3.2.4 Inland navigation

3.2.4 Inland navigation

Overview

Navigation affects most of the major rivers in Europe due to the presence of inland waterways on the large European rivers and intensive leisure boat activity on the smaller rivers. Furthermore, many canals were developed during early industrialisation and some navigable rivers and canal systems are nowadays used for leisure boats only. In order for natural rivers to be used as modern shipping lanes, numerous changes have been made to rivers and their floodplains. Inland navigation is typically associated with a range of hydromorphological alterations such as channelization, channel deepening, channel maintenance, installation of groynes and flow regulation, which adversely impact water ecosystems (BMU/UBA, 2016; ICPDR, 2007). The alterations are bigger when smaller rivers are made navigable for sizes of ships, which are too large for the natural size of the river. In the second RBMPs, a relatively small number of river and lake water bodies (approximately 700 water bodies spread in 13 WFD countries) were reported as impacted by pressures from inland navigation. However, navigation issues are of high importance in some of the largest river basins in Europe such as the Danube and the Rhine.

Navigation intensity has been increasing in Europe since the 1960s both in terms of the volume of transported goods and average vessel size (Graf et al., 2016). Nowadays, there are more than 37 000 kilometres of European inland waterways spanning 20 Member States and connecting hundreds of cities and industrial sites (DG Mobility and Transport, 2019). The uses on inland waterways include navigation for transporting freight, transporting passengers and leisure. Most of the commercial goods transportation by inland ships in Europe concerns five countries: the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Romania (EC, 2018). More than two-thirds of all goods of European inland waterways are carried on the river Rhine, which is the backbone of inland navigation in Europe (EPRS, 2014). The total volume of goods transported on European inland waterways is approximately 550 million tonnes. However, this equates only to around 6 % (in 2017) of the total volume of all goods transported in the EU (Eurostat, 2019).

In addition, inland waterways are used for water tourism, sports, fishing and angling, and recreational purposes. The recreational water use of navigable rivers can be of great economic significance in certain regions supporting several thousands of jobs in Europe (PIANC et al., 2004).

The infrastructure network of inland waterways includes the natural navigable rivers, artificial-built canals that link navigable rivers, and inland ports. European inland waterways are part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) which aims to integrate land, marine, and air transport networks throughout the European Community.

Figure 12           Examples of inland navigation vessels for commercial and recreational purpos

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Source: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/inland/promotion/naiades2_en; https://www.wikiwand.com/en/River

Impacts

The main impacts from inland navigation on aquatic ecosystems are related to hydromorphological pressures such as the construction of groynes, the protection of river banks with rip-rap, deepening and maintenance of the channel (e.g. via dredging). Altering the shape of river courses to improve navigation affects the characteristics of river beds, river banks and the dynamics of sediment transportation. The effects can spread upstream and downstream over many years. Permanent changes to water levels and flows affect the whole river valley bottom and the ecology of floodplains. Navigation works tend to be designed to stabilise river channels in both space and time, which constrains the natural river dynamics of the river that are important for creating and renewing key habitats (ECMT, 2006). Thus, navigation requirements result in stabilized, ecologically uniform river channels, which lack natural in-stream structures and connectivity with the nearby floodplains (ICPDR, 2007).

Ship traffic also causes waves, which can disturb the reproduction habitats of fish and benthic invertebrates and impact aquatic plants. In addition, the engines of ships can cause an unnatural suspension of fine sediments, leading to reduced light for plant and algae growth (ICPDR, 2007). Further, navigable rivers are usually affected by numerous impoundments to achieve a uniform water level which, at the same time, disrupt river continuity and fish migration.

In addition to hydromorphological impacts, inland navigation can be a potential source of pollution coming from ship waste (oily and greasy ship waste, cargo waste, wastewater and household waste of passenger and hotel ships) or bilge water. There is also a risk of accidental spills, involving oil or hazardous substances, resulting from ship collision or damage (EC, 2018; ICPR, 2015). For example, on the river Rhine, in 2018 and the years before, oil released from shipping was the most frequently reported pollutant among suddenly occurring pollution incidents (ICPR, 2019).

Finally, to maintain navigable water levels in artificial canals that connect different river systems, water is often moved between rivers causing hydrological alterations but also the spreading of invasive alien species. Also, shipping is an important dispersal vector for invasive species between river systems, either by transport at the vessels or by release of bilge water.

Measures and management challenges

In some countries and regions in the EU, such as the international river basins of the Rhine and Danube, actions have been taken or are ongoing to reconcile inland waterway development with river restoration objectives. Key measures to mitigate the impacts of inland navigation on rivers and lakes include the reconstruction of groynes, the removal of hard bank reinforcements and replacement with soft engineering solutions, the re-connection of side arms, floodplains and ox-bows to restore river habitats, as well as the use of more ecologically orientated dredging for maintenance of waterways.

The environmental objectives of the WFD are a major driver for the development of such measures within the RBMPs. In addition, to support the objective of more sustainable inland waterway transport, several European guidelines have been developed indicating good practices for waterway development which is compatible with environmental protection requirements (e.g. PIANC guidelines for sustainable inland waterways and navigation (of 2003), PLATINA Manual on Good Practices in Sustainable Waterway Planning (of 2010)).

Also, the issue of pollution from inland navigation needs to be addressed with appropriate measures. For instance, to deal with pollution and emissions from navigation on the Rhine, a convention on the collection, deposit and reception of waste produced during navigation on the river waterways was adopted in 2009 (ICPR, 2015). Deliberate or accidental losses of pollutants from inland navigation are being recorded in the International Warning and Alarm Plan for the Rhine (ICPR, 2019).

Large-scale strategies for more sustainable inland navigation on national or regional level are being developed. Examples include the ‘Blue Ribbon’ Programme in Germany which aims at creating a system of ecologically re-shaped waterways, by funding the renaturation of federal waterways and their floodplains. The programme focuses on the sections that are no longer needed for cargo shipping (minor waterways) but also implements “ecological stepping stones” in the major waterways (BMU/UBA, 2016). At the transboundary level of the Danube basin, a Joint Statement on Inland Navigation and Environmental Sustainability in the Danube provided principles and criteria for environmentally sustainable inland navigation, including the maintenance of existing waterways and the development of future waterway infrastructure (ICPDR, 2019).

At the same time, though, there may be an increase in inland waterway transport, in view of EU targets to shift part of long-distance road freight to rail and waterborne transport (see Commission White Paper / Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area (EC, 2011)). Future plans for inland navigation in Europe however need to take account of the changing climatic conditions. Intense recent droughts in 2018 led to very low river flows which made parts of major European waterways such as the Rhine and the Danube unnavigable for larger cargo barges.