About River Information Services
River Information Services (RIS) are modern traffic management systems enhancing a swift electronic data transfer between water and shore through in-advance and real-time exchange of information. An EU framework directive provides minimum requirements to enable crossborder compatibility of national systems.
 Legislative Framework of the European Union
The European Union sets up an Europe-wide framework for the implementation of the RIS concept. The framework aims at ensuring compatibility and interoperability between RIS systems at European level and achieving effective interaction between different information services on waterways. >
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 Parties involved
Both European and international bodies have an impact on RIS by means of regulations, resolutions, recommendations, standards and others. A short overview of these bodies including internet addresses for additional information follows here below.
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The objective of RIS is to optimize and harmonize various information services. Numerous services relevant to RIS are already sustained, particularly radiotelephone, traffic posts, Internet, and Inland ECDIS (Electronic Digital Data Information Services).
The development of RIS, in combination with cost-effective and environmentally friendly logistics operations, enhances the competitive edge of inland waterway transport in the supply chain.
RIS objectives
- Enhancement of inland navigation safety in ports and rivers.
RIS will also contribute to remedial measures. It will provide local and regional traffic information for safety monitoring on tactical as well as strategical level.
- Enhancement of the efficiency of inland navigation.
RIS will optimise the resource management of the waterborne transport chain by enabling information exchange between vessels, lock and bridges, terminals and ports.
- Better use of the inland waterways by providing information on the status of fairways.
Environmental protection by providing traffic and transport information for an efficient calamity abatement process.
RIS services
- Information on fairways to plan, execute and monitor voyages by boat masters and fleet managers (e.g., water levels, traffic signs, opening hours of locks.). The information systems contain geographical, hydrological and administrative data for this purpose.
- Traffic information services comprises both tactical traffic information (display of the present vessel characteristics and movements on a limited part of the waterway) and strategic traffic information (display of vessels and their characteristics over a larger geographical area, including forecasts and analyses of future traffic situations);
- Traffic management aims at optimising the use of the infrastructure as well as facilitating safe navigation. Currently, the "VTS centres" (vessel traffic service centres) are designed to improve the safety and efficiency of vessel traffic and to protect the environment;
- Calamity abatement services are responsible for registering vessels and their transport data at the beginning of a trip and updating the data during the voyage with the help of a ship reporting system. In case of an accident, the responsible authorities are capable of providing the data immediately to the rescue and emergency teams;
- Information for transport management includes estimated times of arrival (ETA's) provided by boat masters and fleet managers based on fairway information making it possible to plan resources for port and terminal processes. Information on cargo and fleet management basically comprises two types of information: information on the vessels and the fleet and detailed information on the cargo transported;
- Statistics and customs services: the RIS improves and facilitates the collection of inland waterway statistical data in the Member States;
- Waterway charges and port dues: the travel data of the ship can be used to automatically calculate the charge and initiate the invoicing procedure.
