Romanian Riverine Transports in the Twentieth Century [622546]

Romanian Riverine Transports in the Twentieth Century

Sergiu LUPU1, Dumitru CORDUNEANU2
1Lecturereng. Ph.D., "Mircea celBatran” Naval Academy, Constanta, Romania
[anonimizat]
2 Captain – PhD. Eng., [anonimizat] ,
[anonimizat]

Abstract .This article anal yses, in the unitary conception, the whole evolution of the Romanian Riverine
Transports in the 20th century, following the ne xt issues:
 Development of the river transport capacity;
 Evolu țion of the commodities and passenger traffic;
 Productivity of the Romanian Riverine Fleet ;
 Also, this article, aims to establish the position of Romanian RiverineFleet in the hierarchy of
the European Continent.
We mention that our analysis is based on statistical data that was published in different sources,
archives data and own calculation of the main economic and technical indicators.

1. Introduction
After the formation of the modern national state (1859) and the acquisition of Romania's state
independence (1877), we obtain the mouths of the Danube and direct access to the Black Sea and the
preconditions for the formation of a national transport fleet are realiz ed.
The economic, social and political development of modern Romania implied the development
of infrastructure – the means and means of transport and communication – in order to stimulate and
promote the economic, social and cultural processes.
The creati on of the River Transport Fleet has its roots in 1890, when the State Monopoly
Registry, which needed ships to export salt to Serbia, intervened with the government to set up a
transport service on the Danube.
From this date until the end of the 20th centu ry, Romania has invested important financial, material
and human resources for the development and modernization of a Fleet Transport Fleet, whose
evolution we will follow in the next chapter.

2.The evolution ofRomanian Riverine Transports in the Twentieth Century .
In the first half of the 20th century, the Riverine Transportation Feet was managed mainly by
two shipping companies: one with state capital – Romanian Riverine Navigation (RRN) – established in
1890 and the other with private capital – Romanian Danube Company – set up in 1914 and which
functioned until 1949, when based on the Decision of the Council of Ministers no. 1,157 it dissolves,
the patrimony of the company being handed over as a capital contribution to the Soviet -Romanian
Naval Company Sovromtransport .
Until the end of the period we have referred to, for the regular carriage of goods and
passengers on the Danube and inland waterways of an international character, the two shipping
companies have developed a network of 46 operatin g agencies in the Romanian riverine ports, 11

representations and 12 accredited agencies in the states bordering the Danube, and have concluded
cooperation agreements with the main riverine shipping companies.
In the second half of the century, the Riverine Transportation Fleet will be managed by the
Navrom Riverine Shipping Company, which in the last decade of the 20th century will be divided into
four state -owned shipping companies: Navrom Riverine Shipping Company – Galati, Romanian
Shipping Compa ny Romnav – Braila, Riverine Shipping Company Giurgiunav and Riverine Shipping
Company – RRN Drobeta, which until the end of the 20th century will be privatized, except for RSC
Giurgiunav.

Fig. 1. Based on information from Sources

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Riverine Transportation Fleet consisted of a total of
104 vessels of which: 24 propelled propulsion ships with an installed power of 8.7 thousand HP and
80 unpropelled propulsion ships with a capacity of 41.53 thousand tons, structure d as follows:
 13 passenger ships with a power of 3.35 thousand C.P;
 11 tugs totalizing 5.34 thousand C.P;
 57 barges with a total capacity of 35.53 thousand tons;
 12 tanks with a capacity of 6 thousand tons;
 11 pontoons.
Until the outbreak of First World War, the increases in propulsion power and transport
capacity are not significant, the dynamic indicators being around 1.2 times and 3.6 times respectively,
with visible differences emerging in the interwar period when the two indicators show an increase o f
approx. 3.9 times in the propulsion power and almost 11 times in the transmission capacity. In the
second half of the century, the two indicators are evolving after strong dynamics laws, especially since
the 1970s, reaching the end of the nineteenth deca de of the 20 th century to an increase of nearly 39
times in propulsion power and approx. 42 times in the transport capacity, the riverine fleet for
transport of good totalling 2,197 vessels out of which 559 propelled ships with an installed power of
338,17 thousand HP and 1,640 unpropelled ships with a transport capacity of 1,745.86 thousand tons ,
structured as follows:
 293 tugs totalling 108.28 thousand C.P;
 130 pushers with approx. 191.15 thousand CP;
 136 self -propelled barges and barges with a total p ower of 38.73 thousand hp and a
transport capacity of 42.18 thousand tons; 05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500
1…
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2…Dynamic indicator (%)Dynamics of the Romanian River Fleet, by number of ships, transport
capacity and propulsion power, in the 20th century
No ships
Capacity
Power

