Now that the UK Parliament has rejected the Brexit deal on 15 January, it is unclear what will be the consequences. North Sea Port is keeping a close eye on developments in order to anticipate how the situation will evolve and refer businesses to the proper channels. North Sea Port has been consulting with the companies who do business with the United Kingdom for quite some time. Preparations are being taken and information exchanged regarding stockpiling, Customs formalities, financial repercussions and the impact on IT.

On 16 January the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs launched a new sectoral strategy for the shipping industry as part of the Danish government’s national strategy for cyber and information security. The strategy contains a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening IT security and preventing cyber threats in the maritime sector.

The objective of the strategy is to ensure that safety in Danish waters and on board Danish ships is not compromised by cyber attacks. The responsibility for cyber and information security in the maritime sector lies with the Danish Maritime Authority. The new strategy covers navigational safety in Danish waters and safety on board Danish ships, including systems and software for operation, propulsion and navigation of the ship.

It is reported that the Danish Maritime Authority has established a dedicated Danish Maritime Cybersecurity Unit, which is to handle implementation of the strategy in practice.

Together with Francis Zachariae, Secretary General of IALA, HE Kitack Lim, Secretary General of IMO will attend the opening of the e-Navigation Underway International Conference. This ninth in the series e-Navigation Underway International conferences will take place from 6 to 8 February in the vessel Pearl Seaways en route Copenhagen-Oslo-Copenhagen.

Under the theme Paving the Way for a Digital Maritime World this year’s conference will focus on the benefits and barriers when implementing e-navigation technologies. As always, the e-Navigation Underway brings together stakeholders from all over the world and presents expert speakers from research, industry and governments.

This Copernicus Sentinel-2B image shows blazes near Cape Town. South Africa’s Western Cape often falls victim to fires during the dry hot summer months. The image from 6 January shown here indicates several blazes around the Kogelberg Nature Reserve to the east of Cape Town. Smoke from the fires can also be seen blowing across False Bay towards the Cape Peninsula in the extreme southwest of South Africa.

To go to the other extreme, more than 5000 statute miles to the north a cold snap has reached Turkey as shown in this Copernicus Sentinel-3 image from 9 January. The snow, which started falling in Turkey on 6 January, has led to villages in remote areas being cut off and the authorities having to close offices and schools.

The 2019 European Navigation Conference will be held in Warsaw from 9 to 12 April.

Krzysztof Czaplewski, President of Polish Navigation Forum, Member of EUGIN Council, has sent the Invitation message here:

‘On behalf of European Group of Institutes of Navigation (EUGIN) and Polish Navigation Forum (PNF), I invite you to participate in the next edition of European Navigation Conference (ENC). The conference is organised by the Polish Navigation Forum. PNF is a non-profit organisation, founded in the ’80s, with the aim of association of people involved in development of the science of navigation. Since mid-nineties Forum is a member of EUGIN and consequently represents Polish navigation society out of the country. This is the second time Poland is hosting ENC conference participants. This time, we invite you to Warsaw.’

2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the Legal Session at the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit, organized by BHO Legal in cooperation with the Institute of Space Technology and Space Applications (ISTA) at the University of the German Armed Forces.

The Munich Summit is one of the leading conferences on GNSS systems and applications. High-ranking worldwide speakers from industry, science and government provide participants with a broad overview and different perspectives on the latest developments in the field of GNSS.

The Legal Session, a unique event for GNSS conferences, provides insight on legal or regulatory developments regarding GNSS systems and applications on international, European or national levels.

The 2019 Summit will take place from 25-27 March in Munich, Germany at Alte Kongresshalle, Theresienhöhe 15, 80339 München. The Legal Session will take place on the afternoon of the second day, 26 March 2019.

Captain John Lloyd, Nautical Institute CEO

The Nautical Institute has expanded its world-leading certification scheme for Dynamic Positioning Operators (DPOs) to include a qualification for seafarers operating in the renewables sector. This qualification is a response to the increasing need for specialist operators to work on jack-up barges needed to install wind turbines. This was reported on 7 January.

The Self-Elevating Platform (Jack-up) DP training is based on The Nautical Institute’s established certification scheme. It uses the same logbook as the DP Offshore Scheme to record time spent on board the vessel. A separate task section has been developed in collaboration with employers in the renewable sector to meet the specific needs and challenges of the industry.

