• European inland navigation was heavily hit by the difficult macroeconomic circumstances, with volumes decreasing in all main market segments – including containers, a segment previously projected to develop strongly.
• Cargo transport on the entire Rhine (from Basel to the North Sea) amounted to 262.3 million tonnes in 2023, compared to 292.3 in 2022 (-10.2%). In 2023, transport of goods on the Rhine was negatively affected by factors such as reduced aggregate demand due to high inflation, the Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine and other geopolitical conflicts leading to a global economic slowdown.
• Container transport on the Rhine was notably reduced by -10.4% in 2023. This decrease reflects a weakness in maritime container transport. Data from the port of Rotterdam show a drop in maritime container throughput by -7%.

 

TRANSPORT IN EUROPE AND BY COUNTRY (TKM)

    TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE IN IWT ON THE NATIONAL TERRITORY OF EACH COUNTRY IN EUROPE – COMPARISON BETWEEN 2022 AND 2023 (IN MILLION TKM) *


      Sources: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo] and [iww_go_nave], OECD (Switzerland, and the Republic of Moldova), UK Department for Transport
      * The share of IWT performance in Europe in 2022 and 2023 for Ukraine and Italy is not available due to a delay in the publication of the data.

       

      FIGURE 1: IWT TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE BETWEEN 2017 AND 2023 IN MAIN EUROPEAN IWT COUNTRIES (IN MILLION TKM) *


      Sources: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo] and [iww_go_qnave], OECD (Switzerland and the Republic of Moldova), UK Department for Transport
      * The values for Ukraine, Italy (2022 and 2023) and Serbia (2017) are not available.
      Note: for the UK, IWT is defined as non-seagoing traffic which takes place entirely within inland waters and river-sea transport (seagoing vessels navigating partly at sea and on inland waterways). In this figure, for the sake of consistency with the methodology used by Eurostat, only the transport performance related to the traffic taking place wholly within inland waters is reported (amounting to 71 million TKM). However, it is worth noting that most of IWT in the UK consists of river-sea transport (amounting to almost 1.3 billion TKM). Overall, the IWT performance in the UK is reported to reach almost 1.4 billion TKM.

       

    • In 2023, in terms of inland navigation for Europe (EU-27 plus Switzerland, Serbia and Republic of Moldova, and excluding Ukraine), freight transport performance decreased by -3.8% compared to 2022. Rhine countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland) accounted for 80.1% of total inland waterway transport performance in the EU-27, plus Switzerland, Serbia and the Republic of Moldova. The share for Danube countries was 19.6% (excluding Ukraine).
    •  

      FIGURE 2: INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN 2023 (IN BILLION TKM) *


      Sources: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo] and [iww_go_qnave], OECD (Switzerland and the Republic of Moldova), UK Department for Transport
      * Data for Ukraine and Italy were not available for 2022 and 2023.

       

    • From the total inland waterway transport performance in Europe in 2022, which amounted to around 122 billion TKM (without Ukraine, Switzerland, Serbia, and Republic of Moldova), 74.8% represented transport that crossed a border in one way or another – whether it be in the form of export, import or transit traffic. Transit traffic taken separately had a share of 18.1% and export and import traffic had a share of 28.8% and 27.8%, respectively. Eurostat figures were not available for 2023.
    •  

      FIGURE 3: YEARLY INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE IN THE EU-27
      (IN BILLION TKM) *


      Source: Eurostat [iww_go_atygo]
      * EU-27 according to member countries in 2022

     
     

    TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE BY MAIN EUROPEAN RIVER BASINS




      Sources: CCNR analysis based on Destatis, VNF, Eurostat [iww_go_atygo], UK Department for Transport
      Figures for the Po are from 2022, the others are from 2023.

