• Serbia is a middle Danube country where agricultural products, foodstuffs, iron ore and metals represent the core market segments in IWT. The production level of the Serbian steel industry has seen a boost in recent years due to foreign direct investment from China. Serbian IWT has benefited from these investments.
• Transport demand, as well as the company sector and employment in Serbian IWT are strongly focused on dry mass cargo transport. The Serbian fleet has a relatively high number of push boats, which reflects this focus on dry mass cargo, often transported by pushed convoys.
• The modal share of IWT is 28.7% in Serbia, strongly above the average of the EU.

 

INLAND WATERWAY TRAFFIC IN SERBIAN PORTS *


    Sources : Danube Commission, Port Governance Agency of the Republic of Serbia
    * IWT in 2020

 

DEVELOPMENT OF INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT IN SERBIAN PORTS

  • Among the five main Serbian ports, the port of Smederovo, in particular, has developed positively since 2014. While goods handling increased also in Pančevo, Prahovo and Novi Sad, the port in the Serbian capital Belgrade has lost large volumes of transport.
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    FIGURE 1: YEARLY INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT OF MAIN SERBIAN PORTS (IN 1,000 TONNES)


    Sources : Danube Commission, Port Governance Agency of the Republic of Serbia
     

  • In the first quarter of 2021, the total waterside cargo turnover of the Serbian ports amounted to 3.7 million tonnes, which was significantly higher than the volume of Q1 2020 (1.8 million tonnes).
  • Inland waterway transport in Serbia, reflected by figures shown above on goods handling in ports, is mainly dominated by two economic sectors: the steel industry and the agricultural sector. In 2018 and 2019, steel production in Serbia was five times higher than in 2013. The reason for the surge between 2013 and 2018 is the takeover of the main Serbian steel plant in Smederovo by a Chinese steel company in 20161.
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    FIGURE 2: YEARLY STEEL PRODUCTION IN SERBIA (IN 1,000 TONNES) AND SHARE WITHIN TOTAL STEEL PRODUCTION IN THE DANUBE REGION (%)


    Sources : World Steel Association, CCNR analysis
     

  • After acquiring the Smederovo steel plant, the Chinese company HBIS invested in its technical renovation, which resulted in a strong increase of steel production and raw material transport.
  • The Danube in this section is now again used intensively for the delivery of raw materials (iron ore, coal), via the port of Smederovo. This explains the strong increase in inland waterway transport in the port and boosted Serbian IWT.
  • It proves also the dependence of IWT upon traditional industries in the Danube region.
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FACT SHEET IWT IN SERBIA – ANNUAL FIGURES


     

    Sources: CCNR analysis based on Eurostat data [sbs_na_1a_se_r2], [iww_go_qnave], OECD short time indicators, Danube Commission (fleet data), Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia
     
    Notes on the factsheet:

    • ‘Share in EU total’ contains figures for the EU plus Switzerland and Serbia.
    • In contrast with transport performance, for transport volume, a country-specific share cannot be calculated.
    • The modal split share is defined as the percentage of inland waterway freight transport performance (in TKM) within total land-based transport performance. Land-based freight transport modes include road, rail and inland waterways. The road freight activity is reported according to the territoriality principle, where international road freight transport data are redistributed according to the national territories of where the transport actually takes place. These principles are implemented in the Eurostat series [tran_hv_frmod].