Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) are to improve the safety and efficiency of vessel traffic and to protect the marine environment by interacting with the ship’s traffic in monitored coastal areas. Today, VTS operators are maritime professionals with nautical education from a university or technical college and practical experience on board. This experience and nautical background is a key element of the work as a VTS operator. It is to support understanding the daily work. The current situation in the maritime domain is undergoing substantial changes, such as introducing new technologies, implementing the e-Navigation concept based on sustainable digitalization and ambitions to realize unmanned and autonomous shipping. This paper will present preliminary results of a pilot study conducted in VTS Centres along the coast of North and Baltic Sea and discuss selected options and opportunities for education and training of future VTS operators, which might not have the advantage of practical sea experience anymore.
Current maritime transportation and shipping is characterized by rapid technological developments effecting the basic concepts of operating ships and even changing traditional paradigms of controlling ships. The e-Navigation concept of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) specifically aims at more comprehensive and reliable support of the human operators on-board and ashore. However, autonomous unmanned ships remote controlled or even autonomously navigating are expected to come soon. In this paper, selected operational aspects of maritime traffic merging conventional and unmanned remote controlled ships in coastal areas are discussed. Furthermore, some preliminary results of experimental simulation studies into a future scenario of maritime traffic are presented and preliminary conclusions in respect to job profiling and training requirements are discussed.
Risks in the maritime domain have various sources, of which the transportation of oil and other noxious products is one of key concern to industry and public stakeholders. Operational or accidental releases of oil or other pollutants from ships or offshore facilities into the marine environment can have disastrous effects on the marine ecosystems, while also leading to very significant economical losses. Therefore, national states have implemented various mechanisms for preventing and responding to pollution in the maritime domain, with activities which are often embedded in regional cooperation frameworks clustered around certain sea areas. To support collaborative, harmonized, and risk-informed oil spill Pollution Preparedness and Response (PPR) planning for response authorities, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), together with its research partners, and with extensive end-user and stakeholder inputs, have developed the OpenRisk Toolbox. This toolbox includes several risk assessment tools and techniques, which can assist in providing answers to a range of PPR risk management questions in a range of organizational contexts. To better understand and ensure the applicability and usefulness of the OpenRisk Toolbox, a workshop was organized where some of these tools were tested. Selected end user and stakeholder views on the perceived usefulness of the tools were collected and analyzed. Another workshop focused on further development needs to implement the tools in organizational practices. This paper first presents the OpenRisk Toolbox, then describes the settings of the workshops. Finally, a summary of the end-user and stakeholder views on the tested tools, and on future development needs, is given.
Avoidance of collisions is one of the most important tasks for the officer of the watch on a ship’s bridge. Measures and actions required to avoid such accidents are described in the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs) adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1972 and still valid, with several minor amendments, since then. On the basis of a proper look-out at all times, by sight and hearing, and the use of all available means, also including technical equipment installed on-board as well as information provided by a Vessel Traffic Service (VTS), the navigating officer collects traffic and environmental data and combines them with their own ship data to construct a mental traffic image for the assessment of risk of collision with other objects in the vicinity. In the case wherre there is an unacceptable risk she or he has to decide on taking action. In most of the cases decision making is appropriate to the prevailing circumstances and ships maneuver and pass at a safe distance. Only in very rare cases, due to whatever reasons, watch officers fail in taking appropriate actions in good time. It is assumed that, if effective alerting algorithms would be available, a substantial number of collisions at sea, and especially in coastal waters, can be avoided by making the watch officer aware that the ‘last line of defence’ for taking action is close to come. It is assumed that there is potential in applying the principle of the resolution advisory alert of an ACAS (Airborne Collision Avoidance System)/TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) in aviation and adapt it to the needs of maritime traffic. In this paper, the authors introduce a method for triggering collision warnings by focusing specifically on the critical last phase of an encounter and taking into account the maneuvering characteristics of the navigating ship. They comprehensively explore the application using scenario studies discussing the operational aspects of varying implementation states (one ship only, SOLAS ships only).
