Inland waterway freight transport - quarterly and annual data

Data extracted in December 2025.

Planned article update: September 2026.

Highlights

Freight transport performance in EU inland waterways increased by 4.5% in 2024 compared with 2023.

‘Metal ores’ was the largest goods category transported by inland waterways in 2024.

Container transport performance rebounded in 2024 by 3.7% compared with 2023.

Inland waterway freight transport, EU, 2014-2024

This article presents the main annual and quarterly statistics on inland waterway freight transport in the European Union (EU) and the candidate country Serbia. It includes quarterly and annual data for total transport and container transport, as well as annual data for transport by type of goods, type of transport, type of vessel and type of dangerous goods. For more detailed statistics on inland waterway transport by type of goods, please refer to the Statistics Explained article Inland waterway transport statistics by product category. For more detailed statistics on inland waterway transport of containers, please refer to the Statistics Explained article Inland waterways - statistics on container transport. For more detailed statistics on inland waterway freight transport at regional level, please refer to the Statistics Explained article Inland waterway freight transport at regional level.

Inland waterway freight transport performance increased by 4.5% in 2024 compared with 2023

Activity in inland waterway transport was volatile during the period 2014-2024. Measured in tonne-kilometres, activity decreased each year over the period 2014-2016. A slight increase was observed in 2017 (+0.5%) followed by a sharp fall in 2018 (-10.9%) and an immediate rebound in 2019 (+6.6%) (Figure 1). In 2020, a decrease (-5.9%) was observed while in 2021 a new rebound was registered with a 3.6% increase compared to 2020. In 2022, a sharp decline was recorded with a drop of 9.8%. In 2023, inland waterway freight transport performance reached a lowest point since data have been available for the EU (i.e. 2005). In 2024, a rebound was observed, with a 4.5% increase, equivalent to an additional 5 billion tonne-kilometres.

When examining inland waterway transport activity measured in tonnes, a more modest growth was recorded in 2024, with an increase of 0.9%, corresponding to an additional 4 million tonnes (Figure 5).

At a quarterly level, movement was more erratic and no clear seasonal pattern can be identified (Figure 2). Some noticeable changes were observed over the period 2016-2024 when comparing with the same quarter of the previous year. In particular, the year 2018 showed a particular sharp decline in the fourth quarter (-25.3%) which was the highest registered during the period from 2016 to 2024. In contrast, the fourth quarter of 2019 showed the highest increase in the period from 2016 to 2024, when compared with the same quarter of the previous year (+18.4%). In 2022, the decline in the third quarter (-25.0%) was the second highest registered during the period from 2016 to 2024 when freight transport performance in the EU inland waterways was at its lowest since quarterly data have been available for the EU (i.e. the first quarter of 2006). In 2024, increases were observed in all quarters. The highest growth in 2024 was observed in the third quarter (+7.8%).

The main contributors by far to the EU inland waterway transport (in tonne-kilometres) in 2024 were Germany and the Netherlands. Transport on inland waterways in these 2 countries accounted for 70.5% of the EU inland waterway transport (Figure 3). In 2024, the volume of transport (in tonne-kilometres) increased in 12 out of 17 EU countries, for which data are available, compared with 2023. The highest increase was recorded in Sweden (+33.5% or +44 million tonne-kilometres), followed by Bulgaria (+24.7% or +1 billion tonne-kilometres), Hungary (+17.1% or +225 million tonne-kilometres), Croatia (+17.1% or +83 million tonne-kilometres), Luxembourg (+12.6% or +21 million tonne-kilometres) and Slovakia (+10.8% or +69 million tonne-kilometres).

In absolute values, Germany registered the highest increase in 2024 compared with 2023 (+1.9 billion tonne-kilometres, or +4.7%). In contrast, the largest decrease compared with 2023 was recorded in Italy (43.9%, or -3 million tonne-kilometres), Lithuania (-37.4%, or -4 million tonne-kilometres), followed by Czechia (-33.7%, or -6 million tonne-kilometres), Poland (-15.5%, or -5 million tonne-kilometres) and Finland (-7.3%, or -16 million tonne-kilometres). However, the large changes in percentage observed for these 4 countries should be interpreted in the context of their initially low values.

When looking at the type of transport at EU level, international transport accounted for more than half of the total transport in 2024 (54.9%), when expressed in tonne-kilometres. National transport accounted for 24.3% and transit transport for 20.8%. For 6 EU countries and the candidate country Serbia, international transport represented the highest share of transport. Austria (64.9%), Germany (63.9%) and Romania (62.6%) had the highest shares of international transport in 2024. In Italy, Lithuania, Finland and Sweden, there was only national transport. In Czechia, Poland and France, national transport was predominant (80.0%, 63.9% and 60.2%, respectively). The 5 remaining countries, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg, Hungary and Slovakia had higher shares of transit transport, mainly due to their geographical position, with shares higher than 85% in Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg and Slovakia.

