NAVTOR Wins e-Navigation Category During the 2019 SMART4SEA Awards

11, Jan, 2020

During the 3rd consecutive year of The SMART4SEA Awards in Athens, NAVTOR won the e-Navigation category for their Passage Planning software, which the company has developed to help shipping companies greatly reduce vessel administration duties, while ensuring complete documentation compliance, safety and accuracy.

NAVTOR originally launched the module as a part of its NavStation route planning tool in 2017. In 2018 the solution was enhanced with features that allowed for navigators to automatically captures all necessary passage plan information, such as ENC cells, journey waypoints, UKC calculations, ETD, ETA, etc., as they map out their upcoming voyages. By automating much of process, the Norwegian e-Navigation specialist has transformed administration duties on the bridge, cutting the time spent on average passage planning tasks from 3-4 hours to just 30 minutes.

It’s a game-changing efficiency that, NAVTOR CEO Tor Svanes stresses, the industry has been crying out for.
“We are honoured that our effort to make life easier for navigators has been recognized with this prestigious award,” he states. “The module was conceived following in-depth discussions and co-operative development with 16 leading shipping companies, with the team taking the time to fully understand industry demands before launching an extensive, four-year product development process.”

Traditionally passage planning has been done manually, with the navigator required to input all the necessary, correct data. That is a huge burden, and responsibility, not to mention an inefficient use of valuable man hours. NAVTOR’s Passage Planning software automates a lot of tedious, repetitive tasks by instantly logging the required data and help navigators compile a report ready for inspection by port state authorities and other relevant organisations. It is easy to use, saves shipping companies a lot of time, enhances safety by eradicates the danger of human error during manual inputs and enhances safety – and help them keep their vessels compliant.

“This is an innovation our customers have been dreaming of. A Greek shipowner recently described the software as a miracle! Such feedback motivates us to continue in our mission to develop e-Navigation solutions that delivers tangible benefits by simplifying tasks and enabling safer, more efficient operations.”