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.
WCC Buffalo: Erie Canal bicentenary
WCC delegates celebrate the departure of the replica Seneca Chief as it leaves Buffalo, heading to New York Harbor and retracing the route of Governor DeWitt Clinton’s 1825 flotilla. Like the original, the boat carried a barrel of Lake Erie water to be poured into the Atlantic, this time supplemented by water collected at each stop along the way. It also carried white pine saplings, symbolizing the Haudenosaunee Great Tree of Peace, to be planted in each of those canal and river ports.
The opening session was addressed by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native and a keen advocate for the NYS Canal System. Governor Hochul noted that canals are places of imagination and unlimited possibilities, enabling the flow of ideas as well as people and goods. She emphasized that investment in waterways is key to linking people with their communities.
Kal Wyskowski, Chair of the Erie Canalway Natural Heritage Corridor Commission introduced a dramatic video that traced last year’s journey of a new bridge from Italy to Ralph Wilson Park in Buffalo. It travelled across the Atlantic, up the Hudson River, and along the Erie Canal, demonstrating how water transport can carry large loads without causing hold-ups on road systems.
The next session highlighted impacts of the Erie Canal on indigenous people, a theme that was continued throughout the conference. J. C. Seneca, President of the Seneca Nation of Indians, reminded delegates that they were sitting in Seneca territory and that the Erie Canal crossed lands taken from the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacy. Despite the effects on his people, President Seneca was upbeat, looking forward to the future of the waterway, while taking into account the heritage and present-day needs of his people.
Other Keynote speakers on the opening day included IWI President Sharon Leighton; Brian Stratton, Director of the NYS Canal Corporation; Vincent Esposito, Vice-President of the Empire State Development Corporation. Zhang Futang, Vice-Chair of the World Canal Cities Organization, based in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China, talked about the global network of inland waterway organizations and WCCO’s partnership with IWI. Angela Zabojnik from Leipzig, Germany, reported on progress in transforming former mining landscapes to waterway facilities. Richard Millar of Scottish Canals described how Scotland’s canals are being repurposed to support changing societies and environments. Plenary sessions on Thursday utilized panel discussions to focus on ways to improve access to canals for people of all abilities and canalside trails.
There were a total of eighteen breakout sessions, divided among five themes: Trends in Waterway Tourism and Recreation; Inclusion and Accessibility; Waterway Management; Canals and Historic Preservation; and Healthy Waterways, Healthy Communities.
Conference study tours explored canal communities, structures, and projects in western New York and nearby Canada. Delegates could choose to cross into Canada to visit the Welland Canal, a ship canal that bypasses Niagara Falls to link lakes Ontario and Erie; or visit North Tonawanda, the westward end of today’s Erie Canal, and various combinations of Lockport, Fairport, Medina and Brockport along the Erie Canal.
Lockport is an iconic site where locks of the Enlarged Erie and Barge canals climb the Niagara Escarpment side-by-side through parallel sets of staircase locks. Barge Canal locks E34-35, with a combined lift of 49 feet, were completed in 1915, replacing one set of Enlarged Erie locks 67-71. The northern 5-lock staircase was retained as a spillway. Timber gates are being installed to simulate their original hand operation.
The final act of the conference was the traditional WCC handover from Bob Radliff, Executive Director of Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor and Brian Stratton, Director of the New York State Canal Corporation, to the Sun Huanzhi, Vice Mayor of Guilin and chair of the organizing committee for WCC2026. Delegates saw previews of the 2026 conference, focusing on the Lingqu Canal, built to link the Xiang and Lijiang rivers, tributaries to the mighty Yangtse and Pearl rivers.
Janet GascoigneMembership magazine
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Inland Waterways Pavilion
IWI is supporting a collective effort to relaunch the Inland Waterways Pavilion at BOOT Düsseldorf on 17-25 January 2026. The opportunity is presented by the BOOT organising team in a brochure available to download here. The Pavilion, last organised in January 2020, is the ideal venue to welcome strongly motivated visitors and expand your markets in waterway activities and destinations.
WCC 2025 in Buffalo!
View this excellent video inviting waterway professionals, operators, experts and enthusiasts to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal at the World Canals Conference in Buffalo, NY, on September 21-25! View here or on IWI’s YouTube Channel
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
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.