GRENDEL – Green and Efficient Danube Fleet

Timeframe: 06/2018 – 11/2020

Funding programme: Interreg Danube Transnational Programme

The project aimed to support the Danube vessels operators and their public counterparts in ecological and economic modernisation of the inland navigation sector and in definition and deployment of necessary transition measures. Dedicated activities raised the awareness of the Danube fleet operators & sector concerning the impact of new regulations, advanced technologies which reduce air pollutants & energy consumption of inland vessels as well as improved transport & logistics management processes making use of digitalisation. On the other side, GRENDEL supported ministries and public authorities in elaborating public support measures (State Aid schemes) based on investment priorities of relevant Danube inland waterway fleet operators.

GRENDEL addressed various fleet modernisation aspects: [i] use of low carbon & alternative fuels, [ii] reduction of air pollutant emissions (CO2, NOx, PM) and [iii] overall energy consumption. Besides these, [iv] transport & logistics management processes were addressed to ensure better integration of the Danube IWT into logistics chains through new services (including River Information Services), digital data provision as well as dedicated tools to improve efficiency of fleet operations.

The GRENDEL project was co-funded by European Union Funds (ERDF, IPA) under the Danube Transnational Programme and ran for 30 months (June 2018 – November 2020).  It was implemented by a transnational consortium of 13 co-funded organisations and 10 associated strategic partners (ministries of transport, vessel operators and their associations, authorities) from 7 Danube countries. The project had a total budget of 1,824,999.20 EUR, out of which ERDF contribution amounts 1,481,137.05 EUR & IPA contribution amounts 70,112.25 EUR.

More information is available at: www.interreg-danube.eu/grendel

DANTE - Improving Administrative Procedures and Processes for Danube IWT

Timeframe: 01/2017 – 06/2019

Funding programme: Interreg Danube Transnational Programme

DANTE aimed at identifying and eliminating the administrative barriers for inland waterway transport (IWT) on the Danube & its navigable tributaries as a joint initiative of the private sector and the national public authorities responsible for these barriers. The project partners developed good practices and guidelines for effective administration of IWT activities in relation to the identified barriers. The proposed solutions were discussed with the responsible authorities at national and transnational working tables. This approach delivered quick solutions and facilitated a wide harmonisation of procedures and processes along the Danube river. One key element for the successful project implementation was the development of a transnational IWT barrier reporting tool for collecting user experiences. 

The DANTE project was co-funded by European Union Funds (ERDF, IPA) under the Danube Transnational Programme and will run for 30 months (January 2017 – June 2019).  It was implemented by a transnational consortium of 16 co-funded organisations and 12 associated strategic partners (public authorities, consulting companies, universities and NGOs) from 10 European countries.  The project had a total budget of 1.982.786,00 Euro, out of which ERDF contribution amounts 1.650.134,75 Euro & IPA contribution amounts 35.233,35 Euro.

More information is available at: www.interreg-danube.eu/dante

DAPhNE - Danube Ports Network

Timeframe: 01/2017 – 06/2019

Funding programme: Interreg Danube Transnational Programme

DAPhNE aimed to facilitate a balanced development of Danube Ports as eco-friendly, well accessible multimodal hubs for the transport system of the region and to turn Danube Ports into buzzing economic centres functioning as catalysts for economic growth and creation of high value jobs. The project established a well-managed and permanent working platform which tackled the most urgent insufficiencies with the help of guidelines, recommendations and concrete pilot activities based on best practices and leading into an overall development strategy and action plan. The solutions elaborated by the consortium were shared with more than 60 Danube ports as possible blueprints. Improved coordination and transnational integration achieved via pilot actions and common tools developed by private and public members of the port community led to joint solutions for revising and harmonizing port legislation, port administration and port management in the entire Danube region.

“DAPhNE – Danube Ports Network” project was co-funded by European Union Funds (ERDF, IPA) under the Danube Transnational Programme and will run for 30 months (January 2017 – June 2019). The project is implemented by a transnational consortium of 16 co-funded organisations and 7 associated strategic partners (public authorities, consulting companies, universities and NGOs) from 9 European countries (AT, SK, HU, HR, RS, RO, BG, UK, MD). The project had a total budget of 2.985.406,15 Euro, out of which ERDF contribution amounts 2.415.219,42 Euro & IPA contribution amounts 122.375,77 Euro.

More information is available at: www.interreg-danube.eu/daphne

HINT - Harmonised Inland Navigation Transport through Education and Information Technology

Timeframe: 12/2012 – 12/2014

Funding programme: South East Europe

Capitalization of NELI outputs and experience, cooperation and synergies with institutions and projects provided a valuable basis for a follow up project. The HINT project (Harmonised Inland Waterways Navigation through education and information technology) fostered and enlarged transnational partnerships among stakeholders in inland navigation education & training (E&T), administrative and transport sectors in the South East European Region.

The project had the following objectives:

• Integration of Danube Region into the European harmonised education process by supporting and promoting emergence and implementation of harmonised European standards on training of river personnel;
• Development of training and assessment IT applications and tools by set up of a self-assessment platform for ADN certificate, development of case studies, related multimedia materials, new learning modules within INeS Danube Platform (e.g. RIS);
• Creation of framework conditions for transnational cooperation by set up of a cooperation platform for all IWT involved actors (E&T providers, stakeholders etc.), upload of IWT E&T materials, Danube related event calendar, relevant net-works, projects and initiatives, identification and implementation of cooperation actions;
• Development of business and technical concepts for a Danube school ship, a navigation simulator and ports/logistic simulator resulting in the ultimate development of a harmonized concept for on-board vs. simulator training.;
• Promotion of IWT jobs and careers via a transnational IWT jobs campaign and pilot actions organized in the new Information and Training Centres being developed/extended during the project in BG, SK, RS, HR, RO and UA.

Further details on the project are available here