Mainly on the Elbe River - Central Europe

vigorous effort to ensure access to the Rhein expressway. Due to the problematic navigability
through Ústí nad Labem – German state border, the Elbe – Vltava channel waterway remains
almost unutilized, although it meets European standards and its estimated value reaches about
160 billion CZK. The maintenance of this waterway costs tens of millions CZK per year. The non-
utilization of such transport route is apparently a political and economic mistake. Another problem
is the intermodal competition, which is not regulated by the EU and the “global players“ abuse the
environmental issues to gain advantages over water and road transport (by funding quasi-
ecological organizations preventing construction of hydropower station on the Elbe and completion
of the D8 motorway).
Improving navigation conditions of the Elbe river would have positive impact on freight rates of
all transport modes, as it is abroad. According to the statement of the Waterway transport
association authorities of CR, competition of water, rail and road transport in the Rhein region
results in the lowest transport costs, calculated per transported unit. When evaluating benefits of
the waterway transport compared to other modes of transport, it is necessary to consider future
transport trends. <strong>Mainly</strong>, it is important to include so-called external costs of railway and road
transport, which must be addressed by the EU and the Czech Republic must be prepared to prefer
waterway transport accordingly (improving navigation conditions of the problematic section on the
Elbe river).
Development of the waterway transport on the Czech side is based on the “Děčín navigable
lock project“ currently in progress, i.e. the construction of a dam by the city of Děčín as a
necessary step to ensure navigation draft of 1,40 m on the critical 40 km section of the Elbe
between Ústí nad Labem-German border 345 days per year. The project is currently undergoing
the EIA procedure and its realization depends on approval of the Czech Ministry of Environment. It
is further necessary to engage in improving the Elbe navigability between Děčín and Střekov.
The Elbe waterway is in the considered section unstable and fully dependent on weather
conditions with negative impact on economics of water transport. The transporters are unable to
ensure the delivery dates and become excluded from logistic chains. They must undergo the risk to
predict future water levels (impossible more than 24 hours in advance) and in case of limited or
even impossible navigability, they must ensure delivery by other means of transport. This
essentially increases costs of transportation and therefore, transporter cannot offer attractive fright
rates. Transporters are aware of this fact and so they prefer more reliable transport modes even at
higher transport costs. Furthermore, the instability of water levels results in inconvenient
environment for implementation of new projects within the multimodal transport field.
Nowadays, conditions for navigation are improved by so-called “waving”. The water level in
Střekov is artificially increased by releasing of retaining water. The generated waves increase the
water level in the range of 3-10 hours according to the navigation needs. It is only a temporary
solution, which is causing fluctuations of the water level in Střekov by 1 m.
A feasibility study for “Improvement of Conditions for the River Transport in Central Europe (mainly on the Elbe
River)“ realized within the ChemLog project 189