 958 barges with a capacity of 525.58 thousand tons;
 682 barges without propulsion, totalling approx. 1,178.11 thousand tons.
Towards the end of the 20 th century, the Riverine Tr ansportation Fleet consisted of 1,118
vessels, of which 186 propelled ships with a total power of 268,000 hp and 932 unpropelled ships with
a transport capacity of 1,449.17 thousand tons.
In parallel with the cargo transport fleet, the riverine passenger fleet was developed, which
reached its maximum transport capacity at the beginning of the 8th decade of the 20 th century, when it
held 40 ships that could carry about 5,042 passengers, reaching at the end of 90s to 12 ships with
1,900 seats, respectively 9 ships with 1,120 seats at the end of the 20 th century.
In terms of property structure, before the outbreak of the First World War, the state sector
(RRN) held about 69.57% of all national flag vessels, 96.70% of the propulsion power and about.
48.90% of the transport capacity in the interwar period reached 26.6% of the number of vessels,
72.87% of the propulsion power and 19.49% respectively of the transport capacity. In the second half
of the 20 th century, due to the establishment of the new economic con ditions, the private property is
abolished being reintroduced in the last decade, when at the end of the analyzed period in the private
sector, 30 companies owning 54.8% of the propulsion power and approx. 53.5% of transport capacity.
Analyzing the evolut ion of the Goods and Passenger Traffic conducted by the Riverine
Shipping Fleet, we note the following:

Fig. 2. Based on information from Sources
 except for the syncopes caused by the two world conflagrations, the general trend in the
goods traffic is an increasing trend, except for the last decade of the 20th century, when in
the first two years there is a fall of approx. 80%, compared to the peak value recorded in
1989 when the River Fleet transported 37,370 thousand tons of freight. For reference
periods, compared to the beginning of the 20th century, the dynamics indices recorded
the following values: 0.73 times in 1914; 2.85 times in 1938, 211.4 times in 1989 and
74.13 times at the end of the century;
 inpassenger transport, the traffic variations ar e not spectacular, our passenger ships
generally serve domestic passenger lines – which have led to relatively constant traffic,
which shows that the touristic potential of our country has been poorly capitalized, due to 02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00016,00018,00020,00022,00024,000
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2…Dyinamic indicator (%)The dynamic of the volume of goods transported and the passengers
carried by the River Fleet, in the 20th century
Volume of goods
transported
Passengers carriedi

the poor management of this sector and the quality of services, which are well below the
European standards.
From the point of view of Riverine Fleet Productivity , the indicator of transport capacity
utilization evolved following the below dynamics law:

Fig. 3. Based on the data from Sources

 In the first half of the century, the maximum value of this indicator is reached in 1911, when
the existing transport capacities have the highest utilization – about 5.89; in the second half
of the century this performance goes to 1989, when the t ransport capacity indexes are 24.91,
reaching 9.04 at the end of the 20th century.
 Towards the end of the 10th decade of the 20th century after passing the critical threshold
triggered by the shock of decentralization, the fall of the internal market, the embargo
imposed on Yugoslavia and the bombing of the North Atlantic Alliance, which led to the
blocking of traffic on the Danube River – Romanian River Shipping Companies are
undergoing a process of economic and financial recovery, which led to the end of the 20th
century to the achievement of a total profit of 27,161.7 million RON.
From the point of view of the Romanian River Fleet Position among the countries bordering the
Danube river, ever since the interwar period our country had an important share in the capacity of the
Danube Fleet. After the First World War and the break -up of the Austro -Hungarian Empire, followed
by the return of Transylvania to the motherland, the merchant fleet increased substantially, so that,
before the Second World War , the fleet
river had the highest transport capacity among the fleets of the states bordering the Danube.

