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.
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’.
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.
A milestone in development of the European waterway network for 3000-tonne barges and push-tows was marked on Tuesday 4 October when the 36m-high Niederfinow shiplift was officially opened, on the Havel-Oder Canal.
The first vessel to pass through the new lift, with its striking architecture, was the Waterway Authority’s icebreaker Frankfurt. Barges and tankers up to 115m long can now transport cargoes between the Polish port of Szceczin and Berlin and beyond.
When we visited the site in May 2022, before attending the World Canals Conference in Leipzig, we saw that even a single-barge Polish push-tow had to split to pass through the original lift, opened in 1933, with its usable length of only 83.50m.
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 time to reinforce the message and upscale prudent action. Waterborne
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 pleasant to be able to share this appointment with you in
Report by member Tim Coghlan (first published in Towpath Talk, No. 96) Irish eyes were justifiably smiling following the 31st World Canals Conference (WCC) – the second to be hosted by Ireland. The first was held jointly in Dublin and Belfast in 2001 and this year’s conference moved to central Ireland, to the town of Athlone, appropriately lying astride the River Shannon, which is the
by Maggie Armstrong (I-474) A quick glance at the map of the inland waterways published by the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) in their 2016 Marketing Report is enough to make any skipper with a cargo barge less than 85m long fear that their future is on the line. Many of the waterways they regularly work are simply airbrushed out of the picture. Unbelievably there appear to be
IWI has established itself as a ‘place to be’ at the world’s biggest boat show, BOOT Düsseldorf, thanks to the generous conditions offered by Messe Düsseldorf. The prototype of our dedicated Inland Waterways Pavilion was set up and staffed by Council members from January 19-28, 2018, with results that augur well for even greater impact at next year’s event, when we expect to have up
The recent World Canals Conference in Syracuse, NY, was a great success, with more than 350 delegates from 12 countries. I took part in a pre-conference ‘Tour the Towpath‘ cycling rally on September 23-24, followed by IWI’s Annual General Meeting on the Sunday evening, then the four-day conference. There is so much to learn at this annual gathering of waterway authorities and professionals in so
The Seine-Nord Europe Canal has overcome what may have been the final obstacle in its epic progression towards the first shovel of earth being moved. The State, regions and départements agreed on a plan to bear the increased cost of the works, at a meeting held in the cabinet office of Alain Vidalies, Secretary of State for Transport, on Monday November 28. The crisis mentioned
Inland Waterways International has constantly supported Europe’s new canal, the 107-km ‘missing link’ for high-capacity barges and push-tows between the Seine basin and the main interconnected network from Northern France through the Rhine to Switzerland and through the German waterways to the rest of Europe. The French Government insists that the project will go ahead, with works starting in 2017, but the main stakeholders in
More than 20 years after planning started, the enlarged Panama Canal has finally been opened to international shipping, two years behind schedule. A detailed feature published in the New York Times on June 22, 2016, suggests that the difficulties encountered in performing the monumental works contract could leave a legacy of heavy maintenance and repair costs. The Malta-flagged ship Baroque enters the lowest of the
We are unequivocally supporting the efforts by the association Unser Finowkanal to secure the future of this important heritage waterway, bypassed by the modern Havel-Oder Waterway. The Federal Government has declared its intention to close the canal for navigation, convert the locks into weirs and maintain the channel exclusively for drainage. The only way to avoid this scenario is to secure funding for the considerable
Waterway managers from throughout Europe travelled across the English Channel a few weeks ago for a special visit to see cutting edge technology in action on the UK’s canals. The guests joined the Canal & River Trust – the charity that takes care of 3200 km of waterways across England and Wales – for two days. The visit included a trip to see the project
Czech president Milos Zeman will be at the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on 26 February 2014, to lobby for inclusion of the Danube-Oder-Elbe water corridors in Europe’s ‘core corridor network’ for transport infrastructure investments. Ostrava-based MEP Vojtech Mynar has invited interested parties to a round table with experts on the Danube-Oder-Elbe Water Corridor in the ‘Swan Bar’ gallery of the European Parliament building at 16:00.