COMEX² – River Information Services Corridor Management Execution²

Coordinated by viadonau, COMEX² succeeds the international RIS COMEX project and, with 20 partners from 13 countries and three cooperation partners from Switzerland, Serbia and Ukraine, will take up the baton for the harmonised implementation and optimisation of River Information Services (RIS) in Europe over the coming years. With a focus on the future-oriented further development of national systems and services, the programme also includes improving the resilience of the systems and services at the Danube locks and the relaunch of the national ship registration database.

General information & background

COMEX² is a CEF funded multi-beneficiary project aiming at further harmonisation and optimisation of River Information Services in Europe and acting as successor of the project RIS COMEX (2016-2022). COMEX² started in the course of 2023 and will last until beginning of 2028. The project – coordinated by viadonau – covers 20 partners from 13 European countries as well as three cooperation partners from Switzerland, Serbia and Ukraine and is fostering the international collaboration on all major European waterways.

COMEX² builds on the tremendous success of the project RIS COMEX having realised the joint European RIS Platform EuRIS which provides fairway-, infrastructure-, traffic- and transport related data from 13 European countries as single point of access for all kinds of inland waterway users. COMEX² shall continue, expand and optimise the provided services and data on functional, technical and geographical scope for the benefit of the stakeholders. Focus is also put on making the organisational, legal and financial framework for sustainable operation of EuRIS more flexible and future fit to enable onboarding of additional partners and to ease administrative aspects.

Next to EuRIS, the common electronic reporting system CEERIS was realised among eight European countries in the former project in order to facilitate the reduction of administrative burden. COMEX² will tackle the optimisation of CEERIS and, where applicable, of other electronic reporting systems and applications and put a focus on their interconnection in order to foster the reporting only once principle within European inland waterway transport. This certainly also includes the necessary legal framework for international exchange of related data.

Other pillars of COMEX² are continuous stakeholder management, measures to foster digitalisation within IWT as well as other national and international priorities in order to ensure future resilience and optimise the spectrum of RIS and the gained benefits.

Zeittafel der Projekte RIS COMEX, DIWA, COMEX2

Objectives

The main objectives of COMEX²

Assessment of EuRIS, electronic reporting in Europe and other relevant European initiatives (e.g. DIWA, eFTI) to identify needs and requirements to be considered in COMEX²
Evolution of the EuRIS Platform in terms of functional and technical optimisation of services, data and interfaces, geographical extension to more waterways and countries as well as ensuring continuous sustainable operation
Optimisation, interconnection and integration of existing reporting systems to reduce the administrative reporting burden within IWT enabling the reporting only once principle in Europe
Investigation and realisation of common services (e.g. geographical reference data, mobile solution, NtS creator)
Enhancements of national RIS systems and services to act as sustainable and resilient data source
Support of and contribution to the evolution of the standardisation of RIS technical services under the framework of CESNI/TI