SMM: ECDIS Suppliers Act on Vessel Traffic Management
Three leading ECDIS suppliers, Transas, Wärtsilä SAM Electronics and Adveto, have announced that they will provide the first Sea Traffic Management-compatible onboard systems.
The E.U.-funded MONALISA 2.0 project was instrumental in the development of the Sea Traffic Management system that will enable vessel route information to be shared between ships and centers on shore.
Using this platform, other service providers will be able to offer advice to vessels, such as recommendations to avoid congestion in areas with high traffic, avoidance of environmentally sensitive areas and maritime safety information.
The system will be installed on over 200 ships free-of-charge. Five service centers will support two test beds, one in the Nordic countries and one in the Mediterranean. Testing is expected to begin in 2017.
“STM will not be yet another system put on board that will increase the workload for the on-board user,” says Håkan Heurlin, project leader at the Swedish Maritime Administration. “STM will use standardized formats that enable it to be used by different manufacturers’ equipment. This interoperability will reduce user workload and help automate ship-to-shore reporting.”
Test manager Björn Andreasson of Swedish Maritime Administration is content: “We are pleased to assign contracts to these market leaders and fore-running vendors, who together with the project can take a lead in the future development.”
“In Transas, we strive to create and enable the connection of the dots in ship operations. Sea Traffic Management is in line with our vision, as we want to show the industry how they can use technology to become more efficient,” said Frank Coles, Transas CEO.
“Wärtsilä is giving customers a competitive advantage by converting new technology into reliable solutions. Sea Traffic Management will change how maritime actors share information, and Wärtsilä is an innovative power that supports the development of the industry,” says Maik Stoevhase, Director, Automation, Navigation and Communication, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.
The detailed specification of the requirements and interfaces is a major step towards making the vision of the open standard connected ship real. The Sea Traffic Management test introduces an infrastructure supporting maritime actors in providing and consuming services as well as information machine-to-machine, with more automated procedures than can be achieved today.
The development of Sea Traffic Management is open, and all interested parties are invited to join as associate partners and take part in the development of the future. Supplied services during the test include route optimisation, monitoring, port call synchronisation and ship to ship route exchange. Only minor software updates and perhaps marginal system modifications are needed.