When looking at the transport of freight in tonnes, the picture is quite similar to the one for tonne-kilometres, although there are some noticeable differences (Figure 5). All countries recorded increases in 2024 compared with 2023, except in Lithuania (-79.1%), Italy (-36.4%), Czechia (-32.0%), Romania (-11.7%) and Finland (-4.0%). However, the large changes in percentage for Lithuania, Italy and Czechia should be interpreted in the context of their low initial values. It should be noted that while Romania registered a substantial decrease in the transport of goods measured in tonnes (+11.7%), an increase was observed in the transport of goods measured in tonne-kilometres (+5.2%).

The largest relative growths were registered in Sweden (+36.1%), Poland (+21.9%), Bulgaria (+20.4%), Croatia (+17.5%), Hungary (+17.3%) and Luxembourg (+10.9%). However, the large changes in percentage for most of these countries should be interpreted in the context of their low initial values. It should be noted that while Poland registered a substantial increase in the transport of goods measured in tonnes (+21.9%), a decrease was observed in the transport of goods measured in tonne-kilometres (-15.5%).

At the EU level, the volume of freight transported on inland waterways was 1.1 tonnes per inhabitant in 2024 (Figure 6). The Netherlands had the highest volume with 18.5 tonnes of freight transported per inhabitant, followed by Belgium (13.9 tonnes per inhabitant) and Luxembourg (7.8 tonnes per inhabitant). All other countries registered less than 2.6 tonnes of freight transported per inhabitant in 2024. For 7 EU countries, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Czechia, Poland and Italy less than 170 kilograms of freight were transported per inhabitant.

‘Metal ores’ was the largest goods category transported by inland waterways

At EU level, the main types of goods (according to NST_2007 classification) transported in 2024 were ‘metal ores’, ‘coke and refined petroleum products’, ‘chemicals, rubber and plastic, nuclear fuel’ and ‘products of agriculture’. These 4 categories accounted for about two-thirds (67.1%) of all goods transport on EU inland waterways (Figure 7). Compared with 2023, the largest changes in the share of the different goods types in total transport performance were recorded for ‘coal and crude petroleum’ (decrease by 2.2 percentage points) and ‘chemicals, rubber and plastic, nuclear fuel’ (increase by 1.0 percentage points).

a pie chart showing the Inland waterway freight transport by type of goods in the EU in 2024 as a percentage based on tonne-kilometres. The segments show the percentages for 10 different types of goods. For more details please use the link to the source dataset code below the image. — Figure 7: Inland waterway freight transport by type of goods, EU, 2024
*Source*: Eurostat - (iww_go_atygo)

Transport performance (in tonne-kilometres) linked to the types of goods presented recorded a decrease in 2024 compared with 2023 only for ‘coal and crude petroleum’ (-26.5%) (Figure 8). In contrast, the largest transport performance increase was observed for ‘secondary raw materials and wastes’ (+12.9%), followed by ‘chemicals, rubber and plastic, nuclear fuel’ (+12.4%) and ‘products of agriculture’ (+10.4%).

Self-propelled barges accounted for almost half of the total EU transport performance

In 2024, ‘self-propelled barge’ was the predominant type of vessel used for goods transport on EU inland waterways, carrying almost half (49.7%) of the total EU transport performance, based on tonne-kilometres (Figure 9). The volume of goods transported with self-propelled barges increased by 4.4% compared with 2023. The second and third most-used types of vessel were ‘self-propelled tanker barge’ (24.8%), which increased by 6.4% compared with 2023, and ‘barge not self-propelled’ (21.0%), which decreased by 2.2% compared with 2023. The transport performance with ‘other goods carrying vessel’ and ‘tanker barge not self-propelled’ increased substantially by 42.8% and 18.2%, respectively. Transport performance with ‘seagoing vessel’ also increased by 6.4%.

‘Self-propelled barge’ and ‘barge not self-propelled’ accounted for the largest volumes transported in 2024 for all countries with the exception of Slovakia and Sweden (Figure 10). Together with ‘self-propelled tanker barges’, they carried out between 87.4% and 100% of the entire transport in 12 out of the 15 EU countries for which data are available. An exception was Sweden, which reported only ‘seagoing vessels’. The other exceptions were Finland, which reported 41.8% of ‘seagoing vessels’, and Slovakia, which recorded 81.1% of ‘other goods carrying vessels’.

