With its “Customer-Oriented Waterway Management” project via donau places its focus on higher customer orientation in its waterway management activities, thereby increasing the use of the river Danube by inland navigation.

The hydrography team and the field offices at Krems and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg of via donau, for example, measure the shallows in the Danube on a monthly basis and publish the relevant data on the DoRIS website as part of an initiative to improve customer services.

Also, the shallowest parts of the Austrian Danube are highlighted. The shallow areas are also included in the IENCs (Inland Electronic Navigational Charts). This additional information is intended to assist the skippers in navigating their vessels through difficult shallow areas in the Danube.

One important objective of this project is the continued improvement of the data basis. Since mid-2010 the hydrography team has been conducting comprehensive bathymetric operations at shallow areas in the Danube using a new measuring system.

In future, these activities will allow to determine which shallow areas could be the first to adversely affect navigation at an even earlier stage.