May 10th, 1999

Consequences of bridges bombing

    It was a long time ago that the Danube had lost its blue colour thanks to 'human development'. What it had, however, lost due to this war is the status of the most important river route of Europe. Along with the Rain, the Main and the Main-Danube Channel, this 3,500 long route had been connecting Rotterdam at the North of Europe, with Constanz, i.e. Soulina at the Black Sea coast. We use the 'had been' form to point to the fact that by destroying bridges the Danube was split into two parts.

    To illustrate the importance of this route let us indicate that 40 million tons of goods were transported per year. The main users of this water route were Ukraine (40%), then Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Only after came Austria, Bulgaria and Germany. It is interesting that all these countries, except for Austria and Yugoslavia, are members of either NATO or The Partnership for Peace.

    The main goods transported were the iron ore and coal from Ukraine to Austria and Hungary, as well as Brazilian iron ore from the harbor of Constanz. By the way, Austria is one of the most important producers of steal.

    What are the alternative routes for these goods? First one the transport of goods from Ukraine through the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic Ocean to Rotterdam. From there it would proceed on its way through the Rain, the Main, the Main-Danube Channel and finally, by the Danube to Linz, where the greatest Austrian steal factory is situated. The lacks of this way are primarily the enormous increase of its length and further the much larger number of transiting systems to cross. From Rotterdam to Linz there are 32 of them while, only 9 from Linz to Soulina. This lead to important increase of costs of transport, with final consequence - the increase of price of the final product, that is steal.

    The second possibility is the transport of goods to the Trieste harbor in Mediterranean and then by railway to the North of Europe. However, this causes even more problems. The first of them is the fact that the costs of railway transportation are three times bigger than the costs of maritime transport. Further the railway is overloaded, as it can only process smaller quantities of goods. That implies the use of continental motorways that is even more overloaded with costs ten times bigger. With both alternatives the possibilities of travel through the Mediterranean and the Adriatic see are questionable with the presence of NATO ships.

    The third is Railway transport of goods from Ukraine to Austria. Besides the above-mentioned problem of overload, the railway systems are incompatible. Namely the railroad tracks of Russia and Ukraine are broader than those in the rest of Europe. Therefore this possibility is not a real one at all.

    Fourth possibility is more of a joke. That would be airline transport. This one is however expensive enough to be rarely used for the transport of precious metals, not to speak of less worth goods.

    The Danube Commission, a technical body that regulates the cruise through Danube and monitors the conditions of the river course, had its session last month. The only thing that was thereby declared was that the cruise was stopped in the Southern part of its course. What they did not dare mentioning was the cause of this stop and the responsible, as the responsible would then have to be charged for all the losses. With such behavior the Danube Commission was turned into a political body, that it shouldn't have allowed.

    The final consequences of bombing bridges on Danube as well as other communications in Yugoslavia will leave trace in the World market. What is certain is the increase of prices of important products (steal for one), as much as further slowdown of European economy. And is that not the goal of its main rival - the USA?

Alex Corova