1 UNECE Inventory of main standards and parameters of the E Waterway network: state of play and next steps UNECE TRANS/SC.3/WP.3 39th session, 16 June 2011

2 Structure of presentation Blue Book: background Blue Book: objectives Blue Book: contents – Bottlenecks and missing links – Characteristics of waterways – Parameters of locks – Characteristics of ports Blue Book: impact and use The second revised edition – Work of the SC.3 – Planning – Status of work Future developments

3 Blue Book: background 1996: White paper on trends and development of inland navigation and its infrastructure 1996: UNECE Working Party on Inland Water Transport (SC.3) agreed to draft a reference document containing technical characteristics of European inland waterways and ports of international importance 1998: first edition 2006: first revised edition

4 Blue Book: objectives To show the current infrastructure parameters as compared to the minimum standards and parameters prescribed in the AGN (European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance) To enable Governments and intergovernmental organizations to monitor the progress made in the implementation of the AGN

5 Blue Book: contents Identification of gaps – Bottlenecks and missing links in the network (UNECE Resolution No. 49) Current and envisaged infrastructure – Navigational characteristics of waterways – Parameters of locks – Technical characteristics of ports

6 Contents: bottlenecks and missing links

7 Contents: characteristics of waterways

8 Contents: parameters of locks

9 Contents: characteristics of ports

10 Blue Book: impact and use Source of updates to AGN (amendments at 52nd session of SC.3, 2008) Use in strategic studies (PLATINA’s inventories)

11 Second revised edition (Rev.2) 54th session of SC.3, 2010: Working Party requested secretariat to proceed with the updating of the 2006 edition Governments to provide updates PLATINA Inventory used to complete part on bottlenecks and missing links

12 Rev.2: work of the SC.3 White Paper on efficient and sustainable inland water transport in Europe (2011): Further strengthen the monitoring mechanism to review and update the development of the AGN network, its inland navigation ports of international importance as well as applicable technical and operational parameters. In particular, strengthen the UNECE work on maintaining of its Inventory of Main Standards and Parameters of the E Waterway Network (“Blue Book”) [...] by coordinating this work with relevant IWT infrastructure related programmes [...].

13 Rev.2: planning April 2011: first updates sent by countries 16 June 2011: first draft presented in informal document SC.3/WP.3 No. 16 End July 2011: other countries to send updates September 2011: secretariat circulates final draft to Governments for validation October 2011: SC.3 endorses final draft End 2011: second revised edition published February 2012: presented at Inland Transport Committee

14 14 countries already provided updates: Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic France (VNF) Germany Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Russian Federation Serbia Switzerland United Kingdom Rev.2: status of work

15 Rev.2: status of work 30% of data modified for those countries

16 Future developments Presented to the UNECE Inland Transport Committee (2012) To be used for updating the AGN To be used for updating the map of European Waterways

17 For information and updates, please contact: Ms. Valérie Blanchard UNECE Transport Division