Study on Navigation Conditions and Shipping Traffic on the Danube in the Period 2001-2020

Abstract

The Danube, the second largest river in Europe after the Volga and the third largest in terms of economic importance after the Volga and Rhine, is 2 840 km long and crosses a total of 4 capitals and 10 countries. With a long history in commercial transport, the Danube is connected to the Black Sea by the Danube-Black Sea canal and to the North Sea by the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. The economic importance of this river stems from its large shipping capacity at a much lower cost than other types of transport. At the same time, the Danube has a tourist importance due to the Danube Delta, one of the most beautiful regions in Romania due to the fauna and flora found in this area. In this paper, a statistical analysis was carried out on the naval traffic for the period 2001-2020 regarding the total number of incoming ships, outgoing ships and the total tons of cargo transported on the Sulina canal. The most important sectors and ports were identified, and a classification of the types of goods according to their contribution was made.