Elisa Mikkolainen: METO – a unique form of maritime cooperation in Finland

The Baltic Sea is one of the busiest shipping areas in the world. Due to its shallow waters, rugged coastline and icy waters, the Baltic Sea faces constant risks of major accidents and disturbances as well as environmental damage. Recently, the risks have increased all over the Baltic Sea, but especially in the Gulf of Finland. The vessels evading sanctions imposed on Russian oil, disturbances in satellite navigation and anomalies in AIS systems have drastically changed the operating environment – turning the recurrent changes into “a new normal”.

The “new normal” emphasizes increased situational awareness: gathering information, analysing it, and making decisions based on it.  Maritime surveillance and maritime situational pictures are today more important than ever.

In Finland, maritime situational awareness is produced by The Finnish Navy, The Finnish Border Guard, The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. Each organization fulfills different tasks and differ in their operating methods. Administratively, they belong to different administrative branches: Ministry of Defence, Ministry of the Interior, and Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The risk is that the tasks and methods of the four organizations can easily overlap, or that there may be gaps in between. To solve the imminent risk, the four organizations formed a joint organ already 30 years ago. Cooperation of Maritime Operators (METO), founded in 1994, serves three main tasks: increase safety and efficiency, rationalize operations and generate savings. 

Already at the beginning, METO parties agreed to create and maintain a joint national maritime situation picture, combining data produced by sensors from all parties (AIS, radar, camera, sense). A joint maritime situational picture together with maritime surveillance have increased the efficiency of maritime operations and saved costs from all parties. Instead of developing four separate systems, it has been possible to not only add but multiply the amount and quality of data from various locations and sensors, incurring savings to all parties.

Over the years, METO parties have arranged numerous multidisciplinary table-top exercises where participants go through different maritime scenarios. Participants actively share information with each other and facilitate the use of resources to eliminate overlapping functions and fill in gaps. As the simulations proceed, participants must at every stage create and share a situational picture, determine who the responsible authority in each situation is, and how to organize and assign roles to parties. Scenario based approach helps all parties to view their own activities from the perspective of other participants, and vice versa, and to identify questions they need to ask within their own organizations. Additional participants (police, vessel traffic services, shipping companies etc.) are invited to the exercises, if deemed necessary.

As an outcome of the table-top exercises, the participants define development needs within their own organization and in cooperation with others. The findings are further elaborated, and corrective actions are defined and followed in regular meetings. In case of any findings requiring clarification or adjustment of legal aspects, a message is put forward to respective ministries.

The most recent table-top exercise took place early February, and it consisted of three scenarios, prepared by the Finnish Naval Academy. In addition to four permanent METO parties, The Finnish Customs attended the exercise. The scenarios were based on current topics: hybrid influence, GNSS interference, ship carrying sanctioned cargo, environmental hazards and icebreaking. Participants increased their awareness of each other’s roles and operational methods in various legal conditions: normal conditions, exceptional conditions, and state of emergency. 

The Finnish METO is a truly unique form of cooperation and could serve as an example to other countries. The results and benefits are convincing, and they have required a lot of work and more importantly, a shared understanding. METO requires mutual trust, will to cooperate, and common task – to promote the best of Finland. 

According to the motto, METO is “More than the sum of its parts.”