Current flagship projects
The current Flagship Projects of Priority Area 13 are:
(click on the Flagship Project concerned to read a description of the project)
13.1 “Conduct a technical feasibility study on a Baltic Sea Coastguard Network”
This flagship project is being implemented through the “Baltic Sea Maritime Functionalities Project”.
Description of the project
Website:
http://www.cbss.org/Civil-Security-and-the-Human-Dimension/baltic-sea-maritime-functionalities
The Baltic Sea Maritime Functionalities project (BSMF) is an entirety that is aimed at development of maritime actors by defining cooperation, conceptualizing maritime functions and creating target statuses in relation to them, and also to demonstrate these functions in the context of the Baltic Sea.
The project’s objective is to create the viewpoint of the Baltic Sea region on European Union’s CISE (Common Information Sharing Environment for the surveillance of the EU maritime domain) project where all the actors are involved. The aim is to depict the maritime functionalities from the viewpoint of one state and to depict their connection to international exchange of information. However, while conducting the project, the existing development work (e.g. CISE TAG, MARSUNO) should be considered so that all overlap and possible competition will be avoided.
Leader of the project
Finnish Border Guard. The project is cooperating with the Baltic Sea Region Border Control Cooperation (BSRBCC) and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).
Financing
No external financing
State of play
A draft of the project’s written study will be produced as Finnish national preparation during March 2011. The parts of the study that are developed in other projects, such as MARSUNO, are referenced directly from them.
The planning of the study demo has started. The idea is to utilize the functionalities of SUCBAS demo in exchanging surface situational image and engage it with information exchange entities from different actors by the rules defined in data management and from the viewpoint of the subtext. Implementation of the demo’s design is planned at the EU integrated maritime policy meeting scheduled to take place on 4 October 2011 in Poland.
Next steps
As the draft is finished, the participants defined in the preparation phase will be offered a possibility to take part in the study. The final participants finalize the definitions and goals for the functionalities, as well as the requirements of data management.
The design of the demo’s details continues after the draft of the study’s written part is finished. It is, however, expected that the project will next autumn result in a computer-based simulation where a dubious vessel starting from St. Petersburg moving towards Gdynia will be the object of surveillance between various national authorities, transport agencies, law enforcement, navy etc. in the partner countries Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.
Expected finalization
December 2011.
13.2 “Become a pilot region for the integration of maritime surveillance systems”
Description of the project
Website:
www.marsuno.eu
The pilot project is a step towards achieving the aims to render existing monitoring and tracking systems more interoperable between at least three coastal Member States to the Northern European Sea basins (hereinafter "the project partners"). In particular, to determine the extent to which this cooperation enhances exchanges of information and enforcement of international, Community and national legislation and cooperation that already takes place between the Member States.
The objectives of the project are:
- To test the capacity of project partners to exchange surveillance and monitoring information relating to Coast Guarding activities that take place in the Northern European Sea basins.
- To test joint maritime surveillance operational procedures between law enforcement authorities. Testing may include joint sharing of existing systems also observations and development of procedures for joint operations.
- To determine the extent to which project partners are potentially able to set up an exchange of information – basic data - mechanism at a cross sectoral and cross border level that is viable and durable in time, also concerning cooperation between civil and military assets.
- To identify legal, administrative and technical obstacles that may hinder the exchange of the above mentioned information on a long-term basis.
- To identify - on the basis of the acquired experience in exchanging the information - best practices and/or legal adjustments needed to overcome the obstacles identified.
- To determine the extent of added value both in qualitative and quantitative terms. Relate to what already exists in a cross border/cross sectoral cooperation perspective.
Leader of the project
Swedish Coast Guard
Financing
Total budget: 3 047 085 Euro. EU contribution: max 1 896 810 Euro. Each participating authority will contribute with a minimum level of financing, stated in the Grant Agreement, while the EU Commission will support with approximately 60 % of that specific amount.
