Application of MBSE as a support to the definition of the port informer service in the Italian ports

This paper describes an application of the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach in a study performed on behalf of the Italian Port Informers Association, with the purpose to provide a solid technical background to the definition of the Port Informer Service (also referred in this paper simply as Service), and to its future evolution. The current Italian legislation does not include such Service neither among the “public utility services” ruled by the Maritime Authority (Coast Guard), nor among the “general interest services” ruled by the Port Authority. The lack of a clear definition of the Service is the source of an uncertain situation, in which the activities of the Port Informers derive from local ordinances issued by the single Harbor Master´s Offices (Capitanerie di Porto, local office of the Coast Guard). From a different point of view, the continuous evolution in the technological equipment of the authorities involved in port operations, with systems such as Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), Automatic Identification System (AIS), Port Management and Information System (PMIS) and so on, urges the Port Informers to share a common process of migration, in order to be fully integrated in the exploitation of the opportunities made available by the new technologies. A strong need was thus felt for a new regulation of the services provided by the Port Informers at national level, in order to promote a necessary uniformity in the provision of the Service, and to better support the management of port security, maritime traffic monitoring and navigation security.