Growing congestion with no improvement in sight
Each year, transport volumes grow faster than GDP and freight transport will increase by one third between 2005 and 2015.  More than 10% of the road network and 20% of the rail network are already suffering from chronic congestion at a time when the annual increase in international road freight is estimated at 20.5 billion tkm in the EU 25.

The congestion-free network
The inland waterways offer a 35,000km congestion-free network connecting cities across Europe and half this network is accessible to 1,000t vessels. The inland waterways form a particularly dense network in North-West Europe where waterway transport is essential to the competitiveness of some major sea ports, providing a seamless network for transportation inland. More than 50% of sea tonnage from Antwerp and Rotterdam is carried inland by barge.

From North to South and East to West
Waterways flow through the whole of Europe’s growing market.  You can now travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea via the Rhine-Main-Danube waterway, passing through 10 countries. Scandinavia, the Iberian Peninsula, the United Kingdom and Ireland all have their own inland waterways. Links to the mainland are by short sea routes.