EGNOS Performance Navigation on Board Oceanographic Hespérides Vessel

The shipping industry is moving towards an e-Navigation concept where a range of electronic and radio navigation technologies will provide harmonized, safe and reliable support for maritime navigation. Augmented GNSS is one of the supporting technologies for e-Navigation. Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) could be used to improve accuracy and provide integrity to users. Vessels bound by the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Safety of Life as Sea convention (SOLAS) are required to use type approved receivers. Currently, there are neither standards nor regulations to define how the shipborne receiver has to process the SBAS signal from a safety perspective. Non-SOLAS vessels are free to use non-certified receivers and many receivers apply SBAS information, albeit with no guarantees. Shipborne receivers on board SOLAS ships will be able to use SBAS messages through the use of the Multi-system shipborne radionavigation receiver (MSR) standard [1]. SEASOLAS (EGNOS Dual-Frequency Dual Constellation Maritime Safety Service) project analysed a potential safety service with an integrity concept tailored for maritime and inland waterways users. EGNOS V3 Dual Frequency Multi-Constellation service will be available as of 2025. SEASOLAS project was fully financed by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation and has been developed by a consortium led by GMV with the European Satellite Service Provider (ESSP), General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA) of the United Kingdom and Ireland, VVA Brussels and Kongsberg Seatex as partners. SEASOLAS project developed a number of advanced solutions based on a receiver that processes EGNOS V3 data and implements autonomous integrity techniques to deal with local error sources whose behaviour is difficult to model and predict. The proposed solutions aim at, on one hand, providing integrity at user level (by bounding the position error with a high confidence level, i.e. the integrity risk); and on the other hand, fulfilling the required performance, at user level, of the SEASOLAS worst-case scenarios. This paper summarises the main outcomes of the activities developed in the frame of the project.

To significantly reduce sulfur oxides emissions from fossil fuel-powered ships, reduce air pollution in ports and slow ocean acidification, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has imposed the new 0.50%m/m limit (reduced from 3.50%m/m in the past) on sulphur in ships’ fuel oil. This has given rise to a host of issues regarding fuel replenishment operations, safe operation management, maritime regulation, and coordinated governance of air and climate. In response to ocean acidification and climate change, regulations on the use of low-sulfur oil or alternative fuels by ships greatly reduce sulfur oxide emissions, but have no significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the refining process for low-sulfur fuels and the use of the gas cleaning system on ships both increase energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. To ensure the decarbonization process of shipping industry, there is an urgent need for a conceptual change in global ocean governance so as to promote the coordinated governance of air pollution and climate change. China’s conception of “a maritime community with a shared future” provides a new model for global ocean governance. The Chinese government has formulated regulations at different levels to promote the coordinated management of atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions. Regarding supervision of sulfur oxide emissions from ships, this study proposes to build a multi-department collaborative supervision mechanism from marine fuel life cycle to enhance sulfur oxide monitoring and risk control capabilities. Specific measures of the proposed supervision mechanism include: the joint supervision of compliant fuel supply, the compliant fuel information disclosure platform, a joint law enforcement mechanism for atmospheric pollution, the ability of intelligent ship exhaust monitoring, and the construction of port power infrastructure.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) was established to adopt regulations to improve the safety of international shipping and to prevent ships from polluting the marine environment. Oil tanker incidents are the most important sources of marine pollution. The main goal of the maritime community is to decrease the amount of oil entering into the marine environment. In 1973, the International Convention for the Prevention of Oil Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) was adopted to cover pollution by oil, chemicals and harmful substances in packaged form, sewage and garbage. Flag states have a duty to ensure that their ships comply with the standards accepted by the state under international law and conventions. Prevention of harmful discharges not only relates to fiscal matters but also has major impact on the environment. Success in the outcome of these developments will require the continued commitment of participating countries to fulfill their share of the responsibility. Keywords: illegal oil discharges; International Convention System; International Maritime Organisation (IMO); marine pollution; MARPOL

