"FAIRway" is giving the signal flare for the implementation of the Master Plan for Rehabilitation and Maintenance, which was adopted at the meeting of Transport Ministers on 3 December 2014 in Brussels. With current and harmonized information about shallow sections, water levels and water level forecasts, "FAIRway" is supporting the planning of transports on the waterway as well as its maintenance and the design of river engineering measures or the relocation of the fairway course.
Navigating on the Danube is free of charge. In 1948, this intention was put down in the Belgrade Convention. The Danube States are therefore obliged to keep the waterway in a suitable condition for navigation. It takes concerted and above all effective steps to actually achieve this goal along the entire Danube.
Basic information, joint approach
Up-to-date recordings of the riverbed, combined with precise water level measurements are fundamental tools for navigation, shippers and logistics providers. To be able to measure regularly and to gather comparable data along the Danube, appropriate measuring instruments and ships are purchased in Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. Also additional automatic water level gauges will be built in the course of "FAIRway". In a joint effort, the project partners will make the collected data on the waterway available to the public. Additionally the data will be used to calculate water level prognosis for important reference gauges according to a standardized methodology .
The best way
With a high measuring density and continuity "FAIRway" is fostering the adaptation of the fairway to the current profile of the riverbed, thus improving the fairway conditions for inland navigation. Especially in the broader Lower Danube, there is still room for using intensified measurement activities to determine and mark the best possible fairway location and thus allow for higher drafts loaded to reduce transport costs. "FAIRway" is just the beginning To collect and provide improved information and to make optimum use of the current fairway conditions are essential first steps, but it can only be the beginning. Therefore, "FAIRway" is preparing supplementary and additional projects for implementing the Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan. While in the beginning the focus will be on known critical sections, with the progress of the Project improved measurement results should be used increasingly to prioritize or conceptualize further measures.
More information on FAIRway can be found here.