Statistics Austria

Directorate Business Statistics - Transport Unit

Guglgasse 13, A-1110 Wien. Austria

Inland waterway transport statistics provides information on the volume and performance of freight transport on EU inland waterway network. They are reported on the basis of 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 and the number of accidents has been agreed with the reporting countries.

In summary, the statistics transmitted to Eurostat on inland waterway transport:

• Transport of goods (annual and quarterly mandatory data provision);
• Vessel traffic (annual voluntary data provision);
• Transport of dangerous goods (annual voluntary data provision)
• Number of accidents (annual voluntary data provision).

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 Regulation and to ISO 3166 for the rest (e.g. territorial units outside EU). The used version of NUTS always corresponds to the version in use and no conversion to 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 2017 and NUTS 2016 for 2018 until next NUTS Regulation.

The level of detail is either NUTS0 – for reporting country – or NUTS2 (basic regions, 4 digits) – for regions. When using ISO 3166 and 4-digits level coding is required (e.g. for regions outside EU), the two-digit ISO code followed by “ZZ” is used.

Goods classification

Prior to 2007, the types of goods reported as being transported by inland waterways were those defined by NST/R (Standard Goods for Transport Statistics). In 2007 only, the type of goods has been reported according either to the NST-2000 classification or to the NST/R classification. From 2008 onwards, only the NST2007 classification is valid as set out in 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.

Statistics Austria still releases data based on NST/R and data based on NST2007.

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:

Class      Denomination

1             Explosive substances and articles
2             Gases
3             Flammable liquids
4.1          Flammable solids, self-reactive substances and solid desensitised explosives
4.2          Substances liable to spontaneous combustion
4.3          Substances which, in contact with water, emit flammable gases
5.1          Oxidising substances
5.2          Organic peroxides
6.1          Toxic substances
6.2          Infectious substances
7             Radioactive material
8             Corrosive substances
9             Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles

 The survey covers all laden journeys with inland waterway goods vessels with a load capacity of at least 50 tonnes which lead (total or partially) over the Austrian part of the river Danube. In cases of vessle convoys, each single vessel unit is counted seperately. Each laden vessel unit is therefore counted as one transportation. One journey of a vessel convoy consits of several transportations.

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 estuaries.

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.

Nationality of the vessel: The country in which the vessel is registered.

Inland waterways transport: Any movement of goods using inland waterways vessels, which is undertaken wholly or partly in navigable inland waterways.

National inland waterways transport: Inland waterways transport between two ports of a national territory irrespective of the nationality of the vessel.

International inland waterways transport: Inland waterways transport between two ports located in different national territories.

Transit inland waterways transport: Inland waterways 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.

Inland waterways traffic: Any movement of a vessel on a given navigable inland waterway.

Types of vessels:

• Self-propelled barge. Any powered inland waterways freight vessel, other than self-propelled tanker barges.
• Barge not self-propelled. Any unpowered inland waterways 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 waterways freight vessel intended for carrying goods not defined in the previous categories.
• Seagoing vessel. A vessel other than those, which navigate predominantly in navigable inland waterways or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply.

Containers: A freight container means an article of transport equipment:

1. 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. having a length of 20 feet or more.

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 waterways accidents: specific, identifiable, unexpected, unusual and unintended external event caused by, or in connection with, the operation of an inland waterways vessel resulting in an inland waterways casualty or incident which occurs at a particular time and place, without apparent cause but with marked effect.

By definition suicides are excluded, as they are a deliberate act. Because of their importance, suicide statistics should be collected separately. Terrorist and criminal acts are excluded.

Inland waterways accidents involving the transport of dangerous goods: An inland waterways accident involving a vessel carrying any of the classes of dangerous goods defined by the ADN classification

Inland waterway traffic: any movement of an IWT vessel on a given IWT 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 IW vessel from a specified point of origin to a specified point of destination.

 For more definitions and concepts, please consult the “Reference Manual on Inland Waterways Transport Statistics”, chapter 4.

The reporting units for Inland Waterways statistics are the ports and mooring places located at the river Danube. For transit the reporting unit is the lock Ottensheim.

All goods transportations with inland waterway vessels which lead over the Austrian part of the Danube.

All movements with laden inland waterway vessels of all nationalities at the Austrian part of the Danube.

Data is available since 1984 (since 1993 including the Rhine-Main-Danube canal). 

In 2004, when the EU-enlargement happened, transit data were not available due to a missing legal act.

Since 2006 data referring to transit are checked and extrapolated using a correction factor. Data for 2004 and 2005 have been corrected. In order to check missing journeys, data from the lock Aschach (the number of lockings per month) are used as a basis to identify missing journeys performed in transit.

All data have been provided to Eurostat according to the legal act starting with 1995.

Not applicable

The unit of measure is the number of transportations with transport vessels during each month of a reporting year. 

