NAVTOR -Simply Smarter: With Auto-Routeing 

When navigators talk, NAVTOR listens. The Norwegian maritime technology company has launched a breakthrough Auto-Routeing solution, addressing a major industry pain point and simplifying demanding tasks for busy bridge officers. Planning detailed routes can now be done at the touch of a button. NAVTOR’s Aslak Dirdal and Børge Hetland explain how...
 
When you climb into your car it doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to get to your destination. Thanks to your smart phone and/or smart vehicle, you can plot a desired location into whatever satellite navigation system you have and, voila, off you roll. At sea, however, it’s a little more complicated.

“Well, for one thing, you have a lot more ‘roads’,” smiles NAVTOR’s Aslak Dirdal, one of the driving forces behind developing the firm’s new Auto-Routeing solution. “There’s a huge number of variables and many decisions that must be made. Plotting optimal routes can be a painstaking process but a crucial one.
“It’s something our customers have been dreaming of simplifying for at least the last decade… if not more.”

Dirdal then sits back to demonstrate how Auto-Routeing, a subscription-based module on NAVTOR’s NavStation platform, works. He zooms in on an exact berth in the port of Southampton and then another in New York and New Jersey ports. Clicks a tab, and two seconds later, a detailed berth-to-berth route (including voyage distance and duration) emerges. Simple as that. And this isn’t empty hype or hyperbole. It’s a fundamental shift for navigators.

Auto-Routeing has been around for some years, but never in this format. NAVTOR’s solution is built on the firm’s unique track record with ENCs (it is the world’s leading value-added reseller), an integrated eco-system of digital solutions (gathering all critical voyage information on a single platform, NavStation) and a constant feed of real-time global AIS data. The result is an intuitive solution that instantly calculates the shortest available routes to the finest details.

“NAVTOR’s Auto-Routeing is unique in that it takes you, if desired, from one individual berth to another, anywhere in the world,” Dirdal states. “It is simple, highly efficient and dependable. Furthermore, if you want to plan from point to point, then that’s fine too. Using the route planning function, you can plot from one waypoint to another, press calculate, and all the other waypoints along the route will appear. This can be done from a vessel’s current location or from any given point for that matter.

“It puts navigators in control,” he says. “And when that functionality is combined with NavStation’s other layers – such as weather routing, environmental regulations, NavArea warnings, passage planning, port data and so on – everything they need is at their fingertips, in one place. We believe it’s a  transformational tool.”

The suggested route can be compared to alternatives (also generated by the module’s proprietary algorithm at the touch of a button), with navigators reviewing and refining suggestions to meet their exact needs. For example, ‘blockers’ can be activated along the way to avoid areas, such as busy straits, shallow water, port entries or canals, additional ports or waypoints can be added, cargo specified, and all routeing alternatives controlled. Suggestions can also be saved for further route- and passage planning purposes.
And crucially, Dirdal adds, this is “a living thing.”

“We’re not just releasing this to the market and that’s that,” he stresses. “This is constantly consuming data and updating on a weekly basis, leading to continual improvements and optimal accuracy.

“This must be a solution the whole industry can trust (NAVTOR has e-Navigation and performance monitoring and optimisation products and services on over 8,000 vessels), so we’re investing in continual refinements and development.” As Børge Hetland, NAVTOR’s Chief Commercial Officer breaks in to note: “Our customers never stand still, and neither do we.”
 

Driving development

Hetland describes the development of the module, which launched last year, as “a perfect demonstration of both NAVTOR’s vision and ability.”
He comments: “We always want to be the forefront of innovation, driving change. But not for ourselves, not at all. It’s our mission to listen to this industry, understand our customers’ key challenges, and see if we can design smart, digital solutions that solve them, delivering a competitive advantage.

“Shipping is complicated and, some would argue, constantly increasing in complexity; with new regulations, commercial demands and operational challenges.
“However, with innovations like Auto-Routeing, we can turn that on its head, automating tasks, integrating planning and greatly simplifying life at sea.
“That benefits navigators, of course, but it also drives efficiencies for shipping companies, and that positively impacts the bottom line.”
Hetland concludes that the rapid uptake of the solution, and ongoing positive feedback, demonstrate the demand for such a breakthrough.
“But then that’s not too unexpected,” he jokes. “After all, they’ve been dreaming about this for some time!”

NAVTOR’s award-winning Auto-Routeing solution is just one layer on the NavStation platform. Others include port data, AMVER reporting, weather routing, maneuvering assistant, passage planning, e-publication reader, and environmental regulations, all georeferenced and seamlessly overlaid on top of the latest ENCs.