IWW transport per type of goods on the Danube
- Around 75% of total transport performance on the Danube takes place on the lower Danube and only one-quarter on the Middle and Upper Danube. While cargo transport on the lower Danube benefited from a resilience towards low water levels in this region, and increased volumes in 2018, the Upper and Middle Danube were impacted quite negatively by low water periods in 2018.
- In the wake of positive economic fundamentals in Danube countries in 2018 (see chapter 1), the industries that are relevant for the Danube shipping market (steel industry, mineral oil industry, agricultural sector) increased their activity in 2018, with positive results for transport demand in the first half of 2018 Source of most data and information about Danube navigation in this sub-chapter: Market observation of the Danube Commission, April 2019. Regarding the agricultural sector, Eurostat data show an increase of harvest results in Danube countries in 2018. Meteorological constraints in the 2nd half year were the main reason why this economic upward trend could not materialise in terms of a higher annual result on the Danube.
- Goods transport on the Upper Danube is presented on the basis of data at the lock of Gabčíkovo. At this border point, the total transport volume amounted to 4.5 million tonnes in 2018 (-18.4% compared to 2017). 58% of the volumes were moved by pushed convoys, and 42% by self-propelled cargo vessels. Around 66% of all volumes that passed Gabčíkovo were upstream transit traffic, with destinations mainly in Austria.
GOODS TRANSPORTED ON THE UPPER DANUBE AT GABČÍKOVO BY TYPE OF GOODS (IN MIO. T)*
Source: Danube Commission market observation
* at Gabčíkovo (border between Slovakia and Hungary)
- Goods transport on the Middle Danube is presented on the basis of data at the lock of Mohács in southern Hungary, near the border to Croatia and Serbia. Total cargo traffic was 4.5 million tonnes in 2018, a decrease of around 20% compared to 2017. 79% of these volumes were moved by pushed convoys, and 21% by self-propelled cargo vessels. Transit traffic going upstream represented 57.4% of all transported volumes.
- The agricultural and food segments (transport of grain, food products and animal fodder) suffered on the Middle Danube. The reason was not so much a bad harvest result, but more due to economic factors: grain exports from Middle Danube countries (Croatia, Hungary, Serbia) lost market shares to grain exports from countries around the Black Sea (Turkey, Ukraine).The result was a strong reduction of grain transport on the Middle Danube in the direction of the seaport of Constanța, from where this grain is exported mostly to Northern African and the Near East.
GOODS TRANSPORTED ON THE MIDDLE DANUBE AT MOHÁCS BY TYPE OF GOODS (IN MIO. T)*
Source: Danube Commission market observation
* At Mohács (southern Hungary), in the border area with Croatia and Serbia
- In 2018, the lower Danube was barely impacted by low water levels. This is visible by looking at the results for the Romanian ports in 2018. Total waterside ports traffic increased by 3.8% in Romania in 2018 and reached 24.7 million tonnes. Hereby, the only type of transport that was lower in 2018 than in 2017 was the import traffic. This reflects the lower imports of grain coming from the Middle Danube region. All other types of transport (export, national transport) increased.
- Iron ores represented 44% of all cargo traffic in Romanian ports in 2018, of which the large majority (88%) is national traffic and has its use in the Romanian steel industry, which is located in the Danube estuary region around Galati and can be accessed by seagoing vessels. Agricultural products followed with a share of 32%, metals with 4%, and oil products and coal accounted for the remaining volumes.
- There were also increasing figures observed for the traffic on the Danube–Black Sea Canal, which runs from Cernavodă, on the Danube river, to Constanța (southern arm), and to Năvodari (northern arm), on the Black SeaThe main branch of the canal, with a length of 64.4 km connecting the Port of Cernavodă with the Port of Constanța, was built between 1976 and 1984.
