Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
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2.1. Metadata last certified
12 July 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
12 July 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
12 July 2026
3.1. Data description
Inland waterway transport statistics provide information on the volume and performance of freight transport on the EU inland waterway network. They are reported based on the 'territoriality principle' which means that each country reports the loading, unloading and movements of goods that take place on its national territory, irrespective of country of origins of undertakings or place of first loading and final unloading.
The full data provision obligation includes:
annually: goods transport by type of goods, by nationality of vessels and by type of vessel as well as container transport by type of goods;
quarterly: goods and container transport by nationality of vessels.
In addition, the legislation foresees voluntary annual data on vessel traffic. Voluntary annual data on the transport of dangerous goods, transport by type of cargo, transport by port of loading/unloading and the number of accidents have been agreed with the reporting countries.
In short, Eurostat collects the following statistics on inland waterway freight transport:
Transport of goods (annual and quarterly mandatory and voluntary data provision);
Vessel traffic (annual voluntary data provision);
Transport of dangerous goods (annual voluntary data provision)
Number of accidents (annual voluntary data provision).
An exhaustive survey is conducted by all reporting countries for national IWW transport statistics. For international inland waterway transport statistics, all countires but one one undertake an exhaustive survey. The exception, Poland, relies on assistance from the German statistical authorities to estimate international traffic, undertaken by non-Polish units. For the transit inland waterway transport, many countries conduct an exhaustive survey, while few use sampling techniques to estimate it. Others rely on cooperation with neighbouring countries to provide the necessary information.
Data are collected and/or compiled by the competent national authorities, which can be either the National Statistical Office or the ministries responsible. Original data sources are the IWW transport undertakings, but the actual data providers are mainly national administrative authorities, national port authorities or inland waterway operators. In addition, the River Information System (RIS) is used as data sources in several countries.
3.2. Classification system
Country and NUTS codes
Territorial units like reporting country and regions for loading/unloading are coded according to NUTS classification for those units covered by NUTS Regulations and ISO 3166 for the rest (e.g. territorial units outside EU). The NUTS version used always corresponds to the version in use and no conversion to the previous version is required. For instance, NUTS 2006 is used for 2008 to 2011 data, NUTS 2010 for 2012 to 2014 data, NUTS 2013 for 2015 to 2016 data, NUTS 2016 for 2017 to 2020 data, NUTS 2021 for 2021 data, NUTS 2024 for 2024 data and onwards (or until a new NUTS version comes out).
The level of detail is either NUTS 0 – for a reporting country – or NUTS 2 (basic regions, 4-digits) – for regions. When using ISO 3166 and 4-digit level coding is required (e.g. for regions outside EU), the 2-digit ISO code followed by 'ZZ' is used.
Goods classification
Before 2007, the types of goods reported as being transported by inland waterways were those set out by NST/R (Standard Goods for Transport Statistics). Only in 2007, the type of goods was reported according to either the NST-2000 classification or the NST/R classification. From 2008 onwards, only the NST 2007 classification is valid, as set out in the Commission Regulation 1304/2007 amending Regulation 1365/2006 with respect to the establishment of NST2007 as the unique classification for transported goods in certain transport modes.
Dangerous goods are classified according to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN). The classes are the following:
ClassDenomination
1Explosive substances and articles 2Gases 3Flammable liquids 4.1Flammable solids, self-reactive substances, polymerizing substances and solid desensitised explosives 4.2Substances liable to spontaneous combustion 4.3Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases 5.1Oxidising substances 5.2Organic peroxides 6.1Toxic substances 6.2Infectious substances 7Radioactive material 8Corrosive substances 9Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles
3.3. Coverage - sector
Inland waterway freight transport concerns any movement of goods using inland waterway vessels, including fluvio-maritime vessels, which is undertaken wholly or partly on navigable inland waterways, along with the movement of goods using seagoing vessels undertaken wholly in navigable inland waterways.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The definitions covering the main concepts used in this domain are included in Article 1 and Annex II to Regulation 425/2007. The main definitions are as follows:
Navigable inland waterway: A watercourse, no part of the sea, which by natural or man-made features is suitable for navigation, primarily by inland waterway vessels. This term covers navigable rivers, lakes, canals and other bodies of water, including river estuaries. For river estuaries, the boundary is defined as the point nearest the sea where the river's width is less than 3 km at low tide and less than 5 km at high tide. In cases where officially adopted maps or lists of inland waterways are available, they should take precedence over these criteria for determining the boundaries of navigable inland waterways for statistical purposes.