The following data are collected:

• Number and nationality, type and load capacity of the vessel
• Day of arriaval or departure
• Number and type of container
• Type of goods
• Weight of goods
• Place of loading and unloading

Data is disseminated using the following units of measure:

• 1000T: 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 )
• 1000 TEU_KM: Thousands of TEUs/Km (the transport of one twenty-foot equivalent unit over one kilometre )

Data is collected on a monthly basis. 

Data is provided to Eurostat on a quarterly basis five months after the end of each quarter (reference period). Yearly data is provided to Eurostat also five months after each reference year.

European:

• Regulation (EU) 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2018 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways (codification)

National:

• BGBl. I Nr. 163/1999 Bundesgesetz über die Bundesstatistik (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000), idF: BGBl. I Nr. 136/2001, BGBl. I Nr. 71/2003, BGBl. I Nr. 92/2007, BGBl. I Nr. 125/2009, BGBl. I Nr. 111/2010, BGBl. I Nr. 40/2014, BGBl. I Nr. 30/2018 und BGBl. I Nr. 32/2018
• BGBl. II Nr. 129/2005 Verordnung des Bundesministers für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie über die Statistik im Bereich der Binnenschifffahrt (Binnenschifffahrts-Statistikverordnung)
• BGBl. II Nr. 443/2011 Verordnung des Bundesministers für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie zur Änderung der Binnenschifffahrts-Statistikverordnung
• BGBl. II Nr. 18/2012 Verordnung des Bundesministers für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie zur Änderung der Binnenschifffahrts-Statistikverordnung
• BGBl. I Nr. 62/1997 Bundesgesetz über die Binnenschifffahrt (Schifffahrtsgesetz – SchFG) idgF.

not applicable

European:

• 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 establish 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.

National:

• Federal Statistical Act  

The data collected is not confidential.

Inland waterway transport statistics are national published monthly 90 days (three months) after the reference month and are preliminary until publishing the annual results in form of a press release and are replaced by final data at the same date.

Additionally, quarterly data are published 90 days after the reference quarter. This data is also premliminary until annual results are published.

Release dates are publicly available in the release calendar of the NSI.

In case of changes of release dates the release calendar is updated continually.

The release calendar is publicly available on the website of the NSI.

Inland waterway transport statistics are published monthly and quarterly 90 days (three months) after the reference period with being preliminary until publishing the annual results.

The results are published three months (90 days) after the reference period and are preliminary until the annual results are published in the form of a press release. The annual press release can be found under this link.

Publication of road freight transport statistics is done through our website.

Furthermore, the results are published in the following publications “Verkehrsstatistik”, “Statistisches Jahrbuch”, and at irregular

intervals in articles in the “Statistischen Nachrichten”.

The results can be found in the STATcube database 

Main results are available free of charge. For more detailed results (e.g. port to port data) data users have to pay for accessing the data.

Not applicable for Inland Waterway Statistics.

Open data access is available for the main results of road freight transport statistics

Meta information (definitions, methods, quality, comments) is published in a standard-documentation based on national level.

National characteristics of surveys were published in the Reference Manual on Inland Waterways Transport Statistics. 

Meta information (definitions, methods, quality, comments) is published in a standard-documentation based on national level. 

For quality assurance the following measures are performed:

Several completeness checks are done monthly. Additionally, the transport unit is in constant contact with the reporting units as well as with several experts. Employees undergo trainings and the coordination with data users ( e.g. via donau) help to ensure quality of data. Comparisons of the original data recieved by the respondents are compared with processed data. Finally, before each release, data are compered with the results of the statistical database STATcube. Results are analysed regularly and improving actions are undertaken, if needed. 

Moreover, in the framework of Statistics Austria Total Quality Management (TQM) approach, Statistics Austria has introduced standard quality reports (standard-documentation) to be produced and kept up-to-date for all statistics. The reports are based on the ESS definition of quality in statistics and follow the European standard quality report and provide users with information about the underlying concepts, definitions, methods used and the quality of the statistics (meta-information) in a standardised format.

In cooperation with the Statistic Committee’s Quality Assurance Committee, feedback meetings concerning the quality of the different statistical products on the basis of the standard documentation are held regularly within the framework of Statistics Austria’s quality management programme. They involve both internal (including the production domain, a peer domain and national accountants) and external experts (such as main users and methodologists). The content and objectives of the feedback meetings concern critical examination of the quality aspects of statistics with particular consideration of the methods and processes used; identification of quality improvement potential; development of recommendations for improvement measures; and improvement of the standard documentation relating to the statistics in question, with special attention to the views of users and external experts. For inland waterways freight transport statistics, the last feedback meeting took place in December 2020.

