On November 16, the first open “demo day” of the Industrial Competence Center (ICC) “Sea and River Transport”, which started working about a year ago on the initiative of Mikhail Mishustin, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, took place at the site of the XVII International Exhibition “Transport of Russia”. The events of the “demo day” were organized by FSUE “Rosmorport”.

ICC “Sea and River Transport” operates under the chairmanship of Sergey Pylin, General Director of FSUE “Rosmorport”. Two pilot projects are being implemented within ICC – on finalizing domestic software and replacing foreign software for Sochi Vessel Traffic System and on developing an information system for pilotage operations (ISPO). At the moment, the projects are being finalized and are already being implemented at the facilities of FSUE “Rosmorport”.

During the exhibition day, FSUE “Rosmorport” together with SITRONICS, JSC and Intellectica Consulting, LLC –developers of software for the projects ICC implements – presented at its own exhibition products to ensure navigation safety that had been developed within ICC: a system of processing, displaying and registering of information of VTS “SeaTraffic”, the layout of the SMR-X coastal radar station and the “Lotsman” automated workplace.

Sergey Simonov, Deputy General Director of FSUE “Rosmorport”, and Nikolay Pozhidaev, President of SITRONICS, JSC, told the correspondent of TV Centre, a Russian federal television channel, about the specifics of the implementation of the VTS “SeaTraffic” project during the “demo day”.

The results of ICC this year were summed up at the reporting conference “On implementation of ICC “Sea and River Transport” projects in 2023”. Dmitry Skachkov, Director of the Digital Development Department of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, addressed the participants of the conference with a welcoming speech, explaining the specifics of the work of ICC:

“ICC is an important mechanism for the import substitution of software. We have been facing the problem for a long time. Prime Minister instructed to implement mechanisms for the transition to domestic software, and such mechanism has started working for us,” Dmitry Skachkov said.

He added that “demo days” of industrial competence centers were held in order to show the transition process, share opinions and receive feedback, and he thanked FSUE “Rosmorport” and the developers of domestic software for the work done and wished them further success in the implementation of projects.

Sergey Pylin, General Director of FSUE “Rosmorport”, Nikolay Pozhidaev, President of SITRONICS, JSC, and Yuri Ohanyants, Director for Business Development at Intellectica Consulting, LLC, made reports.

Sergey Pylin announced in his speech the main results of ICC. General Director of FSUE “Rosmorport” stressed that in the autumn of 2022, with the departure of most foreign developers and holders of rights to the software used, industry enterprises faced the need to ensure the operability of the information systems used.

“The priority for the ICC when replacing foreign software is to ensure navigation safety, at critical information infrastructure facilities as well. The Russian legislation requires using of domestic software at critical information infrastructure facilities,” Sergey Pylin emphasized.

He also said that at the moment the project to replace foreign software for Sochi VTS was nearing completion.

The completion of the pilot project for the creation of ISOLD, which is being implemented in the seaports Big Port of Saint Petersburg, Astrakhan, Olya, is scheduled for 2024.

Sergey Pylin explained that earlier in pilotage, tablets had been used to provide employees with information about the navigation situation, but the solution worked on foreign software and did not have the necessary functionality: it provided work only for pilots, without the “coastal” component.

Nikolay Pozhidaev and Yuri Ohanyants made presentations of applied solutions in the field of import substitution of software, speaking about the advantages of the equipment that was being implemented. The speakers also answered questions from the audience.

There was a discussion during the event, where Yuri Ohanyants explained the principles of the work of the ISOLD:

“The system is aimed at ensuring navigation safety and achieving the following objectives: creating effective assistance to pilots, digitalizing processes and ensuring the safety of pilotage operations. If we talk about technological independence, it is worth noting that the result of the project is the appearance of the first Russian solution for the pilotage service, within which it is planned to transfer the pilotage service of FSUE “Rosmorport” to Russian software.”

“The introduction of a domestic solution will ensure technological sovereignty and non-stop operation of the port,” Nikolay Pozhidaev, President of SITRONICS, JSC, mentioned during his speech.

In addition to the project on the introduction of domestic software on the Sochi VTS, FSUE “Rosmorport” together with SITRONICS, JSC are conducting pilot operation of the ferries Marshal Rokossovsky and General Chernyakhovsky, which carry out transportation on the Seaport of Ust-Luga – Seaport of Kaliningrad line, in autonomous mode.

The “demo day” allowed to demonstrate technical solutions that show the effectiveness of the ICC work and the achievement of the goals set for the center. The plans include scaling of the developed solutions throughout Russia and the development of new projects: “Implementation of a system for monitoring, documenting of mooring operations and vessels moorage using machine vision and artificial intelligence”, as well as “Creation of a unified database of vessel calls of FSUE “Rosmorport”.

For reference:

ICC “Sea and River Transport” for the replacement of foreign industry digital products and solutions, including software and hardware complexes, was established in July 2022 on the basis of the industry committee “Transport”. The main task of ICC is to provide organizational, methodological, and informational support to industry enterprises in the field of transition from foreign software to the domestic one.

ICC “Sea and River Transport” consists of 10 organizations: FSUE “Rosmorport”, FSUE “Morsvyazsputnik”, JSC “Sovfracht”, LLC “UK “Delo”, JSC “Port One”, JSC “Volga Shipping Company”, FSUE “Atomflot”, PJSC “Sovcomflot”, LLC “RusatomCargo”, PJSC NCSP.