COMMITTEE UPDATE

Task Committee Looks at e-Navigation

By William Macanally, P.E., F.ASCE, and Michael Winkler

Recent advances in technology and communication techniques offer the ability to not only exchange static and dynamic vessel information but now incorporates the ability to transmit relevant information on the waterway to the vessel and from vessel to vessel.  As a result of these advances, the marine industry is undergoing a technical revolution that is being referred to as e-Navigation.

The COPRI Navigation Committee, a Task Committee of the Waterways Committee, will engage the agencies and organizations involved in e-Navigation and provide products that will improve the practice of navigation facilities planning, design, and operation. This effort is particularly timely since, this year, the International Maritime Organization plans to develop an implementation strategy for e-Navigation.

E-Navigation Defined

 

E-Navigation is the harmonized creation, collection, integration, exchange and presentation of maritime information on board and ashore by electronic means to enhance berth-to-berth navigation and related services, for safety and security at sea and protection of the marine environment, according to the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA).

Components of e-Navigation include but are not limited to:

• Automated Identification System
• Radar
• VHF/HF/MF radios
• Global Maritime Distress and Safety System
• Terrestrial radionavigation systems
• Marine safety information
• Navtex, Inmarsat, Orbcomm and other satellite communications
• Electronic charts
• Integrated navigation/integrated bridge systems
• Meteorological/hydrological sensors
• Long-range identification and tracking systems
• Data Reporting Standards

 

What will E-Navigation Do?

 

• Security — e-Nav can potentially contribute to improved maritime security by providing routes through areas which can be policed; it is not itself a security system but is an instrument that could be used by security agencies to improve communications supporting maritime security. 
• Safety — e-Nav will provide improved integration of the display of relevant data to support complex decision making processes on board and ashore and therefore reduce the risk of critical error.
• Efficiency — e-Nav will allow the enhancement of current shore based vessel traffic services (VTS) and the coordination and exchange of comprehensive data in formats that will be more easily understood and utilised by shore-based operators and vessels.   
• Stakeholders — e-Nav will require an infrastructure designed to enable authorized seamless information transfer onboard ship, between ships, between ship and shore and between shore authorities and other parties.
• Environment — e-Nav will bring improvements to navigation safety through the reduction of risk, and so help protect the marine environment from shipborne pollution stemming from collisions and groundings. 

E-Navigation is a concept that incorporates systems and services and will generally bring the integration of electronic systems and information within a strategic plan governed by the IMO.   There are many stakeholders that will be affected by e-navigation and who will have to be involved in its development. These include but are not limited to mariners, pilots, port authorities, port services, coastal states, manufacturers, data providers, ship-owners, and of course IALA and IMO. 

Navigation Committee

Persons interested in e-Navigation activities of the Navigation Committee can contact William H. McAnally, at mcanally@cee.msstate.edu or Michael F. Winkler at michael.f.winkler@usace.army.mil.