German vessels ranked among the top 3 nationalities in 7 out of 15 EU countries

When looking at the top 3 freight transport vessel nationalities in each EU country, in 2024, German vessels were in the top 3 for 7 EU countries out of 15 (Table 1), They were at first place in: Austria and Slovakia, second in Czechia and Germany and third in Luxembourg, Hungary and the Netherlands. Austrian and Slovakian vessels were also well represented in the top 3 vessel nationalities, with 6 appearances. Dutch vessels appeared 5 times in the ranking, ranking equally in first place in: Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Vessels registered in Belgium and Romania appeared 4 and 3 times, respectively, in the ranking. In 7 countries, the top nationality of vessels performing freight transport was the home nationality: Czechia, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Finland and Sweden.

In Poland and Finland, all vessels performing freight transport were registered in their own country. On the contrary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Luxembourg and Hungary did not have vessels registered in their own country in the top 3 places. All countries had a cumulated share of the top 3 vessel nationalities of 58% or higher, 7 EU countries had a cumulated share of the top 3 nationalities higher than 88% and 6 EU countries had a cumulated share of the top 3 nationalities higher than 90%.

Container transport performance rebounded in 2024 by 3.7% compared with 2023

The inland waterway transport of freight containers in the EU, measured in twenty-foot equivalent unit-kilometre (TEU-kilometres), was relatively stable between 2014 and 2016 (-0.3% each year) (Figure 11). An increase was observed in 2017, reaching a new peak in container transport. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, 3 sharp declines were recorded (-8.6%, -3.1% and -4.9% compared with the previous year, respectively). In 2021, a rebound was observed with a 4.2% increase compared to 2020. In 2022, a substantial downturn was observed, by 8.2%. The downwards trend continued in 2023, with a 6.6% decrease leading to the lowest point (1.3 billion TEU-kilometres) in container transport performance since 2009 (1.1 billion TEU-kilometres). In 2024, a rebound was observed with a 3.7% increase compared to 2023.

With regard to the quarterly inland waterway transport of containers, a global increase in trend is visible from 2016 to mid-2018 (Figure 12). Strong increases were recorded in 2017 leading to a new peak in the third quarter of 2017 (453 million TEU-kilometres). In 2018, considerable decreases were observed in the third and fourth quarters of 2018 compared with the same quarters of 2017 (-12.2% and -30.4%, respectively). This led to a new low point in the fourth quarter of 2018 (304 million TEU-kilometres). The year 2019 also started with sharp declines but ended with a strong increase in the fourth quarter (+18.7%). In 2021, increases were observed in the 2 first quarters compared with the same quarters of 2020 (+3.5% and +19.6%, respectively), whereas there were declines in the third and fourth quarters 2021.

In 2022, there were substantial decreases in all quarters, even if more moderate in the second quarter (-3.0%): -6.8% in the first quarter, -12.6% in the third quarter and -10.9% in the fourth quarter. In 2023, decreases were recorded in the first, second and fourth quarters when comparing with the same quarters of the previous year (-2.2%, -12.6% and -11.2%, respectively) while there was a slight increase in the third quarter (+0.7%). In 2024, a decrease was recorded in the first quarter when comparing with the same quarter of the previous year (-6.2%) while there were increases in the last 3 quarters (+1.7%, +8.0% and +12.6%, respectively).

In 2024, the largest contribution to transport of containers (in TEU-kilometres) came from the Netherlands, followed by Germany (Figure 13). Together, the 2 countries accounted for 86% of all the EU container transport. It should be noted that 3 countries reported no transport of containers in 2014, 2023 and 2024: Czechia, Poland and Finland. In addition, Bulgaria reported no transport of containers in 2023 and Slovakia reported none in both 2023 and 2024. Out of the 11 countries reporting container transport in 2024, 6 recorded growths in 2024 compared with 2023. The highest increase was recorded in France (+18.3%), followed by the Netherlands (+3.4%) and Germany (+2.7%). In contrast, the highest decrease in container transport performance in 2024 was recorded by Austria (-80.6%), followed by Croatia (-50.0%) and Romania (-41.8%). However, these large changes in percentage should be considered in relation to the low initial values.

When looking at the loading status of containers (Figure 14), EU transport of loaded containers in 2024 accounted for more than two-thirds of total EU container transport (70.2%). Bulgaria was the country with the highest share of transport of loaded containers with 100%, followed by Sweden (96.2%), France (77.0%), Germany (71.1%), Romania (69.9%), Belgium (69.5%) and the Netherlands (68.2%). Croatia and Austria recorded only transport of empty containers in 2024. The 2 remaining countries transported more empty than loaded containers: Hungary (99.3% of empty containers) and Luxembourg (54.6%).

