Final Conference for MONALISA 2 Safety Initiative

The MONALISA 2.0 Final Conference held in Gothenburg, Sweden, on 10 -11 November summed up and shared the final results of more than two years of work within the project. The conference was the culmination of the work aiming at making maritime transport safer, efficient and more environmentally friendly.

Almost 300 people from more than 20 countries attended the event during two intense days where they could learn about the project achievements, listen to maritime experts with different perspectives, take part in panel discussions and workshops, exchange ideas and engage in networking. 

It was also the debut of the new challenge, the STM validation project. 

Time after the sessions in Lindholmen Conference Centre was also very fruitful, as attendees could go through the exhibitions in the hall and obtain first-hand information on new safety technologies such as “Indoor positioning system”, “Lifeboat launch and retrieval technology” or “Information and Control Tool for Search and Rescue.” Also on display were some initial demonstrations of Sea Traffic Management (STM) services like the “Port Collaborative Decision Making demonstrator” and the “Layered service model”.  

Tuesday – Safety in focus

The conference was opened by the Project Manager, Magnus Sundström from Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA).

TEN-T MoS Policy Advisor at EU, Jose Anselmo said “People working at the maritime sector should be more outspoken”. He highlighted the importance of projects such MONALISA 2.0 to reinforce the sector in the future. 

Flavio Marangon, head of the Safer Ship part of the project shared the achievements: 
•    A prototype for safe life boat launching at heel over 20 degrees tested in the basin at Centro Jovellanos in Gijon
•    A study on behavior based safety identifying additions to the methodology and increasing the use of safety equipment
•    A new layered Search and Rescue coordination tool, which will be replace the old system in Sweden early 2016.
•    A RFID-based indoor positioning system assisting CO2-fire-fighting onboard by securing the evacuation of personnel first.

All these solutions have a return on investment in less than five years, and since the technology is aimed at passenger ships with a life span usually over 20 years, the results are encouraging. “These studies will not just end up as reports in a drawer somewhere. One example is the order of indoor positioning system for 10 new ships,” says Flavio.

Pepe Díaz, co-leader of the activity looking at Operational Safety took us on a journey where risk assessment and risk management guidelines evolved, ICT “gadgets” and new training courses were developed, and all of that was put to the test during a SAR exercise in and outside Port of Valencia in June 2015. 

The experiences and recommendations are well documented and are shared with SAR communities and port authorities across Europe. A good example is the Training Requirements Report which has been presented to the IMO safety committee and shared with EMSA. “Conference participants from Asia want to use it on their home ground. A majority of the seafarers originate from that region, and we are happy to contribute to safety world wide” says Pepe.

A panel discussion including many of keynote speakers discussed how to build on the results and what issues are most important to address. One of the conclusions was that “soft” issues, like safety culture and knowledge sharing should be included in future work. 
 
Wednesday – STM in MONLISA and onward

Mikael Hägg, SMA and Mikael Lind, Viktoria Swedish ICT, presented how the project have worked on the Sea Traffic Management (STM) definition to provide a thorough base line to develop and deploy the future infrastructure and services. Best in class methodology from other E.U. projects was used, and the issues at hand were analyzed from many perspectives: operational, legal, business etc.  

The intermodal aspects of the concept are clear and the port is a key point for making the whole transport chain more efficient. The new Port Collaborative Decision Making concept and the envisioned services were shown. By sharing the planned and actual states of all actors, a common situational awareness is established and better planning and decision can be made.

Common situational awareness is a key idea which also enhances the safety for the ships at sea. The new international standard format for route exchange as presented by Anders Rydlinger of CIRM, is the primary building block for much of the value of STM. When ships have information on other ships intentions, future navigational risk situations can be identified and eliminated already when planning the next voyage. 

In order to test enhanced services in complex traffic situations, the project has used simulators. “And in order to have them act like reality we needed many” said Reto Weber, Chalmers University of Technology. “We have built a network of simulator centers of different brands, and it is interesting how the officers change attitude when they know that there are real seafarers on the other ships. We have come much closer to catch the real live behavior this way” Reto finished.

Keynotes Omar Frits Eriksson from IALA and Andreas Chrysostomou from the Cyprus government shared very kind words on the achievements of the MONALISA projects. They both approved of the strategy to focus on value added to industry actors to achieve voluntary acceptance but also urged project members and states to bring the results to IALA and IMO in order to spread the information more effectively globally, pave way for future regulation and reduce the risk of similar initiatives around the world going in un-coordinated directions.

“The Panama canal is interested in STM and the value it can bring. And it would also be interesting to connect the Central American short sea shipping network to STM,” Keynote Orlando Allard from Panama reflected on MONALISA 2.0 while he shared the progress of the canal expansion and its effect on trade patterns. 

So, what’s next? The STM Validation project has already started and will test and validate the STM concept on 300 ships and in 13 ports. Five service centers will support the two test beds, one in the Nordic countries in Europe and one in the Mediterranean. A first version of the maritime service infrastructure, developed together with the EfficienSea II project, will be ready by early 2017 when the 300 ships will start using the services.  

Interviews

Some of the keynote presenters were asked about MONALISA 2.0 and STM validation project and how they foresee the future of shipping industry.

How do you value Monalisa 2.0 contribution to maritime transport?
 
Markku Milly. Executive Director EMSA
“I was very impressed by the MONALISA 2.0 project.  Its results are very promising, and I think the most important thing now is the implementation of these results in practice, so that we have a clear picture of their value to the society.” 
 
José Anselmo. TEN-T /MoS Policy Advisor
“MONALISA 2.0 is addressing two key issues, one is safety and the other one is training and human element. Without these elements you cannot have maritime transportation. So MONALISA 2.0 has made a fundamental contribution.”

Andreas Chrysostomou. Director of the Department of Merchant Shipping Cyprus. 
“It is a project that will provide information to the world about how we can connect shipping with technology and be able to exchange information, improve safety and, of course, environmental protection. Personally I believe it is an innovative project, something that never happened before. It will change things. I hope that the outcome of the project will provide information willing to take the e-navigation to another level above where it is today.” 

Orlando Allard. President of RTI Latin America. Worked in the Panama Canal for over 30 years
“I was a pilot in the Panama Canal and as a pilot, information is the most important thing. Situational awareness is perhaps the best tool that you can have. Determining where the other ships are in relationships to yours. Being able to know who is around you what is happening to all the other ships is perhaps one of the biggest accomplishments. In this respect I think the Monalisa 2.0 project has contributed enormously to safety in maritime transportation.
 
“Regarding the STM validation project, I am hoping that Panama as a registry, and of course the Panama Canal will be able to participate in a future pilot project. I think with over 15,000 ships going through the canal every year it would be a great opportunity to test the e-technology developments in Panama”.