The latest edition of Navigation Services in Australian Waters – Outlook to 2035 offers a comprehensive examination of the future of maritime navigation in Australia, emphasizing the integration of emerging technologies and digital advancements.
According to AMSA, this revised outlook offers valuable insight into the provision of navigation services over the next decade and beyond, focusing on emerging trends, digitalisation and technological advancements in marine navigation and communication.
It also details AMSA’s policy responses and provides projected timelines for their implementation, highlighting our ongoing commitment to enhancing navigation services for international ships and domestic commercial vessels in Australian waters.
This essential resource is a key insight into the future of maritime navigation in Australian waters.
It explores:
- trends and drivers in technology and communications for maritime navigation
- impacts on the maritime industry
- their policy response to these changes and related timeframes.
For example, AMSA will contribute to a global approach to resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) through measures such as:
- supporting the adoption of new technologies such as Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) to improve the positional accuracy of satellite navigation systems on ships
- maintaining our traditional physical aids to navigation (AtoN) which will remain an essential, albeit secondary source of position information for most vessels in the future.
Automated navigation of ships represents a monumental shift in global surface transportation and is a contributor to the drive for the digitalisation of maritime services. At the same time, as our case study shows, systems like physical AtoN and human control will continue to play an essential role for safe navigation.
The outlook details AMSA’s policy response to a suite of key trends and challenges for navigation services in the next decade. These will include:
- enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the AtoN network
- developing security measures to protect it from cybercrime.
Central to our approach is a set of guiding principles. These will help us deliver new practices and technologies to enhance navigation services. These principles also reaffirm:
- their commitment to stakeholder and community engagement
- observance of the relevant conventions, International Maritime Organization (IMO) obligations and International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA) standards and guidance.
This latest edition of our Navigation Services in Australian Waters provides a framework for a safe, efficient, sustainable and secure maritime transport system for Australia.
The year is 2035. In December, Liberian-flagged Panamax-sized gas carrier Blue Sky (a fictious ship) is en route from Hay Point, Queensland to Singapore via the Great
Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and Coral Sea particularly sensitive sea area (PSSA) (AMSA 2023a). The vessel is 280 metres long, 30 metres in breadth and has a current draught of 12.2 metres. Blue Sky is carrying ammonia as cargo and using onboard ammonia as fuel, and has a deadweight capacity of about 65,000 metric tonnes.
Blue Sky’s safe and efficient transit to Singapore is aided by an array of digital navigation and maritime services which were implemented alongside other measures
to establish a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor between Australia and Singapore (DFAT 2024a).
