Parliamentary evening on November 11, 2025, hosted by the Bundesverband der Deutschen Binnenschifffahrt (BDB).
The venue: the Austrian Embassy in Berlin.
Guests included Federal Minister of Transport Patrick Schnieder and his Dutch counterpart Robert Tieman, as well as representatives of the Bundestag and the business community. MSG eG board member Martin Staats gave a keynote speech in his capacity as a member of the BDB board and then took part in a panel discussion.
Conclusion of the evening:
The challenges are currently immense for both the economy and politics. The Federal Minister of Transport outlined his position and, in his usual calm tone, showed himself to be an advocate of strong inland waterway transport.
Mr. Staats, as well as representatives of the industry, wanted the government to make good decisions for Germany and Europe as a business location. Important keywords were better predictability, reduction of bureaucracy, reducing the investment backlog in the dilapidated infrastructure, long-term modernization and training support, the highly topical geostrategic importance of waterways, the attractiveness of the profession of inland waterway transport operator, greater visibility for a strong performer, and faster planning and implementation – all this for an industry that can look back on decades of success. In the field of logistics alone, it transports approximately 200 million tons of goods annually on federal waterways – a volume that could not be absorbed by road and rail. A climate-friendly transport revolution can only be achieved with inland waterway transport.
This has long been part of everyday life for MSG: the importance of international cooperation, in this specific example with Austria and the Netherlands.
The exchange between stakeholders from business and politics will remain a necessity in the future in order to achieve constructive solutions for the everyday life of inland waterway operators.
Photo from left to right: Vera Hofbauer/Austrian Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility, and Infrastructure, Martin Staats/board member MSG eG, Patrick Schnieder/Federal Minister of Transport, Jens Schwanen/Managing Director of BDB