7. COMPANIES, EMPLOYMENT, TURNOVER AND PERSONNEL COSTS46 - CCNR

• In 2024, 5,477 IWW freight transport companies were active in Europe (EU-27 plus Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Switzerland), with 86% located in Rhine countries. The Netherlands alone comprised 3,302 freight companies (60% of the total in Europe and 70% in Rhine countries). The number of companies in Danube countries was 254 in 2024 (a share of 4.6%). The total number of employed persons in IWW freight transport was 23,183 in 2024. The number of persons employed in Rhine countries accounted for 77.2%, and in Danube countries for 16.8%.
• The inland passenger transport sector comprised 5,103 companies in 2024, with 41.6% registered in Rhine countries, and 10.3% in Danube countries. Between 2011 and 2024, the number of IWW passenger transport companies in Europe followed an upward trend. The number of companies in 2024 was 44.5% higher than in 2011. The total number of persons employed in European IWW passenger transport amounted to 29,055 in 2024.
• Turnover in IWW freight transport in the EU-27 (plus Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia) reached approximately 7.5 billion euro in 2024, down from 7.9 billion euro in 2023. Rhine countries generated 90% of this figure. In IWW passenger transport, turnover rose to 4.2 billion euro in 2024 (from 3.1 billion euro in 2023), continuing its recovery from the pandemic. Rhine countries accounted for 70% of passenger turnover.

FIGURES 1 AND 2: DEVELOPMENT OF THE NUMBER OF COMPANIES AND EMPLOYMENT IN FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN THE INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORT SECTOR IN EUROPE

ch7_fig1_raw data

ch7_fig2_raw data

Sources: Data partly estimated. Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] until 2020 and [sbs_sc_ovw] from 2021 onwards Luxembourg has been removed due to the low reliability of the data.

COMPANIES AND EMPLOYMENT IN FREIGHT TRANSPORT

Main trends on the labour market for IWT: Many inland navigation operators continue to face difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified crew members. Labour shortages, an ageing workforce, challenges in attracting new entrants, increasing training and certification requirements, and rising personnel costs remain important structural issues affecting the sector’s competitiveness and long-term development.
According to Eurostat figures, 5,477 IWW freight transport companies were active in Europe (EU-27 plus Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Switzerland) in 2024.⁴⁷ Around 86% (4,730 in absolute numbers) were registered in Rhine countries.⁴⁸ The Netherlands alone comprised 3,302 IWW freight companies, which represents 60% of the total number in Europe and 70% of the number in Rhine countries. Since 2011, the trend in the number of IWW freight transport companies in Europe has been declining slightly (see figure 1). The number of companies in 2024 was 9.5% lower than in 2011.
The number of companies in Danube countries is relatively low (254⁴⁹ which is equivalent to a share of 4.6%), compared to the share that the Danube has within total transport performance on EU-27 inland waterways (14%).⁵⁰ In this regard, it should be noted that companies in the Danube region are larger on average, due to historical reasons. Many companies in the Danube region are former large state-owned companies. The average size of companies in the Rhine region is very small, since many of them – in particular in the dry cargo segment in the Netherlands, France and Belgium – are family-owned companies with only one or two vessels.

TABLE 1: AVERAGE NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED PER FREIGHT TRANSPORT COMPANY IN RHINE COUNTRIES

Belgium	1.9
The Netherlands	2.8
France	3.3
Germany	11.0
Switzerland	20.4
Rhine countries overall	3.8

Source: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] and [sbs_sc_ovw]

FIGURE 3: NUMBER OF COMPANIES IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN EUROPE IN 2024 *

ch7_fig3_raw data

Sources: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] and [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Belgium refer to 2023. Luxembourg has been removed due to the low reliability of the data. Individual data for Ireland are not available for confidentiality reasons. For Italy and Poland, the high number of companies relative to freight volumes is influenced by the structure of the inland waterway sector. In both countries, the majority of enterprises are very small.

The number of employed persons in IWW freight transport includes self-employed, helping family members and employees. The total number of this variable was 23,183 in 2024 (EU-27 plus Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Switzerland). The number of persons employed in Rhine countries accounted for 77.2%, persons employed in Danube countries for 16.8% and persons employed in companies in countries outside the Rhine and Danube regions, for 6.0%. The trend in the number of persons employed was slightly negative between 2011 and 2024. The decrease between these years was -5.6%.

FIGURE 4: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN EUROPE IN 2024 *

ch7_fig4_raw data

Sources: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] and [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Denmark refer to 2023. Data for France refer to 2022. Data for Austria refer to 2021. Luxembourg has been removed due to the low reliability of the data. Individual data for Ireland, Portugal, and Slovenia are not available for confidentiality reasons. For Italy and Poland, see the note for figure 3.

