PALAEMON – A holistic passenger ship evacuation and rescue ecosystem

Recent maritime catastrophes remind us how important effective evacuation readiness is for the safety of passengers and crew. These measures can also prove ineffective as human error and lack of orientation always impact performance during extreme, stressful situations. The EU-funded PALAEMON project aims to engage innovative technologies in a new intelligent, sophisticated ecosystem of mass evacuation vessels (MEVs). It will provide real-time data about the situation on a damaged or sinking vessel, monitor the localisation of persons on board, detect potential dangers and provide guidance about the best evacuation route. The ITC system equips both the vessel and the MEV so as to warrant a continuous monitoring during all the phases of the operation. The system will include a VDES, the new IMO standard for data exchange that will help to minimise maritime accidents and disasters.