Q – Based on some wonderful feedback and what we have read on riverboatratings.com, we have plans to sail the Douro River in 2028. But we just read a post that implied that the government is shutting down the Duoro. What is the real story?
A – Be careful; not all the travel posts on “TruthSocial” are accurate. It is true that the Portuguese maritime agency has decided to limit future riverboat traffic on the Duoro. Those boats already there will be able to continue, for the most part, to operate, but the Duoro will have strict limits on the number of new riverboats it will allow to sail. This means that only a very small portionof the dozens of new riverboats scheduled to enter European waterways in the next ten years will be able to be based on the Duoro.
This is not at all political or even, really, environmental. It has to do with hard operational restraints. The reality is that the Duoro River has hit its physical and navigational ceiling.
The Duoro’s lock system is at maximum operational capacity. The river’s locks are small and slow and they cannot be expanded without major engineering work with huge infrastructure costs.
The Duoro is much narrower and more winding than the Rhine or the Danube. That is why Portuguese tourism officials are now referring to the Duoro as a “managed capacity” destination.
We see traffic on this river becoming capacity-controlled for the foreseeable future. Guests who want to sail this beautiful waterway will be able to in future years, but reservations should be made 10-16 months in advance as experts anticipate that Duoro-based vessels will soon reach 100% annual capacity.
