REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways
Date: 2020-12-18
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, application of EU law, carriage of goods, inland waterway, transport statistics

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.12.2020  COM(2020) 821 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways  
 
 
1. 

 INTRODUCTION 

1.1. 

AIM OF THE REPORT 

The  Commission  has  an  obligation  to  report  on  the  implementation  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2018/974  on  statistics  of  goods  transport  by  inland  waterways  (‘the  Regulation’).  The 
specific timetable laid down in Article 9 of the Regulation is for the Commission to report by 
31 December 2020 and every 5 years thereafter. The purpose of this report is to comply with 
the Commission’s reporting requirement. 

This  report  outlines  the  background,  policy  context  and  coverage  of  the  legislation  and 
discusses  issues  associated  with  its  implementation.  The  final  section  describes  possible 
future developments and presents conclusions.  

1.2. 

BACKGROUND OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK 

The  Regulation  was  designed  to  provide  the  Commission,  other  EU  institutions,  national 
governments  and  the  general  public  with  comparable,  reliable,  harmonised,  regular  and 
comprehensive statistical data on developments in the carriage of goods transported by inland 
waterways within the EU. 
As  Regulation  (EC)  No  1365/20061 had  been  substantially  amended  several  times,  it  was 
codified and repealed by Regulation (EU) 2018/974 to make it clearer and more streamlined.   
Only Commission Regulation (EC) No 425/20072 remains in force. 

1.3. 

POLICY CONTEXT 

Compared with other modes of transport, which often face congestion and capacity problems, 
transport by inland waterways is reliable and energy-efficient, and has considerable potential 
for expanded use.  

Inland waterways are a competitive alternative to road transport. In particular, this mode of 
transport  is  an  environment-friendly  alternative  in  terms  of  both  energy  consumption  and 
noise  emissions.  Moreover,  inland  waterways  provide  high  safety  levels,  especially  for  the 
transport of dangerous goods. Finally, they relieve the burden on overloaded road networks in 
densely populated regions. 

This  sector  is  highly  relevant  to  transport  policy;  the  ‘Roadmap  to  a  Single  European 
Transport  Area  –  Towards  a  competitive  and  resource  efficient  transport  system’  White 
Paper3 sets out 10 goals for a competitive and resource-efficient transport system. The current 
inland  navigation  policy  for  2014-2020  is  embedded  in  the  Naiades  II  action  plan 
programme4. To carry out the tasks in the context of the successive Naiades programmes and 
the  EU  common  transport  policy,  European  inland  waterways  statistics  are  used  in  the 
framing,  monitoring  and  evaluating  of  transport  policies  and  other  policies  such  as  the 
operation of the internal market. Developing EU common transport policy requires in-depth 

1 Regulation  (EC)  No  1365/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  6  September  2006  on 
statistics  of  goods  transport  by  inland  waterways  and  repealing  Council  Directive  80/1119/EEC  (OJ  L  264, 
25.9.2006, p. 1). 

2 Commission Regulation (EC) No 425/2007 of 19 April 2007 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 of 
the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways (OJ L 103, 
20.4.2007, p. 26). 

3 COM (2011) 144 final. 
4 https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/inland/promotion/naiades2_en (available only in English). 

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knowledge of the scale of freight transport by inland waterways and the ways in which this 
mode  of  transport  is  changing.  The  data  collected  also  help  promote  transport  by  inland 
waterways,  while  helping  to  integrate  this  mode  of  transport  into  the  intermodal  logistics 
chain. 
The European Green Deal5 is the new growth strategy that aims to make the EU’s economy 
sustainable  by  turning  climate  and  environmental  challenges  into  opportunities  across  all 
policy areas and by making the transition just and inclusive for all. The European Green Deal 
Communication calls for a 90% reduction in transport emissions by 2050. Priority actions for 
a shift to sustainable and smart mobility include: 

  boosting multimodal transport;  
  supporting  the  deployment  of  automated  and  connected  mobility  solutions  across 

modes; 

  better addressing external costs of transport activities through pricing;  
 

ramping up the production and deployment of sustainable alternative transport fuels; 
and 
reducing pollution from transport, especially in cities. 

 

In order to boost multimodal transport, the European Green Deal is calling for a shift of 75% 
of  transport  from  road  to  rail  and  inland  waterways.  To  meet  this  objective,  the  European 
Commission will propose measures to increase the capacity of inland navigation from 2021. 

1.4. 

COVERAGE OF MEMBER STATES AND OTHER COUNTRIES 

The Regulation on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways applies directly and in its 
entirety  to  all  Member  States.  It  does  not  need  to  be  transposed  into  national  legislation. 
However,  since  not  all  Member  States  use  transport  by  inland  waterways,  the  Regulation 
affects only those where this mode of transport exists. 

