Colombia shows increasing economic growth in which the cities of Bogotá, the capital, and Barranquilla, the main port, are corner stones for development in the Rio Magdalena Delta. Colombia has put in motion major investment plans for transport projects (US$ 25 billion in 2015). The Ministry of Transport has the ambition to develop and improve transport and transit in an integral and secure manner in order to establish accessibility to (remote) regions. Within these plans, the Rio Magdalena has been recognised as a major inland waterways corridor. It is recognised that inland water transport (IWT) has major advantages over other transport modes. In this project we aim to assess the feasibility of developing a management framework (toolbox) that helps the river manager to improve an inland waterway transport corridor to secure port-hinterland connectivity; connecting Barranquilla (port) to Bogotá (hinterland). The project is based on adaptive and integrated approaches of managing rivers, which offer an alternative to over-engineered infrastructure that is expensive and harmful to nature. The project is founded on two pillars, viz. smart engineering and smart logistics to develop concepts for smart river transport attractive for the beneficiaries, stakeholders, and the government.

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