Staying Afloat - Examining the Resilience of the European Inland Waterway Transportation Industry in the Face of Climate Related Disruptions: A Policy and Resilience Analysis

Abstract

Due to its lower emissions in comparison to other modes of transport, inland waterway transportation (IWT) has been increasingly considered a sustainable option by the European Union (EU), prompting a focus on transitioning towards it in recent years. However, the impact of climate change has led to a rise in extreme weather events, including floods and droughts, over the past few decades. As a result, these events are affecting Europe's inland waterways, causing fluctuations in water levels that disrupt inland waterway transportation. This poses challenges for inland barge companies and ports, making it difficult to carry out regular operations and potentially leading to significant shifts in transportation models across Europe. This report aims to investigate how IWT industry actors such as inland barge companies and ports in western Europe are coping with the current situation with disruptions caused by extreme weather. The IWT actors' capabilities to cope with the extreme weather related disruptions are considered based on a resilience framework.Furthermore, identify existing policies and measures in the EU focusing on IWT and the climate change and extreme weather impacts that disrupt the industry. This study has been carried out through a literature review on existing policies and measures as well as collecting data through semi-structured interviews. The findings of the report show that the main climate related disruption faced by IWT actors pertains to more frequent and severe changes in water level, especially drought, which mainly decreases the capacity utilisation of inland barge companies. When examining the resilience capabilities of such companies, findings show that the use of technological systems, good customer service, collaboration and strong knowledge and experience in the industry are seen to be strong contributors to inland barge companies' resilience in times of disruptions. Furthermore, in order for inland waterway transportation to be more resilient and competitive compared to road and rail transport, more involvement from the government is needed to maintain and strengthen infrastructure for waterway transportation in Europe. EU and governments play an important role to engage all actors and at the same time maintain the waterways to help reduce the extent of the consequences caused by the disruptions.