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A major objective of the EU is to increase the share of inland navigation as an environmentally friendly and safe transport mode. Danube STREAM contributed to this objective by further improving transnational cooperation between waterway authorities and by harmonising waterway management along the Danube corridor. The EU co-funded project aimed to improve the quality of the Danube waterway infrastructure and information services in order to offer a competitive mode of transport to users while safeguarding environmental sustainability. It built on the results of the successful preceding projects NEWADA and NEWADA duo.

Project activities

In the course of Danube STREAM, the following key activities were implemented:

  • Regular coordination meetings of Danube waterway managers (“Board of Directors”)
  • Consolidated common standards (e.g. updated common minimum levels of service for waterway management)
  • Improved user-oriented information services (e.g. updated FIS and D4D web portals, updated Inland Electronic Navigational Charts (IENCs))
  • Cooperation with stakeholders (ecology, navigation),  coordination with the political level (Danube Region Strategy) as well as close coordination with further ongoing activities (such as the projects FAIRway Danube,  RIS COMEX or DANUBEparksCONNECTED)

Partners

Danube STREAM was implemented by nine partners from seven countries:

  • Austria – via donau-Österreichische Wasserstraßen-Gesellschaft mbH (viadonau) (Lead Partner)
  • Slovakia – Slovak Water Management Enterprise (SVP)
  • Hungary – General Directorate of Water Management (OVF)
  • Hungary – National Association of Radio Distress-signalling & Infocommunications (RSOE)
  • Croatia – Agency for Inland Waterways (AVP)
  • Serbia - Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure – Directorate for Inland Waterways (Plovput)
  • Bulgaria – Executive Agency "Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River" (EAEMDR)
  • Romania – River Administration of the Lower Danube Galati (AFDJ)
  • Romania – Administration of the Navigable Canals (ACN)

The following Associated Strategic Partners took over an advisory role in the project:

  • German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI)
  • Danube Commission (DC)     
  • International Sava River Basin Commission (ISRBC)
  • Danube River Network of Protected Areas (DANUBEPARKS)

Duration and budget

1 January 2017 – 30 September 2019

Budget: EUR 2.1 Mn
ERDF Contribution: 1.6 Mn
IPA Contribution: 0.15 Mn

News and project status

  • Official kick-off event on 08.03.2017 in Budapest.
  • In the course of the 1st "Board of Directors" Meeting on 12.06.2017 in Bratislava the detailed work plan for Danube STREAM was approved by the directors of the Danube waterway administrations.
  • The Common Danube Report 2016 and 2017 (key figures and analyses regarding navigation along the entire Danube) was published in English, in Bulgarian and Romanian. 
  • In particular, in 2017 the data processing functions behind the Danube FIS Portal, the D4D Portal and the electronic navigation charts (IENCs) were optimised. Through these investments the usability and the data quality of these services will be enhanced in the further course of the project. 
  • The fourth "Board of Directors" meeting was held on 14th November 2018 in Budapest. 
  • In autumn 2018, a joint conference was held in Kladovo (Serbia) together with the national park authorities of the Danube region (united in the sister project "DANUBEparksCONNECTED") and the Danube SEDIMENT project, in which overarching solution strategies in the area of tension between ecology and shipping were discussed.
  • Furthermore, in connection with the Joint Statement Meeting of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube, the "Danube Awareness Day" was organised in 2018 - a conference with the participation of the European Commission, the river commissions and other key actors, in which it was discussed how Good Navigation Status and Good Ecological Status can be balanced in practice. The "Danube Awareness Day" was one of three thematic events organised in the framework of the Austrian EU Presidency.
  • The last "Boad of Directors" meeting was held on 16th September 2019 in Budapest. The Board of Directors (Directors of the waterway administrations) is responsible for the continuation of the project results even after the project was finalised. 
  • The project was successfully concluded in September 2019.

Further information on Danube STREAM can be found on the project website.

 

The project made a substantial contribution to the implementation of measure
05. Promote harmonised waterway management in the Danube region of the Action Programme for the Danube 2022.