Its outstanding environmental friendliness, safety and efficiency make inland waterway transport, today and in the future, an interesting transport mode, whose increased use complies with the objectives of European transport and environmental policies. 

Compared to road and rail transport, inland waterway transport as the environmentally friendliest transport mode has

• the lowest specific energy consumption,

• the lowest capital expenditure requirements for the maintenance and improvement of the infrastructure and
• the lowest external costs.

In terms of safety, inland navigation causes the lowest accident costs in comparison with the other transport modes.

Another characteristic of inland waterway transport is its high level of effectiveness compared to other modes of transport. As a result of the considerably lower energy input and consumption required to carry one tonne of cargo over a distance of 1000 kilometres and its substantial ability to move large volumes of goods, inland waterway transport offers much larger transport capacities per transport unit.
In addition, inland waterway transport has sufficient available capacities. Currently only approximately 15% of the overall capacity of the Danube are used for navigation.

Provided that a minimum water depth can be guaranteed throughout the whole year, inland navigation constitutes an extremely reliable transport mode with low transport costs enabling the shipping industry to generate significant cost savings.

Hence, inland navigation is an attractive transport alternative both in environmental and in economic terms.