Eckerö Line Deploys 3D Ship Display for Situational Awareness

Finnish cruise ferry operator Eckerö Line will soon be using a new bridge display technology that shows a sensor-generated visualization of the ship and its surroundings. The system - ABB Ability Marine Pilot Vision - is intended to help increase situational awareness, particularly during docking and in busy waterways. It will soon be installed on the ferry MS Finlandia, which makes three runs per day between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia.

“Our goal is to improve environmental performance and safety, and we worked with ABB to achieve greater efficiency in docking and high traffic situations.  Our customers demand high levels of safety in all conditions,” said Daniel Olsén, technical manager, Eckerö Group. 

ABB says that with Marine Pilot Vision, a virtual model of the ship is superimposed on real surroundings measured using multiple sensor technologies. This allows for monitoring the ship and its surroundings from a birds-eye view (and other views as well). ABB believes that this makes it easier to predict vessel motion relative to actual surroundings, and gives the bridge team new visibility for what would ordinarily be hidden obstacles.

In addition to the technology itself, ABB says that it is providing training for the crew to help them get the most out of the system and integrate its use into their operations. 

“Computer vision has advanced significantly in recent years. With this new solution, ABB is leveraging that in order to present the ship and its environment in ways beyond ordinary perception. Crucially, we can do this in real-time in an intuitive fashion, which does not distract the crew from their work. In this sense, Ability Marine Pilot Vision extends the capabilities of the human senses,” said Mikko Lepisto, SVP of Digital Solutions at ABB Marine & Ports, at the system's launch earlier this year.