The general objective of the STEAM (Sea Traffic management in the EAstern Mediterranean) project is the efficient management of sea traffic in the Eastern Mediterranean sea, while at the same time ensuring safety and environmental sustainability. More specifically, to develop the Port of Limassol to become:

• a world-class transshipment and information hub adopting modern digital technologies brought to the maritime sector, and
• a driver for short sea shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean through enhanced services based on standardized ship and port connectivity.

Towards this end, the ports of Cyprus, and especially the Port of Limassol will have a vital role to play due to its strategic location, as an information hub, exchanging information with both nearby ports and ships in the Eastern Mediterranean area for optimizing the ships’ routes, expanding the planning horizon for port operations, and avoiding possible dangers. The geographical location of Cyprus encourages the use of Cyprus ports as transshipment hubs for short sea shipping. This project will be based on the foundations laid out by the EU Sea Traffic Management (STM) Validation Project, in which the concept of Port Collaborative Decision Making (PortCDM) (defined in the EU MONALISA Projects) has been validated in various ports of Europe, one of which being the Port of Limassol. In the STEAM project, the implementation of the STM concept will be significantly extended and enhanced by the successful testbed conducted at the Port of Limassol through the further development of PortCDM, which will enable real-time situation awareness to all participants involved in maritime activities in the ports of Cyprus. Moreover, the Port of Limassol will be modernized with innovative technological solutions and advanced data analytics providing new decision-support tools and services for maritime stakeholders.

The STEAM project will be coordinated by the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) with the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) participating in the project as a Foreign Research Organization.  Being leaders in maritime informatics and co-founders of STM/PortCDM, RISE have the important role of bringing and adopting the STM/PortCDM concepts to the Eastern Mediterranean. The STEAM interdisciplinary consortium consists of established stakeholders of the maritime Cyprus sector including the Cyprus Ports Authority, the Cyprus Shipping Association, and three private enterprises: TOTOTHEO, DELEVANT and CYPRUSUBSEA.  A long-lasting outcome of the project will be the creation of a “Maritime Innovation Hub”, where the project members will continue to meet after the project ends and collaborate with other important bodies at regional, national, and international level aiming to holistically address challenges of the maritime sector.