The Hindu Business Line : Europe's waterways — Channels of smart commerce, fine life

THE Blue Danube Waltz, named after the Danube river, was composed in Vienna, by Johann Strauss, at the height of the Habsburg Empire's power. And the composition is still closely associated with the grace and refinement of a long-gone, genteel Mitteleuropa. The Austrian stretch of the Danube is one of the most winding along the river's entire course. The twists and turns of the river mirror the ups and downs of Austrian history. The river brought not just atrocity and war but also art and music.

In many ways, the Danube is more than just a river. Europe's second-longest river (after the Volga), the Danube originates in the Black Forest Mountains of Germany, and travels 2,850 km to empty itself in the Black Sea on the Romanian coast.

On its course, the Danube flows through nine countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine) and drains an area slightly larger than 817,000 km over more than a dozen countries.

The river is navigable by ocean vessels to Braila, Romania, and by river craft up to Ulm, Germany. About 60 of its 300 tributaries are navigable as well.

Among the important cities on the river, three are national capitals — Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), and Belgrade (Serbia).

The Danube simultaneously unites, defines and divides Central Europe. Historical memory in the Danube basin is as long as the river itself. And conflict has flowed along the river literally from its source.

Further downstream, the Danube forms the borders separating Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Those frontiers were drawn by the victorious allies after World War I. Decades of debris and unexploded artillery make navigation along this part of the Danube virtually impossible. The almost complete shutdown of commercial traffic has had a devastating effect on other countries that rely on free navigation of the river.

The Danube river branches out into a delta in eastern Romania. Until a few years ago, this Delta region was threatened by pollution, development and neglect. Today, it is a biosphere reserve, and scientists and engineers are working to restore it. With its miles of reed beds — the largest in the world — the Danube delta acts as a filter, cleaning the waters. Rivers in the industrial world too have suffered the hazards of chemical pollution. The story of the Rhine is an example. Flowing for about 1,300 km from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea, the Rhine's waters were home to sensitive marine life such as salmon, which was so plentiful that servants complained that they had to eat it too often. Then after 1765, as cities and population grew, so did contamination and pollution to the Rhine.

After clean-up efforts that spanned a decade (1964-1975), the Rhine flowed clean again and the salmon returned to its rippling waters. Clean-up efforts began with sewage treatment after World War II. In 1964, Germany required biodegradable detergents. International accords concluded among Germany, France and Holland restricted many forms of pollution from the 1970s onward. Most heavy-metal concentrations in the river, but not the sediment, declined sharply after 1975.

Today, the Rhine carries almost 40 per cent of all Germany's cargo. Europe has a finely-meshed net work of navigable waterways, that offer affordable and efficient means of transportation. In comparison with others means of transportation, waterway transportation offers several advantages to manufacturers. It is an inexpensive and energy efficient means of transportation.

Over the last few years, major waterway transportation operators have worked to make the system more reliable and well adapted to large volumes and cargo. France has 8,500 km of navigable waterways that connect Europe's waterway system accounting for more than 70 million tonnes of freight in 2004. The Port of Paris has become the leading river port in France and the second-busiest in Europe.

The Loire River is the longest river in France and is said to be the last wild river in Western Europe. Like most rivers the Loire rises in the mountains. It begins in the Cevennes near the foot of the Gerbier de Jonc. The river flows 850 km from its headwaters to the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into the Bay of Biscay south of the Brittany Peninsula. Along its descent, it cuts countless gorges and it is here that most of France's scenic beauty is located.

The Netherlands is a small country, measuring just over 40,000 sq km. Nevertheless, in shipping and navigation this country has been proving for centuries that a small country can accomplish great things. With some 4,500 vessels, its inland navigation fleet is the largest in Europe. Within their own national borders these ships have the use of 4,800 km of canals and rivers, making Netherlands the densest waterway network in Europe.

Other countries can initiate measures on shore to stimulate inland navigation. For example, The Netherlands has a highly successful subsidy programme for companies that make their premises accessible by ship.

In the past year, 10 million tonnes of freight that normally would have been transported by road has been shifted to water-based transport. That is equal to the load of 500,000 twenty-tonne lorries. Germany is working on introducing a levy on road-based goods transport that will give inland navigation a more competitive position.

The Netherlands has also found ways to protect its environment through inland-water navigation. Over the past 30 years, it has successfully curtailed the discharge of industrial wastewater and sewage into surface waters. In another instance, The Netherlands has decided to give its rivers more space by widening them making them navigable during dry periods.

Though it may not be possible to directly adopt the Dutch model, it is truly outstanding. Inland navigation is a relatively cheap, reliable, safe and environment-friendly way for countries to strengthen their economy.

In addition, a sound inland-navigation system can improve the balance of water management. For instance, the navigability of rivers has to be taken into account when irrigation plans are made, to prevent too much water being taken out of the rivers at certain times. Not only is that good for inland navigation, but also for the supply of drinking water and the flora and fauna living in, on and around the water.

There has been multilateral cooperation in Europe since the 19th century, first between the countries of the Rhine basin and for the past 50 years between the Danube countries. Member-states such as Germany and the Netherlands are bound by the Rhine regulations.

Countries along the Danube and the Rhine are striving to adopt identical rules for the basins of both rivers. And when that happens it may be possible to navigate from the North Sea to the Black Sea under a single regulatory system.

In cities such as Amsterdam and Paris, many adventurous people live on boats and barges.

I was curious to know what it would cost to live in a barge in Paris, and was told that it is too late to simply go and tie up a barge or boat and live in Paris. One has to buy an existing barge or boat already moored there, at a cost of 1.7-3 million francs. If you have the money, the patience, and a love for nature, it is the finest life that money can buy.

(The author is former Europe Director of CII and lives in Cologne, Germany. His email ID is mohan.murti@t-online.de).

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