Danube: Encyclopedia II - Danube - Modern navigation

Danube - Modern navigation

The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to Brăila, in Romania and by river ships to Kelheim; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to Ulm, in Germany. About 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. See Danube-Black Sea Canal.

Since the construction of the German Rhine-Main-Danube Canal in 1992, the river has been part of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on the North Sea to Sulina on the Black Sea (3500 km). In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of 3 bridges in Serbia and Montenegro. The clearance of the debris was finished in 2002. The temporary pontoon bridge that hampered navigation was finally removed in 2005.

At the Iron Gate, the Danube flows through a gorge that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains two hydroelectric dams, Đerdap I and Đerdap II.

The Danube-Black Sea Canal shortens the distance to the Black Sea by 400 km and another canal in Romania, while the Danube-Bucharest Canal (unfinished) is supposed to link Danube to Bucharest. In Serbia and Montenegro there is Dunav-Tisa-Dunav channel as well.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Modern navigation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki