Notices to Skippers support traffic safety on inland waterways. In a similar way to traffic reports for read transports, NtS are published by the competent authorities and contain information regarding the usability of transport infrastructure (e.g. fairway or locks).
Among the fundamental functions of NtS are:
- Fairway and traffic related messages with information about waterway sections or objects (e.g. locks, bridges) such as suspension of navigation, reduced passage heights, widths or depth
- Water level related information with information about water levels, lowest fairway depths according to riverbed surveying, vertical clearance under bridges and overhead cables, discharge, flow regime or water level forecasts
- Ice messages containing information about obstructions and suspension of navigation caused by ice
The RIS standard for inland navigation also enables automatic translation of the most important safety-related information in the corresponding local languages. River Information Services supported by NtS include:
- Fairway information services
- Voyage planning tools