It can be observed that Germany has more than twice as many employed persons in IWW freight transport than France, while France has a higher number of companies. These data reflect the smaller average size of French companies compared to German companies. French companies had 3.3 employed persons per company in 2024 compared to 11.0 persons per company in Germany.
It should be noted that figures obtained from national labour market institutions or from other national offices might differ substantially from figures obtained from Eurostat, due to different statistical labour market concepts. For cross-country comparisons, Eurostat is treated as the preferred source since the data are harmonised across countries and are thus comparable.

COMPANIES AND EMPLOYMENT IN PASSENGER TRANSPORT

The number of IWW passenger companies in Europe (EU-27 plus Iceland, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia and Switzerland) amounted to 5,103 in 2024. The geographical distribution shows that 41.6% are registered in Rhine countries, while those registered in Danube countries represent 10.3%. In contrast to IWW freight transport, Southern European countries have a somewhat high share within passenger transport companies (27.9% in 2024). Furthermore, Scandinavian countries represented 9.4% of all passenger transport companies in 2024.
Between 2011 and 2024, the number of IWW passenger transport companies in Europe followed a rather steady upward trend (see figure 1). As a result, the number of companies in 2024 was 44.5% higher than in 2011.
The three countries with the highest number of companies are the Netherlands, Italy and Germany. In terms of the number of companies, Switzerland ranks in the middle of the European countries. However, as is seen below, Switzerland ranks on position 3 when it comes to employment in passenger transport. The reason for this divergence is that Switzerland hosts many river cruise companies which have a higher number of employees than other types of companies in passenger transport.

FIGURE 5: NUMBER OF IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT COMPANIES IN EUROPE IN 2024 *

ch7_fig5_raw data

Source: Eurostat [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Belgium refer to 2023. Data for Serbia and Bulgaria refer to 2022. Luxembourg has been removed due to the low reliability of the data. Individual data for Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not available for confidentiality reasons. For Poland, the high number of companies is influenced by the structure of the inland waterway sector. See previous notes.

The total number of persons employed in European IWW passenger transport amounted to 29,055 in 2024 (EU-27 plus Iceland, Norway, North Macedonia, Serbia and Switzerland). The development for the years 2020-2023 shows an impact and a recovery from the Covid pandemic (see figure 2). Hence, in 2024, the number of persons employed returned to its upward trend that is visible for the period 2010-2024.
Regarding the number of companies, the Netherlands ranks first. However, this country is only ranking fourth when it comes to the number of persons employed. The reason is that the Netherlands has many day-trip companies in cities such as Amsterdam. The size of these day-trip companies is mostly small, compared to the large river cruise companies, which are often located in Switzerland or Germany.
On employment, Germany and Italy take the lead ahead of Switzerland and the Netherlands. Around 55% of all persons employed in IWW passenger transport are employed in one of these three countries. The employment in the passenger transport sector in these countries is rather high, which is due to their many lakes (and rivers in the case of Germany) and to the many river cruise companies in Germany and Switzerland.

FIGURE 6: NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN EUROPE IN 2024 *

ch7_fig6_raw data

Source: Eurostat [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Austria refer to 2021. Data for Serbia refer to 2022. Data for Denmark refer to 2023. Individual data for Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not available for confidentiality reasons.

About 62% of all persons employed in EU inland waterway passenger transport are employed in Rhine countries. The share of Danube countries amounts to 7%, the share of Southern European countries is 22% and the share of Scandinavian countries is 6%.

TURNOVER IN IWW FREIGHT AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT

TURNOVER IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT

In 2024, for IWW freight companies in the EU-27 (plus Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), a turnover of approximately 7.5 billion euro was registered,⁵¹ compared to 7.9 billion euro in 2023 and in 2022. Rhine countries accounted for approximately 6.7 billion euro (90% of the turnover in the EU-27, plus Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia). An upward trend can be observed for Germany since 2018.

FIGURE 7: ANNUAL TURNOVER IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN RHINE AND DANUBE COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO) *

ch7_fig7_1_raw data

ch7_fig7_2_raw data

Sources: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2], [sbs_sc_ovw], CBS (NL) for data before 2021, Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA-CH) for data before 2021, CCNR estimation based on data from Eurostat for France for 2019. For Switzerland and the Netherlands, a break in the data can be observed from 2021 onwards. This is due to the use of Eurostat figures from 2021 onwards derived from a new database [sbs_sc_ovw]. Turnover data were missing in the former Eurostat database [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] for these two countries, leading to the use of national databases from CBS and FTA for years before 2021.
* The value for Dutch companies for data until 2020 (included) is an estimation based on net turnover data for the entire inland navigation sector in the Netherlands. Value for Swiss companies for data until 2020 (included) was converted into euros according to the yearly average exchange rate.

