The European Commission adopted on 10 September 2013 the NAIADES II package entitled “Towards quality Inland Waterway transport”. The main rationale behind this new package is the promotion of inland navigation, building on the achievements of the first NAIADES programme, with a view to fully exploiting the unused potential of Inland Waterway Transport and allowing cargo to flow unhindered along Europe’s 37,000 km of inland waterways.
 
The package consists of a NAIADES II Communication, which sets out the inland waterway transport policy programme for the period 2014-2020, as well as of a Commission staff working document, a proposal for a Directive and a proposal for a Regulation, which represent the first steps towards the implementation of the NAIADES II programme.
 
Main areas of focus will be among others greening, providing new job opportunities in the sector and encouraging innovation.
 
ECSA welcomes the fact that this new programme is also proposing actions to improve connections to other forms of transport, with particular attention being paid to sea and river ports, thus improving the overall efficiency of the European logistics chain.
 
The main documents of the NAIADES II package can be found here