The current low water levels underline a fundamental challenge for European transport policy: if Europe wants to shift more freight towards inland waterways, it must ensure that the sector can remain reliable, competitive and socially sustainable in a changing climate.
This is fully consistent with the objectives of the EU’s NAIADES III Action Plan (2021–2027), which set out to shift more freight to inland waterways and put the sector on an irreversible path towards zero emissions. As NAIADES III approaches the end of its implementation period, these objectives remain highly relevant. The Action Plan recalls the EU ambition to increase transport by inland waterways and short-sea shipping by 25% by 2030 and by 50% by 2050. Achieving these ambitions requires more than setting modal shift targets. It requires sustained investment in the resilience and navigability of Europe’s inland waterways – and in the people who keep them moving.
Low water levels on the Rhine, Danube and other navigable European rivers affect not only carrying capacity, reliability and transport costs. They also affect the workers on board and ashore. Disrupted operations, changing schedules and the pressure to keep goods moving can translate into greater workloads, longer or less predictable working patterns and additional pressure on crews. Where prolonged periods of low water affect the economic viability of operations, workers can also face uncertainty over their jobs and incomes.
The sector is already innovating in response to these challenges. New vessel designs and technologies, digitalisation and more efficient operations can help inland navigation adapt to changing conditions and reduce its environmental footprint. These developments should be supported, and workers must be equipped with the skills needed to use and shape new technologies. But technological innovation alone cannot make Europe’s inland waterways climate-resilient. Even the most advanced vessel depends on navigable waterways, functioning infrastructure and the workers needed to operate it safely.
Climate adaptation must therefore become an integral part of European inland waterway policy. This means maintaining and adapting waterways and their infrastructure, addressing infrastructure bottlenecks, ensuring reliable navigation conditions and investing in ports and multimodal connections, alongside continued innovation in vessels and operations. It also means anticipating the impact of these changes on employment, skills and working conditions, with workers and their trade unions involved in designing and implementing the transition.
A more resilient inland waterway system is not in competition with a multimodal approach. Strong inland waterways, railways, roads and ports are all necessary parts of a well-functioning European transport network. Each mode has its own role and strengths, and better connections between them can make the overall system more efficient. But multimodality cannot substitute for investment in the resilience of individual modes.
For the ETF, resilience cannot mean expecting workers to compensate for the consequences of climate change or inadequate infrastructure through greater flexibility, longer working hours or increased workloads. Safe manning levels, effective working and rest time rules, decent working conditions and investment in skills must remain at the heart of the sector’s development.
This question is also increasingly relevant in the context of Europe’s renewed focus on preparedness and military mobility. Europe’s civilian and military transport needs depend on the same waterways, ports, railways, roads and multimodal infrastructure – and ultimately on the same transport workers. Investments made in the name of military mobility should therefore contribute to the resilience and capacity of the wider transport system, including its inland waterways, rather than developing a parallel set of priorities. Climate resilience, civilian mobility and strategic preparedness need to be considered together.
With NAIADES III approaching the end of its implementation period, this is also the moment to look ahead. Its ambition to shift more freight to inland waterways and move the sector towards zero emissions remains essential, but the follow-up must respond to the realities the sector is now facing. Climate resilience and the human dimension need to become central pillars of the next phase of European inland waterway policy. This means combining innovation with sustained investment in waterways and infrastructure that can cope with changing climate conditions, while giving equal attention to the workers who make the sector function: decent working conditions, safe manning, skills, quality employment and meaningful involvement of trade unions in shaping the transition. Europe cannot achieve its modal shift objectives without resilient inland waterways – and resilient inland waterways cannot exist without a skilled, protected and valued workforce.
Brussels, 18 August 2026