Data quality can be assessed as high. The reporting units are the ports located on the Danube. These reporting units perform detailed documentation. Therefore, a high quality of the reported data is assessed. In cases of unusual deviations (e.g. high differences to previous periods) the reporting units are contacted in order to perform necessary corrections.

The assignment of the freight carried to the NST 2007 can be done with accuracy due to a detailed code list, which is provided by Statistics Austria. This code list was created especially for the respondents and describes most exactly the type of goods. Information recieved with paper based questionnaires ist provided in plain text. The processing is done by professional staff and the code list is also used.  

Concerning the nationality of vessels the definitions within Europe are not clear. Several problems concerning the nationality of vessels arised due to increasing companies which operate in several countries. The national legal basis defines the nationality of the vessel as the country of registration. During the processing of data the assignment of the nationality of the vessel is done based on all available information. The sources of information are the name of the vessel, research in the internet and internal documentation. 

For an exact determination of the nationality of vessels a european vessel register with unique vessel numbers would be neccessary. This could help to improve the quality concerning the nationality of vessels.

It is assessed, that no under- or overreporting of data occurs due to the ongoing contact with the reporting units. Double reportings which occurs in inland transport (both ports report the same movements) are recognized and eliminated.

An underreporting happened in 2004 and 2005 due to the EU-enlagement and a then missing legal basis for the collection of transit data. As the data collection of transit data is still difficult, an underreporting is still possible. Therefore, transit data are cecked and extrapolated.

Several plausibility checks have been implemented to avoid errors during data processing. In cases of implausible data corrections are done.

The plausibility programs itself are checked regularly and revised if necessary.

The key users of inland waterways transport statistics are:

• Ministry of Climate Action, Enviroment, energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology
• Universities and research institutions
• Economic chambers and similar institutions
• Private users interested in road freight transport statistics

Data on inland waterways transport statistics in Austria provides an important basis for decision-making of politics, society and economy in the context of the development of transport projects. 

In winter 2022 Statistics Austria conducted a user satisfaction survey with 381 experts on a voluntary basis. Although there was no user survey especially on inland waterway transport statistics, questions concerning transport statistics in general were included. Users showed a high satisfaction with actuality, accuracy, comparability and quality of transport data. Also, feedback from the Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, universities and the Economic Chambers indicates a good level of satisfaction regarding data coverage and availability of these statistics.

Due to the concept of a full survey, the onging contact with data providers and the internal checks completeness of data is assessed.

Transit data are checked monthly and extrapolated if necessary.

Overall accuracy of the inland waterway transport statistics data is good. The processing with several plausibility checks as well as checks done before transmitting data to Eurostat provides a high accuracy of the data.

More details can be looked up in the Reference Manual on Inland Waterways Transport Statistics.

Not applicable

Data is released for each month and each quarter three months (90 days) after the reference periods. Data for months and quarters are preliminary.

When new annual data (all twelve months and all four quarters of a calendar year) have become available, the annual datasets are also updated together with the monthly and quarterly datasets.

Inland waterways tranport data are transmitted to Eurostat within 5 months after the end of the reference period.

Comparability ist possible but depends on the quality of data of the countries collecting inland waterways transport data. 

Mirror comparisons performed by Eurstat show differences between data of several reporting countries. This may be based on different methods of surveys in the single member states. Ongoing improvements are performed on this issue. Several countries - like Austria - have difficulities in collecting transit data. Statistics Austria provides data to Slovakia already since 2007 to support them with completing their transit data. 

Data from 1984 until 2003 (including the opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal in 2003) are compareable. With the EU-enlargement in 2004 and a then missing legal basis, transit data for 2004 and 2005 were missing and had to be adjusted in retrospect. Since 2004 transit data have to be checked and extrapolated using a correction factor in order to recover the comparability over time. 

In 2019 a change in data collection was performed. The before collected and released "number of  laden journeys" was changed to the "number of transportations". This was done in order to simplify the data collection but also to fulfil the specifications of Eurostat. Nevertheless, the comparability over time is still good. Checks to determine the deviation between "Number of laden journeys" and "number of transportations" have been performed. The deviation determined was in average by 1.1 % only.

Data of inland waterways transport statistics can be compared with data of rail transport statistics and air transport statistics as all of them are carried out based on the territory principle. Comparisons with the road freight statistics are difficult due to the nationality principle which is the basis for the survey of road freight transport. Nevertheless, in Austria, the results of the D-tables provided by Eurostat which are completed with data from the Austrian toll system are used to be able to recieve a comprehensive presentation of transport statistics on the Austrian territory. 

Therefore it is possible to compare the results of all transport modes in Austria.

As from 1995 data sets provided to Eurostat are consistent. Rounding differences between tables and also between quarterly and annual results may occur. 

The response burden is put on the skippers and on the ports and loading places by national law. For transit transport, the lock Ottensheim has to collect the completed forms from the skippers and to transmit them to Statistics Austria. Also, the ports and loading places have to collect data from the skippers and to transmit data to Statistics Austria. 

