CHAPTER 3: OVERVIEW OF THE EUROPEAN INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT LABOUR MARKET – 1

• The data that are arguably best suited for a country-by-country comparison of employment statistics per sector in Europe are the Eurostat structural business statistics (SBS) data. However, minor differences in data collection between countries still prevail, e. g. due to a different counting of foreign branches of local enterprises and vice versa. The Eurostat SBS data are based on administrative data and collected by the national statistical institutes according to rules commonly agreed upon and available at NACE (Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community) levels. For inland navigation, this means that there are two main relevant categories, namely inland passenger water transport (NACE category 50.3) and inland freight water transport (NACE category 50.4). It should be noted that these NACE categories include employment on board of vessels but not the employment of loading and unloading activities in ports and the operation of transport infrastructure (some information regarding port workers are however included at the end of this chapter). Thus, the figures provided in this chapter should not be understood as exhaustive regarding the numbers of jobs created by inland navigation activities as a whole. Such an understanding would underestimate the importance of inland navigation.
• According to Eurostat, the number of persons employed covers:
  – persons who are working in the statistical unit (for the purpose of this report the relevant statistical unit would be the company working in the NACE category 50.3 or 50.4) as well as those persons working outside of the unit but who belong to and who are paid by that unit;
  – persons who are working during part of or during the entire reference period. Therefore, seasonal or temporary staff, including apprentices, are covered by this definition.
• In addition, the number of persons employed covers all paid employees, unpaid working owners and helping family members. Persons absent for a short period and those who are on strike as well as those working from home, sales representatives and delivery staff that are on the payroll of the statistical unit, are also included.
• One drawback of collecting Eurostat SBS data at company level is that persons working for companies having primary activities other than inland navigation, are not necessarily counted as being employed in inland navigation, even if they actually work on board of vessels on inland waterways. This particularly applies to employees of temporary employment agencies. Even if they work in inland navigation on board of vessels, they are considered to be an employee of their temporary employment agency and thus counted as part of a different NACE category. For instance, according to this definition, non-nautical crew, such as the hospitality and gastronomical staff working on board inland passenger vessels would be included as part of the inland navigation staff if they were hired by companies belonging to the inland navigation NACE categories 50.3 or 50.4. However, they would not be considered as inland navigation staff if they were supplied by or borrowed from a company operating in different NACE categories, for instance agency workers supplied by employment agencies. This also leads to an underestimation of the number of persons working in inland navigation. This is particularly true in the passenger transport sector where hospitality staff are often hired through employment agencies or supplied by other companies whose main activity falls outside the NACE categories 50.3 and 50.4.
• Another problem with the Eurostat Structural Business Statistics (SBS) data is that the datasets are incomplete for many countries. While all or nearly all relevant data are available for Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland and Slovakia, crucial data for the purpose of this report are not available concerning some of the years, such as the number of employed⁸ persons or employees in relevant IWT countries such as Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, France and Bulgaria.
• This being said, the data collection at company level also has a distinct advantage. It largely prevents double counting that could occur due to the multinational character of European inland navigation if personnel were counted at their place of work instead of at the location of their companies.
• According to the Eurostat SBS, the total number of persons employed in the transport of goods and passengers on inland waterways in Europe⁹ amounted to approximately 41,923 in 2020, of whom around 44% work in passenger transport and the other 56% in freight transport. This figure is not available for 2021.
• It should be noted that it is not possible to assess the number of employed persons per vessel based on Eurostat data for a number of reasons. Agency workers and workers from multimodal companies are not included whereas for passenger transport, gastronomical staff are included, making it impossible to single out the nautical staff.
• As far as inland passenger transport is concerned, Germany represents the country with the highest labour force employed in the sector. The Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Italy also show high shares of employment in the sector.
• From 2011 to 2018, the number of persons employed in the passenger transport sector in Europe has continuously increased as a result of several factors, including the increase in the number of cruise vessels in European IWT market and the increase in demand for river cruises. However, in 2019 and especially in 2020, almost all European countries registered a substantial decrease in workers. The outbreak of the global health crisis and the consequent containment measures established by the European Union and member states’ governments severely affected the transport of passengers. Indeed, the movement of people, especially for touristic reasons, suffered a major halt in the most critical months of the health crisis. In the summer of 2020, restrictive measures started to ease, however, the negative effects on people’s movement persisted due to the uncertainty of future developments of the virus and the following waves of contagion. Presumably, it is the decrease in passenger transport activities that led to a drop in the labour force needed in the sector. Yet, this decrease did not solve the issue of staff shortage. Indeed, today, with the recovery of the passenger transport activity, the issue of staff shortage has become more acute.
• In IWW passenger transport, Germany experienced a reduction of more than 1,800 workers between 2019 and 2020, from 6,687 to 4,793 employed persons. As in Germany, other European countries registered consistent reductions in personnel in 2020. Sweden is an evident example since, in 2020, its transport labour force in passenger transport reduced from 2,336 workers to 835.
• Figures for the labour force in 2021 increased overall and per country compared to 2020, mirroring the progressive recovery of the inland waterway passenger transport after the Covid-19 crisis. In the Netherlands, the number of employed persons slightly decreased between 2020 and 2021.

