Inland Waterway Transport in Europe: No significant improvements in modal share and navigability conditions since 2001 Special Report 2015 1831-0834 1977-5679 1977-5679 978-92-872-2004-2 978-92-872-1948-0 978-92-872-1999-2 eca-info@eca.europa.eu http://eca.europa.eu European Court of Auditors 12, rue Alcide de Gasperi, 1615 Luxembourg Luxembourg +352 4398-1 2015 European Union Reproduction is authorised provided the source is aknowledged. For any use or reproduction of figure 2, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder. Abbreviations

CEF: Connecting Europe Facility

DG Environment: Directorate-General for the Environment

DG Mobility and Transport: Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport

DG Regional and Urban Policy: Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy

ERDF: European Regional Development Fund

IWT: Inland waterway transport

MS: Member State

TEN-T: Trans-European network for transport

UNECE: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

 Glossary Boat lift

construction for lifting or lowering vessels between two levels of water

 Bottleneck

According to United Nations Economic Committee for Europe (UNECE) Resolution No 49 of 2005, the term is used for inland waterway sections with 'parameter values being substantially lower than target requirements'.

 Bridge clearance

the distance between the water surface and the lowest point of the bridge.

 Comprehensive network

Part of the TEN-T network that Member States have the legal obligation to complete by 2050.

 Core network

Part of the TEN-T network that Member States have the legal obligation to complete by 2030.

 Draught

The height of the immersed part of a vessel. The more cargo is loaded, the higher is its loaded draught.

 Inland waterway (IWW)

Waters located on the mainland capable of being used by ships with a minimum 50 t carrying capacity when normally loaded. These include navigable rivers, lakes and canals.

 Lock

A device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water at different levels on river and canal waterways.

 Modal share

This (also called mode split, mode-share or modal split) is the share of total journeys, volume, weight, vehicle performance or transport performance {vehicle, ton- or passenger-kilometres) of alternative modes of transport, such as road, rail, inland water, maritime and air transport, including non-motorised transport. In this report, modal share refers to the three main land transport modes: road, rail and inland waterways.

 Natura 2000

A network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union.

 Operational programme

A Commission-approved programme of EU-funded investments by Member State, which takes the form of a coherent set of priorities comprising multiannual measures under which projects are co-financed.

 RIS

River information services are modern traffic management systems enabling swift electronic data transfer between water and shore through in-advance and real-time exchange of information.

 TEU

The twenty-foot equivalent unit is used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals, based on the volume of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains and trucks.

 tkm

Tonne kilometres: unit of measure for recording transport output, corresponding to the carriage of 1 tonne over 1 km calculated by multiplying the quantity carried in tonnes by the distance covered in kilometres. Only the distance on the national territory of the reporting country is taken into account for national, international and transit transport.

 Introduction The characteristics of EU inland waterway freight transport

Inland waterway transport is, together with road and rail transport, one of the three main land transport modes. Vessels transport goods via inland waterways, such as canals, rivers and lakes, between inland ports and wharfs.

Half of Europe's population lives close to the coast or to inland waterways and most European industrial centres can be reached by inland navigation. The main international inland waterway network is the Rhine-Danube network, which, with its length of 14 360 km, represents nearly half of the inland waterways of international importance1. The most important basins are:

The Rhine basin, which is the most developed, maintained and utilised waterway for goods transportation purposes. It is characterised by the highest population and waterway density. Around 80% of the overall inland waterway freight transport is carried on this river.

The Danube basin, which has the potential to guarantee river navigation between the North Sea and the Black Sea. Around 9% of the overall inland waterway transports are carried out on the Danube and the Rhine-Main-Danube canal.

More than one third of the RhineDanube basin waterways do not meet the standards established for waterways by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport2 (see Annex I) and there are substantial differences in the quality of the infrastructures east and west of the Bavarian watershed3. The European Union aims at achieving these standards for its entire transEuropean network (see Figure 7).

Transporting goods on inland waterways can be advantageous, as compositions of pushed barges can transport more goods per distance unit (tkm) than any other type of land transport and could help to reduce road traffic. Inland navigation vessels have a loading capacity that is equivalent to hundreds of trucks, which could help to save transport costs, reduce emissions and decongest roads (see Figure 2). In addition, inland vessels have very good safety records.

UNECE, White Paper on efflcient and sustainable inland water transport in Europe, New York and Geneva,2011.

Resolution No 92/2 of the European Conference of Ministers of Transport.

An area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins or seas.

 Main inland waterways in the EU (TEN-T comprehensive and core network) Annexes NUMBER OF MEPS PER MEMBER STATE IN 2014
Type of inlandwaterways Classes of navigable waterways Motor vessels and barges Pushed convoys Minimum height under bridges
Type of vessel: General characteristics Type of convoy: General characteristics
Designation Maximum length Maximum beam Draught Tonnage Length Beam Draught Tonnage
L(m) B(m) D(m) T(t) L(m) B(m) D(m) T(t) H(m)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Of regional importance To west of Elbe I Barge 38.5 5.05 1.80-2.20 250-400 4.0
II Kamp Bargeine 50-55 6.6 2.50 400-650 4.0-5.0
III Gustav Koenigs 67-80 8.2 2.50 650-1 000 4.0-5.0
To East of Elbe I Gross Finow 41 4.7 1.40 180 3.0
II BM-500 57 7.5-9.0 1.60 500-630 3.0
III 67-70 8.2-9.0 1.60-2.00 470-700 118-132 8.2-9.0 1.60-2.00 1 000-1 200 4.0
Of international importance IV Johann Welker 80-85 9.5 2.50 1 000-1 500 85 9.5 2.50-2.80 1 250-1 450 5.25 or 7.00
Va Large Rhine vessels 95-110 11.4 2.50-2.80 1500-3 000 95-110 11.4 2.50-4.50 1600-3 000 5.25 or 7.00 or 9.10
Vb 172-185 11.4 2.50-4.50 3 200-6 000
VIa 95-110 22.8 2.50-4.50 3 200-6 000 7.00 or 9.10
VIb 140 15.0 3.90 185-195 22.8 2.50-4.50 6 400-12 000 7.00 or 9.10
VIc 270-280195-200 22.833.0-34.2 2.50-4.02.50-4.50 9 600-18 0009 600-18 000 9.10
VII 285 33.0-34.2 2.50-4.50 14 500-27 000 9.0