At present, almost the entire Rhine-Danube water corridor of European inland waterways is covered by national segments of river information services (RIS) of the Danube region countries, which ensure the provision of harmonized river information services.

On the Danube, only the Ukrainian section has not covered by the RIS system and harmonized river information services are not provided.

Scheme of European inland waterways

Ukraine's general aspiration to develop RIS on all inland waterways of Ukraine, including the Ukrainian section of the Danube, is legislatively implemented in the Law of Ukraine "On Inland Water Transport", No. 1054-IХ dated 03.12.2020 (Articles 16, 21, 46, 58, 63, 65 and 66) and the Regulation on the River Information Service, approved by the order of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine dated 30.05.2023 No. 462 (as amended).

SE "UKRVODSHLIAH" together with the Ministry of Infrastructure plans to modernize the RIS by creating a modern automated traffic management system, information accounting for transport traffic and RIS integration, which meets the up-to-date requirements appointed by Directive 2005/44/EU, on the Ukrainian section of the Danube with a length of 169 km, with the possibility of further scaling this system to other Ukraine inner waterways.

Scheme of the Ukrainian section of the Danube

In order to ensure the coverage of the entire Rhine-Danube corridor from the North Sea to the Black Sea with river information services, in February 2024, Ukraine submitted an Application to the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility program (CEF) for the implementation of the project “River Information Service on the Ukrainian Section of the Danube Project” (“UkrRIS-Danube”) which provides for the development and implementation of a river information services on the Ukrainian section of the Danube.

Taking into account the situation in Ukraine, in order to ensure stable foreign economic activity of Ukraine and improve trade with other countries, Ukraine have a plan for significantly increase the volume of transportation on the Danube, in particular within the framework of the implementation of the “Solidarity Lanes” program. In this regard, it is necessary to ensure an appropriate level of safety and services on inland waterways, as well as the submitting of unified harmonized services in accordance with EU best practices.

After the CEF program management approving the Ukraine's application for the implementation of the “UkrRIS-Danube” Project, a Grant Agreement for the implementation of this project (“101175613 – 23-EU-TG-UkrRIS-Danube”) was concluded between Ukraine and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) on October 28-th, 2024.

The “UkrRIS-Danube” Project aims to develop, implement and operate a river information services on the Ukrainian section of the Danube, including the integration of the Ukrainian RIS segment into the EuRIS portal and the CEERIS information system, as well as create a model for the further development of RIS on all navigable inland waterways of Ukraine.

Thanks to the implementation of the RIS on the Ukrainian part of the Danube, harmonized information services will be provided from the Baltic and North Seas along the entire Danube River to the mouth and, as a result, all inland waterway users along the entire Rhine-Danube Water Corridor will receive harmonized services in a reliable and efficient manner.

During the implementation of the “UkrRIS-Danube” project, it is planned to:

1) provide the Danube (which is defined as the section of the Danube where the project will be started) with an up-to-date coastal infrastructure of AIS base stations;

2) create a hardware and software complex for collecting and accumulating actual information about inland water transport facilities located on the Ukrainian section of the Danube, their location, RIS-indexes, operating status, operators and services provided by them) and display such information on electronic charts, as well as the server and other computer equipment needed;

3) create a system of automated tracking of ships on the inland waters, which will provide objective statistical information and help in planning transportation. The system should include software and appropriate server and computer equipment, and arrange workplaces for RIS personnel;

4) creation of a new RIS information website, through which harmonized services will be provided to skippers and other users of RIS services according latest versions of EU regulatory acts;

5) ensuring interaction between the Information System of Ukrainian Seaports (“Doc-Port”) and the RIS portal regarding voyage notifications for the exchange of information on mixed navigation vessels (river-sea) sailing on the Danube;

6) creation of a software and hardware complex for fairway information services (FIS), which includes Notices to Skippers (NtS), which allows the fairway operator(s) to provide skippers and shippers with all the necessary information for planning routes and voyages, as well as for executing, monitoring and timely adjusting voyages;

7) In addition, the following activities are planned:

- updating electronic navigation charts to the most current standard published in the Commission Regulation on ECDIS for inland navigation;

- installation of appropriate navigation equipment on ships sailing in Danube region.

