Internet provides valuable
aid for winter navigation

Although the performance of ice strengthened vessels tends to improve all the time, the winter navigation skills of deck officers on vessels visiting the Baltic Sea in general seem to go the opposite way. Now a new web service has been opened at the address www.baltice.org to assist navigators.


The initiative to create an ice data portal originates from Baltic Icebreaking Management (BIM), consisting of the icebreaker managements in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. The Baltic project is included in the Baltic Sea Winter Motorways and has been managed by the Finnish Maritime Administration, which is also going to co-ordinate future development.

“Together with the ‘big icebreaker countries’ Sweden, Russia, Denmark and Estonia we will ensure that this will be a permanent service for winter navigation on the Baltic Sea”, says Director Ilmari Aro, who is in charge of the Winter Navigation section at the Finnish Maritime Administration and Chairman of the BIM for the next two years.

The Baltice portal has been financed mainly by the EU, but also by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Russia.

	Baltice shows updated satellite pictures of the ice situation.

Demand for information
The joint web service for winter navigation in the Baltic Sea area was launched on January 10, when there was still no trace of winter in the Baltic Sea, with the exception of the northernmost coastal waters in the Gulf of Bothnia. After that followed a change in the weather and the ice started growing fast in the north. By the time of writing there was not yet any actual user feedback available, but Mr Aro thinks that this will be a success.

“Last year we offered the ice chart as a free service on the web for the first time and during the winter we had more than 210,000 visitors. It is obvious that there is a demand for information about winter navigation”.

Mr Aro adds that the aim of the free website is to provide seafarers and the whole shipping industry with the best conceivable information on winter conditions in the Baltic Sea, in order to prevent accidents and damage to vessels.

“The capability of vessels to navigate in ice has constantly improved but, due to lack of experience, the know-how of ship’s crews has declined. As the traffic volumes increase there are more and more vessels in the Baltic Sea in wintertime, with crews that have no knowledge whatsoever about how to navigate in ice”, Mr Aro explains.

He finds it unlikely that there will be more Finnish icebreaker capacity added in the foreseeable future and with the traffic of today it is impossible for the icebreakers to assist vessels from the ice edge to port and vice-versa.

As the vessels are strongly built with powerful engines it should not be a problem to operate as far as possible without icebreaker assistance, but it demands elementary knowledge about how to act in ice.

“The crews have to learn how to navigate in ice themselves”, he stresses.

Mr Aro hopes that course organizers arranging training in ice navigation will contact BIM for evaluation according to certificate and references.

“We want to approve such courses to maintain high standards in ice navigation”, he says.

Another aid soon to be included on the website is a training video, including for example animations about how to take a ship through an ice field.

	The Finnish icebreaker Urho. Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

A single access point
The website is unique, as it makes it easier than ever before to utilise the accumulated know-how of several countries about winter navigation.

“It used to be difficult to access all this information, as it was scattered among different organisations in several countries. Now relevant and up-to-date information on winter navigation is collected to a single access point”, Mr Aro says.

The web service contains information such as ice reports, an up-to-date ice chart, an ice thickness chart, reporting instructions for vessels, information on traffic restrictions, icebreaker operating areas and ice navigation courses for seafarers. Data is collected from the authorities responsible for winter navigation in the Baltic Sea area. From 26 tenders received, the Finnish company AffectoGenimap was chosen for the technical implementation of the website.

Updated information is crucial
To maintain interest in a website among the users, continuous updating of information is always important. On a site like this, where the main target group of users are professionals within shipping, providing correct and updated information is crucial.

“We have bought the updating service concerning the ice chart and the ice information from the Finnish Institute of Marine Research during the website’s first year of existence. Information about our traffic restrictions is forwarded to the system automatically”, explains Mr Aro.

As most of the vessels are not equipped with broadband for Internet access, a slow version for access through Edge/GPRS connection has been developed.

“When you are in the coverage area, the information is available with a mobile phone”, says Mr Aro.

In other cases the website is designed for easy printing of the web pages and a print may be obtained for example from the shipping company or the agent’s office when the vessel is in port.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Latest update 20-02-2007 10:04

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