The Marine Electronic Highway in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore

An Innovative Approach to the Management of Highly Congested and Confined Waters

Since the late 1990s, the use of computers for navigation onboard commercial vessels has steadily increased, particularly when the International S-57 standard electronic navigational charts (ENCs) and the IMO compliant Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) become commercially available.

In the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, shore-based facilities to monitor ship movement passing through either in transit or calling port have been established.  These facilities rely on various modalities of communications (e.g., radar, radio and satellite) and are essentially coordinated by a network of computer systems as in the case for Malaysia and Singapore.  The table below shows some examples of existing facilities and information technologies in place in the three littoral States.

Advancements in information technology have significant impacts on the shipping industry.  Many of the important navigational technologies and data are amenable to computerization, for examples paper charts converted to ENCs, incorporation of some aspects of ship routeing system into ECDIS and installation of audiovisual telecommunications.  Currently, newer commercial vessels are equipped with the latest telecommunication and navigational systems.  In general, the slow adoption of new technologies by the shipping industry is due to several factors among them are capital outlay requirement, training of mariners and limited sea area coverage of current ENCs.  However, there is increasing trend towards digital navigation, enhanced by making ECDIS mandatory beginning 2009.  The developments in maritime safety technologies are generally industry-driven and fairly in adherence to standards and performance criteria (e.g., ISO, IEC, IMO and IHO) unlike the development of information technologies in other sectors and disciplines.  Although the process of development in maritime safety technologies could be considered as quite conservative, there is less proliferation of systems in various platforms and formats.  This can make data exchange and communication easier among users.

Information technologies on environment management and protection, especially for coastal and marine areas applications are numerous such as databases and analytical systems and cater to various sectors and levels.  Development in this field is very dynamic and at times, discordant.  Commercial systems range from simple to complex types and at varying platforms, formats and costs.  There are also numerous in-house systems developed within academic and research organizations with more focused applications, some of which are public domain.  Unlike maritime safety technologies, environment management and protection systems adherence to standards and performance criteria is less rigorous.  This allows for more flexibility to customize some systems to meet client needs and/or applications.  For example, geographic information systems (GIS) have been applied in the management of coastal areas although object representations and specifications are not necessarily the same as defined by S-57 standard for ENCs.