Safety of navigation is especially challenging and critical when a ship approaches and manoeuvres in harbour areas. Improving the safety especially in the first and last phase of a voyage is crucial and requires measures addressing both the human and technical-technological elements including support systems that shall provide human operators with information relevant for decision making. The present situation is characterized by the introduction of numerous sophisticated technical and support systems often integrated with several components becoming increasingly complex. On the users end, changes are not that obvious and not that rapid as for technology. However, new approaches are under development or already in use. They are characterized by applying and adapting solutions from other transport modes. In this way, tasks and procedures on ships, that are highly safety-relevant and containing high portions of manoeuvring activities have been changed to high back-up procedures as in air planes. For port manoeuvres e.g. the system of pilot/co-pilot was introduced on ferries in a sense that one officer is operating and the other is monitoring and checking the safe performance. In cruise shipping, new structures replacing the traditional rank-based with a flexible system based on job functions. This system creates a kind of a safety net around the person conning the vessel. Each operation is cross checked before execution by one or two other persons. The first obvious consequence is higher costs due to doubling personnel. On the other hand there is also a need for a technology appropriately supporting the checking officer by enabling her or him to monitor what the conning officer is doing. “Fast-Time Manoeuvring Simulation Technology” (FTS) developed at the Institute for Innovative Ship Simulation and Maritime Systems (ISSIMS) has huge potential to fulfil this task. FTS calculates within one second of computing time up to 1000 seconds of real manoeuvring time by a very complex ship-dynamic simulation model for rudder, engine and thruster manoeuvres. It enables prompt prediction of all manoeuvres carried out by the conning officer for the observing officer, too. Predictions of path and motion status allow all officers to see whether the manoeuvring actions have at least the correct tendency or indicating the need for corrections. This new type of support is called Simulation-Augmented Manoeuvring Design and Monitoring (SAMMON) – it allows not only overlooking the next manoeuvring segment ahead but also for the following or even for series of manoeuvring segments. This technology has been used within two research projects: COSINUS (Co-operative Ship Operation in Integrated Maritime Traffic Systems) set out for implementing FTS into integrated ship bridges and to also communicate the manoeuvre plans and display it to VTS centres. Within the European project MUNIN (Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks) this technology has been used to investigate if it is possible to steer autonomous ships, in case it would be necessary.
Virtual electronic aids to navigation are being introduced into the present short range aids to navigation system in the form of Automated Information System radio-based aids. Research is also underway into the development of their equivalents for use in regions that feature hostile environments, are poorly charted and lack any infrastructure whatsoever to support traditional or radio navigation aids. Such aids are entirely virtual in nature and exist only as a digital data object that resides within an electronic navigation chart for display to mariners through an Electronic Chart Display and Information System. They are at present experimental in nature, and are not intended to replace existing physical or radio-based aids to navigation. Results of research are described in terms of fulfilling traditional navigation aid functions and the development of new functions that are only possible using virtual aids. Their advantages in design and implementation are highlighted, as are their limitations and shortcomings as compared to present methodologies. Notable, however, is the approach used to overcome limitations and shortcomings by considering attributes of the physical environment to ensure their proper location and display of correct characteristics. Such an approach is unique in the modern world, yet it emulates ancient methods of navigation using known landmarks and terrain features.
Rapidly increasing numbers of ships and ship sizes pose an ever-growing challenge to the maritime industry. Although statistics indicate improved levels of safety in the industry which carries 90% of the world’s trade, the risk of navigational accidents, among other issues, remains a prime concern and priority (EMSA, 2010; 2014). In order to address these concerns, the authors turned to another high-risk industry for inspiration. Specifically, they turned to the aviation industry, which has often been used as a source of comparisons and ideas by researchers in the maritime domain. Keeping up with the trend, the authors of this paper turn to a tried-and-tested system used widely in modern aviation: the Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS). The prime idea behind ACAS is to construct two virtual 3D zones around an aircraft. These zones are dynamic, and depend on the manoeuvring characteristics of a given aircraft. If the system detects an “intruder” (another aircraft) in either of the two well-defined virtual zones, it provides warnings and/or instructions to pilots of both aircraft to take certain precautionary or emergency measures. In the current paper, the authors explore whether or not such a system is feasible for use in the maritime domain and, if so, how. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the potential benefits and drawbacks of using an ACAS-like system onboard vessels. It also discusses possible means of implementation and integration with current equipment, and explores how the introduction of e-navigation may impact the proposed solution.
