via donau co-operates with Voies Navigables de France on SIF Seine-Escaut

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The French waterway maintenance and development agency, Voies Navigables de France (VNF) is taking major steps towards the modernisation of its inland navigation transport network. France wants to adapt its rivers to the challenges of the future and make river transport safer and more competitive. In the context of the search for environment-friendly alternatives to road transport, the promotion of inland navigation is a top priority.  

France disposes of more than 1,700 km of major waterways for commercial navigation and wishes to extend the connection of the Seine to the Escaut, thus accessing Belgium and therefore the rest of Europe. The construction of the new canal is scheduled to start in 2010 and to be completed by 2014 eventually ultimately going further to the Black Sea. The Système d’Information Fluviale (SIF) addresses the elimination of existing bottlenecks and intends to fill in missing sections in the field of River Information Services (RIS) in the Seine-Escaut inland waterway axis, particularly in cross-border sections and interoperability and standardisation activities. The Seine-North Europe link between Paris and the north part of Europe will raise the traffic of inland navigation on the Seine and in the north part of France and Belgium by 3 to 4 times of what it is today. Due to its long and thorough experience with RIS and the success of DoRIS, via donau is providing its expertise to the SIF development group in its attempt to implement an intelligent infrastructure which will support the efficient utilisation of the physical transport infrastructure in France and Belgium.  

Source: via donau