Mainly on the Elbe River - Central Europe

phenomena, such as ice, floods etc., should be minimized by appropriate technical
and organizational measures.
(iii) Suspension of operation on waterways during the period of navigability caused by
regular maintenance of locks and other hydraulic equipment should be as short as
possible. Users of waterways under maintenance should be consistently informed
about the dates and duration of such interruption. In case of failure of locks, other
hydraulic equipment or in case of other unpredictable events, it is necessary to
utilize the maximum available resources to reach recovery as soon as possible.
(iv) Suspension of operation should not occur during periods of low water levels. On
waterways with changing water levels, conditions for operation of vessels with a
draft at least 1,20 m should be secured for at least 240 days per year. In areas
mentioned in paragraph (ii), conditions for operation of vessels with a minimum draft
of 1,20 should be ensured at 60 % of the navigability period.
(v) If economically profitable, the operating time of locks, movable bridges and other
facilities should be adapted to 24-hour vessel traffic during working days. For
organizational and/or technical reasons, an exception may be granted. An
appropriate operating period should be ensured during weekends and national
holidays as well.
Technical and operational characteristics of the category E waterway ports:
The network of category E waterways should be supplemented by a system of inland ports of
international importance. Each port should meet following technical and operational criteria:
(i) A port should be located on a category E waterway.
(ii) It should have sufficient capacity to accept vessels or group of vessels operated on
the relevant category E waterway in the same class.
(iii) It should be connected with the main roads and railway lines (if possible belonging
to a network of international roads and railway lines established by the European
Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries (AGR), European Agreement on
Main International Railway Lines (AGC) and the European Agreement on Important
International Combined Transport Lines (AGTC).
(iv) The total port capacity for load handling should be at least 0,5 million tons per year.
A feasibility study for “Improvement of Conditions for the River Transport in Central Europe (mainly on the Elbe
River)“ realized within the ChemLog project 12