NAUTConnect is a continuous remote compliance verification system for electronic navigational systems and integrated network equipment. It covers onboard systems and data collection infrastructure, onshore systems and data standards, as well as procedures for system health monitoring and compliance verification. The voluntary class notation includes MO and class requirements, as well as requirements for service providers, for example OEMs involved in monitoring and maintaining given systems and equipment. It also enables vessel owners and managers to keep better track of hardware and software updates and replacements.

“As the era of ship connectivity progresses and systems become more deeply integrated, we need to focus on increasing harmonization and creating processes and services that will help to reap the safety and efficiency benefits of e-navigation,” said Geir Dugstad, Technical Director, DNV Maritime. “We are very pleased to have worked with great partners like Kongsberg Maritime, Kongsberg Digital and Hurtigruten on NAUTConnect and to have received such great feedback and enthusiasm for the new service. As we go forward, we are looking into covering additional functions, such as communication and control systems in addition to navigation, as we continue to work with system and data collection vendors, and continue to scale up our continuous, automated, and data-driven solutions.”

Key industry contributors included, navigation systems manufacturer Kongsberg Maritime (KM) and its digital arm, Kongsberg Digital (KDI), while Norway’s Hurtigruten Coastal AS is one of several shipowners that piloted the service.

“For KM the NAUTConnect initiative has provided us with an opportunity to make quality-assured key system data available to end users and business stakeholders, while providing a much better insight into system status and performance for shoreside users,” said KM Principal Engineer Gudbrand Strømmen. “It has also provided us with an incentive to standardise our reporting of key system parameters, and by using NAUTConnect as an industry standard has enabled us to improve access to this information from systems delivered by our sub-suppliers.” KM provided access to key systems data, such as topology information, health status and relevant alerts.

“We have had a MoU with DNV on digital collaboration since 2019,” added KDI Vice President Kim Evanager. “We saw NAUTConnect very early on as an excellent opportunity for joint development, adding value for both parties and contributing to adding content and services to our Kognifai Ecosystem.” KDI made data available through their Vessel Insight infrastructure.

“We really see the value of continuous, automated and data-driven services that can provide us with better insight into our operations,” said Hurtigruten Coastal Managing Director Gerry Larsson-Fedde. “We welcome the NAUTConnect initiative and see it as natural to implement the service in our fleet. At Hurtigruten we use navigational systems vendors across our fleet and are looking forward to DNV extending the development to more manufacturers so that we can run this on all our ships, not only the ones equipped with KM bridge systems. We believe in this and want to see it on all our vessels!” NAUTConnect was tested and evaluated on the Hurtigruten Coastal Express ship MS Polarlys.

NAUTConnect builds on the IMO’s ongoing ‘e-navigation’ strategy, which is intended to harmonize ship-to-shore information exchange.