Safety is of paramount importance for maritime transportation, especially in narrow waterways. The Turkish Straits are one of the narrowest and most critical waterways with respect to the navigation constrains due to the harsh physical environment. The maritime accidents occurred in this sea area pose acute dangers for human and maritime environment. The congested local ship traffics including ferries, passenger ships, fishing vessels, sailing vessels, etc. and crossing passage frequently interfere with navigation of commercial ships. Efficient training for seafarers is required in order to avoid ship accidents.

The SafeSTRAITS is a two-year project which is funded by European Union Erasmus+ Program within the call of Digital Education Readiness. The Project aims at enhancing the safety of marine traffic in the Turkish Straits, preventing environmental pollution disasters, minimizing losses of shipping companies and protecting historical structure of the Turkish Straits, by developing a training system for international seafarers and local users.

Training Module-I aims to provide online trainings for Masters and Officers who are sailing or might sail through the Turkish Straits and shipping companies’ professionals.

Training Module-II is for skippers of fishing vessels, leisure yachts, passenger boats, ferries, etc. that routinely sailing through the Turkish Straits.

The SafeSTRAITS users will easily reach to training modules (digital teaching/learning activities) and acquire necessary information/knowledge about Turkish Straits via this web-based training platform and user-friendly interfaces.

Project Partners:

• Istanbul Technical University – Turkish Straits Maritime Application and Research Center (Turkey) – Coordinator
• İstanbul Şehir Hatları A.Ş. (Turkey)
• University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom)
• Orka Informatics (Turkey)
• Constanta Maritime University (Romania)
• A.P & A (Greece)
• DEDEK (Turkey)