State of play
The MARSUNO project has been in operation for 15 months and is following the work plan with some minor deviations. Several groups have finished their first sub-tasks and the work has been started concerning five thematic reports of the project’s layer 1-5, summing up the results and recommendations they have agreed on within each work group. A final report will be delivered to the EU Commission/DG MARE by the end of December 2011, under responsibility of the Maritime Situational Awareness layer (work group). During 2010 a lot of efforts have been paid regarding the mapping project partners capacity to exchange surveillance and monitoring information, and this will continue during 2011. It is foreseen that in the Autumn of 2011 one of the work groups will perform a demo and examine how the information exchange work can based on different platform solutions. A gap analysis identifying administrative, technical and legal obstacles will be carried out during March 2011 and the results from this will be used in the project’s further work. The final report will emphasise best practice within different sectors and suggest solutions to identified gaps for an improving conditions for information exchange with other EU Member States as well as third countries.
Next steps
A gap analysis will be carried out within all working groups. Several seminars will be arranged during the Spring of 2011. From September to December 2011, the project’s work groups will finalise their work in different reports, containing examples of best practice solutions for information exchange and suggestions of how to improve identified obstacles for information exchange within the different sectors (user communities).
Expected finalization
December 2011.
13.3 “Speed up re-surveying of major shipping routes and ports”
Description of the project
Websites:
Baltic Sea Marine Environment Protection Commission
Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission
The aim of the project is to speed-up hydrographic re-surveys of the Baltic Sea, and thus to contribute to improving the safety of navigation. More specifically, the activity aims at developing and starting implementation of the revised Baltic Sea Re-survey Scheme, to be based on national re-survey plans and to cover the whole Baltic Sea area in a harmonized way. The 2002 Re-survey Scheme, developed by the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC) following the HELCOM 2001 Copenhagen Declaration, will be revised e.g. taking into account the actual shipping routes (based on AIS) and the new routeing measures established or planned in the Baltic Sea.
Hydrographic re-surveying is a continuous activity. It has been agreed by the coastal countries that the national re-survey plans, including time schedule estimations, are to be finalized and presented preferably by 2013, but not later than 2015.
Leader of the project
The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) and the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission (BSHC) are co-leaders for this activity.
Financing
Based on SOLAS , the governments of the Contracting States are responsible for funding re-surveys in their areas of responsibility. The amount of re-surveys and their time schedule is mainly depending on the funding available. Finland and Sweden are speeding up their re-surveys by seeking external funding for parts of their re-surveys from EU TEN-T funds under the umbrella of Motorways of the Baltic Sea Concept (MonaLisa project).
State of play
The revision of the Baltic Sea Re-survey Scheme, including its principles, has been agreed on a political level (HELCOM Ministerial Meeting on 20 May 2010, Moscow). The BSHC committed in September 2010 itself to the implementation of the revised Scheme and tasked its Monitoring Working Group to develop the harmonised scheme by 2013 (2015).
Currently re-surveys have mainly been conducted on the so-called category 1 areas. The amount of re-surveyed areas is increasing, but there is still a lot of re-surveying to be carried out even on category 1 areas, please refer to Fig.1.
The re-survey database is available at http://helcomresurvey.sjofartsverket.se/helcomresurveysite.
Next steps
The MWG is planning to have a meeting in May 2011 with the aim to review the progress, to agree on implementation details and to have a workshop where all can jointly load their re-survey areas into the database. This meeting will also prepare reporting to IRCC3, EUSBSR, BSHC and HELCOM.
The BSHC will report the re-survey scheme and the database to the IHO Inter-Regional Coordination Committee (IRRC) at its 3rd meeting in May 2011 as an example of a regional implementation of the World Wide Status of Hydrographic Surveying (C-55).
The EU TEN-T MonaLisa project which i.a. aims at carry out re-surveys in Finnish and Swedish waters was approved in late 2010.
The BSHC will review the progress of the implementation at its 16th Conference in September 2011.
Expected finalization
The new Baltic Sea Re-survey Scheme is to be fully harmonized and put in place by 2015 at the latest. However, most of the BSHC members have strong intentions to finalise their schemes by 2013.
Generally, national re-surveying is a continuous activity according to the respective national timetables.
Motorways and electronic navigation by intelligence at Sea (MonaLisa)
Albeit not yet formally a flagship project, the MonaLisa project is indeed considered contributing to the implementation of Priority Area 13, in particular Flagship Project 13.3, for which reason a brief description of the project is included here. The MonaLisa project has a standing invitation to attend Steering Committee meetings in order to brief on the progress of the project.
