Inland waterways transport is a rapidly expanding mode of transportation both in Europe and in Turkey. In Europe, with  a network of over 37,000 km of rivers and 21 out of 28 EU Member States using inland waterways tranport, it is already well developed with more ambitious projects to come in the future, notably within the framework of the TEN-T projects. 

In contrast, as a result of its geography, Turkey has a fairly limited inland waterways network. Most of inland waterways transport is performed in its lakes, most notably Van Lake in the South-Eastern region. Nonetheless, there has been an increased interest in inland waterways transport, especially with the launch of the Sakarya River Transportation Project in the 2000s. 

To reach IKV Brief Note N. 41 prepared by IKV Junior Researcher Deniz Servantie, please click here.