       

      RHINE BASIN


         
        Transport volume and transport performance on the entire Rhine (from Basel to the North Sea)

        • In the past, this chapter reported on the volumes transported on the Traditional Rhine only, namely the Rhine from Basel to the German-Dutch border. From 2023 onwards, it became possible to report on transport volumes on the entire Rhine from Basel to the North Sea.
        • Cargo transport on the entire Rhine (from Basel to the North Sea) amounted to 262.3 million tonnes in 2023, compared to 292.3 in 2022 (-10.2%).
          – The Traditional Rhine (from Basel to the German-Dutch border) amounted to 146.1 million tonnes in 2023, compared to 155.5 million tonnes in 2022 (-6.0%).
          – The Rhine delta in the Netherlands (from the German-Dutch border to the North Sea, including the link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link10) amounted to 209.0 million tonnes in 2023 compared to 237.8 million tonnes in 2022 (-12.1%).
        • When calculating the total volume of goods transported on the entire Rhine, all steps were taken to avoid the double counting of volumes transported on both stretches. This is why the volumes on these two stretches cannot simply be added together, as certain volumes are transported on both stretches.
        •  

          FIGURE 4: FREIGHT TRANSPORT VOLUME (IN MILLIONS TONNES) AND TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE (IN MILLION TKM) ON THE ENTIRE RHINE *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * In earlier reports, only the volumes transported on the Traditional Rhine, namely the Rhine from Basel to the German-Dutch border, were reported. From now onwards, it will become possible to report on transport volumes on the entire Rhine from Basel to the North Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link). When calculating the total volume of goods transported on the entire Rhine, all steps were taken to avoid double counting.

           

          FIGURE 5: FREIGHT TRANSPORT ON THE TRADITIONAL RHINE AND ON THE LOWER RHINE IN THE NETHERLANDS (IN MILLION TONNES) *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * To avoid double counting, the volumes on the different stretches cannot be added together, as certain volumes are transported on both stretches.
          Traditional Rhine = Rhine from Rheinfelden (CH) to the German-Dutch border
          Lower Rhine in the Netherlands = Rhine from the German-Dutch border to the North Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link)

           
           

        Transport activity at different Rhine stretches, on Rhine affluents and on canals linked to the Rhine

        • In terms of geographical structure, the transport intensity is highest on the Lower Rhine compared to the Middle and Upper Rhine, as illustrated in Figure 6. This higher intensity on the Lower Rhine can be explained by several reasons:
          – Dense delta network in the Netherlands, with important petroleum and chemical industrial hubs and a high number of container terminals.
          – Important steel and petroleum industrial hub in the Lower Rhine region in Germany.
          – High fairway depths on the Lower Rhine.
        •  

          FIGURE 6 : FREIGHT TRANSPORT ON THE DIFFERENT STRETCHES OF THE RHINE (IN MILLION TONNES) *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * To avoid double counting, the volumes on the different Rhine stretches cannot be calculated together, as certain volumes are present on several Rhine stretches.

           

        Rhine transport by cargo segment

        • In terms of global cargo transport volumes for the entire Rhine, the segments of mineral oil products, chemicals and sand, stones, gravel, were the top three contributors both in 2022 and 2023.
        •  

          FIGURE 7: CARGO TRANSPORT ON THE ENTIRE RHINE * BY TYPE OF GOODS (IN MILLION TONNES) **



          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * Entire Rhine = Rhine from Rheinfelden (CH) to the North-Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link)
          ** For containers: net-weight

           

        • Overall, in the year 2023, transport of goods on the entire Rhine was negatively affected by factors such as reduced aggregate demand due to high inflation, the Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine and other geopolitical conflicts leading to a slowdown in the global economy. One example is the chemical production in the largest producer country (Germany) which decreased by -11% in 2023, due to less aggregate demand for chemicals. This decrease is almost identical to the -11.4% decrease of chemical transport on the Rhine.
        • Also, for other goods segments, the decrease in inland navigation is explained by the decrease in other sectors of the economy such as world trade. Maritime statistics are representative for world trade, as 75% of all world trade is carried out by seaborne trade.11 From this viewpoint, it is important to refer to maritime container transport in the Port of Rotterdam, which showed a -7% decrease in 2023 compared to 2022. The main reasons for this are lower consumption, lower production in Europe and the loss of volumes from and to Russia due to the sanctions. This rate of decrease is smaller than the rate of decrease in inland container barging on the Rhine (-10.4%). This leads to the conclusion that inland navigation lost market shares in container transport to other transport modes.
        • The explanation of the rather positive result for iron ore is the replenishment of iron ore stocks in 2023. Iron ore stocks were replenished after only little iron ore was imported in 2022 due to low steel production. The negative result for agricultural products is due to drought and flooding and the resulting crop failures in the European agricultural sector.12 Grain harvest results in Rhine countries were exceptionally low in 2023 (see also Chapter 9, short-term outlook).
        • It can also be observed that there was no booming coal transport in 2023, unlike in the previous year. The reason is the drop in demand for coal in the energy sector.
        • An analysis of cargo segments split between the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands and the Traditional Rhine enables a better understanding of the dynamics regarding transport of goods per type of products along the Rhine. The Lower Rhine in the Netherlands has a far greater amount of chemicals transport compared to the Traditional Rhine. Container transport as well as transport of sand, stones and gravel are also more intense on the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands. For commodities and final products of the steel industry, as well as coal for the energy sector, the volumes are rather evenly distributed between the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands and the Traditional Rhine.
        •  

