MaDaMe

Digitization has inevitably begun its journey to the heart of seafaring. The benefits of digitalization extend beyond just economic and operational advantages. In the areas of safety and environmental protection digital tools offer new opportunities for risk management and minimizing environmental impacts.

Development of digital fairway services

In the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region program-funded MaDaMe (Maritime Data Methods for Safe Shipping) project, countries in the Baltic Sea region are jointly developing digital fairway services and cyber-secure communication between maritime authorities and vessels.

The MaDaMe project is backed by the ongoing development of S-100 standards in international maritime organizations. The standardization work aims to provide a universal model for representing and sharing hydrographic and other maritime-related information. Ecdis devices compliant with these new standards can be used for navigation starting from 2026 and will become mandatory for new vessels at the beginning of 2028.

The new fairway services enable the reception of information in digital form directly to the ship's Ecdis in real-time. Digital services will be offered alongside the current services provided by existing systems or by voice.

What is being done in MaDaMe project?

The project focuses on designing and testing three digital services:

Digital Navigational Warnings Service
Digital Aids to Navigation (AtoN) Service
Digital VTS Traffic Management Service

The services are being tested on vessels operating in the Baltic Sea, and experiences will be shared with maritime authorities and international organizations such as IALA, IMO, and IHO.

Another development focus alongside the services is the Maritime Connectivity Platform (MCP), which can be used to offer digital services cyber to vessels.

In addition to the platform and services, the project also develops, and tests new communication methods required for digital services for data transfer between shore stations and vessels.

The MaDaMe project concretely promotes the implementation of digital fairway services in the Baltic Sea and provides valuable information to the ongoing international standardization work.

The role of Fintraffic VTS in the project

The key task of Fintraffic in the project is the development of digital VTS services. From the wide range of services, the traffic clearance service has been selected as the specific development target in the MaDaMe project. For instance, the ship departure permit procedure could be handled digitally in the future with the help of this service.

Fintraffic also develops and tests the national MCP service platform in connection with the project.

Information about the project:

EU- INTERREG -project, BALTIC SEA REGION -program
Duration: 1.11.2023 -31.10.2026
Total budget: 3 411 519 eur
Fintraffic budget: 451 100 eur

Project Partners:

Turku University of Applied Sciences (FI)
Novia University of Applied Sciences (FI)
Digital Maritime Consultancy (DK)
National Institute of Telecommunications (PL)
Sternula A/S (DK)
NavSim Poland Ltd. (PL)
Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FI)
DFDS A/S (DK)
Swedish Maritime Administration (SE)
Danish Maritime Authority (DK)
Fintraffic VTS (FI)

Associate Partners:

Maritime office in Gdynia (PL)
Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom (FI)
The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Association (IALA)
Estonian Transport Administration (EE)
ESL Shipping (FI)
Combitech AB/Navelink (SE)