Background

Under the "Interreg Adrion Programme 2014-2020" the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure is the leading project partner of the Adriatic-Ionian joint approach for development and harmonisation of procedures and regulations in the field of navigation safety (EUREKA project), with partners represented by maritime administrations in Adriatic-Ionian region, namely: Albania, Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Slovenia. Associated project partner is Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure on behalf of the EUREKA Consortium, sent to EMSA a request for Technical Assistance to support the EUREKA Consortium during the preparatory and implementation phase for modernising the IMO adopted Ship Reporting System (SRS) in the Adriatic Sea (ADRIREP). The request is connected to the “facilitation of ship to shore reporting” pilot project run by the Agency since 2018.

The Administrative Board held on 15 June 2022 considered and approved that EMSA provides Technical Assistance requested by the Croatian Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure on behalf of the EUREKA Consortium under Phase 1 aiming at development of a common understanding and defining the business and technical requirements of the modernised ADRIREP.

Objectives and demonstrated need for the modernised system

The existing ADRIREP system is based on the ship's navigation and communication means, as well as coastal states capabilities available in 2003. Since 2003, when ADRIREP was adopted, the technology for ships monitoring at sea improved.

The main objective of amending ADRIREP is to automatize the reporting from ships, as much as possible, to reduce ships administrative burdens while at the same time improving navigation monitoring by usage of modern technologies and tools. Also, it is crucial to expand the scope of ADRIREP to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece as that would improve overall safety at sea in the whole Adriatic Ionian maritime region.

Figure: Context diagram for ship reporting in the modernised ADRIREP SRS

Current status

Four meetings between EMSA and EUREKA Consortium took place between 15 June 2022 and 17 October 2022 and EMSA supported the EUREKA Consortium in the preparatory phase for modernising ADRIREP SRS.

The following documents (available for download below) had been prepared and approved in Phase 1 of Technical Assistance:

1. Business requirements – the objective of this document is to present the business requirements of a modernised ADRIREP system agreed by the stakeholder group on modernisation of ADRIREP. This document will form the basis for drafting the submission to IMO for amending the ADRIREP system requirements as well as for drafting the technical requirements.
2. Technical requirements – the objective of this document is to present the technical solutions based on the business requirements agreed by the stakeholder group. This document forms the basis for drafting the technical specifications for amending EMSA’s Integrated Distribution Report (IRD) service and the national/local systems of countries participating in ADRIREP.
3. List of changes to EMSA’s IRD and national/local systems of ADRIREP – the objective of this document is to present the list of changes required in the EMSA’s IRD service as well as in the national/local systems of ADRIREP CST and the implementation plan for modernisation of ADRIREP system.

The EUREKA Consortium will proceed with the Phase 2 of Technical Assistance aiming at the implementation of the technical solution defined during Phase 1.