RIJEKA – Wärtsilä Voyage has completed an extensive upgrade of the Croatian National Vessel Traffic Management & Information System (VTMIS) with new Sea Traffic Management (STM) functionality.
The VTMIS STM server located in the Port of Rijeka is the first STM installation in the Adriatic Sea to allow the customer, the Croatian Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, to test the STM functionality throughout Croatian waters together with vessels which will also become STM-compliant as part of this contract.
«STM is a new paradigm in maritime safety. In Croatia, it can now be used as a powerful tool for space and time management, traffic organisation, search and rescue, just-in-time port coordination, early detection and elimination of safety risks, analysis of maritime traffic data, with a huge future potential in the management of hybrid traffic» stated Zdravko Seidel, Head of Maritime Traffic Safety Department, Croatian Maritime Administration.
STM is a concept developed by the Swedish Maritime Administration Mona Lisa project, endorsed by the European Commission. It aims to define systems and procedures to guide and monitor sea traffic like air traffic management. STM includes route optimisation services, ship-to-ship route exchange, enhanced monitoring, port call synchronisation, winter navigation.
The goals behind the full deployment of STM by the year 2030 concern Safety (50% reduction of accidents), Efficiency (10% reduction in voyage costs and 30% reduction in waiting time for berthing) and Environment (7% lower fuel consumption and a corresponding decrease in greenhouse gas emissions).
«STM is a strong preliminary step toward the Smart Port; a port that uses digital solutions to overcome spatial constraints, pressure on productivity, fiscal limitations, safety and security risks. We’re very pleased with the outcome of this project,» said Dmitry Rostopshin, Head of Ship Traffic Control Solutions, Wärtsilä Voyage.