Member area

Danube STREAM Smart, Integrated and Harmonised Waterway Management

Workpackages and Activities

WP 1 - Project Management

A transnational project with nine partners from seven different countries is a complex system; hence, project management and coordination have to take place not only on national, but also on international level. This work package combines all tasks which will be necessary to start, implement, control, monitor and close the project in a proper way. The tasks will be shared equally between project partners, including the necessary documentation (e.g. Partner Reports, Progress Reports).

Apart from the Project Manager, the project structure will comprise other relevant experts, e.g. Financial, Risk, and Quality Assurance Managers. The partnership will meet on a regular basis, so deviations from original plans regarding the time schedule, budget and resources will be detected immediately and proper counter measures can be triggered.

The experience of the project consortium shows that this work package is best tackled, when split into several activities. The first activity is undertaking the challenges of the project start and finish, through setting up the processes to implement, control, supervise and close the project. The second activity is dealing with financial management, while the third one is with cooperation between project partners, implementation and controlling of the overall project. As a consequence of these processes deviations regarding time, budget and resources will be detected immediately. The last activity is dealing with the challenges of delivering high quality outputs and results through the international cooperation.

  • Activity 1.1 -  Project start and closure
  • Activity 1.2 - Financial management
  • Activity 1.3 - Project coordination and controlling
  • Activity  1.4 - Project quality management

Responsible partner: via donau (AT), Gudrun Maierbrugger, gudrun.maierbrugger[at]viadonau.org

WP 2 - Project Communication

WP2 will deal with project dissemination and communication. The work package is divided into internal and external parts. The main task of this work package is to provide the information for both the project team and the stakeholders. This will require the preparation of newsletters and an intranet site for internal communication purposes. Newsletters will be prepared at regular intervals in order to inform the partners about the status and outcomes. Press releases will be distributed and project dissemination items will be produced by each partner, such as folders, flyers, roll-ups and other giveaways. The achievements of transnational approach will be spread out at relevant conferences, seminars, workshops or fairs even if those take place outside the DTP area, which will lead to a successful project and programme implementation, too.

  • Activity 2.1 - Internal Communication
  • Activity 2.2 - External Communication

Responsible partner: AFDJ Galati (RO), Claudiu Dutu, claudiu.dutu[at]afdj.ro

WP3 – User Information Services

The work package user information services will be dealing with the improvement of information services through enhanced customer-orientation. The project partners will increase their efforts of getting in contact with their customers, like shipping companies and navigational crews and they will incorporate the feedback in the development of new services.

Electronic navigational charts (ENC) are providing information about the status of the fairway to the users. It is essential to make updated information available, as the Danube waterway is a constantly changing natural infrastructure. As knowledge on the actual and available draught is crucial for economic operation of inland vessels, the project team will focus on the provision of fairway depth information via ENCs for at least all critical sections.

Other information sources, such as a catalogue of berthing places and paper version of navigational charts will be provided for the entire Danube stretch. A new tool with berth occupancy information will be supported, which will display digital information for berth places on pilot stretches. The existing supporting IT infrastructure shall be improved and updated.

Improvement and updating of the existing functionalities of the already available Danube Fairway Information Services (FIS) portal will be accomplished. After the elaboration of a concept, the implementation of the Danube FIS Portal on mobile devices will be executed. More precisely, this means that the stakeholders of the project shall be able to access the mobile application, which will use all available information from the FIS-portal, and thus it can be seen as an extension of the website. The application will grant access of existing open, public data, which should be made available, in a technically barrier-free environment, in the best manner possible. For this reason, a specific (responsive) web-design of the Danube FIS Portal, which is suited for the display on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets), will be implemented. The usage on different mobile devices, such as tablet and smartphones with different operating systems (Android and iOS, etc.) will be possible. The skipper will be able to easily find, read and access information on short notice, which supports daily operations.

