Freight transport on inland waterways in the EU declined by 4.6% last year, compared to 2022, which represents a drop of around six million tonne-kilometres, year-on-year.
According to the data from Eurostat, inland waterway freight activity in the EU has been volatile over the past decade (from 2013 to 2023), with significant fluctuations reported.
A fluctuating market
Following on from declines between 2014 and 2016, a slight recovery in the inland waterways freight market occurred in 2017, but 2018 saw a sharp 10.9% drop.
This was followed by a 6.6% rebound in 2019, but another steep decline of 9.8% occurred in 2022.
In terms of the goods that are being transported by inland waterways, metal ores made up the largest category, along with coke and refined petroleum products, chemicals, rubber and plastic, nuclear fuel, and agricultural products, Eurostat noted.
These categories represented around two thirds (65.3%) of all transported goods. The transport of coal and crude petroleum decreased by 2.3 percentage points, while agricultural products increased by 1.3 percentage points.
The Netherlands leads the way
Given its extensive canal and waterway network, The Netherlands had the highest volume of inland waterway freight transport per capita, with 18.4 tonnes per inhabitant.
Belgium followed with 13.6 tonnes per inhabitant, and Luxembourg recorded 7.2 tonnes. Most other EU countries transported less than 2.5 tonnes per inhabitant.
‘Looking at the volume of freight transported per inhabitant, at EU level, on average 1.0 tonnes were transported on inland waterways,’ Eurostat noted.
The data for 2023 excludes Italy, affecting the year-on-year comparison, Eurostat noted. Finland and Sweden also had missing data in earlier years.
