Role of Danube Inland Navigation in Europe

The inland waterway cargo transport in Europe is very competitive in relation to other, surface types of transport. Compositions of pushed barges can generate more ton-kilometers per distance unit than any other type of surface transport. Only pipeline transportation is more cost-effective than inland navigation, but it also has certain disadvantages like volume of investment, capability of only one type of liquid cargo (mostly crude oil), need for the flow to be always constant and to correspond to the full nominal capacity and travel conditions that reduce its flexibility. The development of this type of traffic in Europe was not satisfactory since its share according to traffic modal split was decreasing in the course of the last decades as a result of very rapid development of road transportation. Circulation volume in tons on inland waterways is significantly changing in very wide range from one European country to the other. It is, for example, very high in the Rhine region, while on the Danube it is app. 10 % of the possible throughput capacity of this navigable way. This paper deals with advantages and disadvantages of inland navigation, as well as, some specific characteristics of inland waterway cargo transport on main inland waterways in Europe.