The EC funded CyClaDes research project is designed to promote the increased impact of the human element in shipping across the design and operational lifecycle. It addresses the design and operation of ships and ship systems. One of the CyClaDes’ tasks is to create a crew-centered design case-study examination of the information that is shared between the Bridge and Engine Control Room that helps the crew co-ordinate to ensure understanding and complete interconnected tasks. This information can be provided in various ways, including communication devices or obtained from a common database, display, or even the ship environment (e.g., the roll of the ship). A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with seafarers of diverse ranks to get a better idea of what communication does, or should, take place and any problems or challenges existing in current operations, as seen from both the bridge and ECR operators’ perspectives. Included in the interview were both the standard communications and information shared during planning and executing a voyage, as well as special situations such as safety/casualty tasks or heavy weather. The results were analyzed in terms of the goals of the communication, the primary situations of interest for communication and collaboration, the communication media used, the information that is shared, and the problems experienced. The results of seafarer interviews are presented in the paper to explore on-board inter-departmental communication.
The e-Navigation initiative of IMO and IALA has stimulated and inspired a number of ambitious research projects and technological developments in the maritime field. The global transportation of goods is not only facing rapidly growing ship dimensions but also increasing industrial off shore activities, changing the relation between the need of areas for safe and reliable vessel traffic and its availability. Off shore activities is increasingly limiting the available navigable spaces and concentrating traffic flows, especially in coastal waters and port approaches. Enhanced technical systems and equipment with numerous added functionalities are in use and under further development providing new opportunities for traffic surveillance and interaction. Integrated Bridge and Navigation Systems on board modern ships not only support the bridge teams and pilots on board, but also allow for more comprehensive shore-based traffic monitoring and even allow for re-thinking of existing regimes and procedures on traffic management. A sophisticated manoeuvring support tool using fast real-time simulation technology and its application for on board support as well as for its potential integration into enhanced shore-based monitoring processes when linked with the ‘Maritime Cloud’ will be introduced. The potential for contribution to generate harmonized collision warnings will be discussed and explained. This paper is a reviewed and extended version of (Baldauf, Benedict & Gluch, 2014).
Maritime Safety and Security on board ships very much depends on well trained crews. That is why training and exercising emergency response procedures as well as efficiency in reliable management are extremely necessary. On the other hand research as well as technological development in safety and security, tools and other kinds of technical and organizational systems contribute to further improvement and guarantee high levels of safety and security in maritime transportation. Simulation facilities are essential for both exercising and training but also for research and technological development. This paper introduces the innovative concept of a safety and security training simulator (SST7) and describes research work related to the implementation of training scenarios. Selected results of a case study will be presented. A shorter version of this paper was originally presented at the International Conference on “Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation” at Gdynia in June 2013.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), through its Maritime Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC), has been carrying out substantive work on the reduction and limitation of greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping since 1997, following the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol and the 1997 MARPOL Conference. While to date no mandatory GHG instrument for international shipping has been adopted, IMO has given significant consideration of the matter and has been working in accordance with an ambitious work plan with a view to adopting a package of technical provisions. Beside the efforts undertaken by IMO, it is assumed that e.g. optimized manoeuvring regimes have potential to contribute to a reduction of GHG emissions. Such procedures and supporting technologies can decrease the negative effects to the environment and also may reduce fuel consumption. However, related training has to be developed and to be integrated into existing course schemes accordingly. IMO intends to develop a Model Course aiming at promoting the energy‐efficient operation of ships. This Course will contribute to the IMO’s environmental protection goals as set out in resolutions A.947(23) and A.998(25) by promulgating industry “best practices”, which reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the negative impact of global shipping on climate change. In this paper the outline of the research work will be introduced and the fundamental ideas and concepts are described. A concept for the overall structure and the development of suggested detailed content of the draft Model course will be exemplarily explained. Also, a developed draft module for the model course with samples of the suggested integrated practical exercises will be introduced and discussed. The materials and data in this publication have been obtained partly through capacity building research project of IAMU kindly supported by the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) and The Nippon Foundation in Japan.
