FAIRway Danube, the first CEF-funded Danube-wide investment programme, was successfully completed in December 2021!
Between July 2015 and December 2021 – for the duration of 6 years, FAIRway Danube has been significantly increasing the knowledge on shallow sections of the Danube waterway for an optimized fairway routing and drafting of rehabilitation measures. Under the motto “Committed to the increased safety, efficiency and environmental friendliness of inland navigation”, FAIRway Danube has being carried out in a harmonized way in six countries: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, under the umbrella of the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) of the European Commission [now: CINEA].
Watch a video compiling all the crucial achievements of the project: click HERE!
Watch a documentary video showcasing the FAIRway Danube in detail: click HERE!
MORE INFO ABOUT THE PROJECT:
The international FAIRway Danube project, co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and coordinated by viadonau, was wrapped up an end at the end of 2021. The final event was organised on 21 October in Bucharest and Giurgiu in Romania. The participants visited the High-Performance Green Port Giurgiu, and took part in a boat trip on the FAIRway Danube vessels “OSAM” and “Concordia EU 2019”. At the last Advisory Committee Meeting, the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean underlined the impressive results achieved and outlined the EC’s goal to reduce its emissions by 90% by 2050. The Director of CINEA Dirk Beckers praised long-term vision, solid coordination and cooperation between all actors and made clear that exactly this commitment is important for future progress. The European Coordinator for the Rhine-Danube Core Network, Inés Ayala Sender, who was present on site, also praised the excellent work of the project partners.
FAIRway Danube was launched back in 2015 with the ambitious goal of improving fairway conditions along the entire Danube. What else was achieved? Besides actions to harmonise fairway information and service standards on the Danube, the feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the Gabčíkovo lock was done, alongside the preparation of national action plans and status reports on the state of the waterway in the individual Danube countries. The project delivered tangible successes: in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, a total of 37 gauging stations, five surveying vessels and four marking vessels were installed or put into service as part of the project. Based on the model of the WAMS – Waterway Asset Management System – developed with viadonau in Austria, the transnational waterway monitoring system WAMOS was also launched. Two follow-up projects – ‘FAIRway works!’ and ‘Preparing FAIRway 2 works in the Rhine-Danube corridor’– are already continuing the impressive work.
