A collaboration of three companies has developed a way to pinpoint ships using Iridium satellites if GNSS and GPS signals have been disrupted.

Norway’s Tschudi Shipping and GM Technology, working with Virginia-based NAL Research, have commercially launched PntGuard, a maritime-security system that provides pinpoint situational awareness.

It supports navigational integrity at a time when GNSS signals can no longer be taken for granted. A standalone navigational aid independent of all other bridge systems, PntGuard delivers instant alerts the moment a vessel’s position is falsified, providing true position data when other bridge systems are compromised.

Malicious disruption of GNSS and GPS signals is increasing at an alarming pace. Attacks can originate from land-based systems, hostile or dark-fleet vessels, or even occur opportunistically in congested sea lanes, often without vessel crews ever realising their position has been manipulated.

Such interference is now recognised as a real threat with the potential to cause serious physical, commercial and legal damage. By corrupting GNSS and GPS signals using low-cost equipment, attackers can place a ship kilometres away from its actual location, fabricate AIS tracks, and trigger cascading errors across bridge systems, jeopardising crew safety. This amplifies the risk of various critical scenarios including:

• Collisions and groundings, especially in low visibility, at night, and in dense traffic zones with risk to life, assets and the environment
• Unintended or manipulated entry into restricted waters
• Claims of sanctions evasion or calling at ports in sanctioned states
• Port delays and disruptions to cargo logistics including deviations causing delays, increased fuel consumption and emissions.
• Charter disputes and insurance challenges when a vessel appears to have breached compliance boundaries

Concern is being voiced at the highest levels in shipping, while all major marine insurers are recommending urgent action to safeguard operational resilience.

Most technology available today can only warn that GNSS or GPS is disrupted, but do not provide an alternative authenticated, trusted position. Leveraging assured positioning, navigation and timing (APNT) technology, PntGuard, enabled by the Iridium (www.iridium.com) low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network, receives a secured PNT signal that is about 1000 times more powerful than GPS and is resilient to jamming and spoofing. This complements a vessel’s navigation feed with accurate situational awareness and immediately alerts the crew to manipulation or interruption.

Easy to install and use, it comprises two compact components – an above-deck unit (receiver) that connects to the Iridium PNT service and a below-deck unit (bridge display) that shows both the falsified GPS track and the vessel’s true position on a nautical chart in real time.

Most crews would never know they’re being spoofed until it’s too late. PntGuard provides a single point of truth so crews can react rapidly and continue to navigate with confidence.

Shore offices can also receive an accurate record of a vessel’s true position at any time – proof that can be shared with charterers or insurers to defend against claims based on false data – safeguarding revenue and reputation.

PntGuard is built on the same technology that enables APNT for many aspects of critical infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, data centres and utilities. Its performance for maritime use has been thoroughly proven through multi-month sea trials with international shipowners through a proof-of-concept pilot programme with Norway’s DNK, one of the world’s leading maritime war risk insurers, and through independent evaluations for two consecutive years at Jammertest in Andøya, Norway.

PntGuard (Pnt-Guard.com) is available today with deployments scaled to fleet size, offering immediate protection against a threat both invisible and growing.

Tschudi Shipping (www.tschudigroup.com) is a fifth-generation, Norwegian family-owned shipping and logistics group with more than 100 years of history of owning and managing ships. NAL Research (www.nalresearch.com), based in Virginia, USA, is a specialist in APNT technologies, providing secure, resilient communications and tracking for defence, government and enterprise users operating in GPS-denied environments. SGM Technology (www.sgm-tech.com), headquartered in Oslo, Norway, develops satellite-based digital and compliance systems for the maritime and fisheries sectors, delivering field-proven technology that enhances operational safety, transparency and efficiency at sea.