Inventory of Main Standards and Parameters of European Waterway Network

1. UNECE Inventory of main standards and parameters of the E Waterway network: state of play and next steps UNECETRANS/SC.3/WP.339th session, 16 June 2011

2. Structure of presentation • Blue Book: background • Blue Book: objectives • Blue Book: contents • Bottlenecks and missing links • Characteristics of waterways • Parameters of locks • Characteristics of ports • Blue Book: impact and use • The second revised edition • Work of the SC.3 • Planning • Status of work • Future developments

3. Blue Book: background • 1996: White paper on trends and development of inland navigation and its infrastructure • 1996: UNECE Working Party on Inland Water Transport (SC.3) agreed to draft a reference document containing technicalcharacteristics of European inlandwaterways and ports ofinternational importance • 1998: first edition • 2006: first revised edition

4. Blue Book: objectives • To show the current infrastructure parameters as compared to the minimum standards and parameters prescribed in the AGN (European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance) • To enable Governments and intergovernmental organizations to monitor the progress made in the implementation of the AGN

5. Blue Book: contents • Identification of gaps • Bottlenecks and missing links in the network(UNECE Resolution No. 49) • Current and envisaged infrastructure • Navigational characteristics of waterways • Parameters of locks • Technical characteristics of ports

6. Contents: bottlenecks and missing links

7. Contents: characteristics of waterways

8. Contents: parameters of locks

9. Contents: characteristics of ports

10. Blue Book: impact and use • Source of updates to AGN(amendments at 52nd session of SC.3, 2008) • Use in strategic studies (PLATINA’s inventories)

11. Second revised edition (Rev.2) • 54th session of SC.3, 2010: Working Party requested secretariat to proceed with the updating of the 2006 edition • Governments to provide updates • PLATINA Inventory used to complete part on bottlenecks and missing links

12. Rev.2: work of the SC.3 White Paper on efficient and sustainable inland water transport in Europe (2011): • Further strengthen the monitoring mechanism to review and update the development of the AGN network, its inland navigation ports of international importance as well as applicable technical and operational parameters. • In particular, strengthen the UNECE work on maintaining of its Inventory of Main Standards and Parameters of the E Waterway Network (“Blue Book”) [...] by coordinating this work with relevant IWT infrastructure related programmes [...].

13. Rev.2: planning • April 2011: first updates sent by countries • 16 June 2011: first draft presented in informal document SC.3/WP.3 No. 16 • End July 2011: other countries to send updates • September 2011: secretariat circulates final draft to Governments for validation • 12-14 October 2011: SC.3 endorses final draft • End 2011: second revised edition published • February 2012: presented at Inland Transport Committee

14. Rev.2: status of work 14 countries already provided updates: Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic France (VNF) Germany Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Russian Federation Serbia Switzerland United Kingdom

15. Rev.2: status of work 30% of data modified for those countries

16. Future developments • Presented to the UNECE Inland Transport Committee (2012) • To be used for updating the AGN • To be used for updating the map of European Waterways

17. For information and updates, please contact: Ms. Valérie Blanchard UNECE Transport Division valerie.blanchard@unece.org www.unece.org/trans/main/sc3/sc3.html