AIS & LRIT INVESTIGATION: Ship monitoring and transit corridors

Recent news that the EU would most likely take over the US role of hosting an international exchange of LRIT (Long-Range Identification and Tracking Systems) data from SOLAS ships is only the latest development in a long trend of increasing ship monitoring.

From prior experience writing about AIS, I know monitoring raises concerns in seafarers. Regulators and owners, on the other hand, are generally positive. In many highly trafficked areas, governments use monitoring to set up and control the flow of ships.

This article kicks off a study into how different companies and nations are using monitoring, to make shipping operations safer, more profitable, more predictable and less likely to cause pollution. How is data being collected, transmitted, shared, purchased and manipulated?

What are the arguments for and against monitoring technology? Which companies are making innovative monitoring-related products and services? And which nations are setting up transit corridors, where are they doing it and where are they thinking about doing it?

Along with my own reports and entries published here, I will also start a series of discussions that aim to address different aspects of this story:

• At the forum, I have started a discussion into how seafarers see ship monitoring, and what they would like to see in future, in terms of technology, regulations or company policy
• At the Maritime Executive discussion group in LinkedIn, I have started a discussion into how technology and shipping companies are making use of new technologies and possibilities with greater monitoring, and
• At the Hydrography discussion group in LinkedIn, I am starting a discussion about how governments are using monitoring and establishing transit corridors to control shipping and its impact.

In order to provide a way for those who are interested to follow all of these discussions simultaneously, I set up a daughter blog called “Monitor” that gathers all input into a single presentation. You can also follow the discussion on 59° 56′ N

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