In a recent workshop organised by EUSDR PA 1A and the Danube Commission, key stakeholders gathered to address the pressing issue of low water conditions on the Danube River. The workshop, titled "The potential of fairway information services and active traffic management to cope with low water conditions", brought together representatives from the European Commission, national waterway administrations presenting their current efforts and plans, and transnational sector organisations. Acting as the unified voice of the businesses operating on the Danube, Pro Danube took a proactive stance by highlighting the necessity to coordinate fairway management and maintenance tasks regularly, ensuring the active involvement of industry stakeholders.Taking note of the environmental permission hurdles, the Pro Danube representative has advocated to already plan the projects jointly with the competent environmental and transport bodies to propose feasible solutions and not ones which might be stopped later.
Pro Danube has highlighted the quick wins which might be gained using the state-of-the-art digital tools, as an example: in case physical buoys must be removed from the waterway, the virtual aids to navigation elements can still stay online and be displayed in the standardised viewer software. Members of Pro Danube have also provided concrete inputs, requests and proposals to continue the good path of joint efforts for the best use of the fairway under the all-times circumstances, and expressed their thanks to the waterway managers and the Danube Commission.