International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 3
Number 3
September 2009
301
1 INTRODUCTION
The Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) in Straits of
Malacca and Singapore is an innovative marine in-
formation and infrastructure system that integrates
environmental management and protection systems
and maritime safety technologies for enhanced mari-
time services, higher navigational safety standards,
integrated marine environment protection and sus-
tainable development of coastal and marine re-
sources. The key of the MEH is precision navigation
and will utilize a network of Electronic Navigational
Charts (ENCs) in conjunction with Electronic Chart
Display and Information System (ECDIS), Differen-
tial Global Positioning System (DGPS), Internet
Broadband and other maritime technologies
(K.Sekimizu, 2003).
2 PROJECT BACKGROUND AND STATUS
2.1 Background and objectives
Straits of Malacca and Singapore are a historically
important sea route for international and local mari-
time trade as well as being one of the world’s busiest
sea lanes, a unique and rich tropical estuarine envi-
ronment, a major shipping route for petroleum oil
tankers, and one of the highly vulnerable waterways
used for international navigation with a high inci-
dence of marine casualties and oil spills. Geograph-
ically, the Straits extend more than 900 km between
Peninsula of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
The narrowest point is the Philips Channel which is
1.3 nautical miles wide and 23 meters depth. The
Straits have many more chokepoints particularly at
One Fathom Bank and Batu Berhenti. These choke-
points are critically important to the oil and natural
gas trade. Consequently, the large ships of 200,000
ton and above or VLCC have to rush for the channel
during high tide period (Hiroshi Sekine, 2006).
Since 1980s, several initiatives for the Straits
were undertaken, which covered various aspects of
maritime activities, safety of navigation and marine
environment protection. The fruition of those initia-
tives is mainly through the Co-operative Mechanism
on Safety of Navigation and Environment Protec-
tion. Project. Then in late 1990s, the concept of
MEH has been introduced. This new concept having
concerned that the high risk of ship accidents along
the congested water in the Straits.
Safety and security of navigation and environ-
mental protection are the main concern. Therefore
the MEH project aims to provide a practical demon-
stration in the Straits of the potential for digital in-
formation networks that can provide environmental
and related information in real time to both mariners
The Marine Electronic Highway Project in
Straits of Malacca and Singapore: Observation
on the Present Development
M. Hafizi Said & A.H Saharuddin
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: Implementation of the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) project in Straits of Malacca and
Singapore will complement the efforts taken by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore as littoral states in en-
hancing safety of navigation and the prevention and control of marine pollution in the Straits. The Project
Steering Committee meetings of the MEH indicate that, the progress in the implementation of its activities is
in the midst of many challenging conditions. The efforts is a testament that the littoral states are working to-
gether to ensure the implementation of this project is running smoothly since the donor agencies, user States
and the maritime industry have great expectations on its success. The MEH project consists of four important
components such as Hydrographic Survey and Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) production, Environ-
ment Marine Information Overlays, Baseline Survey and Information Technology Structure. This paper will
address the current status of the implementation of the four key components highlighting the development of
ENCs as a vital tool to sustain the safety of navigation along the straits. The discussion in this paper is based
on some preliminary survey findings and from reports of the Project Steering Committee meetings.
302
transiting the Straits as well as other agencies and in-
terested parties. The Project includes obtaining high-
quality hydrographic surveys of some of the most
limiting depth areas in the Straits, the development
of ECDIS compatible with Marine Information
Overlays (MIOs), the establishment of a unified data
centre to provide real time information and updates,
and the establishment of a number of environmental
monitoring stations including tide gauges and cur-
rent meters.
The MEH was designed in two main stages
namely demonstration and full scale. Demonstration
project will cover parts of the Straits, mainly the ar-
ea of the Traffic Separation Scheme. The second
stage or full-scale project, which will follow after
this initiative, will cover the whole Straits including
the coastal waters of the Littoral States. The demon-
stration stage aims to show how environmental data
related to the Straits, such as the nature and extent of
environmentally sensitive areas can be accessed by
the relevant authorities using a common database;
how new or revised routing instructions or prohibit-
ed areas can be broadcast to ships taking part in the
demonstration; and how Mariners can receive other
environmental information such as real-time tidal
observations, tidal streams, sea conditions and wind,
in ECDIS via MIOs.
