Physically, a port approach is initiated by a vessel reaching the traffic area outside the port and
concluded by a vessel’s departure from the same after fulfilling the purpose of its visit. During a port
approach, there are numerous actors engaged in enabling an efficient, seamless, and smooth approach.
This requires providing sufficient data for potential and engaged actors to plan and optimize their
operations. Given all these requirements, a port approach needs to be initiated long time before the
vessel’s physical approach to the port. An unresolved question is, however, how information about
intentions, needs and changes, well in advance of the port approach, can be shared among engaged
actors. Today there are numerous systems that partly enable such objectives, as e.g. Single Window,
Port Control Systems, Port Community Systems. None of these, however, provides a common
approach to real-time sharing of information and the building of situational awareness as the
foundation for distributed coordination