Logistics for Europe’s Rivers

Some European inland waterways are presently utilized way below their theoretical carrying capacity. Inland waterway transport is more and more losing its significance, especially in Central Europe: Cargo transported on the Danube is only 10-20% of that transported on the Rhine. Supporting the EU Strategy for the Danube Region's target "To improve mobility and intermodality of inland waterways", NEWS (Development of a Next generation European Inland Waterway Ship and logistics system) main objective is to increase transport flows on inland waterways (especially container transport on the Danube) by developing a Next generation European Inland Waterway Ship and logistics system to make IWT more cost-, timeand ecologically efficient. Customers will be convinced to invest into NEWS with the help of a preliminary approval, logistics concept, port preparation, a finance and business plan and the demonstration of usability and performance. NEWS combines technical and logistical innovations to assist cross-border European challenges for an optimized inland waterway transport and the integration of waterborne transport into the intermodal logistics chain.