2.2 MEH Time line
Table 1.The MEH Progress (Hartmut Hesse, 2008)
___________________________________________________
Important Event Date
___________________________________________________
Established Project Management office May, 2007
at Batam, Indonesia
1
st
Project Steering Committee Meeting 29-31 May 2007
Batam, Indonesia
Hydrographic survey bidding October 2007
Bid evaluation report January 2008
1
st
Technical Committee on Survey and 14-15 April 2008
ENCs meeting at Penang, Malaysia.
2
nd
Project Steering Committee Meeting 3-5 June 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Full demonstration phases Expected Mid
of 2009
___________________________________________________
3 MEH KEY COMPONENTS
During the 2
nd
Project Steering Committee Meeting
at Kuala Lumpur, the member considered four key
components, namely the hydrographic survey, ENCs
production, the Environment Marine Information
Overlays (E-MIO) and the Information technology
structure and data centre. The current statuses of the-
se components are presented in the Table 2.
Outcome of the 1
st
Technical Committee Meeting
held in Penang, Malaysia from 14-15 April 2008, the
members had agreed that to reduce the scope of the
survey to the prioritized areas as shown in Table 3.
Having considered Area 1 of the Traffic Separation
Scheme (TSS) as the most important of the 8 priori-
tized areas, the Meeting agreed that Area 1 met the
holistic objective of the MEH project and therefore
should be surveyed. This area is from One Fathom
Bank to Tanjung Piai with an area of 621.28 km
2
or
14.38% of the prioritized areas as its first priority for
survey.
Table 2. The current status of the MEH main components.
MEH Main
Component
Current Status
Remarks
Hydrograph-
ic survey
and Elec-
tronic Navi-
gational
Charts
(ENCs) pro-
duction.
Hydrographic
survey activity
has been in the
pipeline for over a
year, including
the tendering as-
pect, which has
rejected due to in-
sufficiency funds.
Reduction of scope of
service (SOS) areas
based on the eight (8)
prioritized areas (refer
to Table 3), beginning
with Area 1. The addi-
tional areas will be
considered options and
may be surveyed sub-
ject to availability of
funds.
Ongoing negotiations
with contractor.
Environment
Marine In-
formation
Overlays.
(E-MIO)
The Terms of
References (TOR)
for the E-MIO
consultancy had
agreed during 2
nd
PSC Meeting,
June 2008 in Kua-
la Lumpur
The dynamic E-MIO
data within the Straits
agreed as bellow:
Dynamic tide data.
Real time notification
of new restricted areas
and routes.
Real time environmen-
tal monitoring (such as
wind, current and
temperature.
Information
Technology
structure and
database
centre.
The fundamental
principle of MEH
Data System had
been presented by
IT consultant dur-
ing TC-SIF meet-
ing in September
2007 in Singa-
pore.
The MEH Data system
was based on Data
format (open format
using xml format file),
Security of data (SSL
protocol), Reliability
(redundancy of all
servers), Scalability
and Sustainability.
Table 3. The Estimate Cost for 8 Prioritized Areas (Report of
2
nd
Project Steering Committee MeetingKuala Lumpur, Ma-
laysia, 2008).
___________________________________________________
Survey No# of KM
2
Estimated Estimated
area Ship Wrecks cost(bid)/ days(ops)
USD
___________________________________________________
Area 1 5 621.28 2,754,719 44.32
Area 2 2 140.15 584,548 14.67
Area 3 3 127.83 712,155 19.93
Area 4 0 10.65 163,966 2.65
Area 5 5 85.59 241,569 5.79
Area 6 2 33.61 173,315 3.02
Area 7 0 47.23 824,155 25.09
Area 8 2 279.91 824,155 25.09
Total 19 1,346.2 6,278,582 140.56
___________________________________________________
303
4 ENC AND E-NAVIGATION
4.1 ENC production
Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems
(ECDIS) embraced the entire navigation system and
have made it possible to concurrently address mari-
time safety and environmental protection manage-
ment both at sea and ashore. However, in order to
produce precise of charts, data and information
needs to be made available. The mandatory carriage
of ECDIS seem to be enforced, with reports from
IMO’s NAV54 subcommittee meeting confirmed
that members have reached a consensus in favour of
making the technology a required fit for ocean going
vessels especially in highly traffic and congested
water like Straits of Malacca and Singapore (Digital
Ship, 2008). In view of that, the development of
ENC and the require infrastructure have to be expe-
dited.
