Norway Trials New Age of E-navigation

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) initiated the first full-scale trial of e-navigation in Norwegian waters in conjunction with e-navigation technology and services company NAVTOR. The test sees the ferry MS Stavangerfjord digitally sharing its routing information with NCA via NAVTOR’s NavStation ‘digital chart table.’

The project focuses on the way NCA receives vessel data. Until now, ships had to contact the authority via maritime VHF radio to verbally communicate routing information before both departure and arrival. NCA could then update vessel navigators on traffic and advise of any necessary changes in speed or routing.
However, NavStation – software that gathers all the information navigators need into a single interface – allows the authority and vessel to work together as one, seamlessly transferring information and enhancing maritime safety, efficiency and control.
Stavangerfjord is owned by Norwegian shipping firm Fjordline and sails the popular Bergen-Stavanger-Hirtshals (Denmark)-Langesund return route. The trial is being undertaken in partnership with Kongsberg Maritime and subsidiary Kongsberg Norcontrol IT, which worked with NAVTOR to deliver the ship and shore-based software solutions.

NAVTOR already has a working relationship with NCA, having partnered with the organization on the SESAME (Secure, Efficient and Safe Maritime Traffic Management in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore) e-navigation project since 2012.
The firm launched the NavStation software to the market in 2014. Available on touch screen devices and standard computers, the software gathers and overlays an array of information for navigators on a single screen for the very first time. These ‘layers’ of information include ENCs, weather data, tidal information, digital publications and other services such as passage planning and route monitoring.
www.navtor.com

(As published in the January 2016 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)