The infrastructure developed under the EU-funded Sea Traffic Management (STM) research project has been contracted to the newly formed non-profit industry consortium Navelink, which will run the platform going forward.
Kongsberg, Saab and Wärtsilä founded the Navelink consortium in December 2019, with consultancy Combitech tasked with the delivery of its operations. The move will see current STM projects continue to be supported as development of the initiative continues, with new services expected to be added to the ecosystem in the future.
The contract with the consortium lasts until the end of currently ongoing STM projects, which carry through until July 2021. The operators note that the infrastructure is an open platform, and other stakeholders are welcome to join.
“To have a consortium of committed international industry actors running the infrastructure is a natural step towards a global secure interoperable STM infrastructure,” said Per Löfbom, Chief STM Architect.
“The procured Maritime Digital Infrastructure facilitates a loosely coupled service architecture supporting information owner sovereignty. The STM projects, and all the partners, will continue to influence the standards and the architecture development.”
“Having an even more active commercial actor, with a deep interest in pursuing infrastructure excellence, will help push the development and implementation of international standards.”