Europe has over 30,000 km of canals and rivers that link together hundreds of key industrial towns and areas. Inland waterway transport is seen as a reliable, economical and environmentally-friendly mode of transport; it is recognised by the EU as a key means of transport in the European inter-modal transport system. Yet, transport’s main potential barriers for sustainable socio-economic development in the European Union are traffic congestion, environmental impacts and economic costs. Thus, effective transport infrastructure and high-performance telematics systems will play a key role in how Danube navigation develops economically and how it is integrated in multi-modal logistics chains. Constantly updated and electronically processed information will provide the framework for this to happen.

Using information technology to manage logistics processes has therefore become a central feature of modern transport chains. River Information Services (RIS) are customized information services for inland waterway transport and make it possible to coordinate logistical processes with actual transport situations on a constant basis. RIS play a key role in making cargo transport and passenger services on waterways more efficient, while at the same time increasing traffic safety.

The European Union has emphasized the significance of RIS in European transport policies in the framework of several initiatives. Representing a key contribution in this area, the RIS Framework Directive entered into force in October 2005, regulating the use of RIS for European inland waterways. Also the in October 2006 in the European Parliament decided programme „NAIADES“ (Navigation And Inland Waterway Action and Development in Europe) refers to the meaning of RIS as a contribution to a more efficient and safer use of the inland waterway networks and demands from the member states to include RIS as a necessary measure in national traffic policies. At national level, the importance of RIS is also underlined in Austria’s “National Action Plan Danube Navigation” which lays the foundation for Austrian inland waterway transport policies until 2015.