Safe navigation in the Baltic Sea

What exactly happened to the Marco Polo? This passenger and vehicle ferry operated by German shipping company TT-Line ran aground on the Baltic coast of southern Sweden in October 2023. And it happened a second time on the same journey. The mishap caused many of those involved in shipping to sit up and take notice. A ship running aground twice in quick succession is a curious rarity. An extensive investigation determined that, contrary to regulations, the ship’s officers had relied solely on their navigation system – and had been deceived by it. 

This was certainly functioning, but only displayed a calculated ship’s position and not the actual position influenced by wind and currents and verified by GPS. The Marco Polo was in fact therefore following a different course than the ship’s officers imagined. None of the 71 people on board was injured, although damage to the delicate Baltic Sea ecosystem was all the more severe: Swedish authorities estimate that the 30-year-old ship lost some 25,000 litres of crude oil.

A different navigation system may potentially have been able to prevent the mishap. This is the task assumed by ORMOBASS, a cooperative project launched in 2024 involving various countries with Baltic Sea coastlines as part of the EU programme Interreg Baltic Sea Region – including Germany and Poland (NavSim Poland Ltd.), Sweden, Finnland, Estonia and Norway. R-Mode Baltic, the name of the new technology, is intended to assist the shipping industry when the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) suffers receiver interference. It is based on terrestrial transmitters that are independent of satellites. These are positioned along the Baltic coast around 200 to 300 kilometres apart. The majority on the mainland, but transmitters are also to be located on the two Baltic islands of Gotland (Sweden) and Bornholm (Denmark).

Targeted manipulation attempts

Disruption of the GNSS signals can have many causes, explains ORMOBASS project manager Stefan Gewies from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Neustrelitz, which is heading up the project and where among other things he is responsible for nautical systems. “This could be due to natural influences in the atmosphere, or alternatively to intentional or unintentional interference signals generated by people.” Mostly in the case of intentional interference, experts report that there has been an increase in the Baltic – especially in the vicinity of Russia. Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport (BMDV) has also collated data on this. “Since December 2023, there have been sporadic reports from the north-eastern region of German airspace regarding interference to the navigation signals transmitted from the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation system”, it recently announced to the German Press Agency. There have been similar observations in the Mediterranean close to Israel or at the Suez Canal in Egypt, according to Gewies.

New receivers are also to be developed for the R-Mode Baltic system to match the transmitters. “Our objective is to develop a navigation receiver that can simultaneously process both the satellite signals and the R-Mode signals”, says the DLR expert. Receiving both R-Mode and GNSS signals at the same time will enable checks to be run to ensure that the satellite signals are genuine. Because sending false signals is a method of targeted interference. This sabotage technique, also known as “spoofing”, can have dramatic consequences. “Ship captains frequently trust their electronic navigation equipment and in certain circumstances can be taking the wrong course. This can result in collisions or cause a ship to run aground”, Gewies explains.

Yet resilience against such manipulation attempts is only one of the ORMOBASS objectives. The GPS alternative is also intended to assist with implementing increased automation within the shipping industry. “This is exactly where there’s a need for as wide a diversity of navigation signals as possible to constantly determine a ship’s positioning with sufficient accuracy”, says Gewies. 

Europe-wide collaboration

ORMOBASS can and should also help with strengthening cooperation among the Baltic countries. The project can and is intended to teach maritime administrations – such as shipping authorities – how to cooperate in a smooth and efficient manner. Because close collaboration is vital in ensuring the quality and availability of R-Mode signals. Participants include the maritime administrations from Germany, Sweden, Finnland and Estonia. On top of this are research institutes from Germany, Poland and Sweden as well as private companies from Germany, Sweden, Poland and Norway.

The project is now making an impact even beyond the Baltic region. Gewies informs us that France and The Netherlands are also expressing interest in the technology. The project is currently in test operation and extends from the Kiel Canal up to Gotland. “We now want to expand this test area towards Finnland and Estonia as part of the current project. At the same time, we’d also like to increase its functionality and improve the transmission of signals”, explains the DLR expert. Cooperation now also includes the maritime administrations in Denmark and Poland. “It’s a win-win situation for all parties. We’re making really good progress and I believe we’ll have reached market readiness by 2030.”