e-MARITIME SERVICES FOR COMMUNICATION WITH CLASS AND FOR ENHANCED SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN SHIPPING

e-Maritime can be considered as an extension of the e-Navigation concept currently being discussed at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). It can be construed to include e-Navigation and promotes the use of all maritime data and information, distributed by way of information and communication technologies, to facilitate maritime transportation and provide value added services. This paper investigates possible e-Maritime services related to safety, security and environmental protection of shipping and for interaction with class. The paper reviews a number of existing services and current initiatives and relevant research projects and discusses if and how the value of such services could be increased if they could be offered as e-Maritime services to the industry. Furthermore, two services have been selected and successfully implemented as pilot e-Maritime services. Based on this survey and the pilot implementations, it can be suggested that there are great potential for offering a number of existing and future services related to safety, security and environmental protection as e-Maritime services. However, standardisation of the framework and of specific maritime data types, messages and codes might be necessary to facilitate a development towards widespread adaptation of e-Maritime solutions.