Inland waterway vessel: A floating craft designed for the carriage of goods or public transport of passengers, which navigates predominantly in navigable inland waterways or in waters within, or closely adjacent to sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply. Vessels under repair and fluvio-maritime vessels are included. In contrast, this category excludes harbour craft, port lighters and port tugs, fishery vessels, floating equipment and worksite craft, vessels performing hydraulic work, vessels used exclusively for storage, floating workshops, houseboats, pleasure craft and small craft.
Nationality of the vessel: The country in which the vessel is registered.
Inland waterway transport: Any movement of goods and/or passengers using inland waterway vessels, which is undertaken wholly or partly in navigable inland waterways. Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels in port are excluded.
National inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between two ports of a national territory irrespective of the nationality of the vessel. It may involve transit through a second country, although for this country this transport must be reported as transit. Inland waterway cabotage transport is included.
International inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between two ports located in different national territories. It may involve transit through one or more countries. For the latter countries, this transport must be reported as transit.
Transit inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport through a national territory between two ports both located in another national territory or national territories provided that in the total journey within the national territory, there is no trans-shipment.
Inland movement: any movement of goods and/or passengers to and from inland ports connected by water routes which may be made navigable by one or more lock structures.
Types of vessels:
Self-propelled barge. Any powered inland waterway freight vessel, other than self-propelled tanker barges.
Barge not self-propelled. Any unpowered inland waterway freight vessel, other than not self-propelled tanker barges. This category includes towed, pushed and pushed-towed barges.
Self-propelled tanker barge. A self-propelled barge intended for the transport of liquids or gases in fixed tanks.
Tanker barge not self-propelled. A barge not self-propelled intended for the transport of liquids or gases in fixed tanks.
Other goods carrying vessel. Any other known or unknown kind of inland waterway freight vessel intended for carrying goods not defined in the previous categories.
Seagoing vessel. Floating marine structure with one or more surface displacement hulls.
Containers: Special box designed to carry freight and constituting a type of Intermodal Transport Unit (ITU). It is strenghtened and stackable, allowing both horizontal and vertical transfers. A more formal technical definition of a container is:
1. article of transport equipment that is of a permanent nature and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated use;
2. specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods by one or more modes of transport, without intermediate reloading;
3. fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly its transfer from one mode of transport to another;
4. so designed as to be easy to fill and empty;
5. stackable; and
6. having a length of 20 feet or more.
Swap bodies are excluded.
The size of containers is reported according to four categories:
1) 20 Foot ISO containers (length of 20 feet and width of 8 feet)
2) 40 Foot ISO containers (length of 40 feet and width of 8 feet)
3) ISO containers over 20 feet and under 40 feet in length
4) ISO containers over 40 feet long
Containers smaller than 20 feet are reported under Category 1.
Containers of unknown size are reported under Category 3.
Inland waterway accidents: any specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external event caused by, or in connection with, the operation of an inland waterway vessel resulting in an inland waterway casualty or incident which occurs at a particular time and place, without apparent cause but with marked effect.
An accident in connection with the normal operation of the vessel, including when it is in port or at anchor, is covered. Terrorist acts, vandalism, other criminal acts and acts of war are excluded. Suicides are excluded as they are a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in death, as recorded and classified by the competent national authority. The death of a person due to natural causes is also excluded.
Inland waterway accidents involving the transport of dangerous goods: an inland waterway accident involving a vessel carrying any of the classes of dangerous goods defined by the ADN classification.
Inland waterway traffic: any movement of an inland waterway vessel on a given inland waterway network. When a vessel is being carried on another vehicle, only the movement of the carrying vehicle (active mode) is taken into account.
Inland waterway journey: any movement of an inland waterway vessel from a specified point of origin to a specified point of destination.
The statistical units for inland waterway transport are the inland waterway undertakings.
3.6. Statistical population
All enterprises/undertakings that carry out inland waterway transport on a national territory over one year, irrespective of their country of origins or place of first loading and final unloading.
