Case study 9: Sensibilities and vulnerabilities of small and medium enterprises in the Upper Rhine Region - Impacts and adaptation of the Rhine transport system. Lessons learned. (D3.4.9 report with french summary)

In 2018, the Rhine transport sector experienced an unprecedented low-water crisis, during which large cargo vessels were no longer able to navigate on certain sections of the river. This led to a major disruption in the inland waterway transport. The severity of this crisis, which was the result of several months of drought, reinforced by heat waves and low rainfall over the same period, caused a major disruption in the inland navigation sector. Some of the traffic was absorbed by other intermodal providers and the wagon load rail system but it was not sufficient.

This report presents the results of a study where researchers and river transport stakeholders have striven to find sustainable adaptation pathways and how the mixed methodology combining semi-directive interviews and collective brainstorming with the help of a collaborative methodology (particularly deployed into engineering design processes based on the use of a specific software (TRIZ) could help to integrate nuances. This could consequently allow stakeholders to write stronger collaborative narratives for adaptation pathways and to apprehend the impact chain concept.