The European Commission welcomes today’s provisional political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council to modernise traffic management on the EU’s rivers and canals.
This initiative follows up on the action plan to shift more cargo to inland waterways and will enhance the efficiency and reliability of navigation across Europe’s rivers, such as the Danube and the Rhine. Modern river information services (RIS) will make it easier for barge operators and skippers to communicate with ports and authorities, improving voyage planning and execution. This will help better integrate inland waterways into modern logistics and multimodal transport chains.
The new measure updates the 2005 Directive on river information services(RIS), including provisions on traffic information and management, on information on the condition of waterways and infrastructure, on voyage planning for skippers, and on reporting to authorities. RIS currently operates on around 13,000 km of interconnected waterways across 13 EU Member States. (....)