In 2022, 965 million tonnes of freight were handled, i.e. loaded and unloaded, in the EU by inland waterways.
Inland waterway freight transport was heavily concentrated in a few key regions, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. These 3 countries have extensive inland waterway networks that are connected to major ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Hamburg.
This article presents a handful of information from a more detailed Statistics Explained article on inland waterway freight transport at regional level.
Half of the total volume handled in just 6 regions
In 2022, the Dutch region of Zuid-Holland, home to the port of Rotterdam, led the rankings, handling 172.0 million tonnes of freight, which accounted for 17.8% of the total inland waterway freight handled in the EU.
Source dataset: iww_go_atygofl
Belgian Prov. Antwerpen followed, with 98.3 million tonnes (10.2% of the total), and Dutch Noord-Holland held the third place with 71.6 million tonnes (7.4%). Düsseldorf in Germany recorded 67.9 million tonnes, making up 7.0% of the total, while Zeeland in the Netherlands handled 44.9 million tonnes (4.7%). When including Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands, which saw 34.8 million tonnes (3.6%), the cumulative share of these 6 regions exceeds half of the EU’s total inland waterway freight handled.
Looking at the total 104 regions for which 2022 data are available, 26 regions contributed to 82.9% of the total freight handled in the EU, individually contributing between 17.8% and 1.0%. The remaining 27.1% was dispersed among 78 other regions, each contributing less than 1%.
Zuid-Holland dominates key inland waterway flows
In 2022, Zuid-Holland appears in 7 out of the top 10 key inland transport connections between the different EU regions. The freight flow from Zuid-Holland to Düsseldorf alone represented 6.8% of the total inland waterway freight handled in the EU, accounting for 32.6 million tonnes.
Source dataset: iww_go_atygofl
The flow from Zuid-Holland to Prov. Antwerpen accounted for 15.6 million tonnes (3.3% share of total), and from Zuid-Holland to Noord-Holland for 11.7 million tonnes (2.5% share). They were followed by the flows from Prov. Antwerpen to Zuid-Holland with 11.4 million tonnes (2.4% share) and from Noord-Holland to Zuid-Holland with 6.5 million tonnes (1.4% share).
Despite the prominence of the top 10 routes, the largest share of freight was transported via a wide network of 2 804 remaining routes, with 369.8 million tonnes handled, accounting for 77.3% of total inland waterway freight handled in the EU. All these routes had an individual share of less than 1.2%. This underscores the vast and varied connectivity of the EU inland waterway transport network.
(Eurostat)
