Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation

The 7th International Navigational Symposium on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation Trans- Nav’2007, organized jointly by the Faculty of Navigation, Gdynia Maritime University and the Polish Branch of the Nautical Institute held from 20 to 22 June, 2007 in Gdynia, Poland. The theme of this year Navigational Symposium: “Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation” is, therefore, most timely as it provides participating distinguished delegates who represented Maritime Education and Training (MET) and research institutions, shipping industry, shipowners, classifi cation societies, maritime administrations, ports, services, professional institutes, agencies, societies and navigational instrument manufacturers.

What could be more relevant, therefore, than representatives from 35 countries all over the world coming together to discuss the best possible ways of preparing staff at sea, in shipping companies, ports and maritime administrations to meet these challenges?

The papers presented at the TransNav’2007 covered a full range of topics, from operations, management and organization to engineering and sciences. The Symposium main topics were Marine navigation, Safety and security of maritime shipping, Sea transport and transportation technology, Hydrography, geodesy and marine cartography, Geomatics and GIS in maritime applications, Electronic chart systems ECS and ECDIS, and many more.

It is my pleasure to inform that the following very important persons have kindly accepted the honorary patronage of the Symposium: Mr. Rafal Wiechecki – Minister of Maritime Economy Ministry of the Republic of Poland, Capt. Nicholas Cooper – President of the Nautical Institute, VAdm Alexandros Maratos, President of the International Hydrographic Bureau, Dr. Wojciech Szczurek – Mayor of Gdynia and Prof. Jozef Lisowski – Rector of Gdynia Maritime University.

Symposium Proceedings titled “Advances in Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation” was organized thematically like a Monograph.

On the occasion of World Hydrography Day on 21st of June a special plenary session was organized under chairmanship of RAdm. Dr. Czeslaw Dyrcz and Capt. Piotr Pernaczynski, former and present Head of Hydrographic Offi ce of the Polish Navy. The theme of this year’s celebrations was “Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs); an essential element of safety at sea and effi cient maritime operations”.

A round table panel discussion was organized under chairmanship of Prof. Vidal Ashkenazi, UK. It was the most attractive part of Symposium. The title of Round Table Plenary Session was “Galileo: A Signifi cant Benefi t to Marine Navigation?”. In the Symposium participated distinguished delegates from over 60 institutions
from 35 countries around the world.

The winner of the best presentation award, Mr. Oguzhan Gurel (Turkey), was presented to the audience at the end of the Symposium during the Closing Ceremony.

The winner of the best paper award, Prof Frantisek Vejrazka (Czech Republic), was presented to the audience at the end of the Symposium during the Closing Ceremony.

The 7th Symposium was accompanied by a small exhibition (Imtech, Transas, CMap by Jappesen, PC Maritime), which will display the latest developments in onboard equipment, education and training, safety and navigation infrastructure, and navigation technologies and equipment.

All TransNav’2007 papers are presented at http://transnav.am.gdynia.pl and the Co-ordinates website.