Problemy Transportu i Logistyki

The low emission mobility is one of the major goals of the European transport policy. Energy and climate policies accelerated the potential of transport to shift towards low emission mobility. In addition, promoting multimodality will strength the shift towards lower emission transport modes such as inland waterway transport and rail. Although inland waterway transport is not the main source of air pollution in the European Union, the modal shift may result in an increase of emissions from this mode of transport in the next years. The goal of this paper is to trace the issue of emissions from inland waterway transport in the context of European energy, climate and transport policy with particular attention to measures to reduce emissions in inland waterway transport. In order to trace these issues, the latest energy, climate and transport policy documents were analyzed. There is also a comparison of the results of two research studies on emissions from inland vessels in order to describe its energy efficiency and the ability to interfere with the objectives set by the low emission policy. Characteristics of the IWT are the longevity of the engines, less stringent emission limits for inland shipping compare to the other land-based modes of transport and the relatively small and specific market for inland vessels causes disadvantages of scale. These qualities determine most measures for reduction of emission in IWT. The IWT vessels emit relatively few greenhouse gases, but can have rather high values for pollutant emissions, when compared to railways and trucks. Most measures for the reduction of emissions in IWT at the same time also reduce fuel consumption, and therefore have both ecological and economic benefits. New strategy for low-emission mobility in inland waterway transport is electric power. Converting inland ships to electric power is an interface between technology and sustainability. Digitalization is necessary to improve the competitiveness of inland waterway transport. Digitalization is also the tool to provide multimodal integration. This could incentivize a modal shift towards inland waterway transport.