Provided that a minimum water depth can be guaranteed throughout the whole year – as can be done on the Rhine but not yet on the upper Danube – inland navigation constitutes an extremely reliable transport mode incurring low transport costs.

With guaranteed navigable depths and a strengthened use of inland navigation, Austria’s manufacturing industry could achieve transport cost savings of at least € 30 million per year in the future.
In spite of the comparatively longer transport times, low transport costs and a high degree of reliability provide inland waterway transport with the promising opportunity of establishing itself in high-demand market segments e.g. automobile distribution, in the future.

To partially transfer freight transport onto the Danube would not only strengthen inland navigation but also entail positive macroeconomic effects, not least through an increase in the competitiveness of enterprises and the safeguarding of jobs.