GOODS TRANSPORT ON THE DANUBE–BLACK SEA CANAL
Source: Danube Commission market observation
- The Danube Commission expects a relatively stable economic demand for raw materials in Danube countries (iron ores) for 2019, and better meteorological conditions for the agricultural segment. The main bottlenecks for Danube navigation are not the economic prospects (which are very positive for Danube countries, see chapter 1), but the factors related to the river infrastructure in parts of the Danube. This concerns mainly the Upper and Middle Danube, while the Lower Danube has much more favourable hydrological conditions.
IWW container transport in Europe
- Nearly 100 % of all container transport performance (tkm) on European inland waterways takes place in only four countries: the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France.
- Container transport decreased in 2018 in most Rhine countries, due to low water levels on the Rhine in the second half of the year. The following percentage figures are based on TEU: Germany had the strongest decrease with -8 %, as the traditional Rhine in Germany was much more affected by low waters than the Rhine delta in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the decrease was quite modest (-3%). France also witnessed a decrease (-5 %), which was entirely due to the French part of the Rhine, as container transport in other French basins was either stagnant or increasing (see figures per basin further below). Belgium was the only Rhine country with a positive rate of change in 2018 (+3 %), as its container traffic is only partly Rhine-related. Other trading routes in Belgium play a great role too (see container transport per river basin further below).
CONTAINER TRANSPORT ON INLAND WATERWAYS IN EUROPE (IN MILLION TEU)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_actygo]
* The figures for the countries cannot be added together because this would incur double counting. (The total value for EU-28 takes into account cross-border container traffic).
- Almost 50 million tonnes were transported in containers in the Netherlands in 2018, 4% less than in 2017. In Germany, 21.1 million tonnes represented a decrease by 10%. In France, the result was 3.7 million tonnes (-13%).
CONTAINER TRANSPORT ON INLAND WATERWAYS IN EUROPE (IN MILLION TONNES)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_actygo]
* The figures for the countries cannot be added together because this would incur double counting. (The total value for EU-28 takes into account cross-border container traffic).
Modal split of IWW in container transport
- The reasons for a high IWT modal share in Belgium and in the Netherlands are manifold: a dense and growing network of intermodal container terminals with an increasing number of services, a long network of rivers and canals, and heavily populated urban areas with a high market potential.
IWT MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR CONTAINER TRANSPORT (%, BASED ON TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE)
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_actygo], [road_go_ta_tcrg], [rail_go_contwgt], CCNR analysis
Container transport per river basin
- TEU volumes on the Rhine had been increasing for five years in a row, but in 2018 they fell by 10% compared to 2017, the main reason being the low water period in the second half of the year. The result in 2018 (2.13 million TEU) was still higher than in 2013.
CONTAINER TRANSPORT ON THE TRADITIONAL RHINE (IN 1,000 TEU) IN THE PERIOD 2000-2018
Source: Destatis
- Most of the container transport on other German waterways takes place in the northern and north-western parts of Germany. These regions were rather resilient towards low water levels, and registered higher TEU results than in 2017.
- The Mosel is a newcomer river for container transport, and TEU figures started to rise in 2015, in the wake of the introduction of a regular container line on this river, linking container terminals and ports on the Mosel with the Rhine.
CONTAINER TRANSPORT PER WATERWAY IN GERMANY (IN 1,000 TEU)
Source: Destatis and Mosel Commission
- Waterways in Flanders also continued their upward trend in container transport. The main reasons for this appear to be resilience towards low waters (due to natural factors) and the positive trend of container transport in the hinterland of seaports such as Antwerp (which aims to increase the modal share of IWT for container transport in its hinterland).
CONTAINER TRANSPORT PER WATERWAY IN FLANDERS (IN 1,000 TEU)
Source: De Vlaamse Waterweg
- In Wallonia, the Direction générale opérationnelle de la Mobilité et des Voies hydrauliques collects data on container transport on the basis of several container terminals Liège Trilogiport, Liège Container Terminal, Euroports Inland Terminals at Monsin, Terminaux de Ghlien et de Garocentre – La Louvière. The administration estimates a level of more than 100,000 TEU for the container transport in Wallonia, and strongly growing figures from 2012 onwards.
