The European Commission has granted Connecting Europe Facility funding to seven projects in Finland. One of these is the implementation of the Maritime Traffic Notification Service NEMO. EUR 2.72 million was granted for the joint project of Fintraffic Vessel Traffic Services, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.
The European Commission aims to award funding to projects with a high degree of readiness for planning and implementation. In June 2023, the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) transport programme committee decided in favour of awarding approximately EUR 61.3 million in funding to seven Finnish projects. Of this, EUR 2.72 million was allocated to the implementation of the new Maritime Traffic Notification Service NEMO.
The implementation of the NEMO system is already underway, and this additional funding will ensure that there are enough resources to implement the system. It also enables the implementation of value-added services.
The Maritime Traffic Notification Service NEMO will be launched in Finland in 2025, when it will replace the current Portnet service. It is a new national maritime information system through which passenger and cargo ships can submit notifications on port calls and is intended for use by all operators working on statutory port calls. Fintraffic Vessel Traffic Services is responsible for the planning, maintenance and in-use support of the new information system.
Roots in the EU regulation on harmonising port call notifications
The need to construct the new information system is based on the EU regulation 2019/1239, the main objective of which is to create ways of submitting the notifications required for vessel reports related to port calls to the authorities in a uniform manner that will involve less administrative burden.
The regulation requires EU Member States to submit statutory notifications for passenger and freight vessels to a common information management system harmonised at EU level by 2025. Until now, Finland’s centralised national single window has been Portnet, which has been in use for a long time, but for economic and technical reasons, it makes no sense to use the system coming to the end of its lifecycle as a platform for the service required by the EU. That is why a completely new system is being built: the Maritime Traffic Notification Service NEMO that is currently being implemented with the newly granted CEF funding.