12
Dostęp do pełnego tekstu na zewnętrznej witrynie WWW
Simulators have proved beneficial for ship handling training in real time on well equipped bridges throughout the last decades. The Maritime Simulation Centre Warnemuende (MSCW) has been com-plemented by a new type of simulator called the Safety and Security Trainer (SST). Wismar University has been involved in the conceptual design and development of this new technology. One of the most challenging innovations developed during the research is the 3D-designed RoPax ferry “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” for the SST simulation system. An integrated support and decision system, called MADRAS, was interfaced into the SST and the entire system was interfaced to the Ship Handling simulator SHS in order to assists officers in coping with safety and security challenges during manoeuvres of the vessel (SHS). This new and enhanced simulation facility allows for “in deep” study of the effects of the safety and security plans and procedures on board and enable more detailed evaluation of their effectiveness under varying conditions and during different courses of events by a different series of simulation runs. This paper will introduce the basic concept of the safety and security training simulator and describe the work entailed for its integration into the complex envi-ronment of full mission ship-handling-simulators. Selected results of a case study dealing with first basic im-plementation of training scenarios will be demonstrated.
13
Dostęp do pełnego tekstu na zewnętrznej witrynie WWW
Safe ship handling in every situation and under all prevailing circumstances of ship status and the environment is a core element contributing to the safety of the maritime transportation system. Especially in case of emergencies, there is a need for quick and reliable information to safely manoeuvre a ship e.g. to quickly return to the position of a Person-overboard (PoB) accident. Within this paper investigations into onboard manoeuvring support for Person-overboard accidents will be presented. Based on the analysis of se-lected accident case studies and existing solutions representing the technical state-of-the-art, shortcomings will be identified and discussed and a potential approach for advanced manoeuvring support in the context of e-Navigation based requirements will be introduced and discussed.
International sea transport has growing rapidly during the period of the last decade. Ships became larger and wider and its container capacity is still increasing to 12.000 TEU and even more. To navigate such vessels safely from port to port and specifically within the ports more and more enhanced computer-based systems are installed on the ships navigational bridges. Prediction tools are very helpful and already in use on ships for a long time. However, the simplification of existing predictions allows restricted use only and do not include the immediate response on changes of rudder and engine. Within this paper investigations into the feasibility and user acceptance of newly developed layout of navigation display will be introduced and selected results of simulation studies testing the influence on manoeuvre performance dependent on different kind of prediction functions will be discussed. Examples will be given for results from test trials in the full mission ship handling simulator of the Maritime Simulation Centre Warnemunde and a concept for the application of the developed .tools for purposes of collision avoidance is described.
Modern ship bridges are highly-automated man-machine systems. Safe and efficient ship operations are dependent on the communication between humans and machines. This paper is dedicated to the general subject of integrated navigation and the specific field of the alert management on a ship's navigational bridge. It deals with investigations into the present situation on board of ships regarding the frequency and type of triggered alarms under real conditions. The conduction of empirical field studies is introduced and some of the gained results are presented and discussed. Finally the alert management concept of the performance standards for Integrated Navigation Systems (INS) is introduced and an approach for the reduction of CPA/TCPA alarm frequencies within INS/IBS is described.
Within this paper results of ongoing investigations will be presented. Main subject of studies is laid on the present situation of alert management onboard ships navigational bridges and potential use of data recorded with mandatory ship-borne VDR equipment during normal ship operation to support the process of on board collision avoidance. The investigations and results discussed and presented in the paper are gained within trhe work in two different projects on research and technical development. The first is the European MARNIS – project on Maritime Navigation and Information Services. It is funded by the European Commission, Department for Energy and Transport. Secondly some of the results presented here are part of investigations performed under the national RD project "Maritime Safety Assistance Rostock" which is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research Berlin.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.