FIGURE 1: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN EUROPE *

• Concerning inland waterways freight transport, the Netherlands have the undisputed leading role in terms of employed persons, followed by Germany, France and Romania.
• Figure 2 shows a stable trend for employment in IWW freight transport between 2008 and 2021. Unlike the passenger transport sector, the number of employed persons does not show substantial decreases in 2020. This shows that the slowdown or, in certain cases, the closure of the economic activities in the crucial months of the pandemic did not severely affect the employment of inland navigation freight transport.

FIGURE 2: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN EUROPE *

• In parallel with employment figures, the number of companies per country is essential to understand the market structure of the different European countries and, consequently, the working conditions of its labour force.
• The majority of IWT companies in Europe are registered in the Netherlands. Also considering the dimension of the Dutch labour force in the sector, it is possible to affirm that, on average, the Netherlands’ market structure is composed mainly of small companies. The average number of persons per company in the Netherlands is about three workers per company in freight transport and two workers per company in passenger transport. However, Germany has a higher number of larger companies which represents an average of ten employed persons per company in freight transport and 13 employed persons in passenger transport. Concerning both passenger and freight transport, a tendency towards more consolidation is reported by banks.
• Overall, the number of passenger transport companies shows an increasing trend between 2012 and 2015. Subsequently, they stabilised in number until 2020, when a slight decrease is registered. The year 2021 showed a clear increase in the number of companies.

FIGURE 3: NUMBER OF COMPANIES PER COUNTRY IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN EUROPE *

• Concerning inland navigation freight transport, figure 4 shows a decreasing trend in the number of companies from 2014 to 2021. Dutch companies count for more than half of those registered in all European countries, followed by France and Germany, which also have a rather high share. Nevertheless, the three countries have different market structures. While the German market is composed of a higher number of medium sized companies relative to its labour force and transport performance, the Netherlands and France present a relatively higher number of small firms.

FIGURE 4: NUMBER OF COMPANIES PER COUNTRY IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN EUROPE *

• Since 2008, the share of persons employed in inland passenger transport lies between 40 and 53% of the total IWT European labour force. Whereas between 2014 and 2018, the share increased for almost all European countries, in 2019 and – more remarkably in 2020 – passenger transport labour force suffered a consistent reduction.

FIGURE 5: SHARE OF PASSENGER TRANSPORT WITHIN IWW EMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE (%) *

• According to figure 6, not all European countries report a reduction in persons employed in passenger transport between 2014 and 2021. Some countries such as Switzerland, France, Portugal, Italy and Romania have increased the labour force of the inland waterway transport of persons compared to 2014. The positive trend does not suggest that the pandemic did not affect these countries, since a comparison with 2019 would highlight the negative effects of the Covid-19 virus on the sector.

