On May 23rd, 2018, the Monitoring Committee of the “Danube” 2014-2020 transnational cooperation programme officially confirmed the start of project “GRENDEL – Green and efficient Danube fleet: environmentally-friendly, effective and competitive river transport on the Danube“.
GRENDEL will have a duration of 30 months and is the second project of Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Pro Danube International Austria after „DANTE – improving the administrative procedures and processes, related to the Danube waterway transport“, which started in the beginning of last year.
The initiative is a continuation of the successful cooperation with our Austrian partners and again puts forward the Danube theme, which has become the focus of the Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber’s activity in the last year, in order to promote and encourage the full use of this inland waterway.
GRENDEL builds on project DANTE, which is directed towards the administrative obstacles standing before the navigation, in the direction of transferring experience and good results, achieved through European innovation projects, in line with the priorities of the European policy on fleet modernization and the introduction of green technologies and fuels. Both projects follow the concept „Green deal“ for the Danube waterway transport for an environmentally-friendly and reliable transport system, which is needed for the sustainable growth of the region.
Vessel operators will be informed about the opportunities for funding in the fields of transport and environment, as well as the identification of the necessary future skills of the staff and the preparation for their training.
Before the end of GRENDEL, a Danube fleet modernization strategy will be developed and there will be an opportunity for the practical implementation of the developed tools, trainings and pilot tests, in order to overcome the lack of innovations in the fleet and to create a special financial instrument for inland waterway transport.
Photo by Ian Simmonds on Unsplash