David Edwards-May 
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.
Following Covid disruption to the planned WCC schedule, there is no in-person conference in 2023. In its place, IWI is hosting a series of ‘webinars’ covering important waterways issues, presented by experts from all over the world.
Two hundred years after the grand opening of the Erie Canal, Buffalo invites the world’s canal community back to New York State’s ‘Queen City’, for the World Canals Conference in September 2025. Governor DeWitt Clinton’s inaugural voyage began here on 25 October 1825, culminating in the famous ‘Wedding of the Waters’ ceremony in New York Harbor.
IWI’s Council welcomes its first member from Germany, Angela Zábojnik.
Inland waterways can play a pivotal role in the EU’s efforts to decarbonise the transport system, according to the Council of the European Union. In December 2022, the Council voted to approve the conclusions of the NAIADES III report on ‘Ongoing development of inland waterways transport’.
The Inland Waterways Pavilion assembled by IWI for members at Boot Düsseldorf attracted great interest. See a film made by the Serbian Nautical TV channel Nautika TV. The focus is on the Danube Propeller stand, but the video gives an excellent overview of the whole pavilion. Danube Propeller & IWI 2019 at boot Düsseldorf – … Read more
IWI’s recently expanded Alternative Fuels Committee aims to promote methods to accelerate the transition of personal and commercial watercraft used on inland waterways toward clean and sustainable propulsion systems. Its audience is the boating public, commercial interests, corporations and legislative agencies.
IWI is a member go the ‘Think Climate’ coalition under the auspices of PIANC (The World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure), working on a far-reaching initiative Navigating a Changing Climate.
IWI supports World Rivers Day 2021, on September 26. The World Rivers Day was founded 40 years ago in British Columbia, and aims to increase public awareness of the importance of our waterways as well as the many threats confronting them. With many of the world’s rivers in a degraded state and facing increasing pressures associated with … Read more
The climate is changing. The evidence is unequivocal. Climate change represents a significant risk to business, operations, safety and infrastructure – and hence to local, national and global economies. However, a positive, proactive response, now and into the future, can both reduce these risks and bring business opportunities. Uncertainties remain, but these can be addressed and are not reasons for delay. It is … Read more
Annual General Meeting by videoconference, October 9, 2020 Dear David, members of the IWI Council (and of the General Assembly) I cannot hide the pride that I was nominated to serve as President of Inland Waterways International for the next three years. And with equal pleasure I would like to accept this personal challenge! It would have been even more … Read more
We are saddened to report that long-standing member Dr David Hilling MBE, vice-president of the Commercial Boat Operators Association and eminent authority on inland water transport, has died. David was an enthusiastic member of IWA’s Inland Shipping Group, and was its chairman for some years, promoting the benefits of transport by water. He had a … Read more