BANANAS Ship navigational and docking instrument

For large vessels, the operations involved in navigating the channels to enter and leave ports and in docking are often complex. To facilitate manoeuvring in port, the BANANAS project will develop a portable, autonomous ship navigation and docking instrument for harbour pilots. This tool will incorporate the capacity both to precisely position vessels and to exploit maritime environmental data such as weather, current, tide, bathymetry, etc.  

The compact device, simple to install on board any type of ship, will facilitate the task of harbour pilots who are often obliged during these complex operations to board ships by scaling a ladder up the side. The navigation and docking instrument will be connected to the onshore network to gather all useful data in real time.

The need for such a tool is being voiced particularly by all major maritime ports and by those engaged in activities linked to operating offshore installations (FPSOs, platforms, etc.).