Myanmar faces issues to utilise their river system for inland waterway transport since navigation is unsafe and many areas are less accessible for longer periods throughout the year. Most of the country’s larger rivers are characterised by a dynamic meandering and braiding nature. This entails fast and unpredictable fairway channel migrations, which can shift hundreds of meters within one dry and wet season. This is mainly due to intense precipitation during the monsoon period, followed by a very dry season, with high water levels during the monsoon and very low water levels during the dry season and water level differences up to 10m. Navigation is significantly hampered because of these constantly changing conditions and limited river training works, ultimately risking (fatal) accidents by grounding vessels. Navigation with Nature® offers a commercial solution to this problem, by ensuring continuous safe navigation with the use of the CoVadem (Cooperative Navigation Depth Measurement) technology, applied to vessels operating on the river. It delivers safe and optimal routing for inland waterway transport along highly dynamic rivers by displaying present and forecasted water depths in real-time.
The main result of this pilot is a demonstration of the running digital service and commercial business model in the physical and institutional setting of the Chindwin River to facilitate upscaling of the service. It is expected that this pilot significantly increases safety levels and reduce maintenance cost for navigation and accessibility between Monywa and Hkamti.
