Inland Waterways International
Campaigning for inland waterways since 1995
IWI is an international organisation established in 1992 to bring together people and organisations that support the worldwide conservation, use, development and appropriate management and promotion of inland waterways. We are guided by a succinct set of five core principles.
We raise public awareness of the benefits of using waterways for a wide range of activities, from inland water transport to cruising, walking, cycling and other recreational uses, as well as appreciating their landscape and architectural heritage. We also promote appropriate restoration and regeneration of waterways that have become derelict.
Our work is achieved through a broad membership, whose diverse skills and interests are of enormous benefit to what we do. Please join us.
14th Marlog conference in Alexandria
IWI is proud to be partnering with the Arab Academy for Science Technology & Maritime Transport in broadening the scope of the 14th international conference on Maritime Logistics, to take place in Alexandria, Egypt, on 24-25 February 2025. Researchers from both organisations worked on PIANC Working Group 219, to produce a report on Guidelines for Inland Waterways Infrastructure to Facilitate Tourism. Another report by Working Group 228 on the Extended values of Low-Use Inland Waterways will also be referred to in the presentation by IWI’s delegate David Edwards-May. The main theme of the conference is Artificial Intelligence Implementations: Towards Shaping the Future of the Digital World. IWI naturally focuses on the implications of AI for inland waterways. The loss of human contact for tourism on the smaller canals is regretted by many boat owners, but it has to be recognised that waterway authorities like Voies Navigables de France, with thousands of locks and movable bridges to manage, is under increasing pressure to cut operating costs. AI will also be used extensively in operating the new Seine-Nord Europe Canal to open in 2030.
The navigation simulator representing the Scheldt Estuary in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, during a PIANC/IWI meeting in February 2023. © DEM
WCC Buffalo news
IWI’s President Sharon Leighton looks forward to seeing members on her home waterway, the Erie Canal, on the occasion of its 200th anniversary, to be celebrated at the World Canals Conference on 21-25 September.
AGM in Bydgoszcz
IWI’s Annual General Meeting was held in Bydgoszcz, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. We were pleased to hold an in-person AGM, as we did in 2022 in Leipzig.
Membership magazine
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Leipzig seeks original boat passage
The new Lake District south of Leipzig has been aiming at interconnected waters since the start of the open-cast mine reclamation project 30 years ago. Several locks have been opened, as shown on our plan. Now a feasibility study has been launched to explore options for a boat passage between Cospuden Lake and Zwenkau Lake. Various options and variants are to be examined to provide
Ruth Heard RIP
IWI is sad to announce the death of Ruth Heard, a member for many years, and former president of the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland, on 5 October. Ruth was a well respected waterway historian who wrote extensively about the Irish waterways under the name Ruth Delany. (She kept the name from her first marriage to Vincent Delany, the founder of IWAI.) She contributed the
Robin Evans, first CEO of CRT
IWI is sad to report that Robin Evans, who presided over the transformation of British Waterways into the independent Canal & River Trust in 2012, died in early September after a short illness. Robin joined British Waterways in 1999 as commercial director, becoming chief executive in 2002. Alongside chairman Tony Hales, Robin led the work to develop the concept of a new charity for the
Baťa Canal extended
Ninety years after it was opened in the Eastern Moravia region of the Czech Republic, the Baťa Canal is being extended for recreational navigation. IWI’s upcoming magazine (issue No. 39) will give details of this ambitious project implemented by the Directorate of Waterways of the Czech Republic in partnership with the region and local authorities. When the current works are complete, the waterway will extend from Kroměříž
WCC Bydgoszcz success
The World Canals Conference reverted to an on-site event in June 2024 after an on-line version in 2023. The event was based in Bydgoszcz in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region of Poland, where the Rivers Brda and Wisła (Vistula) meet, along with the old and new Bydgoszcz Canals.
Boats demonstrate for UK canals at Westminster
IWI is supporting a new campaign, Fund Britain’s Waterways (FBW), recently launched by the Inland Waterways Association. FBW is a coalition of organisations representing hundreds of thousands of users and supporters of inland waterways. The aim is to secure more permanent and stable funding for the country’s waterways, which are currently facing the challenges of keeping vulnerable infrastructure safe and operational, with severely limited resources.
PIANC waterways conference in Nanjing
IWI was represented in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, for a waterways conference run by the Inland Navigation Commission of sister organisation PIANC, on November 27-29, 2023. Members who contributed to this fascinating report are Jim Stirling, who as technical director of British Waterways Scotland oversaw the construction of the Falkirk Wheel, and Marc Michaux, chief engineer in charge of works on the Strépy-Thieu shiplift in Wallonia, Belgium.
IWI at COP28 in Dubai
IWI president Rudy Van der Ween, also now vice-chairman of the World Canal Cities Organisation, attended the COP 28 conference in Dubai, at the invitation of WCCO. A pavilion was devoted to the annual Global Canal Rowing Action. Cities around the world, including Yangzhou, China (Grand Canal) and Dubai, UAE, joined hands to promote canal culture and the concept of low-carbon environmental protection for sustainable development.
Plans for Saale-Leipzig Canal’s boatlift revealed
The design was suggested by students who took part in a competition before the WCC was held in Leipzig on May 31-June 3, 2022. As shown in the film, it incorporates the complete upper lock chamber as built in the late 1930s before World War II stopped the works.
Canal to boost combined transport in SW China
During his visit to Guilin in China, on June 1, 2023, IWI’s past president Rudy Van der Ween was shown the works in progress to create a new waterway in Southwest China: the Pinglu Canal. The new canal, to open in 2026, is expected to boost combined transport in Guangxi Province and beyond, reducing the distance for waterborne freight from Beibu Gulf to the provincial capital Nanning by no less than 565 km.