EU inland waterways see 10% dip in 2022 transport activity

The Netherlands and Germany accounted for almost three quarters or 73 per cent of EU inland waterway transport performance (in tonne-kilometres) in 2022. Transport performance decreased in all countries compared with 2021, except in Lithuania at 251 per cent and Finland at 31 per cent, Eurostat said in a press release.

However, these large increases in percentage should be considered in relation to the low initial value of tonne-kilometres performed and correspond to an increase of 7 million tonne kilometres for Lithuania and 45 million for Finland. The largest decreases in 2022 compared with 2021 were recorded in Bulgaria at -35 per cent, Croatia at -29 per cent, Poland at -25 per cent, Romania at -20 per cent, and Hungary and Slovakia—both at -19 per cent. In absolute values, Germany registered the highest decrease in 2022 at -4 billion tonne-kilometres or -8 per cent.

In 2022, more than half of the freight transport on EU inland waterways was conducted by vessels registered in the Netherlands at 51 per cent. The remaining tonne-kilometres were conducted by vessels from 49 different nationalities, with Germany at 16 per cent and Belgium at 9 per cent holding the largest shares.

In 2022, Dutch vessels were in the top three nationalities for six countries out of 15 and were in first place in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (NB)