Five good reasons for using Danube Navigation

Panorama of the danube river, cargo vessel in the foreground

Cost-efficient means of transportation

Due to the fact that an Inland vessel can transport such high volumes of goods, inland waterway transport (IWT) represents an attractive and cost efficient transport option for the Austrian economy. This is especially the case for bulk goods.

24/7 availability and ample spare capacity

The Danube offers ample spare capacity and round the clock service. There are no weekend or night driving bans or restrictions on the Danube.

Environmentally friendly & safe

One of the safest methods to transport your goods is also extremely environmentally friendly: a ship can transport one ton of goods over 370 km using the same amount of fuel that a lorry uses to transport the same amount of goods a mere 100 km. 70% less fuel consumption also means 70% less CO2 emissions.

Diagram of cost comparison between road, rail and inland waterway
Source: © viadonau
Diagram: range of truck, train and ship with equal amount of energy
Source: © viadonau

Relief for rail and road infrastructures

Around 10 million tons of goods are transported annually on the Austrian stretch of the Danube – without noise or congestion. This is the equivalent of a 100 kilometre-long convoy of trucks transporting goods from Vienna to Linz every day.

Low infrastructure costs

The Danube offers inland navigation a natural infrastructure with correspondingly low investment costs and no additional land use. The investment costs for road transport are double those of inland navigation and six times higher for rail transport.

Route cost comparison analysing onshore transport modes in Germany
Source: PLANCO