The Euro­pean Bar­ge Uni­on (EBU) Event “ROLE OF INLAND WATER­WAY TRANS­PORT (IWT) IN THE FRAME­WORK OF EU’s MOBI­LI­TY AND SUP­P­LY POLICY”

Phil­ip­pe Gru­lois, Pre­si­dent of EBU, initia­ted the dis­cus­sions with a com­pel­ling speech, empha­sis­ing the signi­fi­can­ce of IWT in enhan­cing Europe’s sus­tainable mobi­li­ty and sup­p­ly. High­light­ing the neces­si­ty of a robust and climate-adaptive infra­struc­tu­re, he addres­sed the sector’s chal­lenges faced during the low water sea­son of 2022 and the urgent need for respon­si­ve main­ten­an­ce and infra­struc­tu­re development.

The event’s dis­cus­sions del­ved into the chal­lenges faced by the IWT sec­tor, inclu­ding the pres­sing need for inno­va­ti­on and tran­si­tio­ning towards lower emis­si­ons. Ack­now­led­ging the sector’s long-standing posi­ti­ve envi­ron­men­tal record, Dr. Gru­lois under­li­ned the pivo­tal role of IWT in the EU’s Green Deal and Sus­tainable and Smart Mobi­li­ty Stra­tegy, not­ing the need for future-proof invest­ments and con­cer­ted actions from both public and pri­va­te stake­hol­ders. He rei­te­ra­ted the EBU’s com­mit­ment to fos­te­ring a sus­tainable, effi­ci­ent, and inno­va­ti­ve IWT sec­tor. He stres­sed the need for col­la­bo­ra­ti­ve efforts to ensu­re IWT’s inte­gra­ti­on into a mul­ti­mo­dal trans­port frame­work and its role in redu­cing green­house gas emis­si­ons, ulti­m­ate­ly con­tri­bu­ting to a gree­ner, more sus­tainable Europe.

“Obvious­ly, the sec­tor is both offe­ring huge poten­ti­al and chan­ces  as well as facing huge chal­lenges in view of the over­ar­ching EU poli­cy goals”, Phil­ip­pe Gru­lois empha­si­zed in his statement. 

Mag­da Kop­c­zyns­ka, the Direc­tor Gene­ral of DG MOVE, in her address poin­ted to the important role IWT is play­ing in the Euro­pean sus­taina­bi­li­ty and mobi­li­ty poli­cy. She high­ligh­ted the pivo­tal role IWT is play­ing in sup­port­ing Ukrai­ne, allo­wing imports and exports through the Soli­da­ri­ty Lanes. The Commission’s goal is to reach a month­ly export volu­me of 4 mil­li­on ton­nes by the end of the year along the Danu­be cor­ri­dor. This will cover at least 60% of Ukraine’s export needs for the 2023–2024 har­ve­st season.

“We are curr­ent­ly ente­ring a cru­cial stage – the midd­le of the 7‑year Nai­ades pro­gram­me – which also coin­ci­des with the Mul­ti­an­nu­al frame­work mid-term review. I’m plea­sed to say that we are on tar­get, with many initia­ti­ves alre­a­dy on track or well into the pre­pa­ra­ti­on pha­se”, Mag­da Kopz­cyns­ka empha­si­zed in her key­note, focu­sing on the cur­rent achie­ve­ments and initiatives.

Lydia Pee­ters, Minis­ter of the Fle­mish Govern­ment in char­ge of Mobi­li­ty and Public Works, ope­ned her key­note with the meaningful Latin say­ing “navi­ga­re neces­se est, vive­re non est neces­se”, which cap­tu­red the over­ar­ching importance IWT is play­ing for many cen­tu­ries.  Repre­sen­ting one of the major IWT count­ries in Euro­pe, the Fle­mish govern­ment is sub­stan­ti­al­ly sup­port­ing the IWT sec­tor in its ener­gy tran­si­ti­on efforts and in doing so, set­ting high targets.

Panel ses­si­ons
In 2 panel ses­si­ons, the Modal shift poten­ti­al and the ener­gy tran­si­ti­on of the IWT sec­tor were dis­cus­sed with high-level repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from the public and pri­va­te sides.

About EBU

The Euro­pean Bar­ge Uni­on (EBU) repres­ents the inland navi­ga­ti­on indus­try in Euro­pe. Its mem­bers are the natio­nal asso­cia­ti­ons of bar­ge owners and bar­ge ope­ra­tors of 9 Euro­pean inland navi­ga­ti­on count­ries (Aus­tria, Bel­gi­um, Czech Repu­blic, France, Ger­ma­ny, Luxem­burg, Net­her­lands, Roma­nia and Switz­er­land). Bes­i­des it repres­ents the inte­rests of a num­ber of inter­na­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons deal­ing with IWT and Short Sea Ship­ping. www.ebu-uenf.org