- In the neighbouring Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France, container transport more than doubled between 2010 and 2018 and also reached a level of more than 100,000 TEU. In this region, inland ports such as the port of Lille follow a strategy of becoming hinterland hubs for large seaports. For inland navigation and for inland ports, this results in more container traffic, and for the seaports, it means a reduction of the bottleneck problems in container handling.
CONTAINER TRANSPORT PER BASIN IN FRANCE (IN 1,000 TEU)*
Source: VNF
* The Rhine is excluded as it is shown separately.
Inland navigation and other modes of transport
Road data registered in the Eurostat database are based on transport by country of registration, not on transport on national territory. This could have some effects on the modal split shares presented in this part of the report
IWW MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION IN RHINE AND DANUBE COUNTRIES (%, BASED ON TONNE-KILOMETRES)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood]
* Share of inland waterway transport performance in total (IWT + Road + Rail) transport performance. Modal split for Belgium in 2017 based on estimations. Rail data for Luxembourg and road data for Bulgaria not yet available for 2017.
- The following figures present the results of modal split calculations for eight European countries per goods segment. These eight countries have a share of about 99% of the total transport performance on European inland waterways.
- Ores, sands, stones, gravel and building materials: It can be regarded as a “hybrid” product segment, as it is related to steel production on the one hand and the construction activity (related to sands, stones, gravel) on the other hand. These are two quite separate markets, and a split of the data is not possible within the NST 2007 goods classification. In Hungary, the decrease in IWT market shares for this market segment can be explained by the strong increase of rail performance, which almost doubled in 2017 compared to 2016.
MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR ORES, SANDS, STONES, GRAVEL (EN %, SUR LA BASE DE LA PRESTATION DE TRANSPORT)
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood], CCNR analysis
- Agricultural products: The multimodal data for the large Danube country of Romania reveal that IWT has increased its transport performance for agricultural products over the years but has nevertheless lost market shares against road and rail. Most of the other countries show a relatively constant modal split share of inland navigation for this product segment.
MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS (%, BASED ON TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood], CCNR analysis
* Rail data for Belgium not yet available for 2017
- Chemical products: The multimodal data show that IWT has gained market shares since 2008 in most European IWT countries.
MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR CHEMICAL PRODUCTS (%, BASED ON TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood], CCNR analysis
* Rail data for Belgium not yet available for 2017
- Detailed analysis reveals that such an increase can be explained by various reasons. In Rhine countries, road transport for chemicals has been decreasing for several years with quite a robust trend. For example, in the Netherlands, the share of road transport for chemicals fell from 65% in 2008 to 55% in 2017. However, the IWT’s share for chemicals increased from 31% to more than 40% during the same period. In Rhine countries, falling figures for road and partly for rail transport can be explained by safety issues. Indeed, higher safety standards apply today to tanker shipping, which is an advantage compared to other transport modes in this segment.
- The Danube countries show different patterns. Here, road transport of chemicals follows an increasing trend. Nevertheless, IWT gained market shares for chemicals in Danube countries because the performance of IWT increased, and because rail transport of chemicals fell strongly.
- Metals and metal products: Metals transport is important both in the Rhine and in the Danube region due to the steel industries in both these parts of Europe. However, the modal split of IWT evolved more positively in the Rhine basin than in the Danube basin.
MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR METALS AND METAL PRODUCTS (%, BASED ON TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE)*
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood], CCNR analysis
* Rail data for Belgium not yet available for 2017
- Petroleum products: Europe’s largest refineries can be found in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. At the same time, the size of the tanker fleet in the Rhine basin is seven times higher than the size of the Danube tanker fleet. This can explain the high modal share of IWT in the Netherlands, Germany and in Belgium.
MODAL SPLIT SHARE EVOLUTION FOR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS (%, BASED ON TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE)
Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], [road_go_ta_tg], [rail_go_grpgood], CCNR analysis