3.7. Reference area
All EU Member States that transport over one million tonnes of goods annually through inland waterways for national, international, or transit transportation are required to transmit the requested information. Currently, 12 Member States (BE, BG, DE, FR, HR, LU, HU, NL, AT, RO, SK and SE) are obliged to provide data.
Countries where there is no international or transit inland waterway transport but where the total volume of goods transported annually by inland waterways as national transport exceeds one million tonnes must provide a reduced amount of data.
Although not required to do so by the Regulation, 5 Member States (CZ, IT, LT, FI and PL) also provide data on a voluntary basis.
Moreover, the candidate country Serbia provides quarterly data.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The first period for data collected under the new Regulation is the year 2007. However, time series for which there is good data compatibility between the old and the new legislation are included in this domain as from 1990.
3.9. Base period
Data are not used as a base for calculating any derived indicators, such as index numbers or other ratios.
Data are disseminated using the following units of measure:
THS_T: Thousands of tonnes.
MIO_TKM: Millions of tonnes/km (the transport of one tonne by inland waterways over one kilometre).
TEU: Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (a unit of volume used in maritime transport statistics equivalent to a 20-foot ISO container).
THS_TEU_KM: Thousands of TEUs/Km (the transport of one twenty-foot equivalent unit over one kilometre).
VES_MOV: Vessel movements (in number).
THS_VES_KM: Thousands of vessels/Km (the number of movements of an IWT vessel over one kilometre. The distance taken into account is the distance actually run. Movements of unladed vessels are included. In a convoy, each unit is counted as a vessel).
The data are collected for the two reference periods: quarters and calendar years. Deadline for data transmission is five months after the end of each reference period.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to set up common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
In general, the data collected by countries is not confidential, with the exception of the data by port of loading and port of unloading.
In addition to that, some detailed data reported by France including the nationality of foreign vessels operating in France and several cases of regions and countries of loading and unloading of goods, beginning with the reference year 2023, are considered confidential.
8.1. Release calendar
Not applicable.
8.2. Release calendar access
The next release date for data is announced on Eurostat website and in the text of each Statistics Explained article (see Section 10.2).
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
Annually and quarterly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Statistics explained articles updated on a yearly basis:
An annual quality report is produced and made available on CIRCABC on a yearly basis. This report provides an overview of the data quality for the information collected under Regulation (EU) 2018/974 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways for each reference year.
11.1. Quality assurance
Time series checks are performed on the quarterly data, each time they are received from participating countries.
Additional quality checks are performed each time data are received from participating countries on annual data (see more details on Section 18.4).
Reports are produced presenting the results of these checks. These are sent to the countries concerned. When quality issues are encountered, countries are required to investigate the problems and to send corrections or new revised datasets to Eurostat as soon as possible.
Meetings of the Expert Group on Inland Waterway Transport Statistics (with participants from all reporting countries) are regularly organised to discuss improvements in the quality and timeliness of the statistics.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Overall speaking, data collection on inland waterway freight statistics is smooth, with timely delivery of data. Eurostat’s quality reviews confirm good data quality and low discrepancies.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
DG MOVE is one of the main users which needs data for policy decisions.
Regular contact with users is also made via Eurostat's user support service: this activity concerns, in addition to the previous mentioned users, other categories of users such as national administrations, enterprises, researchers, universities, public, journalists and so on.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
User needs are constantly monitored in different ways:
Organisation of regular working group meetings and occasional Task Force meetings, where main stakeholders are represented, including representatives from other Commission services and external organisations such as 'The Rhine Commission', 'The Danube Commission', 'The Moselle Commission', 'Inland Navigation Europe', etc.
In 2013, a Task Force and a Working Group (WG) meeting were held to examine the feasibility of meeting some additional requirements, formulated by DG MOVE and the Rhine Commission. In essence, the main ones of these were for the:
Collection of type of goods at NST 2007 2007 3-digit level instead of the current 2-digit level. This would allow better monitoring of developments for key market segments.
Collection of type of cargo to better understand developments in multimodality.
Calculation of freight transport by distance classes, to allow direct comparison with other modes.