          FIGURE 8: CARGO TRANSPORT ON THE RHINE BY TYPE OF GOODS – SPLIT BETWEEN THE LOWER RHINE IN THE NETHERLANDS AND THE TRADITIONAL RHINE IN 2023 (IN MILLION TONNES) *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * Traditional Rhine = Rhine from Rheinfelden (CH) to the German-Dutch border; Lower Rhine in the Netherlands = Rhine from the German-Dutch border to the North Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link)

           

        • Along with the overall cargo transport on the Rhine, cargo transport and vessel movements are registered at specific measurement points (locks or border points). The relevant volumes represent the transport activity only at these points and do not represent total Rhine transport. However, this approach reveals existing differences in transport intensity between different Rhine stretches, for example between the Lower and the Upper Rhine.
        •  

          TABLE 1: MEASUREMENT POINTS FOR FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN THE RHINE BASIN

          Rhine stretch or affluentMeasurement point Name Volume of transport (in million tonnes)Number of cargo vessels passing
          202120222023202120222023
          Lower Rhine *Border DE/NLEmmerich134.5124.9117.9106,497105,886105,809
          Upper RhineBorder DE/FRIffezheim19.116.316.023,63124,27422,272
          Wesel-Datteln Canal *Junction with RhineWesel-Friedrichsfeld19.117.916.218,96116,5215,255
          Rhein-Herne Canal *Junction with RhineDuisburg-Meiderich13.612.410.711,68815,411,079
          MainJunction with RhineMainz-Kostheim12.111.111.515,21314,30913,707
          MoselleJunction with RhineKoblenz9.28.87.78,4599,1065,073
          NeckarJunction with RhineMannheim-Feudenheim5.74.53.95,6635,4844,463

          Sources: German Waterway and Shipping Administration, Destatis, Moselle Commission
          * The source for the volume of transport on the Lower Rhine and on the two canals is the German Statistical Office (Destatis), whereas for all other data in the table, the source is the German Waterway Administration.

           

        Container transport on the Rhine

        • Between 2018 and 2023, container transport on the Rhine was impacted by a series of negative events:
          – The low water period of 2018 and 2022 caused cargo losses in both years. The 2018 low water period led to modal share losses in the following years.
          – The introduction of new tariffs in world trade in 2019 caused a deterioration in the business environment and in world trade activity, which is impacting both seaborne container throughput as well as inland container barging.
          – In 2021, the overall business environment and world trade were still rather bleak due to disruptions in supply chains and rising inflation.
          – In 2022, the Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine broke out, causing high inflation and further disruptions in world trade.
          – A long running factor is the ageing of the population in western Europe.
          – Over all these years, inland container barging suffered also due to congestion in seaports and related delays.

