Pro Danube was honoured by the invitation of UNECE to present in the frame of its 60th session of the Working Party on the Standardization of Technical and Safety Requirements in Inland Navigation (part of the working group on “Prevention of pollution from inland waterway vessels and greening of the inland transport sector”) port development projects in the Danube Region. The event, attended by several European IWT experts ranging from River Commissions, representatives of IWT branch organisations and policy makers, set the stage for the participants to take part in fruitful discussions and share their experiences and examples of best practices to facilitate the greening of inland navigation. During its intervention, Pro Danube represented by Ms Ruxandra Matzalik Florescu, provided insight to Danube Region projects on ports, highlighting several examples of past, ongoing, and planned projects delivering solutions for the benefit of Danube Region ports.Starting with the policy initiative launched by Pro Danube in 2016, the Green Deal for Danube River Transport proposes a set of solutions that focus on the modernisation of the fleet, the reduction of the environmental impact, and the development of Danube ports as catalysts for economic development on the regional level and beyond. In 2017, Pro Danube successfully started the implementation of the Green Deal by means of the DANTE and DAPhNE transnational projects and has taken serious actions towards the modernisation of the Danube fleet in the framework of the GRENDEL approach.
The implementation of the DTP funded projects DANTE, DAPhNE and GRENDEL managed to produce tangible results for the benefit of the entire Danube IWT industry, setting the scene to successfully cope with the challenges faced by the sector as a result of Europe’s ambitious plan to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
Given the need to continue supporting the Danube IWT sector on its pathway towards a modern, reliable and safe mode of transport, the DIONYSUS project, a follow-up of DAPhNE, was initiated in 2020 having the core objective to address main regional challenges in port infrastructure governance and planning in order to facilitate the integration of the Danube Region into smart and sustainable multi-modal transport chains. One of the most important outcomes of the DAPhNE project – the Danube Ports Network (DPN) – continues to facilitate cooperation between the inland and maritime ports of the Danube Region in the frame of DIONYSUS as well.
Pro Danube’s presentation further highlighted several other initiatives with Danube Region stakeholders around three main topics, namely- digitalisation, smart infrastructure, use of smart technologies and deployment of applications,
- development of alternative fuels infrastructure incl. electrification and
- sustainable cargo handling infrastructure development for efficient port operations & services, new logistics concepts.
In line with the first topic, just to name a few examples – with regard to RIS – the implementation of EURIS at EU level and CEERIS at corridor level, introducing a harmonised solution to support sustainable and smart navigation in terms of voyage planning and for administrative reporting. Projects like PLATINA3, DIWA, PhysICAL, PIONEERS look at aspects such as synchromodality, smart infrastructure, testing Physical Internet.
Regarding the second topic, Pro Danube pointed out the further development of on-shore LNG infrastructure in AT, SK, HU, the start of some initiatives around Hydrogen as fuel as well as the further development of OPS (On-shore Power Supply) infrastructure.
Last but not least, regarding the third category, it is worth mentioning two finalised projects – namely High Performing Green Port Giurgiu which delivered a fully operational covered /weather independent tri-modal terminal in the Port of Giurgiu (Romania), and NOVIMAR delivering innovative concepts for container handling and container transporting vessels. Planned activities are in the frame of two projects – namely MultiReload proposing port solutions for efficient and sustainable mobility with a focus on the port of Duisburg and GROWPort delivering studies for the rollout of a green container terminal in the Port of Constanta.