Danube Experts Tackle Growing Low-Water Navigation Challenges

Budapest, 5 March 2026 – Experts from the Danube Commission and the waterway administrations of the Danube countries, as well as representatives from EC/DG MOVE B1 and Danubian shipping companies, met to discuss measures to maintain safe and reliable navigation on the Danube amid increasingly prolonged periods of low water.

Chaired by Ivelin Zanev (Bulgaria), the meeting of the Expert Meeting on Hydrotechnical Matters (EM HYDRO) reviewed the growing impact of climate change on the river’s hydrological conditions, noting that low water levels and increasing hydrological volatility are here to stay and are actively reshaping the operational reality for Danube shipping.

Participants discussed navigational bottlenecks, surveying and communication needs, as well as dredging works and other fairway maintenance activities carried out across Danube countries in the context of the EUSDR’s Fairway Rehabilitation and Maintenance Master Plan 2022 and the EU TEN-T Policy’s „Good Navigation Status (GNS)”.

The Director General of the DC Secretariat Manfred Seitz underlined that waterway administrations must have robust, forward-looking plans in place — not just for today’s conditions, but for a more hydrologically volatile future. Participants echoed this, stressing that a river is only as strong as its weakest link: critical bottlenecks anywhere along the Danube affect navigation for all.

The waterway administrations of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine presented hydrological and operational data for 2025, highlighting both challenges and achievements. The member states also outlined activities planned for 2026, with a particular focus on dredging arrangements, including the financial aspects of these operations in each country. Separately, a review of ongoing international infrastructure projects, including the Gabčíkovo locks upgrade , FAIRWay Danube II, FAST DANUBE 2 and the the project for the rehabilitation of the Black Sea Canal were also presented.

All presentations from the meeting are available here. The Expert Group meeting was preceded by a joint EUSDR/Danube Commission Workshop and a meeting on Fairway II (link). Results from the meeting will feed into the WG TECH meeting on 12 May 2026.

The next meeting of the EM HYDRO is scheduled for March 2027.