  • Activity 3.1 - D4D Development
  • Activity 3.2 - Electronic Navigational Charts
  • Activity 3.3 - FIS Portal Development

Responsible partner: SVP (SK), Štefan Polhorský, stefan.polhorsky[at]svp.sk

WP4 – Waterway Management

The partnership is tackling issues in this work package related to the core business of the administrations, waterway management. The work package is related to the aims of EUSDR (European Strategy for Danube Region), as it is improving comprehensive waterway management of the Danube and its tributaries. Based on a continuous improvement process, the waterway administrations will define updated minimum common levels of service to ensure effective waterway management in the Danube Region.

Waterway maintenance is the daily business of waterway administrations. As there are 9 waterway administrations taking care of the Danube River, 9 different approaches for waterway maintenance are applied. Within previous projects the partnership agreed to emphasise a service-oriented and pro-active waterway management and rough service levels have been defined. Still infrastructure conditions are varying and strong cooperation is imperative. The partnership will further develop and implement waterway management related pilots from the NEWADA duo project. The cross-border marking database including signs, which mark the course of the fairway, will be updated and extended, and the concept of a GIS database of river training structures will be developed, allowing for the efficient management of waterway assets. A pilot investigating the vertical clearance sensors will be further developed.

Coordination and harmonisation in the field of waterway management has been acknowledged to be the only way to strengthen waterborne transport in the Danube Region. A single shallow river section may impede the increase of inland waterway transport also in the neighbouring counties. Therefore the partnership decided to agree, implement and monitor common levels of service. The importance of aligned standards is underlined by the level of representatives involved – the directors of the waterway administrations will meet regularly in order to discuss the progress and to decide on counter measures to be taken. On strategic level, the activities within the context of Danube STREAM will be synchronized with the implementation of the EUSDR's Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan. This process has started in NEWADA duo, it will be further developed in Danube STREAM.

Delays in the implementation of measures along the ecologically valuable rivers are common and often result from difficulties to obtain environmental permits. An intensified dialogue and mutual understanding between waterways administrations and environmental stakeholders is needed. An inter-sectoral dialogue with Protected Areas administrations, NGOs and international bodies is foreseen. The project will connect closely with Protected Areas (DANUBEparksCONNECTED) to explore more environmentally sound waterway management processes; this will include both national and international aspects. Hence, measures to keep the ecological balance of the Danube as a waterway will be taken.

  • Activity 4.1 - Raising effectiveness of waterway management
  • Activity 4.2 - Waterway management tools
  • Activity 4.3 - Environmentally sound waterway management

Responsible partner: via donau (AT), Gert-Jan Muilerman, gert-jan.muilerman[at]viadonau.org

WP5 – Strategic Perspectives

The Board of Directors of the project includes all directors of Danube waterway administrations, acting as Steering Committee of the project. This Board will implement transnational and common service level agreements as transnational operational strategies, with the aim to ensure sustainability of the services developed in the project. The Board thereby has the function to coordinate the project’s activities at international corridor level. This primarily pertains to common Levels of Services as well as improved key performance indicators related to Danube waterway. Additionally, Danube STREAM aims to lay the foundation for capacity building and long-term improvements in waterway management processes: Alternative approaches and future perspectives for transnational waterway management will be analysed in terms of costs and benefits and in the context of different legal and geographical frameworks. The short-term and long-term effects of such alternative approaches will be evaluated by means of earlier defined key performance indicators.

Coordination between Danube STREAM and other international initiatives is crucial to create synergies and positive effects on the performance of the Danube waterway. Hence, activities will be synchronised with the EUSDR’s Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan. Moreover, Danube STREAM will coordinate with other waterway-related projects in the Danube Region through common meetings. The project will ensure adequate coordination with those initiatives and fill possible gaps.

Finally, strategic communication activities are related to the coordinated engagement and management of Danube waterway stakeholders. Such stakeholder engagement will be carried out by taking into account the interests of different stakeholders. This should result in wider understanding and support for activities of the waterway administrations concerned.

  • Activity 5.1 - Performance indicators and level of services
  • Activity 5.2 - Interconnections with relevant inland navigation related international initiatives
  • Activity 5.3 - Strategic communication

Responsible partner: PLOVPUT (RS), 

  • Ivan Mitrović, imitrovic[at]plovput.rs, 
  • Stanislava Tatić (substitution), static[at]plovput.rs 

Programme co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI)