Rijkswaterstaat Expands AIS Shipping Data Services to the North Sea

Magazine | 03-03-2021 | Herman Heringa

Collecting as much data as possible about the North Sea centrally and then distributing it to all interested parties. This is the major goal of the Maritime Information Provision Service Point (MIVSP) project that Rijkswaterstaat is executing on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Assigning this role of information broker at sea to one party results in significant cost savings. MIVSP collects relevant North Sea data with a wide range of sensors on TenneT's transformer platforms at offshore wind farms. From wind direction and speed, air pressure, and temperature for meteorologists to data on the migration of birds and bats for ecologists. And data on shipping via the so-called Automatic Identification System (AIS). "What was special about AIS was that MIVSP could connect to Rijkswaterstaat's existing services," emphasizes application manager Brian Langenberg enthusiastically. "They took the initiative to seek collaboration with us as the AIS team. This allows us to expand our services to the North Sea.

Safe shipping

At its core, AIS is about safety. Ships use the system to automatically let each other know who they are, where they are, what course they are on, and at what speed. By linking this data to a digital navigation chart, skippers can instantly see the traffic situation on the water around them. This allows them to intervene in time if the situation becomes dangerous. But the applications are not limited to communication between ships that happen to be nearby. AIS is a global standard. The equipment used and the data sent are the same everywhere. Moreover, its use is mandatory for seagoing vessels. This makes the system interesting for various parties involved with shipping, such as Rijkswaterstaat and the Coast Guard, but also parties involved with offshore wind farms, like TenneT and the wind farm owners.

AIS for legal tasks

Because ships transmit their AIS data wirelessly, interested parties can simply set up their own receiver to capture the messages," explains MIVSP transition manager Corstiaan Mulckhuijse. "However, this is not allowed just anywhere. In some cases, the data is directly linked to a skipper, which means we are dealing with personal data. Therefore, Rijkswaterstaat and the Coast Guard can only use the data for the execution of their legal tasks."

Expanding to the North Sea

These tasks differ for each organization. Rijkswaterstaat currently uses AIS primarily to make inland navigation smoother and safer. For example, by determining in advance, based on the available data, the optimal order in which ships should enter a lock and where they should be positioned to allow as many ships as possible to pass through at once. The Coast Guard uses AIS data in the North Sea to quickly locate ships in distress, monitor borders, and ensure that ships do not get too close to wind farms and oil platforms. Langenberg: "Through MIVSP, we are gaining a significant new customer in the Coast Guard, which requires the expansion of our services. We need to devise and implement new solutions in consultation and ensure that we provide the relevant AIS data in the desired manner.

Stronger together

The collaboration between MIVSP and the AIS team is clearly a win-win situation. Mulckhuijse: "There is a lot of synergy. MIVSP benefits from our advice based on extensive AIS knowledge and experience. We know how to manage and maintain the sensors - base stations - and how to share the data. MIVSP can rely on our existing contracts and directly connect to our infrastructure DIAMONIS: Dutch Inland AIS Monitoring Infrastructure - including processing system and distribution channels. At the same time, MIVSP offers us unique opportunities to further develop our services, make future-oriented decisions, and make use of their modern test location, the Offshore Expertise Centre (OEC) in Stellendam. We gain valuable knowledge about working on the North Sea there."

Testing at the OEC

To prepare well for the offshore challenges, MIVSP simulates the North Sea situation at the OEC. For example, there is a 1-to-1 copy of one of the large masts on the transformer platforms to which the project attaches sensors. In addition to good testing facilities, the OEC has the necessary technical facilities and office spaces. Langenberg: "It’s really great that we can work there. Because all the sensors are placed on the mast together, we can test how the wireless signals from AIS and other sensors affect each other. We also deal with this inland, for example, with radar near an AIS station. But previously, we could only test the effect to a limited extent and had to mainly reason it out.

Future perspective

The collaboration between MIVSP and the AIS team also offers prospects for the future. An extension to AIS is currently being developed, allowing users to send messages to each other. MIVSP would like to explore the possible new applications of this. The AIS team can assist by testing the new functionality and assessing its impact on management and maintenance. This way, they continue to improve Rijkswaterstaat's services at sea by automatically tracking ships. This provides added value not only for Rijkswaterstaat and the Coast Guard but for all parties working in the North Sea.

Coast Guard AIS to Rijkswaterstaat

In addition to the new base stations from MIVSP, RWS will also manage the existing base stations of the Coast Guard. There are several reasons for this. The Coast Guard wants to return to its core tasks, which do not include managing infrastructure. Moreover, it is more efficient to merge the two existing AIS systems under one organization. This step fits into a larger movement within the government to combine forces.

The Coast Guard is a collaboration of six ministries, with the Ministry of Defence as the manager. Since 2017, Joint IV Command (JIVC), the IT company of Defence, has been responsible for all ICT services of the Coast Guard.