Vessel Traffic Services

RELIABLE

High-grade tracking for maximum situational awareness and dependable alerting.

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SCALABLE

Exact match for any size of port or waterway with room to grow.

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CYBER SECURE

Security specialists involved in every step of development and deployment.

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EASY TO USE

Developed together with our customers to meet their operational needs.

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MaritimeControl

Smart solution

Our fully IALA-compliant MaritimeControl VTS system easily tracks any target, from small boats to large ships and high-speed ferries, at open sea and on inland waterways through built-up areas. With an intuitive user interface, Vessel Traffic Services Operators (VTSOs) are up and running in no time, while the extensive configuration options make it possible to customise the user interface and define alarms.

Integrated AI-based monitoring can predict routes and detect potentially dangerous situations long before they become critical. Being a mission-critical system, our VTS system has resilience and redundancy built-in by design.

This means that your VTSOs can thus fully focus on the job at hand, keeping your waterways safe and efficient.

We offer real time response to any issue anywhere. Thanks to our presence around the globe, we can help you from a time zone near you.

More than just a supplier

More than being a supplier, we want to partner with our customers and stakeholders. We strongly believe in collaboration and actively engage with customers, third-party suppliers and channels to develop better products and provide better services.

Open communication and feedback are deeply rooted in our DNA. We greatly value our customer feedback. This is why we organise annual user days, during which customers can help to steer the direction of our roadmap.

We encourage the digital evolution that ports and waterway authorities are facing but also understand that this introduces necessary changes for our customers. We are here to help our customers navigate through this transition with intuitive products and practical advice.

We are not just a supplier; we are a partner.

Dive in deeper

Unlike other Aids to Navigation, VTS is capable of influencing the decision-making process on board ships. With a VTS, operators have full real-time situational awareness of all maritime traffic in their area of responsibility.

Having this awareness, the operator can quickly detect potentially dangerous situations and take the necessary actions. It is therefore essential that the VTSO is aware of all ships in the area covered. This awareness is obtained from AIS information, radar detection and camera systems.

The provisions in SOLAS Chapter V Regulation 12 state that VTS systems contribute to safety at sea, safety and efficiency of navigation and protection of the marine environment from the possible negative effects of maritime traffic.

By adding additional information to the VTS system such as ship details or cargo details, coming from a Port Management Information System, weather information and hydrological information, VTSOs have access to a wide variety of data that helps them to assess each situation.

Conversely, data captured by the VTS system can be fed into other connected systems such as Port Management Information Systems to automatically mark the actual time of arrival (ATA) at waypoints.

A VTSO will therefore want to have a VTS system that provides superior tracking under all conditions.

Constant change

Just as in many other sectors, the shipping industry is going through considerable changes that have an impact on the work of a VTSO. For example, IALA has updated its standards, guidelines and recommendations in order to keep up to date with recent technological developments and future requirements.

Another change that will impact the work of a VTSO is the requirement to register and report the emissions of ships. More specifically, VTSOs will need to pay more attention to the speed of a ship as this is directly related to the emission of CO2 and polluting substances.

A new generation of operators

Although the maritime industry is a very captivating industry to work in, the life of a seafarer is often not envied. Being away from home for many weeks or sometimes months at a time, cut off from friends and family makes a job at sea rather unattractive.

This means that fewer people now start working in this industry and hence there are fewer candidates available to start the certification process to become a VTSO. For this reason, in some countries, VTSO candidates only need to have followed a basic maritime training using a simulator (i.e., they may have no real-life nautical experience).

In order to accommodate this evolution and keep the same degree of maritime safety, VTS systems need to offer more decision support and provide an easy-to-use user interface.

Cyber security essential for continuity

The introduction of digital tools allows ports to better interact with a variety of stakeholders and customers and hence be able to work much more efficiently. The downside, however, is that the more ports become dependent on these tools, the higher the operational risk they will be targeted by cybercriminals.

In maritime ecosystems, where tools become more and more connected, a security breach in one tool may cause a cascade effect in the whole maritime ecosystem. Cyber security is therefore imperative for each tool, especially mission-critical tools such as VTS. Our products adhere to the highest IT standards and have IT security built-in by design. Tidalis is ISO27001 certified.

Evolution through innovation

Tidalis offers an update and upgrade plan to all customers. Effectively acting as an extended warranty, the update plan ensures that any non-conformities discovered in the system are resolved in a timely fashion, while the upgrade plan gives customers the option to install the latest version of the software.

The way we work

Introducing a mission-critical system requires good preparation, extensive domain knowledge and experience. With Tidalis you can rely on a team of professionals who will navigate you and your team through this task. All of our staff have been trained and certified for their task, which is to ensure the smooth transition of our customers to the new reality of an interconnected maritime ecosystem.

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