The U.S. Navy has now developed an N-Class division system to classify fire resistant boundaries in accordance with MIL-STD-3020, fire resistance on U.S. naval surface ships. The N-Class division is analogous to the commercial International Maritime Organization (IMO) system (e.g., A-Class) division. The key difference is that N-Class divisions are designed to have satisfactory fire resistance when exposed to hydrocarbon pool fire (UL 1709 fire exposure) following a shock event. In addition, N-Class is applicable to fire resistant divisions constructed from polymer composites structures when they meet the requirements of DDS-078-1. MIL-STD-3020 requires a hydrocarbon pool fire exposure (UL-1709 fire exposure) which provides a minimum average total heat flux of 188 kW per square meter (kW/m2) (60,000 British thermal unit per square foot/hour (Btu/ft2∣h)) within the first 5 min of the test exposure. At all times after 5 min, the average temperature within the furnace shall be maintained at a minimum of 1038 °C (1900 °F) and a maximum of 1149 °C (2100 °F) for the duration of the test. These fire conditions simulate a post-flashover fire scenario for shipboard applications. Performance is defined as the time period during which assemblies will continue to perform their intended function when subjected to fire exposure. The minimum duration of fire exposure is 30 min. Shock testing prior to fire resistance test is performed to ensure that fire resistance of divisions, with fire insulation, penetrations, and associated attachment methods, is not degraded in a combat environment. Shock test specimen size of 1219 by 3048 mm (4 by 10 ft) was selected to reduce the cost of shipping a full size fire test specimen of 3048 by 3048 mm (10 by 10 ft) or greater to the fire test laboratory. A full scale fire resistance test is still required for qualification purposes after successful completion of the shock test prior to fire resistance test. MIL-STD-3020 also permits AN-Class fire resistant divisions when fire threat is from common combustibles (Class A) and where liquid flammable (Class B) fire threat is non-existent. AN-Class divisions are those divisions formed by bulkheads and decks that are designed to protect against structural failure and prevent the passage of flame or hot gases when exposed to IMO Resolution A.754(18) fire exposure after shock testing. For all AN-Class divisions, including those with penetrations, the fire test duration is a minimum of 60 min. This paper will discuss fire resistance test results conducted using steel, aluminum, and composite substrates.

Maritime transport plays a vital role in the economic growth and global competitiveness of the regions that it serves. It offers an enormous potential for sustainable and environmentally friendly transport. The international maritime community, however, is faced with a major challenge: to protect the marine environment from pollution related to oil spills. A parallelism between resolutions adopted by national and international bodies and the oil spill incidents that triggered them is presented. The focus is on reviewing records of maritime casualties associated with massive environmental pollution. It is an attempt to shed light on how these incidents affect the formulation and implementation of the global marine environment protection policy as well as the role of the International Maritime Organization in dealing with these problems.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), today the primary mean for Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) information on-board of a vessel, are highly vulnerable to unintentional and intentional interference like jamming or spoofing. Therefore, maritime community seeks for an alternative system to compensate this thread and follow the vision of the eNavigation strategy of International Maritime Organization (IMO), a safe navigation of vessels from berth to berth. The only alternative terrestrial backup for GNSS is the enhanced LOng-RAnge Navigation (eLORAN). However, that system will probably never reach global coverage because a substantial part of LORAN stations was shutdown in the years 2010 to 2015. There are only certain regions where it is still usable as well as Chayka, the Russian system. Today, in case of a temporal loss of GNSS no system can provide absolute positioning in areas with increased necessity for reliable navigation data provision on a global scale. One candidate for a terrestrial backup system is R(anging)-Mode which utilizes existing maritime radio infrastructure for the broadcast of modified signals, which allow distance estimation to the transmitter. First feasibility studies were done in the North Sea, in China and in South Korea. The Baltic Sea is due to the high number of vessels along the shipping routes and its sensitive marine ecosystem a suitable region for the implementation and testing of R-Mode firstly as a terrestrial backup system to GNSS. It will supplement navigation information in order to reduce the risk of collisions and groundings. New marine applications that require a continuous provision of position information will be made possible at sea, in coastal areas and in harbours. A consortium of 12 research institutions, administrations and industry of Germany, Poland, Sweden and Norway is currently engaged to setup the first R-Mode testbed, which utilizes IALA (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities) beacons and Automatic Identification System (AIS) land stations for the broadcast of R-Mode enabled signals. This will be organized in the southern Part of the Baltic Sea until 2020 funded by EU within the scope of R-Mode Baltic Project. Beside this main goal of the Project (back-up to GNSS) further research and development activities will be conducted. This comprises the selection of most suitable way of R-Mode service implementation on IALA beacon and AIS signals without disruption of the legacy service. Further the selection of best algorithms for positioning either with only one type of R-Mode signals or with both is part of the research activities. In addition a concept development and test installation for the time synchronization of a transnational network of R-Mode stations which is currently maintained by independent national maritime administrations as well as the development of first prototypes of R-Mode receiver capable to cope with modified IALA beacons and/or AIS signals as well as R-Mode base station hardware for R-Mode signal generation is planned. Finally, with R-Mode enabled PNT data processing and Pilot Plug Unit the first two R-Mode applications will be made available. All this activities will be done in close contact with the maritime administrations, IALA, and maritime users. It is anticipated, that R-Mode will be a terrestrial backup system that can fulfil their need for robust and reliable PNT data for safe navigation at sea. Beside a general description of the project first results of a common coverage prediction for the IALA beacon and AIS communication channels for the Baltic Sea region will be estimated and presented. Latter shows that especially the relevant Baltic Sea region with its narrow passages of coastlines in the North (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and in the South (Germany, Poland) is already well equipped with a dense network of IALA beacons and AIS stations in the vicinity of vessel routes. In case of positive Project results, upgrading all of them to R-Mode service level these would allow positioning in the entire region. Furthermore, the output of the requirement phase study on the R-Mode system and its components is presented. This was done starting from relevant documents of IMO and IALA requirements for a terrestrial backup system were extracted and next further broken down for specific components of the R-Mode system. This shall give guidance throughout the project when selecting appropriate algorithms, methods and technical solutions.