The MonaLisa project is divided into four activities:
- Dynamic and proactive route planning - "Green Routes"
- Verification System for officers` certifications
- Quality assurance of hydrographic data
- Global sharing of maritime information
Quality assured hydrographic surveys are urgent due to the increasing number of large vessels navigating with deep draft. To verify that unknown shoals not exist between old sounding lines is urgent, and the reason why re-survey must be performed as soon as possible.
Re-surveying of HELCOM fairways and Baltic Sea port areas should as soon as possible be carried out by way of modern quality ensured methods to ensure hydrographic data presented in existing nautical charts and other nautical publications.
Leader of the project
Swedish Maritime Administration.
Financing
Total budget amounts to 22.4 M€, of which 50% is co-financing provided by the Trans-European Networks.
State of play
The activity on re-surveying of major sea routes (HELCOM fairways cat. I and II) started in September 2010. The other activities start in 2011.
Expected finalization
The project runs from September 2010 – December 2013.
13.4 “Become a pilot region for e-Navigation”
Description of the project
Website: www.efficiensea.org
This flagship project relates to a work package of the EU Interreg IV B Baltic Sea Programme project “Efficient Safe and Sustainable Traffic at Sea” (EfficienSea).
e-Navigation is a concept under development that provides the mariner with the information required to navigate safely and effectively. Information is gathered from a number of sources from the vessel’s own sensors as well as shore-side services, which is processed and presented to the mariner in a single system. In contrast, today information is often presented at a number of different displays onboard that only partially can exchange information. e-Navigation will help to reduce information complexity and thus enhance the safety.
The aim of the EfficienSea e-Navigation work is two-fold:
- To prepare project partners for e-Navigation through the development of prototype services and the establishment of test beds in the Baltic Sea with vessels, users and infrastructure.
- To support and assist the global e-Navigation process.
Leader of the project
The Danish Maritime Safety Administration is lead partner for the EfficienSea project as well as for the work package on e-Navigation therein.
Financing
The total budget of the EfficienSea project is approx. 8 mill. €, while the budget of the e-Navigation work package is 1,953,786 €, of which EU finances 75%.
State of play
The Flagship Project is progressing well and has completed the preparations for the establishment of e-Navigation trial zones and started work on developing prototypes for several e-Navigation services. A number of prototype services, including provision of meteorological and oceanographic data on route, maritime safety information presented in the nautical chart and route exchange facilities, are already operational.
The prototype services developed will e.g. allow the mariner to be notified directly, if a light house is unlit, a buoy is out of position or if the waves reach a certain height. The prototype also offers route exchange, allowing two vessels to exchange planned routes, which reduces the risk for collision at sea while also increasing authorities´ possibilities to foresee and warn the vessels against dangerous situations.
The actual testing of the infrastructure for e-Navigation onboard a number of vessels was launched in September 2010.
One of the objectives of the project is to make the test results available to the international community working with e-Navigation. On 31 January to 2 February 2011 the EfficienSea project, in cooperation with the International Association for Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) and other partners, organised the conference “e-Navigation Underway”. The conference gathered 130 delegates from 21 countries onboard the cruise liner M/S Crown of Scandinavia, one of the vessels in the project’s test fleet. Representatives from the maritime community including international organisations, industry, research institutes and national authorities presented e-Navigation test bed results from all over the world in order to exchange lessons learned and methodology. The conference resulted in 19 concrete recommendations for the e-Navigation process .
The EfficienSea e-Navigation work can be considered a regional contribution to the ongoing development of a future, global standard for e-Navigation within the International Maritime Organization – the UN agency responsible for the safety and security of shipping.
Next steps
The project runs from 2009 to January 2012. During 2011 the work to test the prototype services as well as the infrastructure will continue.
Expected finalization
The current project will be completed by January 2012, but it is foreseen that additional efforts to develop and implement e-Navigation are required.
13.5 “Create a network of centres of excellence for maritime training”
Description of the project
Website: http://www.c4mt.eu
The aim of the project is to deliver best practice of European maritime training institutions to provide young people attractive prospects for a long life career in maritime enterprises / professions and facilitate mobility between sea and land based jobs, as well as upgrading competences to adapt requirements to today’s shipping industry.