TABLE 2: TURNOVER IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN RHINE COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO)

	2022	2023	2024
Dutch companies	3,808	3,484	3,543
German companies	2,366	2,578	2,468
French companies	407	403	393
Belgian companies	290	318	318
Swiss companies	244	314	313
Rhine countries *	7,115	7,097	7,035

Source: Eurostat [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Belgium in 2024 refer to 2023.

The estimated turnover generated in IWW freight transport companies registered in Danube countries amounted to 584 million euro in 2023, and 527 million euro in 2024. Hereby, the data for Serbia are missing for 2022 and 2023, and the data for Austria are missing for 2022,2023 and 2024.

TABLE 3: TURNOVER IN IWW FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN DANUBE COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO)

	2022	2023	2024
Romanian companies	238	265	187
Serbian companies*	109	109	168
Hungarian companies	69	72	56
Bulgarian companies	60	62	43
Slovakian companies	49	47	44
Austrian companies*	27	27	28
Croatian companies*	3	2	2
Danube countries *	555	584	528

Source: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2], [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Data for Serbia in 2022 and 2023 refer to 2020, data for Austria in 2022 and 2023 refer to 2021.

Within European regions outside of the Rhine and Danube areas, the countries with the highest turnover⁵² are Italy (76 million euro), Poland (47 million euro), Sweden (27 million euro), and Czech Republic (23 million euro).

TURNOVER IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT

Regarding turnover in the EU (plus Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, North Macedonia, and Serbia) for IWW passenger companies in 2024, approximately 4.2 billion euro was registered, compared to 3.1 billion euro in 2023 and 2.7 billion euro in 2022.
Rhine countries⁵³ accounted for approximately 3.0 billion euro in 2024, a share of 70% within total IWW passenger turnover in Europe.
It is important to note that the following turnover figures include those generated by all passenger market segments (day trips on rivers, day trips on lakes, river cruises or ferry traffic). For some countries, the turnover figures are based almost entirely on river cruise activities or day-trip activities or on both activities.
The curves for turnover in IWW passenger transport reflect a strong recovery that took place in 2022 and 2023 from the Covid-19 pandemic. The turnover values that were reached in those years are often higher than the pre-pandemic levels.

FIGURE 8: ANNUAL TURNOVER IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN MOST RELEVANT COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO) *

ch7_fig8_raw data

Sources: Eurostat [sbs_na_1a_se_r2] until 2020, [sbs_sc_ovw] from 2021 onwards, CBS (NL) for data before 2021, FTA (CH) for data before 2021 and CCNR estimation based on data from Eurostat only for France for the year 2019. For Switzerland and the Netherlands, see the notes under graph 7. Data were unavailable for many countries until 2020.

TABLE 4: TURNOVER IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN RHINE COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO)

	2022	2023	2024
Swiss companies	868 (e)	1,229 (e)	1,082
Dutch companies	755	699	669
German companies	528	545	592
French companies	406	515	575
Belgian companies	17	31	34
Rhine countries	2,574 *	3,019 *	2,952

Source: Eurostat [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Includes an estimation for Switzerland as data were unavailable in 2022 and 2023.
(e) = estimation

For companies in Danube countries, the existing data⁵⁴ show significantly lower values than in Rhine countries. For some years and countries, some data are unavailable. This indicates often very low economic activities of an industry, so that data are not high enough to be disseminated (for reasons of confidentiality).
The generally low values of Danube countries regarding turnover for IWW passenger transport does not point to low passenger transport numbers on the Danube in general. It rather points to a combination of factors, such as the fact that most river cruises on the Danube are operated by companies that have their headquarter in Rhine countries. In this case, turnover is counted within Rhine countries and not within Danube countries. Furthermore, the turnover in a Danube country might be very low, because of low wage levels in Danube countries. Lower wages and therefore lower personnel costs imply lower total costs, especially in passenger transport, which is quite labour-intensive. Lower total costs, in return, imply lower price levels and therefore also lower turnover figures.

TABLE 5: TURNOVER IN IWW PASSENGER TRANSPORT IN DANUBE COUNTRIES (IN MILLION EURO)

	2022	2023	2024
Austrian companies	76 (e)	95 (e)	88
Hungarian companies	31	40	43
Romanian companies	20	22	23
Slovakian companies	14 (e)	14 (e)	13
Serbian companies	3	3 (e)	3 (e)
Croatian companies	2	3	3 (e)
Danube countries *	147	178	173

Source: Eurostat [sbs_sc_ovw]
* Includes estimations for Austria and Slovakia for 2022 and 2023. Data for Serbia for 2023 and 2024 refer to 2022 and data for Croatia for 2024 refer to 2023.
(e) = estimation

Two countries in Europe outside the Rhine and Danube region with a considerable level of turnover in IWW passenger transport are Italy (788 million euro in 2024) and Sweden (192 million euro in 2024). It can be noted that for Italy, the turnover is almost entirely generated from day-trip activity on lakes and on passenger transport in Venice.