Denmark: DMA Considers Future Development of e-Navigation

The Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) reassures us that the future development of e-navigation is in safe hands, despite the Efficiensea project coming to close.

Since it commenced in 2009, Efficiensea had become the focal point for research into the building blocks that will eventually underpin IMO’s vision for an electronically interconnected system of navigation. When the project reached its conclusion earlier this year, there was some uneasiness concerning how its outcomes would be preserved and developed further.

The DMA says that this is no longer a worry. It believes the research will continue from where it left off under the aegis of the newly inaugurated ACCSEAS project.

‘We are not starting over, but drawing on the experiences gained so far, just as we are refining and further developing the equipment already installed in the form of platforms, software, etc. We will also continue with some of the same test users, so much of the fundamental work has already been done’, explains Thomas Christensen, DMA’s e-Navigation project manager.

‘The DMA has been closely involved with e-Navigation since the idea was first proposed. Our reasons are twofold: on the one hand, we want to reduce the increasingly heavy administrative burden placed on navigating officers, while on the other we want to increase safety of navigation, locally and globally. In some cases, the two purposes seem to melt together’.

One of the thornier issues to be examined under ACCSEAS is backup positioning systems. As things stand, ships have become highly dependent upon satellite positioning. However concerns have been raised about the fragility of GPS in general and its vulnerability to jamming in particular. ‘Therefore, it makes good sense from a safety perspective to develop other methods for determining a ship’s position, and the DMA supplies, inter alia, software and platforms for this work,’ explains Christensen.

Another area where e-Navigation may lead to concrete improvements in safety relates to water depths. ‘On charts, depth lines are static; they cannot take account of changes in the water level. With e-Navigation, the ship could plan a route, indicate its draught and the time of the passage and submit this information to shore. Shore-side systems would respond with information on the predicted water level and where the ship can and cannot navigate – no go areas. Such a service would reduce the risk of groundings.’

Christensen adds that e-Navigation will be heavily based on standards. This means that the various services will be universally available to all authorities and ships, regardless of suppliers and providers.

The DMA has already hosted two conferences on the matter, and a third one is already in the pipeline. ‘I dare promise that some real heavyweights will take part. We will also move proceedings to more spacious surroundings, namely the Pearl of Scandinavia,’ reveals Christensen. The third e-Navigation Underway event will take place 29-31 January 2013.

DMA inherited the e-Navigation responsibilities of the Danish Maritime Safety Authority (DaMSA) when the latter organisation was restructured by the Danish government last autumn.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, April 30, 2012; Image: DMA