The outcome of the WG meeting was an agreement that there would be:
A voluntary collection of type of goods at NST 2007 3-digit level, starting in reference year 2014.
A voluntary collection of type of cargo, using a simplified classification starting in reference year 2014. to
A voluntary collection of Port-to-Port data via a new Table A4, starting in reference year 2014. Taken together with the ongoing development of a Europe-wide Port-to-Port distance matrix, this would enable freight transport by distance classes to be calculated.
Eurostat is in regular contact with the Commission's services (especially DG MOVE). Eurostat participates in meetings of statistical nature organised by other relevant organisations.
This indicates a positive response by Eurostat and Member States to DG MOVE’s unmet needs.
In addition, Eurostat is regularly in contact with the Commission's services (especially DG MOVE). Eurostat participates in meetings of a statistical nature organised by other relevant organisations.
Regular contact with users via the user support service of Eurostat.
As part of the rolling review, a survey questionnaire was designed in 2010/2011 to discover the users' views on Eurostat’s inland waterway statistics and their responses to certain proposals for developing the statistical collection. The user survey tool review consisted of four parts:
1. Information about the user. 2. Assessment of Eurostat data. 3. User responses to proposed extensions of data collection. 4. Other matters, including Eurostat service quality.
In addition, the expert conducting the review had a face-to-face interview with key Commission services' staff and telephone interviews with several River Commission personnel.
In general, users expressed a high level of satisfaction with all the factors achieving a positive score with accuracy and clarity being the most highly appreciated.
The Task Force meeting described above was a direct result of the rolling review recommendations.
12.3. Completeness
Data are complete according to the Regulation requirements.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The overall accuracy is considered to be good, given the assessment of data processing.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Measurement errors
No estimates of measurement errors are available. However, some measuring errors may occur as a result of codification errors by port authorities, shipping agents and other respondents. The presence of a significant number of ‘unknown codes’ instead of specific codes denoting the type of goods, region of loading/unloading, nationality of vessel, etc. is also a factor which will reduce the accuracy of statistics on inland waterway transport at more detailed levels. The degree of such ‘unknown’ codes on each level of detail is available in the disseminated tables.
Processing errors
Before statistical analysis can begin and statistics can be produced, data must undergo specific processing steps such as coding, data entry, data editing, imputation. In addition, some countries may also require the use of various estimation or modelling techniques to effectively combine available national data sources. There are no estimates available on the share of such processing errors in the European inland waterway transport statistics.
14.1. Timeliness
Data must be delivered not later than five months after the end of the reference period.
14.2. Punctuality
In general, all data are delivered by countries according to the deadline.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Geographical comparability is obtained via the application of common concepts and validation rules. The harmonised methodology interpretation is enhanced by the organisation of regular Working Group meetings, where all participating countries are represented.
The mirror check exercise has highlighted relevant differences on the reported data.
While discrepancies in mirror checks may reveal systemic problems in the recording of the statistics, there could be simpler and more innocent explanations. For example, an inland waterway voyage could span two reference periods, leaving the port of loading at the end of a year and arriving at the port of unloading at the beginning of another. This, in itself, would create a discrepancy.
Another factor is that the port of loading is providing a 'prediction' of the port of unloading, whereas the port of unloading has full information about the journey. This will create problems when the cargo being carried, such as cereals, is traded during the journey and is diverted away from the predicted port of unloading. A second factor is river conditions, where unusually high or low waters can mean that the voyage cannot be completed as originally planned and the cargo has to be unloaded at an intermediate port. There may also be problems for both the port of loading and unloading in determining the partner port, either because it cannot be identified or it is missing from the Eurostat list. This is complicated if port names are in a foreign language.
As always, there will be errors and omissions in reporting the tonnage of cargo at either the port of loading or port of unloading.
The nationality of the vessel's flag may not always be clear. There will be additional problems if the vessel's ownership changes in the course of the voyage. If the change of ownership also leads to a change of flag, this will inevitably create a discrepancy.