According to the report from Singapore repre-
sentatives during 2
nd
Project Steering Committee
Meeting in Kuala Lumpur (2008), the latest edition
of Singapore ENC consists of 14 cells and is pro-
duced in accordance with the IHO S-57 Edition 3.1
specifications. The Singapore ENC covers Singa-
pore Waters and its approaches. It contains chart in-
formation necessary for safe navigation and supple-
mentary information in addition to those in the paper
charts. Monthly incremental of Singapore ENC up-
dates are available over the Internet as well as
through appointed ENC distributors.
4.2 E- Navigation Strategy
Precision navigation shall be the backbone of the
MEH upon which all the technological platforms
would be integrated commencing with the ENCs-
ECDIS. Precision navigation consists of onshore,
sea based and ship-based facilities from which in-
formation and data flow into the network. Such fa-
cilities include transponders such as an Automatic
Identification System (AIS ) and onboard access to
the Internet or broadband (K.Sekimizu, 2004). With
AIS, real time information can be automatically pro-
vided to or received from appropriately equipped
shore facilities or other ships. With enhanced AIS,
hydrographical and oceanographic data including
weather conditions can be transmitted or received,
thereby facilitating ship movement, particularly in
restricted or congested waterways as well as during
inclement conditions (Digital Ship, 2008). Currently,
AIS is mainly for basic ship information exchange.
In addition to acquiring, managing and achieving
data in digital form, it is now apparent that common
protocols necessary for optimum data transfer and
sharing. Hence, the Littoral States’s VTS and the
MEH Data Center in Batam (Indonesia) need to use
identical database software as a database engine to
achieve the desires functionality. Currently, Singa-
pore and Malaysia VTS use ORACLE 10g. Howev-
er, Indonesia has not yet built its VTS and could eas-
ily use the same platform.
However, future developments may include other
relevant information such as weather data. AIS or
similar facility, information flow could be real time,
forecast, archived data, and monitoring/time lag da-
ta. The presence of a network of meteorological cen-
ters such as the South East Asian Centre for Atmos-
pheric and Marine Prediction (SEACAMP) could
provide higher resolution local weather conditions or
forecasts that could be transmitted through the AIS
allowing mariners to evaluate the weather conditions
along their route. All of these strategies and technol-
ogies will be designed in order to achieve the aim of
MEH as stated below:
Facilitate vessel traffic monitoring and manage-
ment,
Facilitate communication and data exchange,
Improve efficiency of transport and logistics,
Effective operation of contingency, response and
SAR,
Provide human-machine interface, and
Manage user workload and support decision mak-
ing.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Towards A Successful End Product
Based on the current status of the MEH project it is
obviously indicated that the progress in the imple-
mentation of its activities is in the midst of many
challenging conditions. According to Sally Burning-
ham (2008) from World Bank in Jakarta, the MEH
project has been under implementation with fund
available since June 2006 but very little of the funds
had been disbursed. Despite of this, the project actu-
ally needs more fund and strategies in order to ac-
complish. Thus, some of necessary steps to ensure
success and expedite the MEH project shall include:
Ensuring financial sustainability.
Financial sustainability will only be achieved
through an overall commitment of the govern-
ments of the respected countries, the oil and gas
major transporters, fishing and shipping interests.
Therefore, the US $8.68 million which provided
by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is
not sufficient enough due to certain escalations in
cost in some elements of the Project (Ahmad,
2008). In addition, without extra fund from other
parties or sponsors the MEH Projects encounter-
ing difficulties in adhering to the original scope
and plan.
Based on the suggestion made by Sasakawa
304
(2007), he issues an invitation to the Straits user
to agree to a voluntary payment of US 1 cent per
ton for every vessel that transit through the
Straits. Since annually more than 4 billion tons of
cargo that passes through the Straits, these would
raise 40 million dollar a year. This amount would
more than enough to eliminate the excessive bur-
den by the Littoral states (B.A Hamzah, 2008).
Cooperative mechanism between littoral states
and other straits user.
In November 2004, the IMO Council at its 93
rd
meeting considered that the Straits of Malacca
and Singapore as specific and vital shipping lane.