The Regulation sets a threshold above which Member States are obliged to provide data: the 
requirement  applies  to  all  those  where  the  total  volume  of  goods  transported  annually  by 
inland  waterways  exceeds  one  million  tonnes.  Currently,  12  Member  States  are  obliged  to 
supply  data:  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Germany,  France,  Croatia,  Luxembourg,  Hungary,  the 
Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.  

Under  the  Regulation,  countries  exceeding  the  one  million  tonnes  threshold  but  without 
international or transit traffic are required to provide only a reduced annual dataset (Table V1 
in Annex V to the Regulation). Currently, this does not apply to any Member State.  

Five  Member  States  currently  provide  data  on  a  voluntary  basis:  Czechia,  Italy,  Lithuania, 
Finland  and  Sweden.  Although  Czechia  is  below  the  threshold  set  by  the  Regulation,  it 
reports all the data required. The other four countries provide a reduced annual dataset (Table 
V1 in Annex V). 

Belgium, Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands and Romania also provide data on 
vessel traffic (optional Table II2 in Annex II). 

Outside the European Union,  Serbia, a candidate country,  also  provides  quarterly data on  a 
voluntary basis. 

5 COM(2019) 640 final. 

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Since  1 February 2020,  when  the  United  Kingdom  left  the  European  Union,  Eurostat  has 
added  to  its  datasets  the  new  aggregate  ‘European  Union  –  27  countries  (from  2020)’ 
excluding the UK. During the transition period until the end of 2020, the United Kingdom is 
continuing to send data to Eurostat. These data are made available to users. 

2. 

FOLLOW-UP ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION 

2.1. 

COMPLIANCE WITH LEGAL OBLIGATIONS 

Compliance with the data provision obligations laid down in the Regulation is very good. All 
Member States provide the datasets required. Delays have only been observed in a few cases. 
The high level of compliance means that statistics on freight transport via inland waterways 
in Europe are reliable and of high quality. 

2.2. 

DATA COLLECTION METHODS USED IN THE MEMBER STATES 

The data collection and compilation processes differ among reporting countries but follow a 
traditional  bottom-up  flow  of  information.  Data  suppliers  differ  between  countries,  but  the 
most  frequent  sources  are  the  port  and  lock  authorities.  Countries  complete  their  data  with 
information received from a wide range of sources, including customs offices, neighbouring 
countries,  private  operators,  firms  and  agencies.  Nine  of  the  reporting  countries  use  data 
obtained from their River Information Service or other similar systems. 

Most  competent  national  authorities  apply  validation  checks  using  internally  developed 
control  procedures  before  sending  the  information  to  Eurostat.  The  validation  rules  cover 
many aspects of the process, including data format, codification, internal consistency of each 
dataset, consistency between different datasets and variables, and time series consistency.  

All reporting countries make direct or indirect use of data collected at national level,  either 
for policy purposes or for dissemination. 

2.3. 

COST AND BURDEN FOR THE MEMBER STATES 

Eurostat  is  constantly  trying  to  reduce  and  simplify  burdens  and  receives  regular  feedback 
from Member States on this matter. In cooperation with the national statistical institutes, it is 
implementing specific measures to reduce the burden of data collection and reporting. These 
include: 

1.  the development of a distance matrix to facilitate reporting; 
2.  the development of automated transmission and validation tools and routines, which 
provide  feedback  to  the  Member  States  on  data  quality  and  specific  errors  in  each 
dataset; 

3.  the  organisation  of  regular  meetings  of  national  experts  from  Member  States, 
European  Free  Trade  Area  (EFTA)  countries,  candidate  countries  and  potential 
candidates  (i.e.  the  Expert  group  on  Inland  Waterways  Transport  Statistics  and  task 
forces) to share good practices and discuss data quality, issues and solutions. 

According  to  the  feedback  collected  through  a  questionnaire  sent  to  the  Member  States  in 
February 2020, most countries consider the collection of data to  be useful  and the cost  and 
burden of data collection to be justified given the benefits of the data collected. One country 
regards the reporting of transit data as a major burden. 

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2.4. 

DATA VALIDATION AND QUALITY OF THE STATISTICAL DATA RECEIVED 

A  high  level  of  standardisation  has  been  achieved  in  the  technical  arrangements  for  data 
transmission.  Data  are  transmitted  electronically  to  Eurostat  via  EDAMIS6,  respecting  the  
structure of data files and the record format. Thanks to a validation system implemented in 
EDAMIS, basic errors and incorrect codes are detected swiftly, and the information is rapidly 
incorporated into Eurostat’s production database.  

Once data have been loaded into Eurostat’s production database, detailed quality checks are 
applied  to  the  data  transmitted.  This  validation  includes  the  internal  consistency  of  the 
datasets,  consistency  over  time,  consistency  between  datasets,  and  a  comparison  of  results 
between partner reporting countries (mirror checks). 

