RIS COMEX is organised in five Activities …

Activity 1: Project Management

Activity 1 contains the typical project management tasks like “project start”, “coordination”, “dissemination” and “project closure” as well as “joint procurements” as these have to be managed on project management level as well. The duration of Activity 1 typically lasts for the entire project lifetime and, related to the submission of the final report and financial statement, even beyond that.
Main objective is to agree on all relevant aspects related to the organisation, structure and content of the project including clearly defined objectives, responsibilities and other relevant issues to guarantee an efficient and successful execution of the project based on common understanding and awareness.
Main objective of this SuAc is to monitor the progress of the project, to identify need for action and to set appropriate measures in order to ensure an efficient execution of the project with the main aim to reach all defined objectives and expected results by the end of the project.
Main objective of this SuAc is to ensure that the costs for common infrastructure and services can be shared among the project partners in an appropriate way, ideally by means of joint procurements based on a shared costs principle.
Main objective of this SuAc is to disseminate the project results to the national and international stakeholders in order to create considerable awareness for this project and the achieved results as well as for RIS and its benefits in general.
Main objective of this SuAc is to plan and execute all required tasks related to a successful and efficient project closure with main focus on elaboration and finalisation of project documentation as well as to fulfil all requirements related to the Final Payment Request.

Activity 2: Corridor RIS Preparation

Focusing on the elaboration of a commonly accepted concept for RIS Corridor Management based on the achieved results of CoRISMa, Activity 2 shall result in detailed corridor RIS case definitions and a commonly agreed concept (system architectures). This Activity shall ensure a proper continuation of the important work that was done within the CoRISMa project.
Main objective of this SuAc is to ensure a smooth and efficient transition of the results of the project “RIS enabled Corridor Management”, where corridor RIS management was developed, defined and piloted for selected services, into this project aiming also for a common understanding of the vision and key aspects of RIS enabled Corridor management especially with the partners who were not participating in the CoRISMa project.
Main objective of this SuAc is to define the detailed requirements and basic services enabling optimal route planning based on reliable and complete information about the fairway (e.g. water levels, obstructions) and related infrastructure (e.g. locks, bridges).
Main objective of this SuAc is to define the detailed requirements and basic services enabling optimal Voyage Planning and Traffic Management based on reliable and complete information about the traffic (e.g. calamity abatement services, unforeseen maintenance actual and predicted traffic densities, waiting times at locks).
Main objective of this SuAc is to define the detailed requirements and basic services aiming at facilitating logistics processes within Inland navigation transports (increased efficiency) based on reliable fairway and traffic information as well as on customised services for logistics stakeholders (e.g. vessel position overview and reliable “Estimated Times of Arrival – ETAs”, transport and cargo management based on electronic reporting).
Main objective of this SuAc is to elaborate a detailed concept for Corridor RIS Management focusing on the system architecture that has to enable the implementation and operation of the services as defined within the SuAcs 2.2-2.4. To optimise the benefits of Corridor Management, the implementation has to take place in a co-ordinated, harmonised and synchronised way on each corridor involved. SuAc 2.5 will elaborate such a corridor approach in order to ensure that this will be achieved in all corridors and, where appropriate – on European level.

Activity 3: Corridor RIS Implementation

Within Activity 3 selected priority services and systems will be implemented in agreed corridors. It has to be clearly stated that this will not be a European-wide final Corridor RIS implementation, but what will be implemented shall be brought into sustainable operation, in the final phase of the project and operation will be continued after the end of the project.
Main objective of this SuAc is to coordinate the specification (functional and technical specifications as part of potential tender specifications), implementation and evaluation of the identified corridor services based on the results of Activity 2 in order to ensure interoperability among the services and systems.
Main objective of this SuAc is to specify and implement selected services as defined within SuAc 2.2 based on the Corridor RIS Concept as elaborated within SuAc 2.5 enabling optimal route planning based on reliable and complete information about the fairway (e.g. water levels, obstructions) and related infrastructure (e.g. locks, bridges).
Main objective of this SuAc is to specify and implement selected services as defined within SuAc 2.3 based on the Corridor RIS Concept as elaborated within SuAc 2.5 enabling optimal Voyage Planning and Traffic Management based on reliable and complete information about the traffic (e.g. actual and predicted traffic densities, waiting times at locks).
Main objective of this SuAc is to specify and implement selected services as defined within SuAc 2.4 based on the Corridor RIS Concept as elaborated within SuAc 2.5 aiming at facilitating logistics processes within Inland navigation transports (increased efficiency) based on reliable fairway and traffic information as well as on customised services for logistics stakeholders (e.g. vessel position overview and reliable “Estimated Times of Arrival – ETAs”, transport and cargo management based on electronic reporting).
Main objective is to evaluate the implemented systems and services and to identify open issues and recommendations towards further development with a strong focus on the user’s point of view.