FIGURE 6: DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN 2021 COMPARED TO 2014 *

• With regard to passenger transport, employment in freight transport was affected by a reduction of workers between 2014 and 2021. It is interesting to note that, while for passenger transport the decrease can mainly be observed between 2019 and 2020, for freight transport it appears as a less recent trend, which started before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, the countries that present in figure 7 a substantial reduction in employed persons between 2014 and 2021, namely the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania, there is not a sharp drop between 2019 and 2020 but rather a moderate decreasing trend which started after 2014. This tendency supports the assertion that the freight transport sector has not been considerably affected by the economic and social consequences of the health crisis as was the passenger transport sector.

FIGURE 7: DIFFERENCE IN THE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN 2021 COMPARED TO 2014 *

• According to figures 8 and 9, Switzerland has the highest average number of persons employed per company in Europe. The explanation can be attributed to the fact that its market is dominated by large river cruise companies with an average of 60 employed persons per firm. Moreover, concerning IWW freight transport, the country counts a large share of tanker barging companies, which on average are larger both in terms of staff and loading capacity compared to dry cargo companies. The large average company size in Switzerland could also be explained by the appealing tax structure of Switzerland which attracts owners of large companies to base their headquarters in Switzerland.
• The Swiss structure contrasts with the fragmented market structure prevailing in most other Rhine countries, such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands which present a market structure mainly composed of a high number of small family businesses, which own or operate one or two cargo vessels each. Germany places itself in between by presenting a lower degree of fragmentation than these countries.
• In Danube countries, the market structure of freight transport is characterised by previously state-owned companies and presents a higher share of larger companies. As a result, countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia show an average of about 20 employed persons per company in the freight transport sector.

FIGURE 8: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED PER COMPANY PER COUNTRY IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN 2022 *

FIGURE 9: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED PER COMPANY PER COUNTRY IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN 2022 *

• In 2020, the European Union had, on average, five employed persons per inland waterway passenger transport company and nine employed persons per inland waterway freight transport companies. For 2021, the average was four employed persons per company within passenger transport, while the data for freight transport were missing. Within these figures, Germany and the Netherlands play a strong influencing role, since they represent the biggest players in terms of number of companies in Europe.
• The passenger and freight transport sectors show several differences regarding their evolution in the past ten years. On the one hand, the freight transport workforce remained relatively stable over the years that are analysed. On the other hand, the number of employed persons in passenger transport followed an upward trend between 2014 and 2019. However, the increasing curve was interrupted in 2020 as a result of the severe effects of the Covid-19 crisis. On the other hand, as the passenger sector is recovering from the Covid-19 crisis, it is observed that employment figures began to increase again as from 2021.
• In addition to the substantial increase in the passenger transport workforce since 2013, it can also be noted that positions in inland navigation passenger transport are less and less impacted by seasonal breaks, leading to more stable career opportunities. Indeed, technological reasons, such as the use of modern passenger vessels, including both cruise and day trip vessels, and operational reasons such as a wider offer of cruise types and on-board events, have considerably extended the service period for passenger transport.

FIGURE 10: DEVELOPMENT OF EMPLOYMENT IN FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN THE INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT SECTOR IN EUROPE *

• Figures 11 to 46 show the evolution of all persons employed and the separation into employees and self-employed persons. These data are available up until 2021 on Eurostat SBS, except for freight and passenger transport in Belgium and Serbia, and passenger transport in Slovakia, for which data are available up until 2020.
• The prevalence of self-employment in IWT is much higher in western Europe than in eastern Europe where, apart from Poland and passenger transport in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the figures are very low. This phenomenon can probably be explained by the historical fact that self-employment was almost non-existent in socialist economic systems.

FIGURES 11 TO 40: EVOLUTION OF THE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWT BY TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT AND COUNTRY (2008-2021) *

Source: Eurostat SBS, series [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] and [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Dotted lines represent linear interpolations when data are missing for some specific years. The years for which no data is reported represent years when data are missing.
 
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