15.2. Comparability - over time
There might be a break in time series for certain variables in 2007, due to the different methods of data collection used under the old and the new legislation. In addition, in 2007 there was a change in the nomenclature applied for the classification of goods that has provoked a break in the time series for the tables showing data by type of goods. Moreover, a break in time series can be observed for Belgium in 2018 due to an improvement in the data collection system. There is also a break in time series in the 1st quarter of 2025 for Croatia, when transit was included for the first time in quarterly data.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The quality checks include intra-dataset checks, inter-datasets checks, time series checks and mirror checks (see details under point 18.4). These quality checks detect data that could possibly have errors. Some errors can be corrected before publication. Others, which require further investigation, are corrected later (see item 17).
Reporting countries have described the burden as 'acceptable'.
17.1. Data revision - policy
To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the following revision policy has been set up for the iww_go metadata file:
On 14 November 2023, Eurostat adopted the following policy on revisions of disseminated data:
'Revision of data is a normal process in the production of European statistics to improve their quality: Revisions follow standard, well-established and transparent procedures.
European aggregates are updated through
routine revisions when additional information from data providers (such as national statistical institutes) become available;
unscheduled revisions when errors are detected (in line with Eurostat´s error management policy);
major revisions which are planned and pre-announced to users (including information on the specific characteristics of the revision policy and practice of relevance for the dataset in question.
Details on revision policies and practices specific to a statistical domain are provided in the metadata of each dataset concerned.'
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domain listed under sub-concept 17.1 (data revision - policy)
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data may be published even if they are missing for certain countries or flagged as provisional or low reliability. The provisional flags are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the data already disseminated are updated.
18.1. Source data
Data are collected and/or compiled by the competent national authorities, which can be, for instance, the National Statistical Office or the ministries responsible. Original data sources are normally the IWW undertakings. In addition, the RIS is used to provide data in several countries.
Inland waterway statistics are based on the declarations made by undertakings that are compiled and aggregated at national level and then transmitted to Eurostat according to the structure required by the existing legislation.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annually and quarterly.
18.3. Data collection
Questionnaires or declarations completed by undertakings in each Member State.
18.4. Data validation
Data reported are validated after it is received from each individual Member State. The main quality checks which are made during the data preparation for the dissemination phase are formal checks (e.g. format, missing values in datasets, etc.), consistency checks (e.g. comparison of data with data of previous years, cross checks between different tables reported – annual and quarterly values for the same variable) and mirror checks (i.e. check the values of two countries exchanging goods).
Possible data errors that are detected at this stage are communicated to the countries for checking purposes. Errors are corrected as soon as possible. Where necessary, data are re-supplied by the countries.
18.5. Data compilation
In the context of the data dissemination process, Eurostat needsto calculate aggregates such as the total volume of national transport for each country or the total volume of intra-EU transport. These calculations require resolving the issue of double counting. The calculations are different for tonnes, TEU and tonne-km and TEU-km for the national, international and transit level for individual countries and the EU. Calculations are based on the territoriality principle, i.e. that only transport registered on the territory of the reporting country should be recorded by each individual country for each type of transport. EU aggregates only include data recorded by EU countries and will only be calculated if data for all countries are available.
The EU aggregates are disseminated.
The calculations are conducted in the following way:
At country level:
National transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country and the unloading country are the same as the reporting country.
International transport - loaded: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country is equal to the reporting country and the unloading country is different from the reporting country.
International transport - unloaded: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the unloading country is equal to the reporting country and the loading country is different from the reporting country.
International transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/ TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country is equal to the reporting country and the unloading country is different from the reporting country, and the loading country is different from the reporting country and the unloading country is equal to the reporting country.
Transit transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when both the loading country and the unloading country are different from the reporting country.
Total transport: national transport + international transport + transit transport
At EU level:
EU National transport: addition of the national transport data of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport - loaded: addition of the international transport - loaded of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport - unloaded: addition of the international transport - unloaded of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport for THS_T and TEU: addition of all TONNES/TEU reported by the EU countries, for which the unloading country is equal to the reporting country and the loading country is different from the reporting country and for which the unloading country is not a reporting country and the loading country is equal to the reporting country.
EU International transport for MIO_TKM and 1000 TEU-KM: addition of the international transport of the reporting EU countries.
EU Transit transport: addition of the transit transport of the reporting EU countries (for MIO_TKM and THS_TEU-KM).
EU Total transport: - EU national transport + EU international transport (for THS_T and TEU). - EU national transport + EU international transport + EU transit transport (for MIO_TKM and THS_TEU-KM).
