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.
World Canals as a Refocus for Regeneration The World Canals Conference returned to Europe in 2022. Planned for 2020, the WCC arrived in Leipzig, Germany, this year, from 30 May to 3 June. The conference brought together waterways professionals, engineers, experts and politicians. Inland Waterways International (IWI) President Rudy Van der Ween opened the conference after a greeting from Dr Bettina Hoffman, Federal Minister of
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
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 widely respected career in the academic world, and was considered
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
As a member of PIANC’s Navigating a Changing Climate initiative, IWI supports the association’s Declaration on Climate Change, launched today 10th December 2019, during the Round Table on Resilience at COP25 in Madrid, Spain. The President of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (PIANC) presented the policy document as PIANC’s contribution to the growing debate on how to respond to the changing climate. In
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
Partners from across the North West Region of Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands) met today in Paris to kick off the EU-funded Interrreg project “Green WIN“. The meeting, hosted by Voies Navigables de France (VNF), set out the schedule for this new transnational project, which looks at the environmental efficiency of water management on inland waterways, with a particular focus on pumping operations and
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
All boat owners, especially those who live aboard their boats, with gas appliances, will be interested in a new initiative by BWML. From 17th to 23rd September, organisations from across the UK will be working together to raise awareness on the dangers of gas and how to avoid them. The goal is to educate people about the simple things to look out for, such as
The Håverud Aqueduct on the Dalsland Canal in Sweden celebrated its 150th anniversary on 31st August 2018.