Overall,  data  quality  can  be  considered  good.  Nevertheless,  efforts  are  still  required, 
especially  to  reduce  the  asymmetries  highlighted  by  the  mirror  checks  and  to  improve 
reporting of transit data. 

2.5.  METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT TO MEMBER STATES 

Eurostat provides continuous methodological and technical support and makes every effort to 
maintain a high-quality data and metadata information system.  
Eurostat  has  produced  a  Reference  Manual  on  Inland  Waterways  Transport  Statistics7 that 
provides  Member  States  with  guidance  on  implementing  the  Regulation.  The  reference 
manual  is  updated  regularly  (usually  annually)  to  include  the  most  recent  information, 
documentation or guidelines relevant to collecting these statistics.  

2.6. 

PILOT  STUDIES  ON  THE  AVAILABILITY  OF  STATISTICAL  DATA  RELATING  TO 
PASSENGER TRANSPORT BY INLAND WATERWAYS 

Article 5 of the Regulation requires the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, 
to  investigate  the  development  of  statistics  on  passenger  transport  by  inland  waterways, 
including  by  cross-border  transport  services.  More  specifically,  Article  5  stipulates  that  the 
Commission is to: 

a)  develop, by 8 December 2018, the methodology for relevant data collection;  
b)  launch voluntary pilot studies to be carried out by the Member States that provide data 
within  the  scope  of  the  Regulation  on  the  availability  of  statistical  data  relating  to 
passenger transport by inland waterways, by 8 December 2019; 

c)  submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council by 8 December 2020. 

Article 5 also states that the report to the European Parliament and the Council must present 
the  results  of  the  pilot  studies.  Depending  on  the  results  of  that  report,  and  within  a 
reasonable  period,  the  Commission  is  to  submit,  if  appropriate,  a  legislative  proposal  to 
amend  the  current  Regulation  with  regard  to  statistics  on  passenger  transport  by  inland 
waterways. 

6 EDAMIS (electronic dataflow administration and management information system) is the information system 
to  implement  the  single  entry  point  policy.  All  data  files  exchanged  between  Eurostat  and  its  partners  at 
national and international level are transmitted electronically through the EDAMIS application. In the case of 
transport  statistics,  the  expected  data  format  is  laid  down  in  the  related  legislation  and  further  specified  in 
technical manuals. 

7  https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/361f0475-4c86-4ff8-b83e-
6cf3759f377e/Reference%20Manual_October_2019.pdf (available only in English). 

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The  Commission  covered  part  of  the  costs  of  the  pilot  studies  by  awarding  grants  to  the 
national statistical institutes and other national authorities. 

Eurostat, together with the Member States, has developed a draft methodology for statistics 
on passenger transport by inland waterways. In line with Article 5(1) of the Regulation, this 
draft  methodology  was  finalised  on  6 December 2018  and  made  available  to  the  Member 
States  for  use  in  their  pilot  studies.  The  pilot  studies  comprise  two  modules:  statistics  on 
passenger  transport  by  inland  waterways  (module  1)  and  statistics  on  accidents  involving 
inland waterways (module 2). In June 2019, grants to carry out pilot studies were awarded to 
seven countries: Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Romania and Sweden. 

The  topic  was  discussed  by  DIMESA  (the  Eurostat  meeting  of  directors  of  sectoral  and 
environmental statistics and accounts), which supports the work being done in this area.  

2.7. 

PILOT  STUDIES  ON  THE  AVAILABILITY  OF  STATISTICAL  DATA  ON  ACCIDENTS 
INVOLVING INLAND WATERWAYS 

Article  5  of  the  Regulation  does  not  refer  to  statistics  on  accidents.  However,  data  on 
accidents  involving  inland  waterways  is  another  important  area  for  the  Commission. 
Specifically, it aims to develop a system for harmonised collection of statistics on accidents 
and incidents involving inland waterway vessels, including cross-border traffic. 

Eurostat  publishes  data  on  accidents  associated  with  five  modes  of  transport  (rail,  road, 
aviation,  maritime,  and  inland  waterways  (partially)).  Data  on  accidents  involving  rail, 
aviation and maritime transport are collected by European Agencies focusing specifically on 
those  areas.  The  Commission  Directorate-General  for  Mobility  and  Transport  collects 
accident data involving road. However, no such agency exists for data on accidents involving 
inland waterways. The figures published by Eurostat are provided by some Member States on 
a voluntary basis (see the Reference Manual on Inland Waterways Transport Statistics).  

However, this collection is not complete. To obtain complete statistical data on all five modes 
of transport,  Eurostat has  reviewed  and further developed the methodology for accidents in 
passenger and freight transport by inland waterways and included a dedicated module in the 
pilot studies. 