Participants of the UkrRIS-Danube Project

---

The implementation of this project is scheduled for July 2028 and includes the integration of this service into the EuRIS portal and the CEERIS information system.

Under the terms of the Grant Agreement, CINEA will compensate 50% of the costs of implementing the Project.

Tender procedures and procurement for the implementation of the contract are carried out in accordance with national legislation.

Structure of the UkrRIS-Danube Project

---

The Project implementation must be carried out in accordance with the European regulatory documents in latest versions:

---

In accordance with subparagraph 8 of paragraph 1 of section III of the Regulation on the River Information Service, approved by order of the Ministry of Development Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine dated 30.05.2023 No. 462, registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 13.07.2023 under No. 117/40243, (as amended), the consolidated texts of these EU documents with links and translation into Ukrainian are posted on the RIS information website (https://ukrris.com.ua ).

In order to implement the “UkrRIS-Danube” Project:

---

The Project Steering Committee reviewed and approved:

---

In November, 2024, with the support of the Ministry for Development, the State Enterprise "UKRVODSHLIAH" submitted an application for participation as a partner from Ukraine in the Technical Assistance for EuRIS (EuRIS TA) project under the CEF program. The main objective of this project is to support the stable functioning of the common European EuRIS platform to ensure the availability of services related to inland navigation and data that are vital for inland waterway users: reliable, consistent and easily accessible information on the fairway, infrastructure, traffic and transport.

Participants of the “UkrRIS-Danube” project hold regular meetings with representatives of CESNI/TI, RIS-COMEX2 and VIADONAU to discuss issues related to the practical implementation of the Project.

Participants of the Project regularly work with representatives of various stakeholder groups.

At the proposal of the Ministry for Development, in 2024, theEuropean Committee for drawing up Common Standards in Inland Navigation (CESNI) designated Ukraine as an observer country, and also designated an official representative of Ukraine to participate in CESNI working groups.

The Ukrainian side prepared and sent to the CESNI Working Group on Information Technologies (CESNI/TI) proposals for including terms in Ukrainian in the Notices to Skippers Reference Tables, which are Annex 32 to the European standard ES-RIS/2025.

This proposal was supported by CESNI-TI at a meeting in Strasbourg (France) on February 19 - 20, 2025.

The Project implementation is progressing in accordance with the Detailed Project Plan.

In 2025, after the completion of the formalization process, the practical implementation of the Project tasks began.

After conducting tender procedures on 19.08.2025, an agreement was concluded with the company “Microsystems Express Telecom” for the work “Development of project documentation for the construction object: “Construction of base stations of the automatic identification system of the River Information Service of Ukraine on the Ukrainian section of the Danube (Odesa region). At the moment, the Contractor is carrying out work to determine the locations of AIS base stations on the Ukrainian section of the Danube.

After conducting tender procedures, on 05.02.2026, an agreement was concluded for the provision of expert services with European experts - the company "Periskal".

Taking into account the practical implementation of the “UkrRIS-Danube” Project, at the initiative of the State Enterprise “UKRVODSHLIAH”, by order of the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine dated 26.12.2025 No. 1865, amendments were made to the Regulations on the River Information Service.

The main changes relate, in particular, to the following areas:

- Granting the State Enterprise “UKRVODSHLIAH” the authority to develop the RIS and to calculate and assign RIS-indexes to objects on inland waterways;

- Introducing a new section to the Regulations, which describes the procedure for determining and assigning RIS-indexes to objects on inland waterways;

- Granting the State Enterprise “UKRVODSHLIAH” the authority to publish on the RIS information website the EU and CESNI guidance documents relating to the functioning and development of the RIS to enable all users to familiarize themselves with them.

To inform the society concerning the implementation of the “UkrRIS-Danube” Project, information is published on the RIS information website (https://ukrris.com.ua).

Besides, information related to events related to the “UkrRIS-Danube” Project is published on the “Ukr RIS Danube” Project pages on social networks:

Facebook: Follow

LinkedIn: Follow