18.6. Adjustment
Data are compiled in conformity with the Regulation. They are not amended after collection.
Data users should especially be aware of the strong impact that the economic crisis, which started at the end of 2008, has had on inland waterway transport. This explains the general decrease observed during the reference years 2008 and 2009 and the subsequent increases as the EU economies and inland waterway transport recovered.
Further country specific details can be found in the latest version of the country specific notes available on CIRCABC.
Inland waterway transport statistics provide information on the volume and performance of freight transport on the EU inland waterway network. They are reported based on the 'territoriality principle' which means that each country reports the loading, unloading and movements of goods that take place on its national territory, irrespective of country of origins of undertakings or place of first loading and final unloading.
The full data provision obligation includes:
annually: goods transport by type of goods, by nationality of vessels and by type of vessel as well as container transport by type of goods;
quarterly: goods and container transport by nationality of vessels.
In addition, the legislation foresees voluntary annual data on vessel traffic. Voluntary annual data on the transport of dangerous goods, transport by type of cargo, transport by port of loading/unloading and the number of accidents have been agreed with the reporting countries.
In short, Eurostat collects the following statistics on inland waterway freight transport:
Transport of goods (annual and quarterly mandatory and voluntary data provision);
Vessel traffic (annual voluntary data provision);
Transport of dangerous goods (annual voluntary data provision)
Number of accidents (annual voluntary data provision).
An exhaustive survey is conducted by all reporting countries for national IWW transport statistics. For international inland waterway transport statistics, all countires but one one undertake an exhaustive survey. The exception, Poland, relies on assistance from the German statistical authorities to estimate international traffic, undertaken by non-Polish units. For the transit inland waterway transport, many countries conduct an exhaustive survey, while few use sampling techniques to estimate it. Others rely on cooperation with neighbouring countries to provide the necessary information.
Data are collected and/or compiled by the competent national authorities, which can be either the National Statistical Office or the ministries responsible. Original data sources are the IWW transport undertakings, but the actual data providers are mainly national administrative authorities, national port authorities or inland waterway operators. In addition, the River Information System (RIS) is used as data sources in several countries.
12 July 2026
The definitions covering the main concepts used in this domain are included in Article 1 and Annex II to Regulation 425/2007. The main definitions are as follows:
Navigable inland waterway: A watercourse, no part of the sea, which by natural or man-made features is suitable for navigation, primarily by inland waterway vessels. This term covers navigable rivers, lakes, canals and other bodies of water, including river estuaries. For river estuaries, the boundary is defined as the point nearest the sea where the river's width is less than 3 km at low tide and less than 5 km at high tide. In cases where officially adopted maps or lists of inland waterways are available, they should take precedence over these criteria for determining the boundaries of navigable inland waterways for statistical purposes.
Inland waterway vessel: A floating craft designed for the carriage of goods or public transport of passengers, which navigates predominantly in navigable inland waterways or in waters within, or closely adjacent to sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply. Vessels under repair and fluvio-maritime vessels are included. In contrast, this category excludes harbour craft, port lighters and port tugs, fishery vessels, floating equipment and worksite craft, vessels performing hydraulic work, vessels used exclusively for storage, floating workshops, houseboats, pleasure craft and small craft.
Nationality of the vessel: The country in which the vessel is registered.
Inland waterway transport: Any movement of goods and/or passengers using inland waterway vessels, which is undertaken wholly or partly in navigable inland waterways. Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels in port are excluded.
National inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between two ports of a national territory irrespective of the nationality of the vessel. It may involve transit through a second country, although for this country this transport must be reported as transit. Inland waterway cabotage transport is included.
International inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between two ports located in different national territories. It may involve transit through one or more countries. For the latter countries, this transport must be reported as transit.
Transit inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport through a national territory between two ports both located in another national territory or national territories provided that in the total journey within the national territory, there is no trans-shipment.
Inland movement: any movement of goods and/or passengers to and from inland ports connected by water routes which may be made navigable by one or more lock structures.
Types of vessels:
Self-propelled barge. Any powered inland waterway freight vessel, other than self-propelled tanker barges.
