The InThe article was submitted by Marcin Kalinowski, for the conference in Kraków as part of the Polish Presidency 2025.
International Waterway E40 (IWW E40) is one of the main international waterways of international importance, whose development is supported both by the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU). IWW E40 runs through Gdańsk – Warsaw – Brest – Pinsk – Kiev – Kherson connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea.
The AGN Agreement identifies barriers and missing connections as sections of the European waterways network of international importance whose parameters are significantly lower than expected. Missing links are defined for non-existent sections of the European inland waterway network , and the most significant of them, in the case of IWW E40, is the Vistula and Mukhavets connection, which on the current AGN maps leads through the valley of the Bug River . According to EU guidelines, upgrading to Class Va is required. Currently, the depth of the Bug River is limited to 0.8 meters per year, which completely excludes shipping.
In the Polish part of IWW E40 there are many other barriers and limitations that occur on the Vistula Waterway. Currently, the Vistula River from Warsaw to its estuary to the Gulf of Gdańsk in terms of shipping is very diverse. Only the section from the Włocławek barrage to the estuary of the river Tążyna meets the Va requirements of the waterway class. In the remaining sections of the Vistula River, there are classes I, II or III. In many places it is unregulated and degraded, with numerous patches and clumps .
The waterway of the lower Vistula River is a basic element of the concept of revitalization of the E40 waterway in the Polish part, while bringing it to full navigability is a far less complicated task than creating a completely new connection in the form of a navigation channel.
Consequently, the Maritime Institute together with a team of experts in the project of revitalization of the international waterway E40 Odbudowa drogi wodnej E40 na odcinku Dniepr-Wisła: od strategii do planowania developed three concepts of an alternative route of the waterway from Vistula to Mukhavets. The waterway was designed in such a way that it met all the requirements of international waterways, and with strict assumptions, to develop the optimal economic, hydrotechnical, environmental and social concepts.
The E40 waterway running through the Poland, Belarus and Ukraine connects ports of Gdańsk and Kherson. It consists of rivers: Vistula, Bug, Mukhavets, Pina, Pripyat and Dnieper. However, due to the current technical conditions it is not possible to conduct navigation between Vistula and Mukhavets. On most maps its route runs through lower course of Narew River, then through Bug River to the Terespol and Brest. This section in current state does not meet the requirements of international waterways and does not provide conditions for navigation. The Bug River valley is protected almost entirely in Poland and forms part of the European Nature 2000 network, so its adaptation to the role of waterways is a serious problem. Fewer reservations raise the issue of choosing another route. This, however, involves the construction of a channel connecting the Vistula River and the Mukhavets River.
As a result, works has been undertaken on finding the most optimal channel route. All possible routes of the waterway route were examined objectively, taking into account environmental, economic, technical, social and environmental aspects. Eight variants were identified which, in the opinion of inland waterway experts, would guarantee the profitability of such an infrastructural investment. Of these eight, three have been approved for final and detailed analysis.
Author : Dr Marcin Kalinowski, Maritime Institute of GMU