Closing the real-time awareness gap at sea

Passage planning is never static. Environmental regulations shift, weather conditions evolve, and navigational hazards emerge unexpectedly. Yet many operators and fleet management teams still rely on planning tools that were designed for a different era — tools built on static data, fragmented workflows, and limited shoreside visibility.

The result? Missed updates. Inefficient routing. And in the worst cases, avoidable non-compliance and grounding incidents. This doesn’t just create safety and regulatory risks, it drives up costs, as poor planning leads to detours, delays, and higher fuel consumption.

Outdated data poses a real risk

A general cargo vessel grounding near Cairns, Australia in 2023 brought this into sharp focus. Investigators found the ship had used a non-compliant route, with outdated waypoint data entered into the planning tool. [1] This wasn’t due to negligence, but a simple lack of visibility at a critical moment.

And while many modern vessels are equipped with sophisticated systems, they often fall short of providing dynamic insights into environmental zones, discharge regulations, and route-specific compliance requirements. That’s where OneOcean 2025 comes in.

Regulatory zones don’t stay static. A vessel sailing from Lisbon to Charleston, for example, might pass through dozens of areas governed by various MARPOL Annex rules, special areas, port restrictions, and company-defined discharge controls. Each zone comes with its own allowances or prohibitions on actions like: 

• Open-loop scrubber washwater discharge 
• Sewage and bilge water disposal 
• Ballast water exchange 
• Visible smoke emissions 

Failing to plan operations around these zone-specific restrictions can result in violations, even if the crew believes they are operating responsibly.

The Dynamic Timeline addresses this challenge head-on. Instead of forcing crews and fleet management teams to manually check discharge allowances or estimate when they’ll be in or out of restricted zones, the Dynamic Timeline provides a clear, rolling 12-hour visual of what’s permitted and where. 

As seen in the screenshot above, each discharge category is colour-coded: 

• Green means the action is permitted 
• Amber indicates a conditional allowance (e.g., with scrubbers, or under certain distances) 
• Red marks a restriction or prohibition

Why might a crew miss a restriction?

Even when environmental regulations are published well in advance, they can still be missed during voyage planning. This often happens due to the complexity of overlapping zones with varying discharge rules, a lack of integration between regulatory sources and route planning tools, or misalignment between ship and shore teams.

Fatigue and high workload, especially during port arrivals or departures, can also contribute to oversights. OneOcean 2025 helps address these issues by embedding regulatory insight directly into the operational workflow, ensuring critical information is surfaced at the right time and reducing the risk of non-compliance.

A scenario in practice: coordinating discharge timing

Picture a vessel transiting the Caribbean, passing through a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) where bilge water discharge is restricted. The bridge team knows this but they’re unsure exactly when the vessel exits the restricted zone, or whether they’ll be in open waters long enough to complete the discharge procedure safely. 

With EnviroManager+’s Dynamic Timeline, the crew can scroll forward and identify the first green zone where bilge water discharge is permitted, aligned precisely with the vessel’s position, speed, and time of entry. Fleet management teams onshore see the same view in real-time, helping them coordinate support or issue proactive compliance guidance if conditions change. 

This shared situational picture ensures no assumptions are made, and decisions are grounded in up-to-date, location-specific data.

Environmental restrictions are only one piece of the puzzle. Weather, tidal windows, and sea state play a huge role in route planning and safety. 

Imagine a vessel en route across the North Pacific. A typhoon forms ahead of schedule and begins moving towards the vessel’s planned path. While this isn’t an actual event, it’s the type of scenario operators face frequently, one that highlights the need for integrated, predictive insight. 

With OneOcean 2025’s real-time weather and tidal integration, bridge crews and fleet operators can: 

• Receive automatic alerts when forecasted conditions exceed predefined safety thresholds 
• View changing tidal heights and apply them directly to under-keel clearance (UKC) calculations via TotalTide integration 
• Adjust routes based on vessel-specific speed, draught, and ETA to maintain safety margins and optimise fuel efficiency 

By proactively planning around conditions — rather than reacting to them — crews avoid risky, last-minute diversions that impact safety, cost, and compliance. 

The shoreside portal to OneOcean 2025 gives fleet management teams a live, 20-nautical mile AIS target view around each vessel, enhancing oversight during high-traffic approaches or port entries. 

Take, for example, David — a Fleet Superintendent managing several tankers. One of his vessels is approaching Singapore, where traffic density is notoriously high. The Platform notifies him of a potential traffic conflict. Instead of relying solely on vessel check-ins, David opens the AIS display and immediately sees nearby targets, identifying potential pinch points.

With this information, he calls the bridge, aligns with the crew, and confirms a course adjustment, all without needing to initiate multiple data requests or chase updates.

When crews have the tools to anticipate — rather than react — everything changes. Voyages become more efficient. Fewer operational missteps occur. And the gap between regulation and execution begins to close.

Whether you’re managing compliance from shore or navigating a complex route at sea, OneOcean 2025 gives you the awareness and confidence to move forward, informed, aligned, and ready for whatever comes next.

Discover how OneOcean 2025 helps you plan smarter, navigate safer, and stay ahead of change.