Following that decision, in September 2006, three
littoral states (Malaysia, Indonesia and Singa-
pore) together with Japan and other industry rep-
resentatives such as INTERTANKO and ICS had
developed the Cooperative Mechanism for main-
taining safety of navigation and environmental
protection of the Straits.
Subsequently, the industry and other Straits user
are encouraged to participate in the Cooperative
Mechanisms by making voluntary contributions
to the Aids of Navigation Fund or either partici-
pating in the Cooperation Forum (R.Beckman,
2008). As major beneficiaries of safe and secure
passage through the Straits, fairness and justice
dictate that industry and other users should partic-
ipate in the Cooperative Mechanisms.
Involving public, private sector and academics
stakeholders.
Reference in Article 43 of UNCLOS to user
States does not preclude participation by industry
or other private sectors. This Article avoids the
legal problems that would arise if the Littoral
States established mandatory tolls or charges.
However, the private sector does not need to jus-
tify burden sharing and to undertake Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) just because the Ar-
ticle 43 omits mention of the private sector. This
is because cooperation in promoting common
good is requiring under international law. Thus,
the CSR role of the private sector especially for
oil major companies and shipping interest should
go beyond monetary contribution. The concept of
CSR dictates that the private sector should recog-
nised the shared responsibility to ensure safe and
secure passage through vital international ship-
ping lanes.
Beside that, scholars, academia, researchers and
scientist from universities and institutions are en-
couraged to share idea, research finding and con-
sultation on issues of common interest in the
Straits. In recognizing the role they could play,
the Littoral States and the MEH Project Steering
Committee (PSC) should facilitate the concrete
and practical cooperation methods. In this re-
spect, the cooperation forum will be useful plat-
form for the Littoral states and PSC to gather
feedback. In addition, some fund should be allo-
cated for research grant in order to make fruition
of information through research finding.
5.2 Conclusion
The establishment of MEH Project is significantly
important to the maritime industry. The efforts
through Cooperative Mechanism and actively partic-
ipated in PSC meeting are the testament that the lit-
toral states and other stakeholder are working to-
gether to ensure the implementation of this project is
running smoothly since the donor agencies, user
States and the maritime industry have great expecta-
tions on its accomplishment.
REFERENCES
Ahmad. (2008). Government of Malaysia Report for 2
nd
Project
Steering Committee Meeting at Kuala Lumpur, June 2008.
B.A Hamzah. (2008). Straits of Malacca: Burden Sharing,
Transit Passage & Sovereignty od Coastal States. Collected
papers: Verifying The Co-Operative Mechanism On The
Strait Of Malacca And Singapore- From Viewpoint Of User
Industries And Their Corporate Social Responsibility, Ja-
pan International Transport Institute,2008, pp 77-83.
Digital Ship. (2008), IMO agrees on Mandatory ECDIS, Au-
gust Edition p.1-2
Hartmut Hesse, (2008), opening speech for 2
nd
Project Steer-
ing Committee Meeting at Kuala Lumpur, June 2008.
Hiroshi Sekine, (2006), Sailing in Malacca Straits as Lifeline
for Oil Transportation: Present Situation and Problems,
Analysis Vol.40, No.6 p.51
K. Sekimizu. (2003). Available at
http://www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id%3
D3668/marineelectronichighwayarticle.pdf. Accessed date
12 Nov 2008
K. Sekimizu. (2004). The Marine Electronic Highway (MEH)
Project As a New Management System for Sea Areas. Ma-
rine Electronic Highway (MEH) Project as a New Man-
agement System for Sea Areas. 20P((JA)1(1),1(2),1-
8,(EN)1(2),9-17)(2004)
R.Beckman. (2008). The Cooperative Mechanism Between The
Littoral States And User States On Safety Of Navigation
And Environmental Protection In The Straits Of Malacca
And Singapore; proceeding paper, JITI Forum on Coopera-
tion Mechanism , Tokyo.
Report of 2
nd
Project Steering Committee Meeting Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, (2008) (MEH PSC2/12).IMO
Sally Burningham (2008). World Bank Report for 2
nd
Project
Steering Committee Meeting at Kuala Lumpur, June 2008
Sasakawa (2007). Opening speech for Symposium On The En-
hancement Of Safety Of Navigation And The Environmen-
tal Protection Of The Straits Of Malacca And Singapore ,
Kuala Lumpur