Ro-ro vessels use shipside and shore ramps as roll-on/roll-off loading facilities. Baltic Sea has not tidal effects and water level did not change very much. In same time water level fluctuations in ports areas make difficulties to establish proper access to shore for ro-ro vessels during loading and unloading operations. Flexibility of ro-ro vessel-to-shore links pan is one of the key elements for optimization of ro-ro operations in ports. Feasibility outline of pontoon ramp potential, calculation methods and practical usage is studded and presented further in the article

Information about user’s position can be obtained from specialized electronic position-fixing systems, in particular, Satellite Navigation Systems (SNS) as GPS and GLONASS, and Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) as EGNOS, WAAS, MSAS. All these systems are known also as GNSS (Global Satellite Navigation System). As the number of GPS and GLONASS satellites visible by the user is sometimes in restricted area not sufficient, and these SNS cannot provide information about integrity, there is one service for civil users only etc., new systems, global as well as regional, must be constructed. The last years gave a rise to many important changes in the operational status and practical exploitation of all these systems. New SNS as Galileo in Europe and Compass (Beidou) in China, new SBAS as GAGAN in India and SDCM in Russia, new regional SNS as IRNSS in India and QZSS in Japan are actually under construction. Additionally the new satellite blocks as GPS IIF and III, and GLONASS K1 and K2, the new signals as GPS L5 and L1C, and GLONASS LC3OC and L1OC, the new services and possible applications of the future system Galileo are presented in this paper

The ship domain – the area around the ship that should be clear of other vessels or objects – depends on many factors. In this paper authors present results of simulation research on ship domain determination. The influence of ship size on domain shape and dimensions in the restricted area have been analyzed. The method of determining ship domain is characterized. The results have been presented. The domains of ships of different sizes have been compared and conclusions formulate

The following paper presents an analysis of the number of accidents, injuries and deaths over the last years. Accident trends have been identified in Poland with reference to different seasons. It includes an analysis of statistical data on both the number of vehicles, type of accidents occurring on roads and their causes. The evaluation of the road accidents’ effects has been carried out

The paper presents problem of ships traffic flow parameters estimation and the impact of sample size (ships track based on AIS data) on estimation of general population parameters. Too many trials for each estimated point lead to prolonged study, to few trials can no ensure the desired accuracy and reliability of inference. Passages of ships under the Øresund Bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark were analyzed. The conclusions can be used as directives for researches on traffic flows on open and restricted waters

The risk analysis of ships’ accidents leads to the conclusion that one of the most important and dangerous stages existing during a ship’s trip is harbour entering and leaving. The use of the modern methods of risk estimation should improve both ship/harbour safety and the economic profitability of the taken decisions. This concerns especially the harbour entering by maximum acceptable size ships for the given harbour. The analysis of the indispensable data sets and the decision model algorithm proposed for the system of Szczecin– Świnoujście ports were described in the article. The use of the decision model, taking into consideration the dynamic current data and hydro-meteorological conditions, including their changes tendency and the possible changes of ship movement parameters, should increase the decision efficiency and hold the same safety level

The paper presents the practical using of model for underkeel clearance evaluation. Real data from Maritime Office concerning ships which enter ports was used to analysis of results first probabilistic model of underkeel clearance and next integrated system. During analysis mean probability that underkeel clearance will be less than zero was determined for ports in Świnoujście, Szczecin and Police. Results of this analysis can be used for further research connected with integrated system for underkeel clearance calculation

In this paper the hypothesis about Poissonian character of vessel traffic stream from Świnoujście to Szczecin has been verified. And the hypothesis about Non-Poissonian character of vessel traffic stream from Szczecin to Świnoujście has been verified. To reach this goal, VTS data from second half of 2009 has been used. To description of non- Poissonian vessel traffic stream, for the first time, mixed distributions have been use

