Pro Danube recently participated in the General Assembly organised by its sister association, Pro Danube Austria, held at the premises of the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Steyr. A highlight of this meeting was the election of Lisa-Maria Putz-Egger as the new president of Pro Danube Austria. Fritz Lehr will continue to support the association in his role as vice president. Pro Danube extends its congratulations to the newly elected management team.Key Developments: TEN-T Regulation and its Impact
A major topic of discussion was the recently adopted Trans-Europen Transport Network (TEN-T) Regulation. Pro Danube's General Secretary, Róbert Rafael, emphasised the regulation's importance and the challenges it presents to the Danube IWT community.
The new TEN-T Regulation aims to create seamless, high-quality transport networks across Europe, focusing on sustainable connectivity without physical interruptions, bottlenecks and missing links. The corridor approach is crucial to achieving the EU's goals of sustainable mobility and economic, social, and territorial cohesion.
The development of the TEN-T network is planned in 3 phases:
- 2030: core network completion.
- 2040: extended core network completion (this intermediary deadline was introduced to advance the completion of large-scale, mainly cross-border projects).
- 2050: comprehensive network completion.
Key provisions for IWT
Several provisions are particularly relevant for our industry.
Several provisions are particularly relevant for our industry.
- Good Navigation Status: ensuring minimum requirements for navigability, especially low water provisions.
- Inland Ports Connectivity: ports must be connected to road or rail infrastructure and must offer at least one multimodal freight terminal accessible to all operators.
- Environmental Performance: ports should have facilities to improve the environmental performance of vessels.
- Digitalisation and Alternative Energy Solutions: the regulation also emphasises the importance of digitalisation and automation to increase the safety and sustainability of IWT.