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The paper presents an innovative steering system for a river push barge dedicated for operation in environmentally sensitive inland waterways. Development of the inland waterborne transport in Poland is dependent on the exploitation of rivers which can be adapted to navigation in the limited range because a high percent of their length is classified within special environment protection areas of Natura 2000 network. This is now the main reason that their better exploitation cannot be obtained without an introduction of a new generation of waterborne environment friendly inland units. In naturally winding rivers with differing and rapidly changing depths and widths it is important to equip a push barge with an efficient steering system that has a low environmental impact. The innovative steering system proposed in the paper is composed of main steering devices located at the pusher stern, auxiliary steering devices installed on the barge bow and a mechanical coupling system.

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Modernisation of the existing river fleet adapted for the local conditions of the Middle and Lower Vistula can be considered as a solution to slow down the progressive decrease of river transport in this area. The implementation of technical improvements, smart technologies and enhancement of transport performance may partially solve the problem of growing demand for multimodal transport of containers and oversized loads in a shorter perspective than the expected period of planned revitalisation of the river. The paper presents investigations on the modernisation of river convoys adapted to the current navigational conditions of the Lower Vistula. The different options have been discussed by the authors with river fleet operators and the best recognised solution was agreed to be the use of river convoys combining modernised motor barges and the pushed barges previously used in this area. Improvement of the transport profitability, reduction of fuel consumption, air pollution and noise can be achieved at minimum costs by modernisation of the main power-propulsion systems of outdated motor barges and the implementation of innovative steering systems on pushed barges. The demand for power-propulsion and manoeuvring performance of modernised convoys is discussed in the paper.

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