IWT Industry supports national and international data exchange as implemented within IRIS Europe

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IRIS Europe, a Europe-wide RIS implementation project, started in January 2006 in order to expand the functionality of River Information Services (RIS) on the European waterway network. The project focuses especially on cross-border information services and the related data exchange. Furthermore, newly developed RIS Services such as traffic and transport information exchange, hull data exchange and calamity abatement service will be validated by means of pilot installations, which will be interconnected among each other.

Following the coordination meeting with European branch organisations such as the European Barge Union (EBU) and the European Shipping Organisation (ESO), key messages of the IWT Industry were stated towards the project management of IRIS Europe. The messages of EBU and ESO included:

• Information exchange within (I)RIS services needs to have a formal legal basis.
• IWT industry demands a uniform European technical standard for information exchange.
• It is essential to make a difference between information received by a competent authority via a safe communication infrastructure BICS/ERI and information received by other transmission such as AIS.
• IWT industry demands the highest standard of data protection when commercially relevant information is exchanged between a competent authority and a person entitled to have access to such data.
• Complete compatibility between the Dutch BICS system and the German Melde- und Informationssystem Binnenschifffahrt (MIB) should be achieved as soon as possible.
• IWT industry welcomes national and European aid schemes for the introduction of RIS.
• Further development of RIS needs to be discussed with the sector. EBU and ESO are ready to participate in such a dialogue.

“The involvement of EBU and ESO is a major step forward in the development of information services for the logistics sector. The commitment of the sector is a crucial pre-condition for the acceptance of the information services for the sector”, says Andreas Bäck (member of the IRIS Europe project management team).

Source: via donau