The Danube, the largest river in our region, offers numerous opportunities that provide valuable alternatives from an economic perspective. They are trying to take advantage of the river that flows through ten countries for transport purposes, but there is still a lot of untapped capacity. Multimodal ports connect the various modes of transport, but water transport has nevertheless experienced a decline recently, despite being one of the most environmentally friendly ways to move goods. In our summary, we review freight transport on the Danube in recent years, focusing on the situation of water transport in Hungary and areas in need of development.
The Danube is Europe’s second longest river, stretching 2,860 kilometres from Germany’s Black Forest through Central and Eastern Europe and part of the Western Balkans before flowing into the Black Sea. The river flows through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova. It flows through Hungary for 417 km, of which it is the border river with Slovakia for 142 km. The total length of the river can be divided into three major sections: the Upper Danube from its source to Dévényi Gate (Slovakia), the Middle Danube to the Iron Gates (Romania), and the Lower Danube connecting the Iron Gates to the Black Sea (delta) estuary.
The river, which flows through ten countries, also plays a significant role in the formation of transport options in those countries. Water transport has seen a significant increase in prices in recent years and still accounts for one of the smallest shares of all forms of transport, yet river transport is of paramount importance in the logistics solutions of the countries through which the Danube flows.
Among the countries through which the Danube flows, the Romanian and Ukrainian sections stand out in terms of cargo traffic volume between 2021 and 2023, followed to a lesser extent by the Serbian section. The Danube crosses Romania for about a thousand kilometres, which means that it is an integral part of the country’s economy. In recent years, freight traffic on the Romanian section of the Danube has declined somewhat: compared to 2021, the volume of goods transported in Q1-Q3 2023 shrank by 26%. However, the volume of goods transported on the Ukrainian section has increased significantly. In 2021, only 5,505,000 tonnes of goods were transported on the Ukrainian section of the Danube, but based on data from the first three quarters of 2023, this figure has increased 4.5-fold. The change is clearly due to the war and its effects, as this has increased the value of transporting goods on the Danube.
One of the biggest advantages of shipping on the Danube is most likely the fact that the river flows into the Black Sea, thus offering further transport opportunities. In 2023, the volume of goods transported on the Danube-Black Sea Canal amounted to 23,364 million tonnes, of which 18,794 million tonnes were international shipments and 4,570 million tonnes were inland waterway shipments.
The total volume of freight transport has been rising steadily since 2019, with international transport accounting for the largest share. In order for waterway transport to run smoothly and without disruption, it is necessary to have a well-developed multimodal terminal system along the river. In multimodal logistics chains, rail and road transport partners cooperate with water transport, enabling pre- and post-transport operations, while ports play a role as basic connection points. In recent decades, Danube ports have undergone a significant transformation from traditional inland ports to modern logistics centres. Since they function as production sites as well as goods collection and distribution centres, they are extremely well integrated into regional economies and have contributed significantly to economic growth and job creation. The three most important ports on the Danube in terms of transshipment volumes are Izmail (Ukraine), Linz (Austria) and Galați (Romania). The port of Constanța in Romania occupies a special place. It is connected to the Danube via the Danube-Black Sea Canal. It plays an important role as a transshipment gateway to the Black Sea, facilitating trade with Asia, the Middle East and the Black Sea region.
Hungary, like the other Danube countries, has a long tradition of water transport. Although there was a significant decline in the value of international transport on Hungarian waters after the regime change, the volume of goods transported in this way began to increase gradually after the 2010s. A further decline can be observed between 2020 and 2024, but this was mainly due to the regional situation, the increase in water transport prices and the frequent low water levels.
In 2023, freight transport performance in Hungary decreased by 9.2%, of which road transport, with the largest share (67%), decreased by 11%, rail transport by 7.8% and inland waterway transport by 13%. Only pipeline freight transport increased, by 2.0%. The contraction experienced by Hungarian industry also had a significant impact on all of these declines. According to preliminary data, in 2023, total inland waterway traffic (international and domestic combined), expressed in freight tonne-kilometres, decreased by 13% to 1.3 billion, and its volume decreased by 12% to 5.2 million tonnes compared to the previous year. Within this, import traffic fell by 29%, domestic traffic by 17% and transit traffic by 13%, while export traffic rose by 1.1%.
Inland waterway freight transport performance grew year on year between 2015 and 2019, with the exception of 2018, which was affected by extremely dry weather. After 2019, this trend reversed and there has been a continuous decline since then, which can be mainly attributed to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the low water levels caused by increasingly dry weather year after year. Domestic inland waterway freight traffic has been declining steadily for four years, with fewer goods transported over shorter distances in 2023 than in 2022. This is partly due to the war in Ukraine, as most of the Danube tugboats were working on the Lower Danube, transporting Ukrainian grain.
On the Hungarian section of the Danube, most of the cargo consists of cereals and other agricultural products, which belong to the bulk goods category. Within this category, ore, coal and other building materials are also frequently transported on the Hungarian section of the Danube. There is also a growing trend in the transport of so-called containerised goods, whereby a wide range of products are transported on the river in standardised containers.
There can also be a number of obstacles to the transport of goods on the river, including the Danube, which have a negative impact on the growth of the sector. Comparing the development of the Danube with that of the Rhine region, it can be seen that although container transport has started to grow on the Danube, it still lags significantly behind the Rhine. Romania and Hungary are the leading countries in container transport among the countries through which the Danube flows. The main challenges for container transport on the Danube include the need to modernise port facilities, fluctuating water levels affecting shipping, and geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine. In addition, container handling infrastructure, including refrigerated container terminals, is less developed than in Western Europe. Investments specifically aimed at increasing container transport opportunities on the Danube could significantly boost waterborne shipping. The development of Danube transport could become a competitive and sustainable route for temperature-sensitive cargo, contributing significantly to reducing carbon dioxide emissions and supporting economic growth in the region.
