Mainly on the Elbe River - Central Europe

3.1.4 Price comparison of individual transport modes in particular relations
It is appropriate to compare prices on specific routes with identical initial and final points. For the
purposes of the study, the Hamburg - Děčín relation was selected.
3.1.4.1 The Hamburg – Děčín relation
Generally, the prices of cargo transport are determined by agreement. For road transport, the
price is not calculated per tons or tone-kilometers, but per vehicle-kilometers with almost no regard
to the load. 15 For railway transport, different price is charged for full wagon load and for a whole
train (lower price). Therefore, the following comparison is only of informational character.
To enable the comparison of the transport prices by road, railway and inland water routes,
single transport load of 1.050 tons is considered as a unit, which corresponds with the load of one
vessel with the draft of 2,2 m for water transport, 22 wagons of 47 tons load capacity for railway
transport and 42 cargo trucks with 25 tons of average load capacity for road network.
Note: The average load of the cargo vessel on the Elbe river is commonly stated as 1.000 t. 16
To simplify the comparison for purposes of this project, a cargo weight was set to 1.050 t. The
difference of 5 % from the actual figure is insignificant for the final evaluation. The average weight
of a load 1.050 tons for the Hamburg - Děčín relation was adopted from the study
“Verkehrswirtschaftlicher und ökologischer Vergleich der Verkehrsträger Straße, Bahn und
Wasserstraße (PLANCO Consulting GmbH, lisOPTad 2007)“.
Due to different lengths of routes for individual modes of transport, it is necessary to compare
the total price for transportation rather than the transported unit (tons km).
The all-in price for transportation is understood as complete and final. It includes all necessary
expenses, i.e. fees for traffic routes and similar fees paid by the actual transporter on behalf of the
final client. The price is calculated as costs of realizing the transportation plus the transport reward
including other possible expenses. The all-in price is presented as a total sum invoiced to the
client.
15 The fact, that the prices for road transport are calculated in vehicle-kilometers, was verified by the ČESMAD Bohemia
company.
16 Source: „The improvement of conditions in navigation on the Elbe between Ústí nad Labem-state border CR-Germany
– Děčín navigation degree (CITYPLAN spol. s r.o. – 2010)
A feasibility study for “Improvement of Conditions for the River Transport in Central Europe (mainly on the Elbe
River)“ realized within the ChemLog project 132