Sea Traffic Management published a report with the results of the STM Validation Project.

Generally, the project was conducted in the timeframe of 2015-2019, for 3.5 years.

The project:

  1. Connected 6 shore centres;
  2. 311 ships STM equipped during the project;
  3. 12 simulator centres connected to the European Maritime Simulator network;
  4. 9 ports connected: Umeå (Sweden), Vaasa (Finland), Gothenburg  Sweden), Brofjorden (Sweden), Stavanger (Norway), Valencia (Spain), Sagunto (Spain), Barcelona (Spain), Limassol (Cyprus).

The report concluded:

  1. Improved situational awareness and navigational safety on board. Specific tests for the Ship-to-Ship Route Exchange service may enhance the officer’s situational awareness and shows a tendency to improve navigational safety during strategic navigation.
  2. Improved communication and potential decreased workload. According to the findings in the simulators, the utilized services have the potential to improve communication, decrease bridge-crew workload, while perhaps simultaneously increasing the time to respond, plan and act accordingly in challenging navigational and traffic conditions.
  3. Increased navigational safety, efficiency and pro-activity in VTS. From the VTS operator’s perspective, communication and interaction between ship and shore will increase, and it is anticipated that the STM services will promote navigational safety and efficiency through the availability of additional navigational information, monitoring services and communications.
  4. Increased effectiveness and reduced waiting time in ports means substantial savings. Just-in-time arrivals, departures, and shorter turnaround times lead to more efficient use of assets and improved predictability of operating and delivery times. Operational productive time can be increased through access to up-to-date status information, leading to better-inEnabling datasharing improves operations Digital information sharing improves operations on-board and ashore formed decision-making and, thereby, reduced unnecessary waiting times.
  5. Cross-industry collaboration is key.

IMO's Secretary General commented that

STM goes hand in hand with the IMO objectives. Let IMO consider the global implementation of STM

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