Mineral oil products, biodiesel or chemical products – for all of these goods the Danube waterway can offer a safe and cheap transport solution. Several agglomerations are located along the Danube, including fuel depots and refineries as well as chemical companies.
As for liquid bulk, more than 1.3 million tonnes of mineral oils were transported on the Austrian Danube in 2018; accounting for 20 per cent of the total transport volume this group has a high importance and took the center stage during the kick-off workshop of this initiative.
What future potential is offered by a transport via Danube and what strategic developments are possible? These questions were discussed by experts form the mineral oil and the tanker shipping industry. Attila Heves, MOL Austria and Piotr Zielinski, Lukoil – both companies operate one or more sites with direct access to the Danube River – presented their logistics, showing an efficient integration of Danube navigation.
The challenges of the daily business for a shipping company operating on the Danube were highlighted by Norbert Baumann, Danu Trans. Afterwards, Mario Kaufmann, viadonau explained today’s and future opportunities for electronic reporting and fleet management using River Information Services: a harmonised corridor system for all riparian countries to enable a single reporting for international transports.
In a discussion, all speakers and participants spoke about strategic developments like LNG as fuel and cargo for inland ships. In conclusion of the discussion it became apparent, that such systematic changes of the sector can only be realised in cooperation of industry and logistic service provider.
The initiative “chemical and petrochemical products on inland waterways” has just started. Additional products like chemical fertilizers, various synthetic materials and other chemical products will be discusses in the following expert workshops.
