6. Conclusion

On many European transport corridors, inland waterways are a competitive alternative and complement to road and rail, offering a sustainable and environmentally-friendly mode of transport in terms of energy consumption, noise and gas emissions. However, it is often still under-utilized.

That's why, as part of their objectives for a competitive, resource-efficient transport system, more and more countries are looking to shift much of their long-distance overland freight traffic to more massive, energy-efficient modes such as inland navigation.

To support this political will, it is necessary to modernize the fleet, existing infrastructures and their operating methods; it is also necessary to create new interconnections between basins, and remove the bottlenecks that still exist in the European network. All of this must be done within a framework...