The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) invite experts within your organisation to attend a one-day joint workshop on the VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) on 6 December 2023 at EMSA headquarters in Lisbon.

VDES is an extension of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) which is widely used for navigation safety between ships and between ships and shore stations to track and identify vessels. Developed to also work with low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, VDES offers a higher data exchange capacity than that of traditional AIS. This allows for the transmission of larger data sets, which can be crucial for various applications such as real-time weather updates, route optimisation, and other data-intensive services. VDES also supports two-way communication, enabling vessels to exchange not only basic identification and positioning data, but also more complex information. This can facilitate improved communication and data exchange. 

The Workshop

This workshop aims to provide insight into the latest VDES developments, including discussions about the joint EMSA/ESA VDE-SAT initiatives. It will also present Member States' perspectives on potential VDES use-case scenarios, regulatory developments, the industry's advances, and future plans for providing VDES services in the maritime sector.

Event information

The EMSA-ESA Workshop on VDES will be held on 6 December 2023 at EMSA Conference Centre, Praca Europa No.4, Cais do Sodre 1249-206, Lisboa, Portugal. The workshop will be co-chaired by EMSA and ESA and will be held in English without translation. An updated agenda can be found attached.

Registration Instructions

Experts are invited to express their interest in participating in the workshop by sending an e-mail to Nil.Angli@esa.int by no later than Monday, 27 November 2023.

Agenda

The agenda for this event is available to download below.