Barge not self-propelled. Any unpowered inland waterway freight vessel, other than not self-propelled tanker barges. This category includes towed, pushed and pushed-towed barges.
Self-propelled tanker barge. A self-propelled barge intended for the transport of liquids or gases in fixed tanks.
Tanker barge not self-propelled. A barge not self-propelled intended for the transport of liquids or gases in fixed tanks.
Other goods carrying vessel. Any other known or unknown kind of inland waterway freight vessel intended for carrying goods not defined in the previous categories.
Seagoing vessel. Floating marine structure with one or more surface displacement hulls.
Containers: Special box designed to carry freight and constituting a type of Intermodal Transport Unit (ITU). It is strenghtened and stackable, allowing both horizontal and vertical transfers. A more formal technical definition of a container is:
1. article of transport equipment that is of a permanent nature and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated use;
2. specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods by one or more modes of transport, without intermediate reloading;
3. fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly its transfer from one mode of transport to another;
4. so designed as to be easy to fill and empty;
5. stackable; and
6. having a length of 20 feet or more.
Swap bodies are excluded.
The size of containers is reported according to four categories:
1) 20 Foot ISO containers (length of 20 feet and width of 8 feet)
2) 40 Foot ISO containers (length of 40 feet and width of 8 feet)
3) ISO containers over 20 feet and under 40 feet in length
4) ISO containers over 40 feet long
Containers smaller than 20 feet are reported under Category 1.
Containers of unknown size are reported under Category 3.
Inland waterway accidents: any specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external event caused by, or in connection with, the operation of an inland waterway vessel resulting in an inland waterway casualty or incident which occurs at a particular time and place, without apparent cause but with marked effect.
An accident in connection with the normal operation of the vessel, including when it is in port or at anchor, is covered. Terrorist acts, vandalism, other criminal acts and acts of war are excluded. Suicides are excluded as they are a deliberate act to injure oneself resulting in death, as recorded and classified by the competent national authority. The death of a person due to natural causes is also excluded.
Inland waterway accidents involving the transport of dangerous goods: an inland waterway accident involving a vessel carrying any of the classes of dangerous goods defined by the ADN classification.
Inland waterway traffic: any movement of an inland waterway vessel on a given inland waterway network. When a vessel is being carried on another vehicle, only the movement of the carrying vehicle (active mode) is taken into account.
Inland waterway journey: any movement of an inland waterway vessel from a specified point of origin to a specified point of destination.
The statistical units for inland waterway transport are the inland waterway undertakings.
All enterprises/undertakings that carry out inland waterway transport on a national territory over one year, irrespective of their country of origins or place of first loading and final unloading.
All EU Member States that transport over one million tonnes of goods annually through inland waterways for national, international, or transit transportation are required to transmit the requested information. Currently, 12 Member States (BE, BG, DE, FR, HR, LU, HU, NL, AT, RO, SK and SE) are obliged to provide data.
Countries where there is no international or transit inland waterway transport but where the total volume of goods transported annually by inland waterways as national transport exceeds one million tonnes must provide a reduced amount of data.
Although not required to do so by the Regulation, 5 Member States (CZ, IT, LT, FI and PL) also provide data on a voluntary basis.
Moreover, the candidate country Serbia provides quarterly data.
The data are collected for the two reference periods: quarters and calendar years. Deadline for data transmission is five months after the end of each reference period.
The overall accuracy is considered to be good, given the assessment of data processing.
Data are disseminated using the following units of measure:
THS_T: Thousands of tonnes.
MIO_TKM: Millions of tonnes/km (the transport of one tonne by inland waterways over one kilometre).
TEU: Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (a unit of volume used in maritime transport statistics equivalent to a 20-foot ISO container).
THS_TEU_KM: Thousands of TEUs/Km (the transport of one twenty-foot equivalent unit over one kilometre).
VES_MOV: Vessel movements (in number).
THS_VES_KM: Thousands of vessels/Km (the number of movements of an IWT vessel over one kilometre. The distance taken into account is the distance actually run. Movements of unladed vessels are included. In a convoy, each unit is counted as a vessel).
