Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine and Basel

12 August 2021

On 24 March 1815, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) decided on freedom of navigation on the Rhine and its tributaries.

One year later, the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine was founded with its seat in Mainz. The Mainz Act of 31 March 1831 confirmed the principle of freedom of navigation on the Rhine.  In 1860, the headquarters were moved to Mannheim.

With the end of France’s membership after the Franco-Prussian War (1871), the Central Commission primarily fulfilled the role of a German-Dutch bilateral body. France no longer bordered the Rhine after Germany annexed Alsace.

The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, restructured the Central Powers. The seat was moved to Strasbourg, where it remains situated.

The Central Commission resumed its work on November 20, 1945, after a suspension in 1940. Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are members nowadays. Decisions must be taken unanimously and implemented simultaneously.

The regulation of navigation is based on the following principles: free access to the sea, free movement of authorised vessels on the Rhine and its tributaries, a guarantee of navigability and avoidance of obstacles, equal treatment of certificates, customs formalities, the transport of dangerous goods and other regulations governing navigation on the Rhine.

In 1904, the first large transport ship arrived in Basel, pulled by a tugboat. Since then, its importance has increased enormously. The Rhine ports of Basel, Birsfelden, and Muttenz serve as gateways for Switzerland to the world’s seas via the Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Amsterdam seaports.

Seven to eight million tonnes of goods and more than 100,000 container units are traded annually via these Rhine ports. Rhine ships take about two days for the 800 km-plus journeys from Basel to Rotterdam and return in four days.

(Source and further information: Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine, www.ccr-zkr.org).