Bulgarian Ports
Infrastructure Company

The Bulgarian Port Infrastructure Company (BPI Co.) and the Technical University of Varna developed a joint pilot project for the enhancement of navigation safety. Harbour safety is a software tool, developed to quantify the maneuvering risk of different ship types and improve navigability and harbour permeability. The tool was presented during the Second ILIAD Plenary Session, which took place in Brussels. The project was presented at the ILIAD Plenary Session held in Rome, Italy between 24 and 26 January 2023.

The task, share by BPI Co. and the other Bulgarian partner in this project – the Technical University of Varna, was to develop a digital twin of the Varna Bay and the navigation channels, connecting it to the Varna Lake. In this way, computer models of the processes in the bay will help ships navigate in adverse weather conditions and improve their safety.

BPI Co., together with 55 other partners from 18 countries around the world, is involved in the development of a digital twin of the World Ocean as part of the EU initiative to build a digital supermodel of the Earth by 2050. The collaborative work is being carried out under the Integrated Digital Framework for Comprehensive Maritime DATA and Information Services (ILIAD) project. The project aims at developing virtual models to reflect the changes and processes occurring in the ocean and to create an interoperable, cost-effective digital twin of the ocean (DTO) operating in a real data environment. The project is coordinated by Netcompany – Intrasoft, Belgium.