Photo: For those with interests in Europe, the Naiades III Action Plan on Inland Navigation was adopted today.
According to the Communication published at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2021%3A324%3AFIN&qid=1624553618712, the fundamental transformation of European transport systems towards zero-emission mobility requires an integrated multimodal approach explicitly aimed at boosting the uptake of more sustainable and less congested transport modes.
Long recognised as one of the most CO2-efficient modes of transport (per tonnes of goods carried) along with rail, inland waterway transport (IWT) is clearly seen as central to the European Union’s efforts to decarbonise the transport system.
The European Green Deal called for decisive action to shift a substantial part of the freight transported by road (currently accounting for 75% of inland freight) to inland navigation and rail, namely through measures to increase the capacity of inland waterways from 2021. Similarly, the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy adopted on 9 December 2020, which lays the foundation for how the EU transport system can achieve its green and digital transformation and become more resilient to future crises, underlined the need to increase the use of more sustainable transport modes, and indicated that inland waterway transport and short-sea shipping should increase by 25% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050. Zero-emission mobility is also the major objective of the Zero Pollution Action Plan adopted on 12 May 2021.
Read the Action Plan at the above link
