danube ports network - project progress overview

Halfway through the project, the DAPhNE consortium uniting 23 partners from 9 Danube riparian countries is delivering notable progress in all project activities, especially related to port legislation & funding, port administration & management, port development but also in relation to port strategy & port network formation.

In terms of port legislation and funding, the involved PPs started drafting their related national reports covering the legal framework as well as the funding opportunities in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. To help investigate the current procedures that port authorities/administrations from the Danube region apply to different kinds of port users, five national reports on port administrative processes have been elaborated covering the status in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. The PPs have also finalised the national reports on port management models in the same countries.

Regarding port development, the PPs investigated the status of port infrastructure development in designated ports along the Danube which are relevant for the entire Rhine-Danube corridor. For the preparation of the pilot action for a Port IT Community System, the involved PPs have held several technical workshops with designated experts for gathering input for the PCS architecture.

In connection to the development of the Danube Ports Network, a second awareness event was organised by PDI with the support of all PPs, namely the Port Policy Day (18.09.2017, Budapest). The event brought together approx. 60 representatives of the Danube Port Community (port administrations/operators), IWT stakeholders, representatives of ministries of Danube States and EC services representatives relevant for port policy. In a workshop atmosphere, the participants discussed current and forthcoming policy issues of strategic importance for Danube ports.

All these important results were promoted by all PPs at several national and international conferences and by means of well-designed promotion materials (newsletters, brochures, etc.).

Details about the progress made in these areas are summarized in the following articles of this newsletter. 

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port legislation and funding

To investigate the legal conditions in force in Danube ports as well as the funding possibilities available, the project partners are working on the elaboration of national reports regarding the port legislation and on port funding. These reports cover the respective legal frameworks of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia and constitute a first step for the national workshops foreseen in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia foreseen in the coming weeks. This work will lead to the elaboration of the expected recommendations on Port legislation & State aid model.

port administration and managment

In terms of port administration and management, the DAPhNE consortium focuses on the analysis and good practices of procedures applied by port authorities / administrations to vessel and terminal operators as well as to other users of port infrastructure and services. The project partners elaborated a survey aiming to determine what aspects need to be simplified, modified and eliminated to increase efficiency in port administration processes, and made a research on the existing port management models applied by Danube ports in six countries. Now we are working further with these preliminary results.

port development

When it comes to port development, the DAPhNE consortium successfully elaborated a report on the status of port infrastructure development along the Danube. The consortium decided together on the locations to be tackled based on the available information and the relevance of these ports for the entire Rhine-Danube corridor. The resulting report contains a complex infrastructure inventory of selected ports, cargo flows over the last 10 years, all port development projects reported by the analysed ports as well as a self-assessment matrix of the ports needs in the forthcoming period.

port strategy and network

The Danube Ports Network Platform is one major achievement of the DAPhNE project. This independent entity is meant to be a permanent communication channel among the members of the Danube Port Community and will enable the promotion, use and further dissemination of the deliverables, outputs and results of the DAPhNE project. Progress was achieved in the setting up of this network, in particular with the organization of the Initial Meeting of Danube Ports Network on 15 February 2018, in Galati, Romania.

dissemination activities

DAPhNE partners are actively organising public events and participating at relevant conferences or workshops, meaning to promote the project and to collect valuable input for the project activities under implementation. In the last six months, the two most notable events organised by the consortium were the Port Policy Day and the Initial meeting of the Danube Ports Network. Besides of that, most partners attended the EUSDR Annual Forum and several events in Europe such as Danube Transport Day at the European Parliament in Brussels, Hamburg International Conference of Logistics and Setting the course - inland navigation in 2050 in Duisburg. Also, a set of promotional materials have been produced and started to be distributed.