This paper is the continuation of a project previously presented for the training of students in both the Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Radio Engineering. The proposal makes it possible to visualise and understand how navigation equipment shares information on board a ship, using low-cost devices. Through an SDR receiver, free software (SDA, ShipPlotter, OpenCPN) and minimal investment, students can receive AIS transmissions, decode them, get their NMEA frames to view over electronic letters. This practice recreates an ECDIS environment in a PC, promoting self-learning, technical curiosity and innovation. In addition, it explores the possibility of generating false NMEA frames to demonstrate the vulnerability of the system, reinforcing the importance of information integrity in navigation. The project demonstrates how, without costly equipment, it is possible to assimilate complex concepts into communication and navigation systems, reinforcing the motivation and active learning of students.
The implementation of sustainable mobility initiatives in academic institutions plays a crucial role in shaping environmentally friendly transport behaviours and enhancing urban accessibility. This study focuses on monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of sustainable mobility measures within a university setting, examining their impact on commuting patterns and infrastructure usage. It further investigates the role of institutional collaboration in advancing innovative transport solutions and assesses the influence of newly introduced facilities and organizational strategies on mobility choices. By dissecting user feedback and mobility data, the study provides insights into the effectiveness of implemented measures and identifies key challenges and opportunities for further development and enhancing sustainable transport strategies. Despite these efforts, transport behaviours still do not fully align with sustainability goals, highlighting the need for further research and firmed actions. Nevertheless, the results of the survey conducted within this study indicate that the sustainable development policy is progressing in a positive direction, as 45% of respondents report using intermodal transport when commuting to the buildings of Gdynia Maritime University (GMU). The findings aim to support policymakers, urban planners and academic institutions in refining mobility policies and infrastructure to create a more accessible and sustainable transport environment.
This paper applies the SEMIS (Simple Evaluation Methodology for Intact Stability) approach to a 13593 DWT general cargo vessel for stability assessment using only metacentric height (GM). SEMIS estimate key stability parameters through regression models and compares them with IMO Intact Stability Code criteria. Analysis of 1314 loading conditions of investigated ship shows that SEMIS method provides quick and generally accurate evaluations of stability for typical GM ranges (GM>0.30 m). However, results reveal notable discrepancies for low-GM states (GM<0.30 m) especially in context of weather-related criteria. SEMIS in low GM condition may incorrectly classify compliance and may underestimate critical stability parameters. These findings indicate that while SEMIS is a practical supplementary tool, its application should be limited to preliminary checks rather than final compliance verification. Additionally, we can determine the GM value associated with the critical weather criterion. At this point, the b/a ratio reaches its peak, while for lower GM values it decreases significantly, remaining a nonlinear function alongside other stability parameters.
Maritime activity in the Arctic has increased significantly due to declining sea ice, longer open-water seasons, and growing interest in shipping, tourism, fisheries, and natural resources. While these developments create new opportunities, they also increase operational, environmental, and safety challenges in remote and vulnerable regions. This paper argues for the development of a dedicated one-year, 60-ECTS programme in cold-climate maritime engineering to address competency gaps in current maritime education and training (MET) for Arctic operations. The objective of the study is to present key learning requirements based on real challenges and threats as a result of increased activity. The study draws on historical polar maritime accidents, Arctic search-and-rescue exercises, and evaluations of Polar Code training. Case studies, including Maxim Gorkiy (1989), Explorer (2007), Northguider (2018), and Ocean Explorer (2023), reveal recurring challenges related to grounding, ice navigation, emergency response, remoteness, and organizational decision-making. Although accident rates relative to traffic appear to have declined after the introduction of the IMO Polar Code, grounding remains the dominant accident type in Arctic passenger shipping. The paper argues that existing international training standards are insufficient for the complexity of polar operations. To address this, the proposed curriculum combines theoretical instruction, simulator training, laboratory exercises, and case-based learning grounded in resilience and professional competence formation. The programme is organized into six modules covering Arctic operations, marine technology, safety, resilience, and emergency preparedness. The paper concludes that strengthening Arctic maritime resilience requires not only regulation and technology, but also specialized education adapted to the realities of cold-climate operation.
This paper examines the transition from S-57 to S-101 in the context of implementing the S-100 framework, with particular attention to dual-fuel ENC production and its broader operational implications. The study is based on a comparative analysis of IHO normative documents, technical guidance on S-57-to-S-101 conversion, regulatory materials governing ECDIS use, and research literature on transitional production architectures. The analysis identifies the principal structural and functional differences between S-57 and S-101, including changes in data modelling, feature specification, portrayal logic, exchange mechanisms, validation procedures, data protection, and interoperability with other S-100 products. It shows that S-57 -> S-101 conversion cannot be understood as a simple format transformation, since it is constrained by semantic mismatches, differing relationship models, the need to normalize source data, non-equivalent update mechanisms, and the necessity of post-conversion validation and human review. The paper argues that dual-fuel production should be treated as a distinct production and implementation problem affecting database design, workflow organization, quality control, and transition planning. At the same time, the study emphasizes that these producer-side changes are not isolated from practice, since the shift toward the S-100 environment also has implications for ECDIS familiarization, training requirements, bridge procedures, and the broader conditions of navigational safety. The findings suggest that product-neutral database architectures provide the most sustainable long-term basis for parallel S-57 and S-101 production, although their adoption requires substantial institutional and technical investment.
International organisations and shipping companies placed particular emphasis on ship safety both in the covid and post-covid eras. In 2023, passenger shipping experienced a rapid increase in the number of passengers as a response to the recently resolved crisis. With the full resumption of passenger shipping, significant changes were made to ship’s operational practices to fully align with the new health protocols. These changes were not limited to health-related aspects but also led to the redesign of the ship's operational practices at multiple levels. What has now become clear to stakeholders in the shipping industry -and even more so in the passenger shipping sector- is that unforeseen events can escalate into crises of various magnitudes. A multi-level redesign of ship operations (including engineering, navigation, safety, environmental, security, administrative, and commercial operations, etc.) became necessary for the effective management of unexpected crises and for identifying visible risks. This paper conducts a systematic literature review using the improved version of the SALSA method, the PSALSAR method. The Scopus database was used to extract high-quality and reliable academic papers. The results identify the most significant changes in passenger ship operations, and reveal a new philosophy for crisis management in the passenger shipping sector.
Port State Control (PSC) is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports based on relevant international conventions and regulations. This study aimed to construct a comprehensive analysis framework to identify PSC detention trends by comparing data from two regional agreements for a selected period. The objective was achieved by collecting detention data based on the Paris and Tokyo MoU for the 2018 to 2022 period. The data were analyzed traditionally using statistical methods to determine PSC detention trends with a focus on some factors. The results for Paris MoU showed that the highest percentage detention based on flag registry was Panama at 19.75%, recognized organization was class BV at 16.71%, type of ship was general cargo at 46.86%, ship more than 25 years old were 45.52% and deficiency related to ISM was 16.69%. Meanwhile, the analysis of the data related to Tokyo MoU showed Panama at 30.22%, class NKK at 22.61%, bulk carrier vessels at 39.22%, 15 and 19 years old at 29.82% and deficiency related to fire safety was 21.66%, respectively. The results were expected to provide important insights into the maritime industry, especially for ship managers and shipping companies as well as future studies related to PSC.
VHF radiotelephony remains a fundamental component of maritime safety and is mandated by the STCW Convention as an essential operational competency for seaferer. However, existing studies largely focus on basic button-level interaction and rarely incorporate real-time voice transmission, multi-user communication, or standardized performance assessment. This study introduces a simulation system for the Sailor SP3520 portable VHF radio developed in Unity, integrating real-time voice exchange through the UDP protocol combined with Photon Voice. The framework accurately reproduces half-duplex behaviour, communication latency, channel switching, scanning modes, power settings, and Push-to-Talk operations, while supporting STCW/SMCP-based training scenarios. A multi-dimensional competency assessment rubric was designed to evaluate learner performance in technical operation, phraseology, situational awareness, and radio discipline. A pilot study involving second- and third-year students demonstrates clear cohort-based performance differentiation, consistent error reduction patterns, and procedural compliance trends aligned with training progression. The core contribution is a multi-dimensional performance assessment framework that combines system-logged interaction data with a structured rubric to quantify technical accuracy, channel selection errors, Push-to-Talk misuse, and teamwork-related radio discipline. The findings confirm the potential of Unity-based VHF simulation as a reliable tool for STCW-compliant training and highlight its applicability for multi-user and remote learning environments in the digital transformation of maritime education.
This paper presents a bidirectional imitation-learning framework for AIS-based real-time trajectory planning in automatic berthing. The framework connects a ship’s current state with a prescribed terminal berthing condition by using two imitation-learning policies: forward-time imitation learning from the current ship state and backward-time imitation learning from the desired terminal state. The sampled trajectories are converted into time-indexed probability distributions by time-weighted adaptive kernel density estimation, and the integrated trajectory is obtained from the joint distribution of the two directions. This formulation is intended to preserve the feasibility of the initial approach while improving consistency with the final berthing position, heading, and speed. The method was evaluated using actual AIS trajectories of PCC and car ferries berthing at Shinmoji Port, Japan. The results show that the integrated planner reduced the terminal deviations observed in the forward-time planner alone and avoided the initial-state inconsistency observed in the backward-time planner alone. The proposed approach is positioned as a practical data-driven planning framework for real-time berthing support under similar vessel and port conditions.
The paper presents Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of a hull with a moonpool, aiming to determine its hydrodynamic coefficients and to evaluate the effect of damping plates. Simulations included the response of the floating body in head waves as well as free decay and forced oscillation tests. From these tests, added mass and damping coefficients of the moonpool were determined and analysed. Special attention was given to the application of additional horizontal damping plates installed at the moonpool entrance. The results demonstrate that the non-dimensional damping coefficient exhibits an approximately linear relationship with the degree of inlet area blockage caused by the plates. Furthermore, the influence of the excitation wave amplitude on the amplification factor was investigated, revealing that the factor decreases with increasing wave amplitude. These findings provide new insights into the hydrodynamic behaviour of moonpools and may support the design of offshore vessels and floating platforms equipped with such structures.
In multilingual crews of seagoing vessels, English functions as a lingua franca, and the security of communication depends to a large extent on the use of standardized IMO SMCPs. However, communicative failures occur not only due to insufficient language competence but also due to psycholinguistic limitations of speech processing under conditions of navigational load, attention switching, and stress. The purpose of the study is to identify psycholinguistic mechanisms that increase the risk of professional communication disorders on the bridge. The study has an integrated analytical design and is based on a secondary analysis of empirical data: the results of surveys of seafarers on the use of SMCPs and on hull-based studies of ship-based radio communications. To interpret the discrepancies between the normative model of communication and actual practice, a psycholinguistic model is applied, considering three key factors: processing load, attention switching between communication channels, and stress-induced interference. The analysis showed that the regulatory status of SMCPs is perceived differently by seafarers depending on the communicative context: they are more often considered mandatory in external communication, while they are seen as recommended in internal one. Corpus data show uneven use of protocol elements: the phonetic alphabet is almost always used, while message and exchange termination structural markers are much less used. This indicates the degradation of metacommunicative elements under the influence of operational load. The study confirms that communicative failures in mixed crews are due not only to language competence but also to psycholinguistic limitations of speech activity. A model of professional language competence of seafarers is proposed, combining language repertoire, protocol-procedural competence, and cognitive control.
In this paper we analyse ferry connectivity between Estonia’s mainland and major islands, focusing on structural drivers of service performance, costs, and sustainability. Using operational data and institutional analysis, we show that outcomes are shaped primarily by route characteristics, seasonality, vessel requirements, and infrastructure lock-in rather than operational efficiency alone. The current reliance on uniform large ice-class ferries and terminals tailored to existing vessels has reduced system flexibility and constrained decarbonisation. Drawing on selected international practices with relevance to Estonia, the analysis identifies four strategic priorities—measurable service levels, clearer institutional responsibility, more flexible funding, and diversified fleet deployment—and demonstrates that right-sized vessels and modular capacity can improve utilisation, reduce energy demand at terminals, enhance resilience to variable water levels, and support phased electrification. Strengthening island connectivity therefore requires integrated planning of services, vessels, and infrastructure under clear governance frameworks.
