RIS Services for Improving the Integration of Inland Waterway Transports into Intermodal Chains (RISING)

Framework: FP7 — Cooperation
Programme: Transport (including Aeronautics)
Destination: Sustainable surface transport (INCLUDING THE �EUROPEAN GREEN CARS INITIATIVE�)
Action type: Collaborative project
Countries involved: Germany,Austria,Norway,Netherlands,Germany,Netherlands,Hungary,Serbia,Croatia,Austria,Netherlands,Germany,Romania,Belgium,Belgium,Belgium,Netherlands,Not available,Greece,Slovakia,Germany
Call:  (FP7-SST-2007-TREN-1_05June, 2007)
Start date: 2009-02-01
End date: 2012-07-31
Duration (months): 42.0
Total project cost (EUR): 7519486.51
EU funding (EUR): 5279859.87
Participants: 26
Project status: CLOSED

River Information Services (RIS) are operational in European waterway corridors in a variety of sophistication levels. Their major objective is to collect and distribute river related information in order to support not only public waterways authorities, but also commercial operators in the Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) sector. The use of such information for logistics purposes is still quite under-exploited. RISING will investigate how such information can lead to useful solutions and services supporting complete transport chains involving inland waterways transport. For this purpose, existing RIS will be equipped with additional intelligent software modules. In addition, transport operators´ chain planning, execution and monitoring systems will gain the ability to implement such information into their planning and monitoring processes. On top of improved tracking and tracing capabilities, new concepts, such as Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM), will be used to facilitate automated chain monitoring such that chain managers are informed only when manual intervention is required for cargo to move properly. These new modules and their interaction with systems for chain planning and execution will be implemented according to the framework architecture and mode independent information exchange principles laid out in the Freightwise project. In order to make IWT a part of the co-modal transport chain, this mode must be able to supply at least the same quality services as all other transport modes. Therefore services need to be developed and offered in a harmonised way - harmonised across borders, as well as between different modes. A key results of RISING is a harmonised set of events, messages and services to be offered for providing RIS information to the logistics chain operators using inland waterway transport. RISING will develop the new capabilities by adopting an evolutionary approach enhancing existing systems rather than re-inventing everything from scratch. The results of RISING will be demonstrated in different logistics chains (containers, bulk, steel) in different geographical regions (Danube, Rhine, Scheldt, Elbe/Weser) covering the major European inland waterways based on the existing RIS information available. When necessary, additional scenarios for collecting position information (e.g. directly from the vessels) or status information from ports will be adopted to demonstrate the full potential of RIS also in regions not currently being equipped with high sophisticated RIS systems and services. The RISING consortium comprises R&D institutions, RIS operators, IT developers as well as transport users (cargo owners), transport operators in the inland waterways sector, chain managers, and inland ports. This combination of expertise, experience, and market presence should guarantee successful implementation of RISING results. The validation and demonstration will verify the benefits of the offered solutions and services for all players.

Keywords: inland waterway transport,logistics chains,tracking,event management,planning,monitoring,status