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.
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 pollution, industrial development, and climate change, close to 100 countries will participate
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
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 a pandemic and governments worldwide have taken wide-ranging measures to contain the spread of the virus. Inland Waterways International is one of many organisations that has signed an appeal to European Governments and authorities to facilitate freight transport operations in these difficult times. Transport keeps us going, also on our inland waterways. We
The World Canals Conference at Yangzhou in China, on September 26-28, focused on the heritage potential of canals, and their role in regeneration and renewal. At 1863 km long and 2500 years old, the Grand Canal breaks all canal records and puts European waterways in the shade. The WCC was held in Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province on the banks of the Grand Canal near its
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
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 new French government plans to ‘pause’ the long-awaited Seine-Nord Europe Canal. Immediately after the newly-elected president Emmanuel Macron formed his Government, there were concerns for the project, as the Prime Minister Edouard Philippe was known to be less than luke-warm to the project (as mayor of Le Havre, fearing a loss of traffic). After that there was a flurry of reassuring news in May
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
American adventurer Charles Hedrich recently completed an extraordinary voyage, rowing throughout the French waterway system. Between late May and the end of October 2016, he covered 3000 km of canals and river navigations, passing through more than 500 locks. The experienced oarsman was constantly amazed by the natural beauty of the landscapes and the fascinating engineered heritage of the waterways. He described the system as