With less than 2% of women seafarers, it is undeniable that the maritime industry, and specifically work on board, is a sector historically dominated by men. Ships are hard workplaces where stress and fatigue are commonly present. Psychosocial risk factors related to the performance of tasks, work organization, and interpersonal relationships could trigger health problems related to stress, such as depression, anxiety, burnout and even suicide. Despite gender differences in the risk of suffering from occupational diseases and accidents in relation to work stress are widely documented internationally in several sectors, research exploring the correlation between gender and stress in the maritime field is scarce. This paper focuses on the perception of stress and fatigue of Spanish women working at sea, making a comparison with their male colleagues. For this purpose, a survey on stress and fatigue is distributed to seafarers, from which 236 valid responses are obtained, these are analyzed and cross-checked using the SPSS data analysis program. The results show that there is a clear difference between genders in the perception of stress, since 37.04% of women and 23.33% of men refer to a high level of stress in the last campaign on board. In the case of fatigue, the difference is greater, with 44% of women versus 21.05% of men reporting a high level of fatigue during the last period on board. The percentages of reported stress symptoms also show important differences: 41.92% of women very often experience “tendency to eat, drink or smoke more than usual”, compared to 22.65% of men who experience this symptom; 30.91% of women also suffer from migraines or headaches, while only 8.29% of men report experiencing them.
According to the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs), vessels must maintain an effective lookout by sight, hearing, and all available technical means, taking into account prevailing circumstances and environmental conditions. In this context, automated visual surveillance systems represent an important enhancement of conventional navigational tools, enabling early detection and interpretation of surrounding vessel behaviour. This study proposes a video surveillance system based on the lightweight YOLOv8n deep learning model for the detection and classification of eight vessel aspects. The model was trained on an initial dataset of 925 images, which was further expanded to 1,742 annotated images. The dataset was designed to reflect real maritime operating conditions, including different times of day, weather scenarios, vessel categories, and geographical regions. To improve robustness, data augmentation techniques such as colour space transformations, geometric modifications, and classification-specific augmentations were applied. Class imbalance was mitigated through the use of class weighting. The paper also describes the system architecture and camera configuration, providing effective surveillance coverage up to 6 nautical miles. The proposed approach enables not only vessel aspect recognition but also the estimation of relative and true bearings, thereby contributing to improved situational awareness and collision avoidance in maritime navigation.
The quantification of safety and ease is an essential aspect of risk assessment in the context of inland waterway navigation using ship handling simulators. This task involves deriving and analysing quantifiable parameters from inherently complex manoeuvres, including ship kinematics and waterway-specific measures. The main challenge lies in establishing a systematic and standardized approach that can be applied to a broad variety of manoeuvres. In this paper, we introduce a data-driven method for assessing the safety and ease of inland waterway navigation, including ship and waterway related parameters extracted from simulation data. What is novel about this method is the spatially-resolved evaluation of the parameters, allowing for precise identification of local critical situations along the waterway. The method is extended by averaging the parameters across multiple simulations, which reduces the influence of outliers and highlights critical situations that persist across simulations. We demonstrate our method's universal applicability with three representative case studies on German inland waterways: a lock entry in Schwabenheim on the River Neckar, a sharp river bend near Reibersdorf on the River Danube and an entry into a planned rest harbour in Niederm & ouml;rmter on the River Rhine.
