River Information Services (RIS) in Germany
Since the first initiatives of the European Commission on River Information Services, this framework on information exchange to support traffic and transport management in inland navigation, has found its way throughout the world.
The PIANC RIS Guidelines are the basis for the RIS Guidelines as formally accepted by the Central Commission for Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) and the European Commission. The CCNR has been supporting the development of the technical standards to this day. Since 2005 the development of the technical aspects of River Information Services has been regulated by the European Commission.
River information Services were formally recognised as a concept for harmonised information services to support traffic and transport management in inland navigation, including interfaces to other transport modes.
The added value of River Information Services has found recognition throughout the world.
The standards of Inland ECDIS, Electronical Ship Reporting, Vessel Tracking and Tracing and Notices to skippers were published and the expert groups have been working on them to improve them and to develop new aspects.
Traffic and transport management in a transport corridor requires an integrated network-approach where the information services to the users are an interactive part of voyage and traffic planning processes. RIS enabled corridor management as support to transport management is becoming more and more an essential and explicit part of RIS.
The last years were very busy. So it is interesting to give a report of the status of RIS in Germany, what happened in the last years, what is on-going and which strategy is followed concerning RIS in the future.
Our presentation will give an overview of the actual RIS projects and our future strategy:
- Implementation of AIS at the main waterways of the German inland waterway network and examples of the use of Inland AIS on board at vessels as well as shore
- Pilot lock management and implementation at the main waterways
- Information exchange in an international network (further development reporting software, data-pool)
- ELWIS (Electronic Waterway Information Service) the internet-based fairway information portal of the German Waterways and Shipping Administration
- Prospects for the near future
Implementation of AIS infrastructure
Following the developments in maritime navigation Europe developed the so called Inland AIS which serves the specific needs for inland navigation while preserving interoperability with maritime AIS. European waterway and shipping agencies in close cooperation with the river commissions are now preparing the mandatory carriage requirement for Inland AIS on European inland waterways or have already introduced the appropriate regulations in their waterways.
Since December 2017 the use of Inland AIS and Inland ECDIS is mandatory for all waterways of class IV and above as well as for selected waterways of class III. This onboard equipment enables the mutual recognition, identification and display of nearby vessels and their course on an electronic navigational chart. The use of these systems will support onboard navigation and will diminish the risk of accidents; thus, it will enhance safety and ease of navigation and will contribute to the efficiency and attractiveness of inland navigation.
In recent years, the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration has set up additional shore-based AIS infrastructure along selected waterways. Today, a total of 3570 km of federal inland waterways are covered by shore-based AIS infrastructure.
In parallel with physically setting up infrastructure, the legislation procedure to adopt the legal basis for processing AIS data was initiated. The legal basis will enter into force shortly with the adoption of the 3rd amendment to the Inland Shipping (Federal Competences) Act.
Pilot lock management and implementation on the main waterways
To ensure a speedy lock operation, the locking operations should be optimized by minimizing the waiting time for vessels. Therefore it is a necessity to have e.g. an overview about the position of vessels and their sailing directions. Starting from the question of an optimal sequence for a special lock on e.g. the Danube, this question should be expanded to a chain of locks on the Danube. An existing electronic transport diary is intended to be further developed. The aim of this project is to develop a new concept for lock management with an electronic traffic diary using the inland AIS equipment and perform the testing and implementation of the Danube by the middle of 2017. This pilot should be applied to all other locks on federal inland waterways after its validation.
Information exchange in an international network
As part of the modernization of the existing reporting and information system MIB II+ for inland navigation an expandable modular application should be developed to support the calamity abatement which should be used on all inland waterways in Germany. This requires the development of a common data pool for all RIS applications on inland waterways in framework of a so-called “System-Binnen-Verkehrstechnik (SBV)”. The first RIS applications which will use this central data pool are the application to support the calamity abatement and lock management.
ELWIS (Electronic Waterway Information Service)
ELWIS (Electronic Waterway Information Service) has been the internet-based fairway information portal of the German Waterways and Shipping Administration since 1999. Back then, the service was designed to provide traffic-related information to skippers sailing on inland waterways in order to enhance safety and ease of inland navigation and to support voyage planning.
Since 2011, several improvements have been implemented.
Prospects for the near future
Currently, project work is ongoing to develop a successor to today’s reporting and information system, known as MIB and MIB II+.
Particular attention will have to be paid to the efficient use of data. A European RIS concept and a RIS Masterplan will be designed and implemented within the RIS COMEX project in accordance with the specific needs of waterway corridor sections.