Key regions for inland waterway freight transport in 2022

In 2022, 965 million tonnes of freight were handled, i.e. loaded and unloaded, in the EU by inland waterways. 

Inland waterway freight transport was heavily concentrated in a few key regions, mainly in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. These 3 countries have extensive inland waterway networks that are connected to major ports such as Rotterdam, Antwerpen and Hamburg.

This article presents a handful of information from a more detailed Statistics Explained article on inland waterway freight transport at regional level.

Half of the total volume handled in just 6 regions

In 2022, the Dutch region of Zuid-Holland, home to the port of Rotterdam, led the rankings, handling 172.0 million tonnes of freight, which accounted for 17.8% of the total inland waterway freight handled in the EU. 

Source dataset: iww_go_atygofl

Belgian Prov. Antwerpen followed, with 98.3 million tonnes (10.2% of the total), and Dutch Noord-Holland held the third place with 71.6 million tonnes (7.4%). Düsseldorf in Germany recorded 67.9 million tonnes, making up 7.0% of the total, while Zeeland in the Netherlands handled 44.9 million tonnes (4.7%). When including Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands, which saw 34.8 million tonnes (3.6%), the cumulative share of these 6 regions exceeds half of the EU's total inland waterway freight handled.

Looking at the total 104 regions for which 2022 data are available, 26 regions contributed to 82.9% of the total freight handled in the EU, individually contributing between 17.8% and 1.0%. The remaining 27.1% was dispersed among 78 other regions, each contributing less than 1%.

Zuid-Holland dominates key inland waterway flows

In 2022, Zuid-Holland appears in 7 out of the top 10 key inland transport connections between the different EU regions. The freight flow from Zuid-Holland to Düsseldorf alone represented 6.8% of the total inland waterway freight handled in the EU, accounting for 32.6 million tonnes. 

Source dataset: iww_go_atygofl

The flow from Zuid-Holland to Prov. Antwerpen accounted for 15.6 million tonnes (3.3% share of total), and from Zuid-Holland to Noord-Holland for 11.7 million tonnes (2.5% share). They were followed by the flows from Prov. Antwerpen to Zuid-Holland with 11.4 million tonnes (2.4% share) and from Noord-Holland to Zuid-Holland with 6.5 million tonnes (1.4% share).

Despite the prominence of the top 10 routes, the largest share of freight was transported via a wide network of 2 804 remaining routes, with 369.8 million tonnes handled, accounting for 77.3% of total inland waterway freight handled in the EU. All these routes had an individual share of less than 1.2%. This underscores the vast and varied connectivity of the EU inland waterway transport network.