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The DANTE project aiming at identifying and eliminating administrative barriers for inland waterborne transport (IWT) on the Danube has reached a key milestone stage in its lifecycle, where much of the planned desk and field research has been completed and analyses of results are currently being finalized to become the base for the development of the final project outputs – the Danube IWT Administration Strategy & Action plan and the Facilitation and monitoring platform.
The synergy achieved between DANTE, EUSDR PA1a and the RIS COMEX project was recognized at Trans-European level and named to be one of the “Flagship initiatives“ announced at the 2018 TEN-T Days in Ljubljana on 26 April 2018. A key result of the cooperation is the technical finalisation of the DAVID - Danube Navigation Standard Forms.
The Transnational IWT barrier reporting tool which was launched in September 2017 is now actively used by Danube river stakeholders to report on administrative barriers they have encountered, but also to name positive experiences.
The analysis of existing procedures (laws & regulations) and administrative processes on a national level have been completed for all Danube countries, results matched with the inputs from the barrier reporting tool and consolidated in a report in order to provide a base for the elaboration of guidelines and recommendations for improving the processes.
The second round of national working table meetings (NWTM) was held, where a total of more than 250 participants from 6 countries discussed in a cooperative manner how the barriers can be mitigated in a mutually beneficial way. National country reports were elaborated based on the analyses of the procedures and results from the NWTM which are currently being processed into a consolidated report.
Four transnational working group meetings were held in Budapest (24 Oct 2017), Galati (06 Dec 2017), Karlsruhe (24 April 2018) and Bratislava (14 June 2018) to start the implementation and capitalization of the outcomes. Being organized closely together with the EUSDR PA1a, they gathered expert decision makers in order to cumulate the results of the national meetings and the barrier database and acted as a key step in achieving harmonized regulations and simplified administrative processes in IWT resulting in less time loss and lower costs.
A report on identification of good practices in the Rhine IWT and other modes of transport was released in the last days of June 2018, where applicable inputs shall be derived and customized to add recommendations for improvement to the Danube Region IWT.
Two major goals are still ahead for the DANTE partners – the development of the Administration strategy and action plan and Facilitation and monitoring platform. The first instruments shall define the path for the relevant authorities to harmonize the regulations and establish a stable, predictable and plannable framework for IWT in the Danube Region on a transnational basis. The durable cooperation platform shall ensure the continuous facilitation and monitoring in order to increase IWT´s share in modal split to the proper level, contributing to the EUSDR and DTP goals and objectives.
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