The  results  of  this  module  on  accidents  will  help  to  improve  the  collection  of  data  on 
accidents involving inland waterways. 

2.8. 

DATA DISSEMINATION 

Eurostat releases the data collected under the Regulation through the Eurostat dissemination 
database,  which  can  be  accessed  free  of  charge  from  Eurostat’s  website.  The  database 
contains 17 tables on inland waterways transport, accompanied by a detailed metadata file. 

Eurostat also produces three ‘Statistics Explained’ articles that provide an analysis of the data 
for  the  media  and  the  general  public8.  Data  dissemination  also  includes  tailor-made  data 
extractions  for  users  and  policy-makers,  Eurostat  news  items  and  data  in  Eurostat 
publications (e.g. the Energy, transport and environment statistics statistical book9). 

8 Inland waterways freight transport - quarterly and annual data (available only in English). 
Inland waterway transport statistics (available only in English). 
Inland waterways - statistics on container transport (available only in English). 
9 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-statistical-books/-/KS-DK-19-001 (available only in English). 

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3. 

FURTHER  DEVELOPMENT  OF  INLAND  WATERWAYS  FREIGHT,  PASSENGERS  AND 
ACCIDENT STATISTICS 

The  European  Green  Deal  Communication  has  announced  a  set  of  transformative  policies 
across  economic  sectors,  including  transport.  Inland  waterways  transport  statistics  can  help 
with setting and monitoring policy targets. This is achieved by providing data on volumes of 
goods transported, equipment and infrastructure.  

It  is  possible to  envisage collecting new or more  detailed variables while  taking account  of 
data users’ needs and carefully evaluating the likely burden on respondents. In this context, 
better  coverage  of  data  by  port  of  loading/unloading  and  of  data  by  type  of  cargo  is  of 
particular  interest.  There  is  also  a  need  to  investigate  how  existing  or  new  data  could 
contribute  to  monitoring  the  carbon  intensity  and  energy  efficiency  of  inland  waterway 
transport. 

Another  area  of  possible  improvement  is  the  harmonisation  of  definitions  and  code  lists 
between  inland  waterways  and  other  modes  involved  in  the intermodal  transport  of  freight. 
This would contribute to better comparability of transport figures for different modes. 

Inland  waterways  have  the  potential  to  increase  their  role  in  passenger  transport.  Data  on 
passengers  could  provide interesting information on the use of the different  types of inland 
waterway transport (e.g. cruises, transport by ferryboats and waterbuses, etc.) 

The Commission has been working to develop a harmonised European ‘distance matrix’ tool 
at port-to-port level. In the matrix, the total distance from port to port is broken down into the 
individual distances travelled in each of the countries passed through along the journey. One 
of the goals of the matrix is to help reduce the burden associated with collecting transit data. 
Its  future  application  depends  on  data  availability  at  port-to-port  level.  It  also  depends  on 
identifying  the  geographical  position  of  the  port  more  precisely  and  consistently  and  on 
improving the geographical network of inland waterways. 

Countries should be encouraged to provide data by port of loading/unloading and by type of 
cargo; both categories are currently provided on a voluntary basis only. 

The geographical coverage of the statistical collection could be extended through future EU 
enlargements  and  through  voluntary  involvement  of  third  countries  and/or  international 
organisations via cooperation agreements. 

Feedback  collected  through  a  questionnaire  sent  in  February  2020  to  the  Member  States 
shows  that  five  countries  (of  the  nine  that  responded)  do  not  have  in  mind  any  specific 
requirements for improving the current Regulation. They mentioned that scarce resources, as 
well as increased cost and burden, may limit their capacity to collect new data or to expand 
the collection of existing data types (e.g. data on passenger transport or data broken down by 
type of cargo). At the same time, they recognise that current European initiatives (such as the 
European Green Deal) may create new data needs to be evaluated and discussed. The need to 
develop  further  the  distance  matrix  for  transport  by  inland  waterways  was  emphasised,  in 
particular  because  it  will  reduce  the  burden  involved  in  collecting  transit  data.  Better 
harmonisation of definitions should also be considered.  

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4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  experience  gained  and  the  results  obtained  from  implementing  Regulation  (EU) 
2018/974 can be rated as positive. A mechanism that is well established at both Eurostat and 
national level enables high-quality comparable results.  

Eurostat takes all necessary measures to help Member States implement the Regulation. It has 
developed an appropriate information system and has implemented communication methods 
that help minimise the data management burden on the reporting countries. Eurostat has also 
been  providing  support  to  further  improve  data  quality  and  reduce  the  burden  of  collecting 
and reporting data. 

As regards the use of the data collected, the results obtained have an immediate application in 
developing,  implementing  and  monitoring  policies  on  transport  by  inland  waterways  at 
national and EU level.  

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