        • Measured in million tonnes, the result for container transport on the entire Rhine (from Basel to the North Sea) in 2023 was -10.4% lower than in the year 2022 (-11.6% for the Traditional Rhine and -13.1% for the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands).
        • In the TEU unit, the rate of decrease was -10.4% for the entire Rhine (-7.8% for the Traditional Rhine and -10.8% for the Lower Rhine in the Netherlands).
        •  

          FIGURE 9: CONTAINER TRANSPORT ON THE TRADITIONAL RHINE AND THE LOWER RHINE IN THE NETHERLANDS (IN MILLION TONNES, NET WEIGHT OF GOODS IN CONTAINERS), 2014-2023 *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * Traditional Rhine = Rhine from Rheinfelden (CH) to the German-Dutch border; Lower Rhine in the Netherlands = Rhine from the German-Dutch border to the North Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link)

           

          FIGURE 10: CONTAINER TRANSPORT ON THE TRADITIONAL RHINE AND THE LOWER RHINE IN THE NETHERLANDS (IN MILLION TEU), 2014-2023 *


          Source: CCNR analysis based on Destatis and Rijkswaterstaat
          * Traditional Rhine = Rhine from Rheinfelden (CH) to the German-Dutch border; Lower Rhine in the Netherlands = Rhine from the German-Dutch border to the North Sea (including link to Antwerp via the Rhine-Scheldt link)

           

      DANUBE BASIN

         
        Transport volume and transport performance on the Danube

        • Cargo transport on the entire navigable Danube between Kelheim (Germany) and the Black Sea via the Danube-Black Sea Canal and the Sulina Canal lies in the range of between 34 and 40 million tonnes per year.13 Transport performance on the Danube (EU Danube countries plus Serbia) reached 23.9 billion TKM in 2022, a decrease of -20% compared to 2021.
        •  

          FIGURE 11: FREIGHT TRANSPORT VOLUME (IN MILLION TONNES) AND TRANSPORT PERFORMANCE (IN MILLION TKM) ON THE DANUBE *


          Sources: for transport volumes – viadonau, Annual reports on Danube navigation; for transport performance – Eurostat [iww_go_atygo] and [iww_go_qnave] (Serbia)
          * Transport performance in IWT in all EU Danube countries

           

        Danube transport at specific measurement points

        • The waterway administrations register data at certain borders or measurement points which are described in the following table.
        •  

          TABLE 2: MEASUREMENT POINTS FOR DANUBE FREIGHT TRANSPORT

          Danube stretch or affluentMeasurement point Name Volume of transport (in million tonnes)
          2020202120222023
          Upper DanubeBorder Germany/AustriaLock of Jochenstein2.32.22.22.1
          Upper DanubeBorder Slovakia/HungaryLock of Gabčíkovo5.04.94.34.0
          Middle DanubeBorder Hungary/Croatia/SerbiaMohács6.15.84.03.4
          Danube-Black Sea CanalNo specific point, total volumes on the canal are taken into accountCanal authority CAN1316.517.317.323.4
          Sulina CanalNo specific point, total volumes on the canal are taken into accountWaterway administration AFDJ144.55.110.616.4

          Source: Danube Commission market observation
           

        • Due to the high-water depths in the lower Danube section, in particular in the Danube delta region (also known as ‘maritime Danube’), cargo transport in the Lower Danube area attains much higher values than on river sections further upstream.
        • This is notably the case for the Danube-Black Sea Canal, running from Cernavodă on the Danube River to Constanţa on the Black Sea (southern arm) and to Năvodari (northern arm) on the Black Sea.
        • Another estuary arm is the Sulina Canal, which flows into the Black Sea in the Danube delta region near the Romanian-Ukrainian border. The exceptional increase of transport in 2022 and 2023 for both canals was driven by the need to support Ukrainian exports of grain via alternative routes (‘Solidarity Lanes EU-Ukraine’). In this respect, the Danube Commission undertook a number of initiatives to contribute to solving problems related to the proper functioning of the Lower Danube corridor and to facilitate existing IWT logistics. It also promoted a more active use of the transport potential of the Danube waterway based on a systematic analysis of identified cargo flows and throughput capacity of the ports on the Lower Danube, including the Port of Constanţa.
        •  

        Danube transport by cargo segment

        • The Russian full-scale invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine led to the emergence of several factors weighing heavily on Danube navigation: the energy crisis, the shortage and rise in iron ore prices, restrictions to the export of grain and other food products as well as rising fuel prices. As a result, in 2023 and for the second year in a row, volumes of transport decreased for almost all cargo segments. For agribulk, the most important cargo segment transported on the Danube, a slight increase was observed in 2023 compared to 2022 (+32.8%), however, still remaining at -70% pre-war levels.
        •  