In the context of the data dissemination process, Eurostat needsto calculate aggregates such as the total volume of national transport for each country or the total volume of intra-EU transport. These calculations require resolving the issue of double counting. The calculations are different for tonnes, TEU and tonne-km and TEU-km for the national, international and transit level for individual countries and the EU. Calculations are based on the territoriality principle, i.e. that only transport registered on the territory of the reporting country should be recorded by each individual country for each type of transport. EU aggregates only include data recorded by EU countries and will only be calculated if data for all countries are available.
The EU aggregates are disseminated.
The calculations are conducted in the following way:
At country level:
National transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country and the unloading country are the same as the reporting country.
International transport - loaded: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country is equal to the reporting country and the unloading country is different from the reporting country.
International transport - unloaded: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when the unloading country is equal to the reporting country and the loading country is different from the reporting country.
International transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/ TEU-KM reported by the country when the loading country is equal to the reporting country and the unloading country is different from the reporting country, and the loading country is different from the reporting country and the unloading country is equal to the reporting country.
Transit transport: addition of all TONNES/TKM/TEU/TEU-KM reported by the country when both the loading country and the unloading country are different from the reporting country.
Total transport: national transport + international transport + transit transport
At EU level:
EU National transport: addition of the national transport data of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport - loaded: addition of the international transport - loaded of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport - unloaded: addition of the international transport - unloaded of the reporting EU countries (for THS_T, MIO_TKM, TEU and THS_TEU-KM).
EU International transport for THS_T and TEU: addition of all TONNES/TEU reported by the EU countries, for which the unloading country is equal to the reporting country and the loading country is different from the reporting country and for which the unloading country is not a reporting country and the loading country is equal to the reporting country.
EU International transport for MIO_TKM and 1000 TEU-KM: addition of the international transport of the reporting EU countries.
EU Transit transport: addition of the transit transport of the reporting EU countries (for MIO_TKM and THS_TEU-KM).
EU Total transport: - EU national transport + EU international transport (for THS_T and TEU). - EU national transport + EU international transport + EU transit transport (for MIO_TKM and THS_TEU-KM).
Data are collected and/or compiled by the competent national authorities, which can be, for instance, the National Statistical Office or the ministries responsible. Original data sources are normally the IWW undertakings. In addition, the RIS is used to provide data in several countries.
Inland waterway statistics are based on the declarations made by undertakings that are compiled and aggregated at national level and then transmitted to Eurostat according to the structure required by the existing legislation.
Annually and quarterly.
Data must be delivered not later than five months after the end of the reference period.
Geographical comparability is obtained via the application of common concepts and validation rules. The harmonised methodology interpretation is enhanced by the organisation of regular Working Group meetings, where all participating countries are represented.
The mirror check exercise has highlighted relevant differences on the reported data.
While discrepancies in mirror checks may reveal systemic problems in the recording of the statistics, there could be simpler and more innocent explanations. For example, an inland waterway voyage could span two reference periods, leaving the port of loading at the end of a year and arriving at the port of unloading at the beginning of another. This, in itself, would create a discrepancy.
Another factor is that the port of loading is providing a 'prediction' of the port of unloading, whereas the port of unloading has full information about the journey. This will create problems when the cargo being carried, such as cereals, is traded during the journey and is diverted away from the predicted port of unloading. A second factor is river conditions, where unusually high or low waters can mean that the voyage cannot be completed as originally planned and the cargo has to be unloaded at an intermediate port. There may also be problems for both the port of loading and unloading in determining the partner port, either because it cannot be identified or it is missing from the Eurostat list. This is complicated if port names are in a foreign language.
As always, there will be errors and omissions in reporting the tonnage of cargo at either the port of loading or port of unloading.
The nationality of the vessel's flag may not always be clear. There will be additional problems if the vessel's ownership changes in the course of the voyage. If the change of ownership also leads to a change of flag, this will inevitably create a discrepancy.
There might be a break in time series for certain variables in 2007, due to the different methods of data collection used under the old and the new legislation. In addition, in 2007 there was a change in the nomenclature applied for the classification of goods that has provoked a break in the time series for the tables showing data by type of goods. Moreover, a break in time series can be observed for Belgium in 2018 due to an improvement in the data collection system. There is also a break in time series in the 1st quarter of 2025 for Croatia, when transit was included for the first time in quarterly data.
