e-Navigation Underway 2017 North America
The fourth in the annual series of the regional North American e-Navigation Underway conferences will be held in St. John’s, Newfoundland on 16-18 October. Conducted under the auspices of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) and hosted by the Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, the conference theme is Enhancing Technology and Innovation for Polar Navigation.
This year, the conference will be combined with the Marine Institution’s Ocean Innovation 2017, one of a long-standing conference series that focuses on maritime technological developments and research, with particular emphasis upon the Canadian Atlantic and Arctic regions. The joint conference broadens the material to be discussed and introduces the views, concerns and needs of the indigenous peoples of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to increased maritime traffic and the related issues that must be considered.
The advent of the Polar Code in particular provides an excellent opportunity to examine how e-navigation can best serve the needs of Polar maritime decision-makers, and the conference will provide a ‘User Forum’ in which to articulate Polar Navigation specific needs and help shape actions to address them. Particular emphasis will be placed on the North American Arctic. The conference will examine e-Navigation as it relates to the following areas: Infrastructure, Ice Navigation and Passage Planning (User Needs and Local Knowledge), Incident Response (Including Antarctic), Sea Traffic Management (Arctic Corridors), and Governmental Programs and plans (Polar Code).
A high point will be the session discussing recent Northwest Passage voyages by the Crystal Serenity, the largest cruise ship to navigate that passage during a transit from Vancouver, British Columbia to New York City. The session will discuss transit planning, the challenges and lessons learned, and the concerns of those who reside in the ecological sensitive area.
Additional details, the conference program and registration information may be found at www.e-navnorthamerica.org.
