In 2010, a total of 11.1 million tons of goods were carried on the Austrian section of the Danube waterway, which has an overall length of 350.51 km. Total transport volumes in the individual segments ranged from 5.06 million tons in the Upper Austrian segment between the German-Austrian border and Linz, up to 8.28 million tons in the free-flowing stretch downstream from Vienna to the Austro-Slovakian border.

As it has the by far largest water transhipment location on the Austrian Danube – the industrial port of the voestalpine steelworks – Linz stands out among other ports and transhipment sites with regard to the quantity of transported goods. Regarding imports, voestalpine obtained 2.78 million tons of ores from Eastern Europe in 2010, mainly from Ukraine (ports of Izmail and Reni) and Slovakia (port of Bratislava). The largest quantities imported from Western Europe were recorded in the ports of Linz (voestalpine and Linz AG) with 0.73 million tons and in the port of Enns with 0.44 million tons. Therefore the Danube section upstream from Linz to the Austro-German border showed a significantly lower goods traffic density than the section downstream from Linz to the Austro-Slovakian border.

Exports were again dominated by the ports of Linz (voestalpine and Linz AG), with 0.68 million tons transported upstream and 0.26 million tons transported downstream on the one hand, while on the other hand 0.45 million tons of goods were transported from Vienna (port of Lobau) downstream.

With regard to transit transport, the comparison of transport flows by transport direction showed a ratio of 5.3:1 (upstream/downstream) – in 2008 this ratio amounted to 3.6:1, in 2009 it was 6.3:1. On the section from Linz to the Austro-German border, transit transport accounted for 54% of the overall transport volume (-1.1% over 2009).

With reference to all cross-sections, the volume of transported goods per day amounted to 19,408 tons (+17.5% or +3,404 tons over 2009). In the most heavily used cross-section of the free-flowing stretch east of Vienna, an average of 22,670 tons of goods were transported per day in 2010, which is equivalent to a full load of 907 lorries (25 net tons) or 567 railway wagons (40 net tons) resp. close to 30 block trains.

In relation to the overall length of the Austrian section of the Danube, an average of 19,379 tons of goods were carried per kilometre in 2010 (+15.6% or +3,029 tons over 2009).