Is shipping eco-friendly?

Those promoting projects to dredge, dike and dam the Danube often claim that they are necessary for environmental reasons. How right are they?

Proponents of these projects claim that they are environmental -- an alternative to road traffic, and necessary for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

In fact, recent research has suggested that at present, emissions from inland navigation is little or no better than those from road freight. This is especially true of the Danube, where the average vessel is over 40 years old -- with outdated emissions standards.

With better emissions standards, inland shipping can indeed present an attractive alternative to road transport, but only if done right -- otherwise the environmental destruction from developing waterways can far out weight any environmental benefits from reducing emissions.

Inland navigation does have a role to play in addressing the need for relatively environmentally friendly transport in an increasingly integrated Europe. But what is needed is investment first and foremost in fitting ships to the river -- in technology, training, communications and logistics -- rather than fitting the river to the ships. The cost of the latter is prohibitive not only in financial but also environmental terms.