SESAME Straits to Upgrade Navigation Safety and Efficiency

Kongsberg Norcontrol IT will lead a three-year project called SESAME Straits (Secure, Efficient and Safe maritime traffic Management in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore), which aims to create solutions to significantly improve the safety and efficiency of ship navigation across the world.

The objective of the SESAME Straits Project is to develop and validate a revolutionary concept for a next generation Ship Traffic Management System (STMS) in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS).

Partly funded by the Research Council of Norway, through its Marine and Offshore (MAROFF) fund, the $3.8m SESAME Straits project is the first project to be delivered under the international Straits e-navigation Alliance.

The Kongsberg Norcontrol IT-owned project will receive input and guidance from the Straits e-navigation Alliance High Level Advisory Board (HLAB) who met in London on May 16, 2014.

The HLAB includes governmental members from Singapore, Norway, Malaysia and Indonesia and experts from important maritime organizations such as IMO, IHO, IALA, ICS, BIMCO, CIRM, IEC, and the Research Council of Norway. The HLAB is co-chaired by Norway and Singapore.

Siddi Wouters, Chief Technology Officer and Project Manager for SESAME Straits at Kongsberg Norcontrol IT, said: “The project will be a highly-important test-bed for IMO’s e-Navigation program.

It will provide contributions to its implementation and allow the project results to be demonstrated in a complete and realistic environment with key e-Navigation stakeholders participating.”

The intelligent STMS for SESAME Straits will be based on shared situation awareness and cooperative decision making between the ship’s bridge team and shore personnel.

Bringing these elements together through e-Navigation for ship and shore side will achieve the key objectives of just-in-time arrival and minimising vessel traffic hot spots.

This will result in benefits including reduced ship bunkers, efficient traffic flow through narrow and restricted waterways, reduced navigation risk, reduced fuel consumption, reduced CO² emissions and better utilisation of port resources such as anchorages, berths and pilots.

“The SOMS is one of the busiest waterways in the world, and our members have for many years been keen to see improvements such as those that SESAME Straits has the potential to provide.

We look forward to participating with the SESAME Straits Project team as it seeks to further improve navigational safety and protection of the environment,” said John Murray, Director – Marine, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).

[mappress]
June 16, 2014