The most important viadonau publication of the year is here and can now be explored with a new online feature on the viadonau website. In addition to the comprehensive set of figures on locks, route availability, transport volumes and much more, the current edition presents the viadonau vessel MS Negrelli, which will soon enter a new phase of its life for the LIFE-Boat 4 Sturgeon project, as a delightfully staged photo subject.
Especially for inland navigation and ecology, 2022 was a year of major project successes. The milestones: mandatory new regulation for high & heavy transports, complete international introduction of the uniform DAVID border control forms, international implementation of new information and reporting services through RIS COMEX and successful nature conservation projects such as the restoration of valuable floodplain landscape through "LIFE+ Auenwildnis Wachau".
The figures for Danube navigation reveal a continued dynamic development for the year 2022 with partly opposing trends. While, for example, passenger navigation still benefited from recovery effects in the immediate period after the pandemic and was able to record a strong increase in the number of passengers by 76 percent to 955,000, freight traffic and water-side port transshipment partially showed significant declines. At the same time, the waterway was navigable on all 365 days of the year and offered water levels of at least 2.5 meters in the free flowing stretches – 99.5 percent of the year in the Wachau and 94 percent of the year east of Vienna. As confirmed by a survey among commercial users of the Danube waterway with an average grade of 1.33, the opinion on the quality of waterway management by viadonau is extremely positive.
For those interested in learning much more about this in detail – the Annual Report on Danube Navigation in Austria 2022 is already available digitally in traditional form as a PDF in German and English on the viadonau website. In addition, the most important facts and figures can now also be explored on a specially integrated online platform for the Annual Report on Danube navigation.