* This article is published in Economy magazine Issue 90 .
The advancement of the technologies has a huge impact on the maritime industry. It requires an innovative vision and serious investments by the companies in order to maintain the optimum balance in the HMI.
Partner beginning
“Innovate Maritime Solutions” Ltd is a company founded in 2017 with the ambition to build Bulgarian expertise in the development of marine and river simulators and other marine solutions competitive on the international market. Right from the start, we were recognized as a strategic partner for Bulgaria by the global company TRANSAS Marine – one of the world leaders in the field of marine navigation systems, integrated vessel traffic management solutions, port management systems and simulators for training the ship crews. TRANSAS was recently acquired by the Finnish manufacturer of marine and energy solutions WÄRTSILÄ.
Actually, our partner is well-recognized on the Bulgarian market as its key systems are the basis of the National Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS and BULRIS), implemented and developed through the years by various Bulgarian companies.
First projects
The experience of our experts and the cooperation with TRANSAS allowed us to have a customer as Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy (Varna) – a world-class educational institution for education and training of seafarers. The project we are currently implementing is related to the expansion and modernization of hardware modules and software provision, training and maintenance of the existing simulators in the higher school. The implementation of the project will enable the Naval Academy to provide their cadets, students and maritime specialists with the highest standards of training with the latest generation of trainers, covering all requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Another interesting project fulfilled with “Navigation Maritime Bulgare” AD, is in the field of cybersecurity of onboard information systems.
“Immersive” training environment
Developing a virtual environment for training and learning as close as possible to the real world is a challenge for the human creativity and for the technology. For example, building a fully equipped real ship bridge model is not a serious challenge for the engineers. On the other hand the development of an immersive 3D training environment in which human senses cannot distinguish between the virtual and the real, is still far from the desired state.
One of the aspects we develop the company is the creation of highly realistic 3D virtual ship models, ports and geographic terrains used as content in the simulators for training the crews and the port infrastructure servicing teams. High-level content is an important factor that has a significant impact on the effectiveness of training.
On board cybersecurity
Vessels are increasingly using systems based on information (IT) and operational (OT) technologies that are integrated, automated and frequently connected to the Internet. This creates a higher risk of unauthorized access or malicious attack on ship systems and networks, both by crew members and remotely.
In that regard, recognizing the urgent need to raise awareness on cyber risk threats, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted Resolution MSC.428(98) on Maritime Cyber Risk Management in Safety Management Systems in 2017. By identifying technical weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the onboard shipping systems and the potential cyber security threats in the supply chain, our experts are concerned to minimize the risks of a breach and unauthorized access to ship information and data. The impact of the occurrence of cyber incidents varies from a small to critical, as the negative effect of the latter could cause financial and physical losses to the companies.
We consult ship owners and ship system providers in the implementation of cyber security policies and procedures, we make audits of the ICT infrastructure and software applications both on-shore and on vessels board. We conduct training to raise awareness about cyber threats and cyber incidents. With our experience we help companies to build and increase their cyber resilience in their day-to-day business activities.
Glimpse into the Future
The power of digitization and artificial intelligence into the maritime industry will inevitably change this business domain as well. The development of intelligent vessels, “smart” port operations and cyber-physical security will increase the efficiency and security of maritime transport.
Our goal is to support our customers to meet the challenges of innovation in the digital era and the imperative process of transformation. This will maintain their competitiveness in the harmonizing ecosystem of industrial players – ship owners, manufacturers, operators and will become High Reliability Organizations. But the most important for the maritime companies now is to have a strategic vision for the new opportunities and the way of change.
Nikolay Tomov is General Manager and Co-owner of ‘Innovative Maritime Solutions’ Ltd – a company providing products and services in the field of marine and river information systems and simulators. Nikolay holds the position of Chairman of the Management Board of a public benefit association “Bulgarian Modeling and Simulation Association – BULSIM” and is a Member of the Board of Directors of the European Training and Simulation Association (ETSA). He is also a Member of the Board of Cluster Aerospace Technologies, Research and Applications (CASTRA).