Due to the extended impasse between US Congressional leaders and the White House that has created a partial US government shutdown, it is with regret that the (US) Institute of Navigation (ION) has decided to postpone the Cognizant Autonomous Systems for Safety Critical Applications (CASSCA) Conference, scheduled to take place on 28 / 29 January 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia.

The CASSCA Conference has been rescheduled to be held on 16 / 17 September 2019 in Miami, Florida in parallel with ION GNSS+ 2019.

The early bird registration deadline is approaching. ITM/PTTI 2019 will be held January 28-31, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia. To save $200 on registration rates for the ION International Technical Meeting (ITM) and Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting (PTTI), complete your registration by Friday, January 4.

Book your hotel room by Friday, January 4 to take advantage of the discounted conference rate – plus, save an additional $200 by staying in the conference hotel.

The cutoff date to take advantage of the special ITM/PTTI 2019 room rate is Friday, January 4.

Shortly before the Festive Break it was reported by the (UK) Ministry of Defence that three RAF Typhoons took part in this year’s Qatar National Day flypast in the nation’s capital, Doha. The aircraft, flown and maintained by 29 Squadron, based at RAF Coningsby, (Lincolnshire, E. England) flew as guests of the Qatar Amiri Air Force (QAAF) alongside French and American aircraft in the multinational display. In the preceding days, 29 Squadron operated alongside their QAAF colleagues, who fly the Dassault Mirage 2000.

On 7 December IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) completed its landmark 100th session with progress on a number of topics.

These are: (i) a regulatory scoping exercise on maritime autonomous surface ships; (ii) approval of revised guidelines on fatigue and further updates on work on goal-based standards, (iii) polar shipping and (iv) safety issues relating to low-sulphur fuel.

In a special session with invited speakers future technologies and the continued role of the seafarer were discussed. A new IMO safety video was launched, highlighting the wide spectrum of work the MSC has undertaken over 60 years to enhance safety and security at sea, including aspects of navigation, cargoes, ship construction, seafarer training, search and rescue and communications, to name a few examples.

HRH The Princess Royal visited IMO HQ on 5 December (illustrated). She was received by Secretary-General Kitack Lim and addressed the 100th session of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) and took a keen interest in the proceedings as the Committee discussed measures to enhance maritime security particularly with regard to piracy and armed robbery against ships.

On 21 November a highly ambitious project conceived over two years ago was finally cleared for take-off, as the EUROCONTROL Network Manager (NM) confirmed the reception and processing of FSA (First System Activation) data from Brazil by its ETFMS (Enhanced Tactical Flow Management System) operational system. This was reported by Eurostar shortly before the Festive break.

Although the idea of data exchange between EUROCONTROL and Brazil was first floated in 2016, it was not until 17 October this year (2018) that FSAs from DECEA, Brazil’s Department of Airspace Control, reached EUROCONTROL’s testing platform, before full confirmation that total data exchange would be possible almost a year later.

Captain Dieter Wulf informs us the Hamburg Pilots’ Choir will perform their traditional New Year concert in St Gertrude’s Church, (St Gertrudkirche in Altenwerder), Altenwerder, Querweq, Hamburg on Sunday 6 January 2019 at 1700 hrs.

Tickets cost € 12,00 and are available at the door.

Reproduced by kind permission of Inside GNSS ©

In addition to regularly expected updates for GPS systems and U.S. government activities, this week’s meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board included discussions with industry representatives and officials from Europe.

Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Orolia, and Jeremy Warriner, Director of Government Systems at Microsemi, discussed the industry’s readiness to help secure GNSS receivers with anti-jam and anti-spoof technology, and protect signals with interference detection systems.

The General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland – Trinity House, the Northern Lighthouse Board and the Commissioners of Irish Lights – operate 14 Differential Global Positioning System (GPS) reference stations which provide corrections to GPS, thereby enabling greater positional accuracy and integrity in the user’s position.

The authorities are now surveying users across a wide variety of sectors to better understand how the Differential GPS service is being used. The Differential GPS service currently provides corrections for GPS (single frequency) only, but the technology is being developed to enable corrections to be provided for all Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), should there be a requirement. The survey results will be used to establish current and future user needs.

