows they bring real operational infrastructure — vessels, terminals, and cross-docking facilities — as an industry testbed for European transport research. In both projects, they contributed the practitioner perspective that research consortia need: how freight actually moves through river corridors, locks, and port feeders. Their involvement in concepts like vessel trains and smart bridge scheduling reflects an organization actively testing next-generation logistics methods on live operations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Van Moer's first project, NOVIMAR (2017–2021), produced no extractable keywords — consistent with an operator joining a large research consortium primarily as an end-user and testbed provider rather than a technology contributor. By NOVIMOVE (2020–2024), the keyword profile became substantially richer: locks scheduling, smart bridges, Galileo navigation, and system resilience all appear, suggesting Van Moer moved from a passive industry partner toward an active contributor shaping the research questions. The trajectory points toward a company gradually building internal vocabulary and capability around smart, data-driven waterway logistics.

Van Moer is transitioning from a pure operational testbed role toward an industry partner that actively shapes research on digitally-optimized inland waterway transport, making them increasingly valuable for consortia that need both real infrastructure and growing technical engagement.

How they like to work

Van Moer has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as project coordinator — across both funded projects. Their consortia are large (averaging roughly 18 partners per project across 10 countries), which is typical for EU Transport RIA projects where operators, technology developers, ports, and universities all participate together. This pattern indicates Van Moer functions best as an operational anchor: the logistics company that grounds a research consortium in real-world freight constraints and provides the infrastructure to pilot new concepts.

Van Moer has built connections with 36 unique consortium partners across 10 countries through just two projects, reflecting participation in large, pan-European transport research networks. Their network skews toward northwest European inland waterway corridors — Belgium, Netherlands, Germany — where river freight is commercially significant.

What sets them apart

Van Moer is not a research institute or technology vendor — they are a working logistics operator with vessels, terminals, and freight flows, which is exactly what transport research consortia struggle to find. They offer something universities and tech firms cannot: a real commercial environment where new vessel concepts, scheduling algorithms, and Galileo-based navigation can be tested under genuine operational pressure. For consortium builders targeting inland waterway freight, Van Moer fills the critical "industry end-user" slot that EU evaluators expect to see.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NOVIMOVE
  The more technically specific of the two projects, NOVIMOVE generated a dense keyword profile covering vessel trains, port feeders, smart bridges, locks scheduling, and Galileo navigation — indicating Van Moer played a substantive role in shaping the operational research agenda, not just hosting pilots.
• NOVIMAR
  Van Moer's entry into EU-funded research, joining a large RIA consortium exploring novel inland waterway and maritime transport concepts at a time when such projects were rare for Belgian private logistics operators.