Vidaus vandens kelių panaudojimo tendencijos

Abstract

There is more and more focus on the development of the infrastructure of inland waterways in the European countries. Compared to other means of transport, the transport of internal waterways is not only effective in the aspects of energy consumption, noise and economy but is also reliable, has large capacity and low impact on the environment. The relevance of this study is determined by the fact that the use of inland waterways was analyzed mainly by foreign authors (D. Milewski, E. Tzannatos, R. V. Ionescu, N. Ceuppens and etc.). Studies done by Lithuanian scientists (J. Darulis, I. Meidute, R. Minalga andetc.) mainly focus on seaways and roads and their use. Problem of the article - what are the tendencies of the use of inland waterways? The task of this article is to analyze the tendencies of the use of waterways. The following aims were raised to achieve the above task: 1. To review scientific literature about the use of inland waterways in Lithuania and Europe. 2. To determine the factors influencing the use of inland waterways. Tendencies of the use of inland waterways: are more used in economically strong, highly populated countries and in those where there are massive traffic jams and also marine European countries where the navigation of internal waterways is available all year round. A developed port infrastructure, targeted absorption of investments, effectively developed market of inland waterways and integration to intermodal and multimodal transportation groups are the main factors influencing an effective use of inland waterways. The tendencies of the use of inland waterways in foreign countries and their good practice show that water transport is one of the most perspective branches of the transport development; meanwhile in Lithuanian the only one segment suitable for cargo shipping is the one from Kaunas to Klaipeda; however, it is not being used very often these days.