Inland Ports meet in Vien­na to talk about TEN‑T and deve­lo­p­ment in the Danu­be Region

For inland ports the Trans Euro­pean Net­work for Trans­port (TEN‑T) is foun­da­tio­nal in rea­li­sing the Euro­pean Green Deal goals. Key ques­ti­ons rai­sed during the open ses­si­on included the empha­sis on mul­ti­mo­dal trans­port, the inte­gra­ti­on of the rail freight cor­ri­dors, the new Good Navi­ga­ti­on Sta­tus (GNS) and the increased focus on cli­ma­te resi­li­ence. The­se requi­re­ments are essen­ti­al in ensu­ring the strength and suc­cess of Euro­pean logi­stics in the future.

During the expert panel dis­cus­sion on “TEN‑T and Danu­be inland ports”, with Ms Moni­ka Gindl-Muzik, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Wien­Cont, Mr Robert Rafa­el, Secre­ta­ry Gene­ral of Pro Danu­be Inter­na­tio­nal and Gene­ral Mana­ger of Pro Danu­be Manage­ment GmbH out­lined the deve­lo­p­ment and chal­lenges of mul­ti­mo­dal trans­port in the Danu­be region.

This was fol­lo­wed by a speech and Q&A with MEP Bar­ba­ra Tha­ler, the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Co-Rapporteur on TEN‑T Gui­de­lines. MEP Tha­ler reac­ted that “TEN‑T after this revi­si­on will be the foun­da­ti­on on which Euro­pe will rea­li­se its modal shift. Growth of rail and inland ship­ping forms the first step in rea­li­sing this. Inland ports in the Danu­be regi­on are ide­al­ly loca­ted to help rea­li­se this objective.”

Fried­rich Lehr, Com­mer­cial Direc­tor of the Port of Vien­na and EFIP Vice Pre­si­dent, sees a lot of need for action: „The sta­tus of inland navi­ga­ti­on must be rai­sed through sub­si­dies and sup­port mea­su­res. What is urgen­tly nee­ded are con­sis­t­ent­ly sta­ble fair­way con­di­ti­ons for inland navi­ga­ti­on. In addi­ti­on, some inland ports on the lower Danu­be still need to be moder­nis­ed. In the recent past, I see the dan­ger that more pro­vi­ders in inland navi­ga­ti­on will dis­ap­pear from the sce­ne. The mar­gins in this sec­tor are too low for com­pa­nies to moder­ni­se their fleets on a lar­ge sca­le. In addi­ti­on, the­re are the risks cau­sed by the incre­asing­ly fre­quent low-water pha­ses.“ For Fried­rich Lehr, the­re are only two modes of trans­port that come into ques­ti­on for miti­ga­ting cli­ma­te chan­ge: rail and – the one with per­haps even grea­ter poten­ti­al – inland navigation.

Gene­ral Assem­bly mem­bers had then the chan­ce to visit the Port of Vienna.

Mar­kie­zaat Con­tai­ner Ter­mi­nal op Zoom joins EFIP

During the Gene­ral Assem­bly, EFIP mem­bers also wel­co­med a new mem­ber, the Mar­kie­zaat Con­tai­ner Ter­mi­nal in Ber­gen op Zoom. The Mar­kie­zaat Ter­mi­naal is an inland ter­mi­nal loca­ted bet­ween Ant­werp and Rot­ter­dam and intends to fur­ther expand to sup­port the growth of the Scheldt-Rhine net­work. The ter­mi­nal aims to expand its coope­ra­ti­on in the sec­tor across Europe.

Antoine Ber­bain, Pre­si­dent of EFIP, said: “We wel­co­me the addi­ti­on of the Mar­kie­zaat Ter­mi­nal to the EFIP net­work. It allows us to expand our own under­stan­ding of our col­le­agues and impro­ve cooperation”