Navdec is an innovative navigation system to prevent collisions in maritime traffic; the system collects all the data on the current situation of the ship, and recommends a safe course in case of danger of collision. According to the agreement between the Polish Baltic Shipping, which operates ferries under the brand name Polferries, and the Navdec system operator, the company Sup4Nav, all three ferries operated by Polferries will be equipped with the system.

"The system helps the navigator in collision situations" - told PAP the CEO of Sup4Nav Piotr Wołejsza. "The navigator views the whole situation on an electronic map, which shows other ships" - explained Wołejsza. "The innovation of the system is determining the priority of units, as well as the provision of the maritime law from which it results. When a unit does not have priority, the navigator determines the distance at which he would like to pass by another ship, and the system returns safe and dangerous routes" - he added.

"The system can determine safe and dangerous courses in relation to one ship, but also many within a certain distance from the navigator\'s own ship. For example, the system can take into account all the objects in a radius of eight miles, and determine safe or dangerous routes in relation to those objects" - continued Wołejsza.

Polish Baltic Shipping is the first operator, which has decided to commercially use the system and signed a purchase contract - said Wołejsza. "We still have nine shipowners, who are testing the system and we hope that we will sign contracts at least with some of them" - he added.

The modern system was developed at the Maritime University of Szczecin by the team of Prof. Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, and is now being commercialised by the company Sup4Nav formed by the university employees with the support of the Polish Entrepreneurs Foundation.

The system supporting the work of the navigators was tested from the beginning of 2016 on board ferries Wawel and Mazovia operated by Polferries. Now the system will be installed on the third Polferries ferry, the Baltivia.

"Currently, there are no regulations that require shipowners to install such systems" - told PAP Technical Director of Polish Baltic Shipping, Jakub Komers. "However, in a few years systems based on such principles and with similar functionality as Navdec will be a requirement. With this in mind, we wanted to slowly prepare our crews for this eventuality" - he added.

"An additional advantage for Polish operator, which we are, was the fact that Navdec means supporting a domestic company" - emphasised Komers.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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