The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has updated its 2006 inventory of European inland waterways, titled the "Main Standards and Parameters of the pan-European Inland Waterway Network," which urges governments and the transport industry to increase the traffic of goods on European inland waters in order to relieve congestion on road and rail networks.
11 October 2012: The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has launched an updated inventory of European inland waterways, titled “Main Standards and Parameters of the pan-European Inland Waterway Network,” which calls for increased use of waterways as an environmentally-friendly alternative to road transport.
The “E Waterway” network includes all navigable rivers, canals and ports in Europe. It is based on a multilateral treaty, the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance, negotiated in 1996 and administered by the transport division of the UNECE. Seventeen UNECE member States have ratified the treaty.
This new inventory of the E Waterway, also known as the “Blue Book,” updates survey data previously published in 2006.
In launching the publication, the UNECE highlighted that only 7% of goods travel on inland waters in the EU, whereas road transport accounts for 78% of such traffic, and rail for 15%. It urged governments and the transport industry to increase their use of inland waterways in order to relieve congestion on road and rail networks, highlighting that traffic on the Rhine and Danube rivers could be greatly increased without major investments. [Publication: Main Standards and Parameters of the Pan-European Inland Waterway Network] [UNECE Press Release]