In the first half of 2025, inland navigation transport performance in the EU reached 58.7 billion tonne-kilometres (TKM) (-4.6% compared to the same period in 2024). Most European countries saw a decline in transport demand.
On the Rhine, freight transport totalled 135.0 million tonnes, a decrease of -6.0% compared to the same period in 2024. Almost all cargo segments contributed to the decrease. This downward trend can be explained by a combination of macroeconomic and industrial factors, mainly driven by issues encountered in the steel and chemical industries, together with geopolitical factors. In addition, a slight low water period which took place in April 2025 was another factor that contributed to the negative trend.
Coal transport and container transport are the exceptions, the former of which increased by +10.9%. In fact, the increase of coal transport, regarded as temporary, was linked to stock replenishment, low coal prices and a temporary decline in alternative energy production. Nevertheless, the general long-term trend remains downward orientated for this segment. Container traffic benefitted from the resilience of global trade in the first half of 2025 and stabilised somewhat at +0.9%, whilst remaining well below the result of earlier years.
The Danube market faced multiple challenges in the first half of 2025. Attacks on Ukraine’s Danube infrastructure intensified as a result of the continued Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, while macroeconomic and hydrological factors worsened compared to the same period in 2024. As a result, cargo transport on the Danube diminished greatly.
With regard to passenger transport, half-year figures for river cruise traffic on the Rhine in the 2013-2025 period confirm the strong growth trend in this industry as they demonstrate that the river cruise activity on the Rhine has doubled in only 12 years. Compared to the first half year of 2024, the activity of river cruise vessels on the Rhine has increased by +7.6%. One of the Rhine’s major affluents, the Moselle, saw a gain of +10% in cruising activity.
On the Danube, the most important river for cruises in Europe, an even stronger growth was observed in the number of river cruise vessels and in the number of passengers, especially on the Upper Danube in Germany and Austria. The increase of +52.4% for the movement of vessels can not only be explained by the growing industry, but also by a previous drop of activity in 2024 due to high water, as well as by a measurement effect, as many river cruise vessels were repositioned towards the city of Passau, upstream of the Jochenstein lock, where cruises are recorded.
After having remained at a multiannual average level in the first quarter of 2025, freight rates experienced an increase in the second quarter which was caused by a tendency towards low waters on the Rhine.
Oil prices and fuel prices followed a downward trend in the first half of 2025. Fuel prices in inland waterway transport (IWT) are expected to decrease further in the second half of 2025, in 2026 and in 2027, due to an expected decrease in oil prices.
The third chapter of this report focuses on the Netherlands, where the total volume of goods transported on inland waterways (332.4 mio. t) and of container transport (41.0 mio. t) corresponded to the highest EU values in 2024. In addition, the largest goods segment in IWT in 2024 was sands, stones, gravel and building material, followed by the segments of mineral oil and chemical products.
Despite an overall positive trend for liquid cargo, the segment of sand, stones, gravel and building materials has experienced a decrease in recent years. In fact, many goods segments have suffered under unfavourable macroeconomic conditions in Rhine countries since 2022, in the wake of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition to this, coal transport has followed a negative trend, with the exception of 2021 and 2022, as a result of the energy transition.
The Port of Rotterdam is not only the largest seaport in the Netherlands but also in the EU. Its hinterland transport is heavily concentrated on the Rhine. In 2024, 142 million tonnes of IWT were registered in the Port of Rotterdam, with 100 million tonnes making up the outgoing traffic (export to the hinterland), and 42 million tonnes corresponding to incoming traffic (import from the hinterland). In 2024, the three largest product segments in outgoing traffic were ores, chemicals and mineral oil products. For the incoming traffic, chemicals, container and mineral oil products were the most important cargo segments. IWT has a share of roughly 40% of outgoing traffic from the Port of Rotterdam.
