The Sea Traffic Management (STM) Validation project has released a new service that reduces workload for crew on board ships while lowering the risk of accidents and misunderstanding.
The Baltic Navigational Warning Service enables navigational warnings to be sent directly to on board ECDIS systems. According to STM, the new service allows warnings to be sent only to those affected and to be deleted when they are no longer relevant, thereby providing the ship only with warnings that are relevant for the route they are taking and the time they are taking it. The overall purpose is to improve accuracy and relevance for while reducing administrative burden for greater safety at sea.
The purpose with the Baltic Navigational Warning service is to provide the ship, with only those warnings that are relevant for the route they are taking and for the time they are taking it. The warnings will be displayed directly in the ECDIS on board and automatically deleted when they are no longer valid.
According to the London P&I Club, insurance inspections regularly find deficiencies in managing navigation warnings and notices to mariners as officers fail to implement navigational safety notices. By providing the notices directly to ships ECDIS manual work and risk of missing important information is reduced.
With STM’s new service, there is no need to manually plot positions or areas. The risk of human error is therefore reduced as warnings are provided digitally and shown directly in ECDIS.
Björn Andreasson, testbed manager for the STM Validation project commented: “The new service is being verified by ships in the STM Validation project and also in the European Maritime Simulator Network. The mariners participating in the simulations were very positive. Not having to receive navigational warnings by Navtex only and manually transfer them was a great relief for the participants. An Officer on Watch said in the debriefing afterwards that he now could fully focus on safe navigation knowing that the navigational warnings of relevance would show up directly in the ECDIS on board.”
The Navigational Warning Service has been developed within the STM Validation project, which develops a range of services to connect the maritime world and exchange data to improve safety and efficiency of shipping. The project is funded by the EU and led by the Swedish Maritime Administration.