The Liner Shipping Network Design (LSND) is crucial for global maritime efficiency; however, the field faces persistent trade-offs driven by escalating fuel costs, complex network demands, and geographical challenges. This paper conducts a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to explore how existing studies have addressed these challenges through diverse optimization strategies. Using the PRISMA approach, 119 peer-reviewed articles were reviewed and systematically mapped across several key dimensions: decision levels (strategic, tactical, and operational), problem areas (shore-based and sea-based), service patterns (simple, pendulum, butterfly, complex, and asymmetric), optimization approaches, and physical constraints. The analysis shows that while mathematical programming, heuristics, metaheuristics, and hybrid models are widely applied, their performance and applicability vary across different case studies. Strategic-level studies on network design and fleet deployment dominate the existing research, whereas service patterns such as butterfly and asymmetric networks remain underexplored despite their operational relevance for regions facing trade imbalances. This review contributes to developing the links between optimization methods and specific LSND challenges. It proposes a future research agenda that emphasizes uncertainty factors, green policy integration, and cooperative network design, particularly relevant for developing adaptive and sustainable systems in complex archipelagic or inter-regional contexts. By doing so, it provides a clearer understanding of the field landscape and outlines potential pathways for advancing adaptive and sustainable shipping network optimization.
Satellite imagery constitutes an extremely valuable source of information about the natural environment and the processes occurring on the Earth's surface. However, the availability of useful optical imagery is often significantly limited by atmospheric factors, most notably the presence of clouds. Cloud cover can completely hinder the interpretation of satellite images or lead to erroneous analysis results if not properly identified and filtered out. Moreover, not all clouds are easily detectable—thin cirrus clouds located above water bodies often remain unnoticed in basic RGB visualizations. This article aims to develop and validate an effective method for cloud identification using selected spectral bands and remote sensing indices, which was further tested on the coastal waters of Poland.
This paper proposes a “Probabilistic Reactive Target Model” that generates avoidance behaviors for target ships to evaluate the collision avoidance algorithms of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) in a realistic simulation environment. Focusing on the “shift of the Points of Potential Collision (PPC)” resulting from collision avoidance maneuvers in one-on-one head-on situations, we conducted indirect probabilistic modeling using AIS data. Specifically, we constructed a state transition probability model by estimating the directional probability of the PPC shifting to either the starboard or port side using a linear binary classification model, and by estimating the parameters of the passing distance distribution for each side using a neural network, assuming a log-normal distribution. Furthermore, by iteratively sampling and evaluating transitions to target states that follow this model, we demonstrated that it is possible to generate behaviors in a simulation environment where target ships react to the movements of the MASS.
The article addresses the issues of energy security and the transition toward a low-emission economy in the context of port infrastructure development along the Polish Baltic coast. The central focus of the study is the design concept for a diesel fuel transshipment terminal in a small port on the southern Baltic coast, presented as an application-oriented case study. The first part of the article outlines the significance of liquid fuel pipeline transport and the related safety and environmental protection requirements. This is followed by a review of selected terminals operating on the Polish coast, highlighting technical and organizational solutions that may serve as reference points for new investments. The core of the paper is the terminal design, which includes a location analysis, geological and hydrographic conditions, and the structural solutions for the transshipment platform, loading arms, fender systems, and ship-handling support equipment. The discussion emphasizes the importance of the investment for Poland’s energy policy as well as the potential for flexible adaptation of the infrastructure to alternative fuels (biofuels, methanol) in line with the Green Deal perspective. The study combines transport, engineering, and economic perspectives, and the results may serve as a starting point for further design analyses and investment documentation related to the development of fuel terminal infrastructure in Poland.
This study developed a north-finding system using low-cost sensors and a small 3-axis turntable, even in non-horizontal and magnetically disturbed environments. First, the accuracy of the developed turntable was examined based on image-based analysis. Second, the turntable was rotated to estimate an ellipsoid from the resulting point cloud, enabling use non-horizontal environment. Finally, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment is to identify the four directions. To enhance the precision of the results, it is necessary to increase the amount of experimental data. In order to the time required, this study adopted a method of increasing the amount of data through simulation by sampling without replacement. The second experiment is to detect the due north under the condition that the due north is unknown. As a result, the proposed method achieved an accuracy of +/- 10 degrees in approximately 27 min, and +/- 0.59 degrees in approximately 3.29 h, demonstrating enable to use these environments.