In the sea areas with heavy traffic, there is a great danger of collision or grounding. In order to improvemaritime safety at the gulf of Gdańsk in the middle of 90s, a vessel traffic services was installed. The VTSsystem operators can provide navigational assistance, if the parameters of the ships movement endanger thesafety of navigation. For proper functioning of the system there is a network of coastal radars stations whosesignal is used to create a radar picture of the navigational situation. In the vts determination of the ship position based on radar observations may lead to large errors. The IMO organization recommends to reject and repeat measurements containing large errors. For a moving ship perform a re-measurement in the same position is not possible. This paper presents possibility of compensation the coordinates of the vessel position based on radar observations using the of M-estimation methods

Radar target tracking on a sea-going ship is a basic source of information about movement of other vessels, influencing directly safety of navigation. The research on improving of tracking methods has led to a new concept of multiple model neural filtration, which is a combination of multiple model approach with the use of artificial neural networks for the needs of estimation of movement vector. One of the key issue during designing of filter id to establish rules of interaction between elementary filters. The paper presents the most popular methods of manoeuvre detection and interaction of elementary filters in the numerical filtration. The modifications of them for the needs of neural tracking are proposed. Additionally, a concept of use of probabilistic neural network for this purpose is described. The idea was checked in the experimental research with the use of simulation. The result of the research confirmed usefulness of using PNN in multiple model filtration, showing however simultaneously the directions of future research in this. The research was financed by Polish National Centre of Science under the research project “Development of radar target tracking methods of floating targets with the use of multiple model neural filtering”

The research explained in this paper was carried out to investigate the efficiency of different steering systems on sailing yachts. The steering system of a sail yacht mostly includes a simple steering system and a hydrodynamic shaped single rudder or multiple rudders, depending on boat characteristics. One of the basic design guidelines for fast sailing yachts is to reduce wetted surface to minimum allowed by the dynamic stability and maintaining the sailing performances. Deficiencies of different steering systems are discussed and their influences on total drag and yacht manoeuvrability in different sailing directions is analysed. The discussion is focused on steering systems applicable in practice and accepted by the yacht-building industry, although several innovations could be found that remained on their development stage because of their complexity in construction, maintenance, use itself and reliability. All measurements have been conducted at sea applying on board sensors for position and accelerations acquirements. The purpose of the research was to demonstrate that the use of the bended rudder can reduce the leeway angle, the upwind sailing angle and increase the velocity made good to windwar

The paper presents a software implementation of multiple model neural filter for radar target tracking. Such a filter may be proposed as an interesting alternative for numerical filters. The main purpose of software implementation is to provide a tool for complex research of the filter possibilities and adjusting options. A concept of a filter is briefly mentioned, however the main body of paper is focused on user-approach detailed description of application with UML use-case diagrams. Examples of detailed presentation of usecases are given and the general use-case diagram for application is included. The application itself is to be an advanced tool for researchers interested in analyzing target tracking process, providing different tracking methods and the possibility of adjusting their parameters. The possibility of simulating any scenario, as well as working with real data (also on-line) was ensured. The research was financed by Polish National Centre of Science under the research project “Development of radar target tracking methods of floating targets with the use of multiple model neural filtering”

PNDS (Pilot Navigation and Docking System) [1] utilizes the range measurement between laser head and ship’s side to determine the ship’s outline presented on the screen. The noisy measurements and dynamic process noise affect the accuracy of determined parameters and propagate to ship’s heading and position. To improve the performance of PNDS system there was a need to apply the data filtering technique. In the paper the theoretical basis and algorithm of discrete Kalman filter designed for range optimal estimation in PNDS were described. The real data collected during berthing operation of motor vessel Navigator XXI were filtered and compared to row unfiltered data. The conclusions contain evaluation of filter capabilities and its potential application in PNDS system

Growing environmental protection requirements also include problems of ozone depletion by coolants. This article presents a possibility of using a cause-and-effect diagram, known as Ishikawa diagram, for an analysis of faults occurring in marine refrigeration systems. The analysis, focused on refrigeration systems installed in Polish fishing vessels, makes use of extensive faults data collected during research

Accurate knowledge about the causes, circumstances and place of transport accidents is the prerequisite to take the correct action to improve transport safety. Developing appropriate organizational structures, formsand methods of management and implementation of safety measures in the sectoral approach condition the success. Therefore, the Safety Information System is one of the integral areas of the Integrated Transport Safety System ZEUS