SMT Validation Project Backed by EU

The Sea Traffic Management Validation Project, an offshoot of the MONALISA projects focusing on route planning, has secured EUR 21 million (USD 23.1 million) in financial support from the European Union within a Motorways of the Sea project.

Sea Traffic Management (STM) is a methodology sought to define a set of systems and procedures to guide and monitor sea traffic in a manner similar to air traffic management.

The project, led by the Swedish Maritime Administration-endorsed consortium, will cover test beds in Northern Europe and Mediterranean Sea, engaging 300 vessels, 10 ports of different sizes and 3 shore centres.

These are aimed at validating the Sea Traffic Management (STM) concept and paving the way for smooth deployment of new collaborative services previously unknown to sea transport but existing for many years in other transport sectors.

Target concept and key performance indicators for four STM strategic enablers include:

1.  Voyage Management services aimed at providing support to individual ships in both the planning process and during a voyage including: route planning, route exchange, and route optimisation services
2.  Flow Management services aimed at supporting both land organisations and ships in optimising overall traffic flow through areas of dense traffic and areas with particular navigational challenges
3.  Port Collaborative Decision Making (Port CDM) services aimed at increasing the efficiency of port calls and departures for all stakeholders through improved information sharing, situational awareness, optimised processes, and collaborative decision making during port calls and departures.
4.  SeaSWIM (System Wide Information Management) aimed at ensuring interoperability of (STM) services facilitating

The STM Concept has been defined within the MONALISA 2.0 project. A technical protocol for route exchange has been developed and is in the phase of international standardization.

” True demonstrations of the value of Sea Traffic Management services will help avoid setbacks in deployment and make industry and other important stakeholders engage fully,” says Magnus Sundström, Project Leader of the STM Validation Project.

The STM Validation Project encompasses 39 partners (private, public and academic) from 13 countries and with a total budget of 43 million Euro. The project duration is 2015-2018.