The aim of the newly formed Navelink is to enable the corresponding flow in the marine sector as in the aviation sector.The key to success is being able to share data in real time with selected parties.
At the end of 2019 Navelink, a non-commercial industrial consortium, was founded by the three industrial companies Kongsberg, Saab and Wärtsilä. All three are important manufacturers and service providers within shipping.
The consortium wants to introduce a global digital infrastructure for secure and scalable information exchange in shipping to increase efficiency and safety and to reduce the climate impact in the entire shipping sector. Already, the first group of external users has joined. It is three EU projects, where the Swedish Maritime Administration is responsible for the infrastructure solution.
At Combitech we have been commissioned to deliver the infrastructure service. The service we deliver is an information platform that is similar to Appstore, where we ensure that anyone who wants to access the services are approved, services or "apps" in the system are registered securely, are relevant and meet the requirements.
Anders Wendel, head of Navelink at Combitech.
Navelink is an extension of the Sea Traffic Management (STM) project that has been going on for many years with many different partners and funding from the EU. The STM project was validated with 300 test vessels in two test beds in the Nordic region and in the Mediterranean and was completed in 2018. The Navelink consortium now takes the project further out into the world to ensure that operations are managed professionally and with a high level of security.
Up and running April 1st
Navelink is not the only player working the field, there are other actors, but none that have reached this far. Since April 1, the system has been available to users.
This is a new example of cross-industry collaboration where the industry interacts with the authorities and where we together contribute to the development and digitization of the maritime sector. We are in an operational phase and welcome new users.
Anders Wendel, head of Navelink at Combitech.
