The first Portuguese-flagged vessel that was authorized and certified by DGRM to sail on the Rhine and the Danube River, connecting through the Main Channel, is called “Emerald Luna”.

It is a vessel capable of carrying up to 180 passengers and 47 crew, has a length of 135 meters and a beam of 11 meters. It was built in 2021 at the Scheepswerf Den Breejen Shipyard and has 92 passenger cabins on board.

This is a historic milestone for the Portuguese Flag, which with the publication of Decreto-Lei n.º 40/2021 allows, through DGRM, to authorize access to the regime reserved by the Revised Convention for Rhine Navigation to navigate those rivers. DGRM became the national entity responsible for issuing certificates proving that the vessel belongs to the navigation of the Rhine, under the terms and for the purposes of the provisions of articles 2 and 5 of the Regulations for the Application of the provisions of the third paragraph of article 2 of that Convention.

In this way, vessels flying the Portuguese flag and meeting the requirements of the Convention for Navigation on the River Rhine can be certified for navigation on the largest European waterway, which is of great economic importance for Central Europe.