Aggression inflicts enormous damage to neighbours

Vienna, April 20 (Tanjug) - A large number of vessels and tons of cargo remain trapped on the Danube following the NATO destructive attacks on Yugoslavia and the severing of this longest European river communication.

Austria's biggest river transport company DDSG Kargo said its losses were rising to the equivalent of 77,000 dollars daily. Part of the cargo is being reloaded onto trains in Hungary, but the cargo in Romania is still on the vessels, the company said.

Before the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, about 10 million tons of cargo passed along this 2,400 km-long river pathway, which also runs through Yugoslavia. There is no traffic now, and no improvements are pending, the Austrian river shipping company told Reuters on Monday.

The DDSG Kargo company has 40 vessels docked in Hungary and Romania. Thirteen vessels with cargo for southeastern Europe have been unloaded in Hungary and about 20,000 tons of wheat, fodder, and perishable goods have been reloaded onto trains. Heavy cargo, mostly iron ore transported upstream on barges, meanwhile remains in Romania.

About 60 ships and barges in Romania with 100,000 tons of cargo for Austria, Germany, and Hungary is blocked in Danube ports, and only 7,000 tons of Romanian cement for Germany has been reloaded to another vessel in the Black Sea port of Constanta, the Romanian association of ship-owners and ports said.