In the EU, the maritime transport sector has to operate in a patchwork ofinternational and national legislation regarding the provision of information to and between stakeholders. Data exchange between authorities is limited and companies have to provide the same information to different authorities in different countries, or even by different data provision methods. As such, administrative burdens are relatively high. The European Commission aims to reduce this burden. Moreover, the safety and environmental risks of navigation in EU waters are high resulting from this limited data exchange and fragmentation of responsibilities. The EU intends to reduce these risks. To this end, the Maritime Navigation and Information or MarNIS project has been initiated. MarNIS is investigating methods to enhance thedata provision and data exchange facilities and thereby reduce fragmentation. If successful, the results can be used by EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) to implement rules for traffic management at sea and in ports.The MarNIS project includes a SafeSeaNet concept, currently being introduced for European ports and other authorities and Maritime Operations Services (MOS), which should help to improve efficiency of services for pollution (oil, chemicals; both accidental and illicit) response + search / rescue at sea. Equally important within the MOS component will be the incorporation of pro-active risk control options to reduce risks. In the end, MOS thus aims to reduce the environmental risks associated with maritime transport. The project also includes Vessel Traffic Management (VTM) in ports and automatic identification of vessels. Currently, the impacts of MarNIS are under investigation. A cost benefit analysis will be delivered to indicate the feasibility of the concept. An outline of how maritime shipping traffic in European waters may be managed by the year 2020 is provided. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999
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