The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) recently entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with UP Diliman (UPD) to bring science and technology innovations to the Philippine maritime industry.

The MOA signing ceremony was held on Aug. 17 via Zoom and streamed live on DOST-PCIEERD’s (Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development) official Facebook (FB) page.  Chancellor Fidel R. Nemenzo represented UPD, while MARINA was represented by its administrator, Vice Admiral Robert A. Empedrad.

The partnership between UPD and MARINA aims to address the Philippine maritime transport’s lack of an existing effective route capacity measurement system and other data-driven methods by using the NAVIS 2.0 software.

NAVIS 2.0 “can analyze the optimal number of routes and their respective capacities automatically. With the software, a data-driven approach in forecasting maritime traffic in the Philippines is now possible.”

The DOST-PCIEERD-funded software is an output of the Maritime Transportation Information System (MARIS) project headed by Prof. John Justine S. Villar, PhD of the UPD College of Engineering Department of Computer Science.

Under the agreement, UPD grants MARINA “a limited, royalty-free, non-commercial, non-exclusive and non-assignable license to use, copy, reproduce, and distribute NAVIS v.2 solely for regulatory purposes.” The license is effective for five years.

In addition, MARINA, among others, shall “promote the NAVIS v.2 materials in MARINA regional offices only for the entire duration of the program; conduct regular program review sessions with UPD throughout the period of the work plan.”

Meanwhile, UPD shall provide “on-site training of MARINA personnel on the use of the software, technical assistance, and consultancy, subject to the budgetary outlay provided by MARINA in conducting the training.”