IFSMA, the International Federation of Shipmasters’ Associations, and CMMI, the Company of Master Mariners of India, cordially invite all members of the maritime / marine scientific and professional community to submit abstracts for oral or poster presentations at ISC ’19, the International Shipmasters’ Congress 2019, which is scheduled to be held from 25 to 27 September 2019 at the Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India addressing the theme Future Skills Requirements for a Digitized Maritime Industry.

ISC ’19 is organized enjoys the kind support of the Indian Ministry of Shipping, the Indian Maritime University, the HSB / City University of Applied Sciences and the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology.

IFSMA is most grateful to HE Kitack Lim, the Secretary General of IMO, who kindly agreed to be the patron of the 2019 International Shipmasters’ Congress.

The theme of the triennial World Congress of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) in Chiba, Japan this year is “Science, Technology, and Practice to Resilient Navigation.”

RNT Foundation President Dana A. Goward’s keynote address “Resilient Navigation for a Dangerous World” asserted that, in addition to enjoying all the benefits of GNSS technology, users and governments alike should actively safeguard these essential services.

On 27 June 2018, the House of Commons Treasury Committee requested that the Bank of England publish analysis of how leaving the European Union would affect its ability to deliver its objectives for monetary and financial stability.

The report was published on 28 November and analyses the economic effects of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration regarding the future relationship between the EU and the UK, as well as the consequences of leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement.

Analysis by the Bank includes scenarios not forecasts. They illustrate what could happen not necessarily what is most likely to happen.

There is a real risk that the UK Department for Transport will not be ready in the event of the UK departing the EU without a negotiated deal, and this risk is increasing as time runs out to deliver what is needed.

This latest PAC report is in a series looking at Government’s preparations for Brexit. As in previous PAC reports, the Committee is concerned about how well Government is prepared. There is a real prospect of major disruption at UK ports. The slow progress and poor communication around work to avoid this through schemes such as Project Brock concerns the Committee. The lack of detailed information provided to businesses to help them prepare and the secrecy surrounding discussions through the use of non-disclosure agreements is hampering businesses’ ability to plan.

Royal Air Force F-35B Lightning jets have passed another significant milestone by conducting their first exercise with UK-based American F-15s and French Air Force Rafales, over the skies of East Anglia and the North Sea. This was reported by the (UK) Ministry of Defence on 28 November.

The 617 Squadron jets joined over 40 other aircraft from the RAF, the United States Air Force and the French Air Force on Exercise Point Blank. This exercise was a first both for the F35s and the French Air Force and gave an opportunity for the three air forces to work together in a peer-to-peer scenario.

The IAAC workshop entitled Vision-Aided Navigation will be held on January 14, 2019 at the Daniel Hotel, Herzelia, Israel. This workshop is organized by Harel Karus, Elbit Systems – ISTAR Divisions.

The 27th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED 19) will be held July 1-4, 2019 in Akko, Israel. It is co-sponsored by IAAC.

It was announced from Banff, Canada, on 27 November that CANSO (the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) has outlined the opportunities and challenges offered by new technologies and a new approach to human performance to improve aviation safety.
New technologies, such as automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and space- based surveillance will enhance safety as well as improving the efficiency of airspace. To ensure that these new technologies are embraced in a way that further enhances safety, CANSO is developing a Standard of Excellence in Human Performance Management.

It was reported from CANSO on 22 November that ANSPs from Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and others will work with Inmarsat and the European Space Agency (ESA) to implement ground-breaking air traffic modernisation project.

The Iris programme is a partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and led by Inmarsat to enable secure, high bandwidth datalink communications over Europe. Objective of this is to deploy more digital controller-pilot communications to improve the speed and accuracy of air traffic management across Europe’s congested airspace. ANSPs will be able to rely on Iris’ certified, efficient and sustainable datalink to increase ATM efficiency, relieve air traffic controller workload and enhance flight safety.

News has been received from IALA and the Danish Maritime Authority that the ninth in the series of e-Navigation Underway International Conferences will be held from 6 to 8 February 2019 and focus on the implementation of e- Navigation solutions. This event brings together international e-Navigation experts from around the world.

The theme for next year’s event will be: Paving the Way for a Digital Maritime World.

This two-day Conference will bring together companies and organisations such as National Coastguards Senior Arctic Government Officials, Shipping Companies, LNG Projects, Lawyers, P&I Clubs, Arctic Researchers and Lecturers and many more in an effort to provide an interactive and open event.