Activity 4: Corridor RIS Sustainability

Activity 4 deals with the definition and agreement of arrangements for full-scale Corridor RIS implementation & operation. In this context, requirements, preconditions, processes and responsibilities for final Corridor RIS implementation and operation have to be defined and agreed among the related authorities based on identified gaps and solutions on specific levels (legal, quality, technical, organisational and financial). The goal is to agree on sustainable solutions on all levels to ensure smooth continuation of operation, even beyond the end of the project.
Main objective of this SuAc is to elaborate and agree on a Master Plan for the harmonised European full-scale implementation and sustainable operation of RIS enabled Corridor Management formulating the requirements towards financing, implementing and operating the required infrastructures and services based on defined guidelines, being it on national level or specific centralised (on Corridor or European level) services and systems, including an envisioned time schedule.
Main objective of this SuAc is to establish a permanent project-independent legal basis for the international exchange of all data required for the operation of Corridor RIS Management among all countries involved or, even better, on European level. But certainly also to establish a temporary legal basis for the operation of the services which are implemented within Activity 3.
Main objective of this SuAc is to ensure the continuous operation of the implemented Corridor RIS services after the end of the project from organisational and financial point of view as well as to create a framework for the operation of future Corridor RIS services. Main question that has to be answered is: Who will be responsible for hosting, operating, maintaining and further developing the implemented common Corridor RIS services (including financial aspects)?
Main objective of this SuAc is to elaborate and agree on specific quality parameters towards the defined services and systems as well as towards the required data in order to ensure an acceptable quality (service level) within the operation of Corridor RIS Management.
Main objective is to give direction and input to future initiatives on Inland Waterway Transport/Corridor Management, in e.g. new project proposals, update of RIS directive and guidelines but also in the new Framework Programme (2021-2027), working programmes (possible NAIADES III), the EC Transport agenda.

Activity 5: Horizontal Activity

Activity 5 contains specific sub-activities contributing to the further development of inland navigation like safety of navigation and multimodality. Furthermore, important tasks related to the proper realisation of RIS Corridor Management are the consultation of relevant stakeholders towards their needs and requirements as well as ensuring the provision of necessary reference data and the evolution of RIS standards.
Main objective of this SuAc is to identify potential safety-related services linked to and based on the new possibilities resulting from RIS Corridor Services. Since the authorities already operate various safety-related services they may need to be adapted to the new developments.
Main objective of this SuAc is to involve stakeholders in the logistics chain (public and private) as much as possible into the project in order to specifically identify their needs and requirements as the users of inland navigation and thus of the Corridor RIS services which are to be developed and implemented within the project.
Main objective is to overcome problems within the operation of RIS caused by insufficient quality of reference data (partly not actual, not available, not complete, not conform to standards and/or encoding guides, etc.) as well as to identify potential statistics services based on available RIS data.
Main objective of this SuAc is to investigate the relevant needs and requirements as well as to identify potential services supporting logistics processes in multimodal transportation hubs (ports and terminals) by interfacing RIS and other ITS services.
Main objective of this SuAc is to ensure an active contribution of the project partners in the development of RIS standards within the various RIS Expert Groups and their Task Forces as well as other relevant standardisation bodies and working groups based on operational experiences and national requirements. This Sub-Activity ensures a broad European involvement in the works related to standardisation and thus contributes to an efficient consensus process for updating and enhancing RIS related Standards, and where required the introduction of new Standards.