A plan to revive Lithuania’s inland waterways with electric barges could cut carbon emissions by avoiding 48 000 trucks journeys each a year

Here’s an ideal way to cut road congestion and carbon emission from transport—float heavy, bulky cargo along rivers and canals. The European Investment Bank is helping Lithuania revive its inland waterway network to do just that.

“Lithuania imports most of its raw materials and commodities, and it exports a lot of grain – about five million tonnes a year,” says Vladimiras Vinokurovas, chief executive officer at the Lithuania Inland Waterways Authority (VVKD in Lithuanian). “Waterways are perfect for transporting these kinds of heavy, oversized cargos, and Kaunas is a large production centre in a great location in the very middle of Lithuania.”It's a reversal of a historic shift in transport that’s prompted by the need for less congestion on Lithuania’s roads and lower emissions to fight climate change.

The Nemunas River flows for nearly a thousand kilometres from the uplands of Belarus through the marshlands of Lithuania, before emptying into the Baltic Sea. In Lithuania, the Nemunas basin, which collects more than 20 000 rivers and rivulets, covers nearly three quarters of the country’s territory. The river was widely used to transport goods in the nineteenth century and even during Soviet times, when up to three million tonnes a year was shipped through the country’s main waterway.

But Lithuania’s entire river cargo fleet was scrapped in the early days of privatisation that followed the Soviet Union’s collapse, and the country’s inland waterway network fell into disuse.

Reviving cargo transport on the Nemunas

Now, the Lithuania Inland Waterways Authority is working on a plan to revive cargo transport on the Nemunas. Its fleet of electric vessels will cover the 260 km distance between the industrial and transport hub of Kaunas in the centre of the country and the port of Klaipėda on the Baltic Sea coast.

The journey will take about 20 hours, with a 20 to 30 minute stop in the middle at Jurbarkas to change batteries.

Transporting goods by river is slower than by road, but the extra time makes little difference for goods being transported by sea, where journey times are measured in months.

The project is expected to require a total initial investment of €75.7 million, but cost is not the project’s biggest challenge. To help the authorities realise their goals, the Waterways Authority has been working with the European Investment Bank’s advisory services to develop a practical business model. EIB experts also researched how the project would help the Lithuanian economy and the environment.

Each round trip by one of the barges could eliminate over 100 truck journeys. Once the project reaches full capacity that would mean over 48 000 fewer truck journeys every year.

The European Investment Bank, which is owned by the 27 EU member states, is backing the waterways project with technical assistance. It’s just one of many ways in which the European Union’s financing arm supports Lithuania. Last year, we invested €654 million in Lithuania, which is equal to almost 1% of the country’s gross domestic product.

The European Union delivers. That’s why you should vote in the European Parliament elections on 9 June. Go to together.eu to stay informed.