This article presents inland waterways goods transport in the European Union (EU) and other countries connected to the EU inland waterways network. It focuses on the main products transported, based on annual data for 2016 and comparisons with the previous year.
In 2016, the total volume of goods transported on European inland waterways was 554 million tonnes, an increase of 0.9 % compared to the previous year. However, the total transport performed reached 147 billion tonne-kilometres (TKm), down 0.2 % from the previous year, reflecting a slight decrease in the distances performed. The main product categories transported by inland waterways were ‘Metal ores and other mining and quarrying products’ and ‘Coke and refined petroleum products’. The European countries with the largest inland waterways transport were the Netherlands and Germany.