River Freight Moves Toward Greater Visibility
The Russian Ministry of Transport’s Digital River pilot brought cargo data and actual vessel movements together in a single view for the first time, making it possible to identify delays and bottlenecks along shipping routes.
The IT solution was tested from April through July 2026. Three companies took part: Volga Shipping Company, Yenisei River Shipping Company and Pola Rise. Together, they completed 24 voyages, transported about 70,000 metric tons of cargo and traveled more than 7,000 kilometers along the Yenisei River and across seven river basins in European Russia. The project’s core idea is to bring information together: data from electronic transport waybills are matched against vessel routes and fed into the Automated Transport Management System.
The algorithms display cargo flows on a map of Russia’s inland waterways, flag delays and identify potential bottlenecks. In one route segment, the pilot identified four problem areas almost immediately after deployment. The experiment was also expanded to multimodal rail-to-river and river-to-road supply chains. According to the Ministry of Transport’s Situation and Information Center, this approach can cut the time needed to prepare and reconcile documents by 50% to 70%. Interoperability is a key technical principle: different information systems must be able to exchange and jointly use data, because a shipment often involves multiple modes of transport and operators.
From Pilot to a Unified Logistics Environment
Within Russia, the project’s prospects are closely tied to the broader digital transformation of the transport sector. One key priority is integrating Digitalnaya reka (Digital River) with GosLog (State Logistics), a national platform intended to create a shared digital environment for transport operators and other participants in freight movement. Over time, this could allow information about inland waterway routes to be shared and analyzed within a common transport and logistics environment. Another driver is the shift to mandatory electronic document processing: the Ministry of Transport plans to introduce digital waybills for river vessels in 2027–2028.
The export potential of Digital River as a complete solution is limited because it is a domestic industry pilot designed for Russian operating conditions. However, individual capabilities and software components could find customers abroad, including platforms for analyzing traffic flows, automated document processing, delay detection and multimodal supply chain management.
How Digital Logistics Took Shape
In 2022, Russia adopted rules governing the exchange of electronic transport waybills, work orders and accompanying manifests, launching the State Information System for Electronic Transport Documents (GIS EPD). These rules provided a foundation for further automation.
Meanwhile, digitalization of inland waterway logistics was becoming an international priority. In 2021, the European Commission introduced the NAIADES III program. In 2022, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) published harmonized standards for the digital exchange of transport documents across all modes of transport, from road freight to inland waterways.
For Russia, coordination with its own infrastructure systems is particularly important. In June 2026, the Ministry of Transport approved uniform requirements for electronic navigation charts of inland waterways. The charts must include information on riverbed characteristics, navigational hazards, ports, berths and hydraulic structures. Over time, combining these charts with electronic documents and cargo-flow analytics could provide a more comprehensive digital model of inland waterway logistics.
What Comes Next
Digital River’s value lies in its ability to identify delays, reveal bottlenecks and help make the case for infrastructure investment. For carriers, it offers a way to reduce manual work and gain a more complete picture of cargo movements. For the government, it provides a tool for investment planning. For the industry as a whole, it marks a step toward a unified digital environment.
Over the next one to two years, the project is expected to expand, more transportation data will be collected, and electronic document processing for inland waterways will continue to develop. Over a three-to-five-year horizon, river freight could become more deeply integrated with road and rail transport, with related services incorporated into the national transport and logistics environment. Eventually, the data could support end-to-end cargo-flow planning, assessments of port capacity utilization and evidence-based investment decisions.