          FIGURE 12: GOODS TRANSPORT ON THE MIDDLE DANUBE (IN MILLION TONNES) *


          Source: Danube Commission market observation
          * At Mohács (southern Hungary – border area with Croatia and Serbia)

           
           

    CONTAINER TRANSPORT PER COUNTRY IN EUROPE

      THE WHOLE EUROPEAN AND GEOGRAPHICAL STRUCTURE

      • In 2022, with 12 billion TKM, more than 6 million TEU and over 52 million tonnes of cargo in containers, container transport on EU inland waterways represented 9.8% of the total IWW transport performance of approximately 122 billion TKM in the EU. Moreover, 99.4% of the container transport performance (TKM) took place in Rhine countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, Luxembourg). Container transport on the Danube accounted for 0.5% and container transport in Sweden accounted for 0.1%.

       

      RHINE COUNTRIES

      • In 2023, container transport measured in TEU regressed by -12.6% in the Netherlands, by -7.7% in Germany, by -18.7% in Belgium and by -11.1% in France. In the Netherlands, 39.6 million tonnes of cargo were transported in containers (-13.0% compared to 2022), making this country the frontrunner in inland waterway container transport in Europe.
      •  

        FIGURE 13: IWW CONTAINER TRANSPORT PER RHINE COUNTRY (IN MILLION TEU) *


        Source: Eurostat [iww_go_actygo] and [iww_go_qcnave]
        * In Luxembourg, 17,436; 14,132; 9,995 and 10,750 TEU were recorded for 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

         

      DANUBE COUNTRIES

      • The two Danube countries with the highest container transport are currently Romania and Hungary. In 2023, 3,550 TEU were transported on Hungarian inland waterways. In Romania, container transport amounted to 34,594 TEU in 2023, which was a spurred increase compared to previous years. Considering the weight of cargo, container transport on Hungarian waterways represented 8,000 tonnes in 2023. In Romania, 475,000 tonnes of cargo were transported in containers. These values illustrate the immense gap towards Rhine countries. In 2023, 39.6 million tonnes were transported in containers on inland waterways in the Netherlands, 16.0 million tonnes in Belgium, 16.3 million tonnes in Germany and 3.5 million tonnes in France.

     
     

    INLAND NAVIGATION AND OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT

      FIGURE 14: MODAL SPLIT SHARE OF INLAND TRANSPORT MODES IN THE EU-27 (IN %) 2009-2022


      Source: Eurostat [tran_hv_frmod]
       

    • Over the last decade, modal split shares have overall decreased for IWT and rail at the level of the EU-27, while those of road transport have increased. IWT lost 2.3 percentage points in the last 10 years, to reach 5.1% in 2022, its lowest level since 2005. It is well behind road transport (77.8% in 2022, +4.3 percentage points in the last 10 years) and rail transport (17.1%, -2.0 percentage points in the last 10 years). As many EU countries do not have inland waterways, the overall modal split of IWT at the EU level should not be used as a performance indicator for the success of inland waterway transport in the EU.
    •  

      FIGURES 15 AND 16: IWW MODAL SPLIT EVOLUTION IN RHINE AND DANUBE COUNTRIES (IN %, BASED ON TONNE-KILOMETRES) *



      Source: Eurostat [tran_hv_frmod]
      * Share of inland waterway transport performance in total (IWT + Road + Rail) transport performance

       

    • Modal split shares of inland waterway transport (IWT) in main IWT countries have decreased in the last decade. In the Netherlands, the modal split share of IWT increased until 2012, to reach a peak at 47.2%. It decreased in the following years, reaching 41.0% in 2022. This decline also took place in Germany, as the IWT modal share fell below the 7.0% mark for the first time since 2005. Within Danube countries, Romania and Bulgaria record high IWT modal shares. However, after a first decrease in 2021, both sustained another strong decrease in their IWT modal shares in 2022 reaching respectively 20.5% (-4.6 percentage points lost to road) and 16.6% (-7.8 percentage points lost to both road and rail).