The STEER Project is designed to listen to seafarers, to better understand the real-world impact of the combined introduction of new systems and working practices to seafarers at sea and ashore.
A timely and urgent example is GNSS disruption, a topic The Nautical Institute has done some work on.
If you follow maritime news, or even general news, you will have heard about increasing reports of GNSS jamming and spoofing. Whether caused by geopolitics, conflict, criminal activity, or natural phenomena, the reality is clear: GNSS systems, like GPS, can no longer be considered to be consistently reliable.
This is a very serious issue for seafarers, as like it or not, many have become very dependent on these systems. You can read more about this issue at The Navigator
During a recent live webinar on the subject of GNSS disruption, attended by many mariners, the most common question was ‘what do we actually do if GNSS fails?’
So what do mariners do when trusted systems, relied upon, or over relied upon, fail?
Join the discussion, share your experiences, listen.
Recent events have shown us that resilient systems are needed to be available in case of GNSS outage for any reason. This will come with additional training needs… both for systems and underpinning theory depending on the concepts.
We have seen current geopolitical events unfolding and spikes in GNSS interference. Has this been affecting your vessel? The Royal Institute of Navigation recently published an excellent free report on GNSS spoofing and jamming. It would be useful for all navigators, ETOs and ETRs to read and consider application to your vessels. It can be found here: the_rin_maritime_report_v1.2.pdf
In particular - how do you conduct GNSS spoofing, jamming and interference drills on your ships? Do you familiarise new Deck Officers and ETOs in the equipment and potential effects of interference? Do you have ship specific checklists? Do you have sufficient guidance in your SMS?
How can we do better? Would like to hear your experiences, advice and feedback.
The checklists on pages 75-77 are particularly useful for adapting to your own vessels and company.