The following general steps are planned to be carried out:
- To establish an European network of cooperative academies and centres of maritime training, supported by representatives of maritime transport and industry
- To accomplish Education and training effects that correspond to the industry's needs and expectations
- To create Joint European best practice model for the broad maritime career possibilities
- To create a Long –life learning system for those who work at sea
The project was originally expected to run from 2011 - 2014.
Leader of the project
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has overall responsibility, while the Maritime University of Szczecin has been appointed to lead the project.
Financing
Currently the project has no financing. The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure provided a limited budget for the project´s lead institution in order to prepare an application to the final call of the Baltic Sea Region Programme. This was submitted in the Spring of 2011, but regrettably the application was not successful. The project´s leader is maintaining the network and is currently investigating other possible ways of financing.
State of play
An initial international seminar entitled “Create a network of centers of excellence for maritime training” took place on 1 October 2010 at the Maritime University of Szczecin; Poland. Representatives of the European Commission, EMSA, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and nine European Countries participated in the event. The seminar defined strategic goals of future work and network, objectives and steps of their achievements. The project´s website www.c4mt.eu was also launched at this occasion.
The 2nd seminar of the project took place in Gdynia, Poland on 20 May 2011.
Recalling the outcome of the seminar the project leader has investigated possible ways of financing the project and has established a consortium of 13 Baltic Sea Region maritime training institutions, with the aim to submit an application to the Baltic Sea Region Programme. Simultaneously, also other ways of financing are being considered.
Next steps
- Investigation of other possible way of financing or cooperation in “parallel projects”
- Elaborate a best practice model for maritime training.
Expected finalization
The project was originally planned to be completed by 2014 – by when a model for curriculum consisting of best practices and standards for maritime training and education is to be delivered.
13.6 “Develop a plan to reduce the number of accidents in fisheries”
There is currently no lead for this flagship project, for which reason the Priority Area’s Steering Committee has been working on resolving this during its initial four meetings, and foresees to revert to the topic again at its next meeting.
At a meeting of the Steering Committee in March 2011, the representative of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Policy and Fisheries, informed that the issue of accidents in fisheries had been discussed at a recent meeting of the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BSRAC ) whose aim is to provide advice to the European Commission and Member States on matters relating to management of the fisheries in the Baltic Sea. Reportedly, the BSRAC might have an interest in the flagship project. The Priority Area Coordinators have initiated a dialogue with the BSRAC to explore the opportunities.
13.7 “Formal risk assessment for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers in the Baltic Sea Area"
It should be noted, that this Flagship Project was not included under Priority Area 13 in the original version of the Action Plan, but its inclusion got broad support from Member States and was subsequently confirmed by the EUSBSR High-Level Group.
Description of the project
Website: www.lngproject.gd.pl
The purpose of conducting a risk assessment is to determine any preventive measures and regulations related to security and safety. A formal risk assessment should include interested parties from both - the governments and industry to develop standard procedures, emergency plans, guidelines and legal incentives. The aim is to perform analysis in order to understand the risks associated with the use of LNG tankers in the Baltic Sea. The possibility of a tanker accident (grounding), especially in the vicinity of population centers; when passing passenger ferries (collisions) or passing under bridges (a collision with the pillars of bridges or acts of terrorism) should be also carefully assessed.
Leader of the project
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has the overall responsibility; while the Maritime University of Szczecin was appointed to lead a project, which should ideally also involve other interested EU Member States and organisations.
Financing
It was foreseen that an application should be submitted by the Maritime University of Szczecin (entitled Marine LNG technology at the Baltic Sea – risk, environmental impact, economical effectiveness) to the 4th Call of the Baltic Sea Region by 31 March 2011. However, the project makers did not reach this deadline, and are currently considering other funding opportunities.
State of play
The project makers are currently considering the situation.
Next steps
A meeting of stakeholders in order to create a Steering Committee for the project was planned to take place in the first quarter of 2011, with the view to submit a project proposal to the Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013. As mentioned, the project makers did not reach this objective. Reportedly, the project makers managed to attract the interest of fewer institutions than originally planned.
Expected finalization
?