According to information from UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), most of the 2.1 million tons of oil spilled at sea each year go undetected. The lack of awareness is mainly due to the limitations of the technologies used so far to survey areas of the ocean and detect oil spills with sufficient accuracy and reliability. This fact is of particular general interest in port enclaves due to the high concentration of maritime traffic, the activity of oil terminals and hydrocarbon transfer facilities operating in them and the bunkering services provided to ships. In this sense, it is necessary to have appropriate means to obtain early warnings of these incidents and to minimize their impact on the environment, society and the economy.
For this reason, the APBA has decided to invest in the implementation of the Ziday pilot project to develop an intelligent tool for the early detection of oil spills on the sea surface, their characterization, the investigation of possible vessels that could be the cause of such pollution incidents, but also for the detection of sewage spills in the port environment.
The project has been awarded and will be developed by the companies Híades, a Spanish company dedicated to technological consultancy specializing in digital and innovative solutions for the maritime and port sector, and Orbital EOS, a Spanish start-up founded by experts from the Spanish Agency for Maritime Safety and Rescue (SASEMAR), with experience in the design of technological solutions based on the analysis of satellite data and remote sensing stations.
It should also be noted that this initiative was the winner of the 3rd Travesía de la Innovación Ideas Competition in the category of “best innovative external idea”. The pilot project obtained financing by the APBA, thus demonstrating the organization’s commitment to channel innovation through an open model through which the port-logistics business benefits from any innovative initiative with a high impact on its activity.
The scope of the pilot project is to validate the use of a digital management and decision support tool for the control and monitoring of the marine environment, through the observation of the sea surface via satellite images; and with the aim of identifying stains associated with the spill of oil products and the discharge of sewage in the waters of the Port of Algeciras. The processing of these images with the application of machine learning models will allow the identification of a spill in addition to characterizing the type of product, in the case of hydrocarbons. On the other hand, the integration of AIS data, on the geographical positioning of ships, will provide information to clarify the possible causes of maritime pollution incidents by analyzing the trajectory and maneuvers of ships.
In addition, the platform will contain automatic notification and reporting functionalities in order to facilitate the rapid implementation of measures to deal with pollution incidents.
Expected results:
- An improvement in the management of the monitoring and control of the waters of the Port of Algeciras, by means of a digital tool, which allows not only to support the anticipation of pollution episodes, but also to detect possible incidents that could go unnoticed with the current means.
- Improve the quality and conservation of the seabed in the waters of the Port of Algeciras.
- Reducing the environmental impact of possible spills and early identification of those causing them.
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