‘Flammable liquids’ is the most transported dangerous goods category in EU inland waterways

The transport of dangerous goods is a voluntary data collection. In 2024, data on the transport of dangerous goods was reported by 7 out of 17 countries (Table 2). While it is still difficult to identify the types of dangerous goods transported at EU level due to lack of data for all EU countries, it can be observed that ‘flammable liquids’ was the main category in all the countries reporting such data. Overall, 'flammable liquids' accounted for 72.4% of the total tonnage of transported dangerous goods. Czechia reported no transport of dangerous goods in 2024.

Source data for tables and graphs

Inland waterway freight transport - quarterly and annual data: tables and figures

Data sources

All figures presented in this article have been extracted from the Eurostat online inland waterways transport database. The related datasets are collected according to Regulation (EU) No 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways. Regulation (EU) No 2018/974 consolidated the initial Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways and all its implementing and amending legal acts: Commission Regulation (EC) No 425/2007 (implementing regulation), Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 (amending regulation) and Regulation (EU) No 2016/1954 (amending regulation).

Regulation (EU) 2018/974 states that data must be supplied by all Member States for which the total volume of goods transported annually by inland waterways exceeds 1 million tonnes. Currently, 17 Member States provide data on mandatory or voluntary basis: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Czechia (CZ), Germany (DE), France (FR), Croatia (HR), Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI) and Sweden (SE). The legal act requires only the provision of a reduced annual dataset for countries exceeding the 1-million-tonne threshold but where no international or transit traffic exists.

Definitions

National inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between 2 ports of a national territory irrespective of the nationality of vessel.

International inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport between 2 ports located in different national territories.

Transit inland waterway transport: Inland waterway transport through a national territory between 2 ports both located in another national territory or national territories provided that in the total journey within the national territory there is no transshipment.

Calculation of EU aggregates: In Figures 5 and 6, the EU international and total goods transport in tonnes is calculated excluding double counting. In order to achieve that, the EU total international transport is calculated by adding the international unloadings declared by the EU countries plus the international loading for which the unloading country is not in the EU. Then, the EU total transport is calculated by adding the national transport and the total international transport.

For transit transport measured in tonnes, an EU aggregate equal to the sum of the country figures is not valid because volumes of freight transported are reported by all transit countries through which the transport takes place before reaching the unloading destination. Therefore, the same volume may be reported 2, 3, or more times without the possibility to eliminate multiple counting. At the same time, figures for transit transport are included in the EU national or international transport as they are reported not only by the transit countries but also by the loading and unloading countries. So, for the EU total volume of freight, it is enough to sum the total national and international figures.

Country specific notes

Belgium: A break in time series can be observed in 2018 due to an improvement of the data collection system. However, the impact of the break in time series for Belgium has only a minor effect on the overall EU aggregate.

Bulgaria: Transit data supplied include Romanian national IWW transport data equivalent to Bulgarian transit transport.

Croatia: Quarterly transit transport is not available.

Italy: Data are delivered on a voluntary basis. Only a simplified annual dataset is provided.

Lithuania: Data are delivered on a voluntary basis. Only a simplified annual dataset is provided.

Hungary: Due to a methodological change, transit data are underestimated for the third quarter 2013 and are not comparable with the other quarters.

Romania: Transit data supplied include Bulgarian national IWW transport data equivalent to Romanian transit transport.

Finland: No data available for 2017 and 2018. Data are delivered on a voluntary basis. Only a simplified annual dataset was provided until 2016.

Sweden: Data were delivered on a voluntary basis until 2021. Only a simplified annual dataset was provided until 2021.

Serbia: Only quarterly data are currently available. Data available since 2018.

Breakdown by group of goods The NST 2007 classification is available on the Statistics Explained Glossary.

Symbols

":" not available
"-" not applicable
"0" real zero

Context

The content of this statistical article is based on data collected within the framework of Regulation (EU) No 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways.

Explore further

Database

Transport, see datasets under the following categories:

Inland waterways transport (iww)

Inland waterways transport infrastructure (iww_if)

Inland waterways transport equipment (iww_eq)

Inland waterways transport - Enterprises, economic performances and employment (iww_ec)

Inland waterways transport measurement - goods (iww_go)

Inland waterways - accidents (iww_ac)

Thematic section

Transport

Publications

Methodology

Legislation

Regulation (EU) No 2018/974 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways
Summaries of EU legislation: EU statistics of goods transport by inland waterways
Regulation (EC) No 1365/2006 on statistics of goods transport by inland waterways
Commission Regulation (EC) No 425/2007 (implementing regulation)
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 (amending regulation)
Regulation (EU) No 2016/1954 (amending regulation)

Selected datasets

Transport, see table under 'Inland waterways transport':

Inland waterways transport (t_iww)

Goods transport by inland waterways (ttr00007)