The ACCSEAS project of e-Navigation to the North Sea Region

ACCSEAS, an EU-funded project to support improved maritime access to the North Sea Region, has officially ended after implementing and demonstrating groundbreaking solutions to minimising future navigational risk.
Mrs. Brigit Gijsbers, who opened the final ACCSEAS conference in February in her capacity as Rijkwaterstaat’s Director of Maritime
Affairs in the Netherlands, summarised the concerns facing the maritime traffic in the North Sea Region:
“Our country is situated on the shores of one of the busiest sea areas of the world, with currently over 243,000 ship movements along our coast and to/from our seaports.  However, we should realize that shipping is no longer the only user community of the navigable space at sea.
The findings as reflected in the ACCSEAS’ Baseline and Priorities Report for the North Sea Region show, from a shipping and traffic management perspective provide a somewhat worrying picture for the North Sea Region after 2020+. The conclusions of this report; based on predictions for the future mean that we cannot be sure they will be 100% correct but should still be considered as a serious wakeup call for all regional administrations and competent authorities who have responsibility.” 
In tackling these challenges, ACCSEAS has developed innovative solutions based on the IMO e-Navigation concept to improve situational awareness and information integrity. Improving the spatial awareness of the mariner and shore-based authorities will allow those users to get a better understanding of the current situation around them. The Baseline and Priorities Report highlighted the potential issue of increased traffic in tighter shipping lanes created by windfarms, particularly in the southern North Sea. There will be an increased reliance on ship systems to navigating through these areas to ensure that the risk of collision and grounding remain low.
Through demonstrating e-Navigation services such as the Tactical Route Exchange, No-go Areas and the Augmented Reality Head-up Display, ACCSEAS has shown that solutions can be developed that will allow users either to receive information they cannot yet get or is more difficult to obtain. This information will enable the mariner, and shore-based authorities, to understand their immediate and near future environment in a more clear and intuitive way. The demonstrations have shown that users are enthusiastic about the improved view of the environment that the ACCSEAS solutions provide.
By improving the spatial awareness, the users of the Region will gain a better understanding of how to traverse it with more confidence, efficiency and safety. This can only serve to gradually increase accessibility in the North Sea Region.
Information integrity is crucial in informing all users of the situation in the maritime space. It underpins the acceptance and ultimate success of e-Navigation as an emerging driver for improved safety and efficiency. A number of the solutions demonstrated in ACCSEAS have the aim of ensuring that the information presented to both the mariner and shore-based authorities is accurate and delivered in a timely manner.