Table 1. The share of states bordering the Danube, total Danube Fleet, in 20th century
– percent –
Country 1914 1930 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
tons KW tons KW tons KW tons KW tons KW tons KW tons KW
România 9,6 10,2 31,8 19,2 14,3 11,8 14,6 14,7 24,8 17,6 33,9 28,1 35,7 26,9
Bulgaria 0,6 0,7 3,8 3,1 8,2 4,3 8,8 4,6 5,6 3,1 8,0 8,3
Yugoslavia* 28,0 23,7 23,8 21,4 22,6 17,0 20,6 15,0 14,4 13,3 16,7 15,9
Hungary 18,1 19,0 10,1 15,8 11,4 13,1 9,5 9,9 8,1 7,0 6,4 6,5 4,8 4,4
Czechoslovakia* 5,3 5,6 7,0 8,3 7,0 7,0 5,9 6,3 7,5 6,8 8,6 8,4 0.005.0010.0015.0020.0025.0030.00
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2…The dynamics indicator of the River Fleet's transport
capacity, in the 20th century

Country 1914 1930 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Austria 62,1 63,9 18,5 25,0 12,4 9,0 8,0 8,1 5,3 6,8 5,0 5,0 5,7 6,0
Germany 10,2 6,9 5,6 10,1 5,9 6,9 2,7 4,4 1,3 2,1 0,9 1,6
USSR* 21,4 26,4 27,4 34,6 25,2 40,6 26,3 35,6 19,9 29,8
Maximum
values 62,1 63,9 31,8 25,0 23,8 26,4 27,4 34,6 25,2 40,6 33,9 35,6 35,7 29,8

Table 1. Calculated based on the data from Sources

In the second half of the 20th century, the transport capacity of the Romanian Riverine Fleet recorded
high growth rates, exceeding Yugoslavia in the 8th decade of the 20th century, surpassing the Soviet
Union in the 9th decade, remaining a leader of the rankings and at the end of the 20th century, when
after the 1990s geopolitical changes, the Danube Fleet had the following structure:

Fig. 4. Based on the data from Sources

From the presented data we can see that in the first half of the century, the transport of goods
with our own river fleet conducted through the Romanian river ports was at a quite low level, due to
the competition of the foreign shipping companies that were strongly supported by the state, cheap
capital and sufficient propelled ships that enabled a c ommercial exploitation under economically
advantageous conditions. In the middle of the interwar period, the cartel between the Austrian
shipping company (DDSG), the South German (SDDG) and the Hungarian (MFTR) – had about. 51%
of the propulsion power, our fluvial fleet, although it held approx. 31% of the tank's capacity, was
mostly made up of simple barges, with few propelled vessels, with the lack of tugboats required for
navigation on the Upper Danube, and tanks that in 1938 could transport only 6% of t he export of
petroleum products.
The situation will change in the second half of the century, when due to the development of
the Romanian Naval Industry, in parallel with the diversification of the types of ships and the increase
of the transport capacity , the propulsion power increases by approx. 40 times, our country having an
important share in river transport, and at the end of the 20 th century, when the river traffic of goods by
the riparian states of the Danube had the following structure.
0.005.0010.0015.0020.0025.0030.0035.0040.00
România
Bulgaria
Iugoslavi
a*
Ungaria
Slovacia*
Austria
Germania
Ucraina*Percentage(%)The structure of the Danube Fleet by transport capacity and
propulsion power at the end of the 20th century
capacity
power

Fig. 5. Based on data published in the Ouvrage de statistique de la Commission reference Berthe
pour la 1950 -2000 term, Budapest, 2003 p. 30,31.

3. Conclusions
 In the 20th century, the development of the transporting capacity of the Romanian riverine
fleet was determined by the needs of the national economy, being substantially accelerated in
the second half of the century, with the general development of the Romanian Naval Industry;
 Romania, because of the Danube and the Black Sea, is at the crossing of com mercial routes
that bring together the countries of Eastern Europe and the markets of Central Europe with the
row material providers from C.S.I. ( Community of Independent States ), Central Asia and
Trans Caucasian countries;
 It has an important river port i nfrastructure that includes: 32 ports on the river Danube, 4 ports
on the Danube – Black Sea Chanel and at Poarta Alba and MidiaNavodari;
 Our country owns a third of the sailing way of the Danube (37,58%), which makes a great
transport infrastructure, with multiple possibilities of connecting with the railway, road and air
routes.

References / Sources
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[7] Anuarul statistic al României – 1982, p. 234;
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[10] Anuarul statistic al României – 1986, p. 259, 265
România
26%
Ucraina
10%
Bulgaria
6% Yugoslavia
11%Croația
1%Ungaria
8%Slovacia
3%Austria
21%Germania
16%The share of the Danube riparian states in the river traffic at
the end of the 20th century

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