The meeting was organised in coordination with the Italian Coast Guard within the framework of all three EU-funded Neighbourhood Projects implemented by EMSA (SAFEMED V, BCSEA II, IPA III) and took place in Rome on 6 February. Representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Libya, and Morocco for the SAFEMED V Project; Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Türkiye for the BCSEA II Project; and Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Montenegro for the IPA III Project attended the event.

The sharing of terrestrial-AIS (T-AIS) information is a 3-phase initiative included in the action documents of the Projects that was already introduced during their previous iterations.

• Phase 1 consists of T-AIS information sharing between the beneficiary countries of each project.
• Phase 2 includes the additional exchange of T-AIS information between the projects’ beneficiaries and European countries that are connected to the Mediterranean Regional AIS Server hosted by the Italian Coast Guard (MAREΣ).
• Phase 3 aims to include the projects’ beneficiary countries in the SafeSeaNet EU vessel traffic monitoring and information system. The implementation of Phase 3 is planned in two stages and a simplified version of SafeSeaNet will be used before enabling the system’s full functionality. The initial system will include the exchange of port call information (without the detailed PortPlus messages), incident reports and general information about ships such as ship identification, position, course, speed, port destination, etc…

EMSA’s representatives took the opportunity to emphasise the importance of increasing the number of countries participating in the T-AIS data sharing. More countries will join the initiative and more information will be shared, thus enhancing maritime safety, maritime security and marine pollution prevention/response.

The realisation of Phase 3 will represent a significant step forward in creating a wider community of vessel traffic information exchange through a single platform. Ukraine, Georgia, Morocco, and Montenegro have expressed their interest to proceed into this phase and some bilateral meetings with EMSA’s representatives have been organized to define the technical and administrative requirements. EMSA’ reaffirmed the readiness to provide the necessary support to all interested parties.