The data transmission can be performed either via SFTP-server unsing an interface, via e-mail or with paper forms. All respondents have to report their data monthly on a monthly basis. In 2022, 14 reporting units were obliged to transmit data to Statistics Austria and an amount of 7 986 records (number of transportations) was provided. 

The results are published monthly and quarterly 90 days (three months) after the reference period and are preliminary until publishing the annual results. Revisions occur very rarely and are carried out if some reports of respondents have been delayed or respondents have sent some corrections themselves. In case of any data change in the statistics after the annual results have been published, the public is informed in a form of an official notice (in case of data change to the press release) or footnotes (in case of pdf publications or online tables).

Quarterly data are transmitted to Eurostat 150 days (five months) after the reference period and are preliminary until publishing the annual results. Revisions of quarterly results - if necessary - are transmitted to Eurostat together with the results of a complete reference year and are then final data. 

The policy described in 17.1 is fully implemented.

Data source:

The respondents who have to report data are all skippers performing inland waterways along the Austrian part of the Danube as well as the loading places which operate ususally by themselves. The skippers are obliged to report the requested data to the official ports located at the Danube and for transit transport to the lock Ottensheim. The private loading places located at the Danube have to report the requested data directly to Statistics Austria. The official ports and the lock Ottensheim have to collect data on inland waterway transport from the skippers and then transmit to Statistics Austria.

In case of new operators performing inland waterways transport Statistics Austria has to be informed by the responsible authority, what is required by law.

 Procedure for reminders:

The deadline for all respondents is the 15. of the month following each reference month.

Reminders are rarely necessary. Usually, in case of delays of data transmission, the reporting unit is contacted by the staff of Statistics Austria and will be reminded to the missed deadline. This is done mostly within one week after the end of the deadline.

Very rarely a written reminder has to be sent to the reporting unit. This is performed within one month after the end of the deadline. No penalties had to be posed in recent years.

The response rate is high with the exception of transit transport where few responses may be omitted. In such cases, no penalty process can be initiated due to the fact, that the skippers passing the lock Ottensheim are usually unknown. 

The survey is obligatory, and respondents that do not complete the survey have to face legal fines.

The full survey is carried out throughout the whole year. The time period for collecting data is one month. All respondents have to transmit monthly data to Statistics Austria.

The survey on inland waterways transport is carried out as a full survey. All respondents (skippers, ports and loading places located at the river Danube, lock Ottensheim) have to contribute to the survey. 

Statistics Austria provides two structural data sets to the respondents. Both of them can be transmitted by the respondents either in the form of a secure data transfer via an SFTP-interface or via e-mail. Moreover, a paper form still can be used and is provided by Statistics Austria if requested. Especially for transit transport paper forms are used since the skippers hand over their report when passing through the lock Ottensheim. 

Approximately 8 000 reports (one report is one transportation) are transmitted to Statistics Austria per year. About 15 % are automatically read into the processing application. The rest is recorded manually. Double counting, which occurs in national tranport, is checked and detected automatically by several criteria (e.g. same date, same weight, same vessel name) within the application whereas the final decision is made by the staff of Statistics Austria.  Data referring to the type of goods is transmitted using a special code list which was created by experts of Statistics Austria. Based on this code list, both NST2007 and NST/R can be created automatically. Missing or wrong infomation on the nationality of the vessel are implemented or corrected based on all available information (research on the internet, internal documentation). After several plausibility checks data is saved in a data base. 

National level:

The plausibility check is performed with up to three steps, depending on the kind of data transmission.

When data is transmitted using the structural data set the first check covers technical errors during reading in the processing application. 31 possible errors are checked which have to be corrected in advance so that the data set can be read automatically into the processing application.  

The second plausibility check is done directly after the processing of each single transportation. 25 possible errors resp. warnings are checked, whereas single features are in a complex context. For example the nationality of the vessel, the weight of the goods and the type of vessel are being checked during this step. In case of need the reporting unit is contacted to correct wrong information or to complete missing data.

The final plausibility check is carried out before the completion of each reference period. This check covers again the abovementioned 25 errors resp. warnings. The error free reporting period is then saved into a data base. 

From Eurostat:

Data are validated via SDMX (Statistical and Metadata Exchenge) before the release. During the process for instance the file format, the validity of the transferred codes and the completeness of data are checked. Moreover, the consistency over time is validated. In case of need the member states are contacted in order to check and correct the transmitted data. 

After several plausibility checks the data recieved from the respondents are compiled quarterly following the structure of data sets required by Regulation (EU) 2018/974.

Data is vaildated as described in 18.4. "data validation". In cases of underreporting (in transit transport only) data are checked and corrected with extrapolation using a correction factor. 

Inland waterways transport data are not sasonally adjusted. 

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