NAIADES - European projects

European projects

The promotion of inland waterway transport has been on the European Union's agenda for quite a long time. The content of projects carried out on the European level ranges from economic and technical matters to social and environmental aspects affecting inland navigation. But all of them share the same objective: to create a favourable framework for inland waterway transport in Europe.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Platform for the implementation of NAIADES (PLATINA)
2008-2012

The main objective of PLATINA is to support the European Commission, Member States and third countries in the implementation of the NAIADES action programme. PLATINA brings together all the relevant actors in the inland waterway sector in a multi-disciplinary knowledge network. Most members of the consortium already play an active role in transport policy in their countries, thus the contribution of the project to to the promotion of inland waterway transport in Europe is maximised. Organised along the lines of NAIADES, PLATINA comprises five work packages dealing with specific policy areas: Markets, Fleet, Jobs & Skills, Image, Infrastructure.

PLATINA website

Implementation of River Information Services in Europe (IRIS Europe)
IRIS Europe I: 2006-2008

IRIS Europe II: 2009-2011

IRIS Europe III: 2012-2014

IRIS Europe is a Pan European project with partners from 8 countries as well as interested parties from 4 other Danube countries. The project contributes to the further development of harmonized infrastructures for River Information Services on the basis of the EU RIS Directive in order to improve safety, efficiency and environmental friendliness on European inland waterways. IRIS Europe focuses mainly on cross-border Information Services and the therefore necessary procedures for the exchange of relevant information.
IRIS Europe II was concluded at the end of 2011. Information on the follow-up IRIS Europe III will be provided on the official project website.

IRIS Europe website

River Information Services for Transport & Logistics (RISING)
2009-2012

The project “River Information Services for Transport & Logistics” (RISING) investigates how River Information Services (RIS) can be adjusted to commercial needs. This will be achieved by providing seamless traffic and transport-related information and standardised IT interfaces to the industry. The RISING consortium comprises 23 project partners from 11 countries (EU Member States and Non-Member States). The partners represent transport operators, logistics service providers, port and terminal operators, but also port information service providers, research institutions, software developers, promotion agencies and RIS providers.

RISING website

Effects of climate change on the inland waterway networks (ECCONET)
2010-2012

The project ECCONET analyses the effects of climate change on inland waterway transport and related sectors. It also surveys adaptation strategies and their impacts and develops recommendations for decision-makers and future research. Its final results will consist of a projection of transport costs and transport flows on the inland waterway network for different climate change scenarios up to 2050 and analyses of the possible economic effects of these different scenarios as well as cost-benefit assessments of possible adaptation strategies.

ECCONET website

SuperGreen
2010-2013

The project “Supporting EU’s Freight Transport Logistics Action Plan on Green Corridors Issues” (abbreviation “SuperGreen”) supports the development of sustainable transport networks by fulfilling requirements covering environmental, technical, economic, social and spatial planning aspects. SuperGreen will evaluate a set of freight transport corridors with good greening potential, covering representative regions and main transport routes throughout Europe including inland waterways. In order to reach its goals, the project will develop a methodology for the benchmarking of Green Corridors and identifying areas of potential improvements.

SuperGreen website

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FINISHED PROJECTS

Network of Danube Waterway Administrations (NEWADA)
2009-2012

NEWADA aims at increasing the efficiency of the Danube waterway by intensifying cooperation between waterway administrations to promote inland navigation as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly mode of transport. The different institutions responsible for the management and maintenance of the Danube waterway shall harmonise their activities and action plans, exchange experiences and best-practices on operations and pilot common specific actions in order to increase the effectiveness of the waterway management.

NEWADA website

Cooperation-Network for logistics and nautical education focusing on Inland Waterway Transport in the Danube corridor (NELI)
2009-2012

The NELI project establishes a cooperation network between stakeholders from the Inland Waterway Transport, research/education and administrative sectors along the Danube corridor in order to develop balanced capacities for transnational cooperations in the field of logistics and nautical education and training including regional policy support actions.

NELI website

Waste Management for Inland Navigation on the Danube (WANDA)
2009-2012

The project WANDA aims at concerted development and exemplary implementation of preventive measures to ensure a sustainable, environmentally sound and transnationally coordinated approach in ship waste management along the Danube. In cross-border coordination stepwise a capable ship waste management system along the Danube shall be established.

WANDA website

European Web Platforms and Training Concepts for Intermodal Inland Waterway Transport (EWITA)
2008-2010

EWITA provides up-to-date training concepts and state-of-the-art e-learning web platforms for intermodal inland waterway transport in Europe. The project updates and extends existing learning tools with respect to learning levels, content, tools and languages. Two e-learning platforms – one for the Danube corridor, the other one for the Rhine-Maas-Schelde corridor - will be created. Both platforms will be available in several languages. The EWITA platforms will combine European with specific regional or national content. To facilitate update and synchronization, a pan-European content repository will be designed, allowing for a smooth administration of common learning objects available for the different topics.

EWITA website

CREATING
2004-2008

Creating aimed at stimulating waterborne transport in an economical way, by giving new impulses to inland navigation. The main project goal was to integrate the ship in existing transport chains. The first challenge therefore was to track down such chains and to integrate ships therein in an economically feasible way. Once these examples were found and parties involved were really interested in the modal shift the technical part of the project started, leading to the design of new inland ships. The demonstrator "Cleanest ship" was implemented within the frame of CREATING.

Strategies for the Promotion of Inland Navigation (SPIN)
2002 - 2005

In the timeframe between 2002 and 2005 the SPIN network developed a European strategy to promote inland navigation and encourage its exploitation.
The network’s members included representatives from all inland navigation stakeholders and comprised actors from the industry, transport and administration.
A high-level advisory committee guided the strategy and enabled its acceptance and exploitation.

Strategies for the Promotion of Inland Navigation - Final working papers
(2005 | Language: English | Format: ZIP | Size: 20.0 MB)

Consortium Operational Management Platform River Information Services (COMPRIS)
2002 - 2005

COMPRIS dealt with the pan-European standardisation and harmonisation of River Information Services (RIS), which is a pre-requisite for full installation of RIS on all navigable waterways. The outcome of COMPRIS was a pan-European consensus on the RIS architecture, RIS system elements, applications and their interfaces. Therefore, COMPRIS was an important milestone towards the pan-European installation of RIS.

Prospects of inland navigation within an enlarged Europe (PINE)
2003 - 2004

Carried out between February 2003 and June 2004, the main goal of the PINE study was to describe the current situation of European inland navigation and to forecast its short- and mid-term development with special consideration of the enlargement of the European Union.

The main results of the study offered concrete recommendations for the European Commission to establish a European strategy to promote inland navigation and to raise its attractiveness for potential shippers.

The work of the project consortium was guided by an advisory committee, which was assigned by the European Commission. This interrelation guaranteed the high quality of the results and herewith high acceptance of the main actors in the field of European inland navigation.

Prospects of Inland Navigation within the Enlarged Europe (Summary)
(2004 | Language: English | Format: PDF | Size: 0.4 MB)