The basic elements in maritime safety can be typically divided into human factor, physical factor and environment factor, among which the environmental factor aims at the safety and efficiency of maritime transportation environment for shipping areas. For such maritime transportation environment development, systematic construction and operation of aids to navigation infrastructures might be indispensable.
Infrastructure is a basic framework forming the basis of production activity like a building and equipment, etc., which means necessary resource for achieving a specific purpose. Aids to Navigation(AtoN) Infrastructures, as a core resource of public purposes for maritime transportation environment development from the maritime safety aspect, should be provided so that it can be managed and operated systematically and complexly with the state as the center. The significance and necessity of AtoN infrastructure are expanding according as development of port and continuous increase in trade scale. It is necessary to do continuous and systematic operation of public AtoN infrastructure for providing high-reliability service and system to users.
This study establishes the Standard Evaluation Model of Aids to Navigation Infrastructures as ex-port evaluation models which includes risk elements and environmental change after the opening of a port. This study makes a design to evaluate the effectiveness and utility of AtoN infrastructures, the whole process from the needs to the outcomes. The model evaluates the public infrastructure resources in relation to state-centered overall operation, complex utilization, and systematic performance in the aspect of maritime safety. First, this study is to divide the AtoN infrastructures into maritime infra and overland infra in the light of the difference in facility purpose. Then, a quantitative evaluations are conducted by the five common evaluation standards, i.e. Relevance(), Effectiveness(), Efficiency(), Sustainability() and Impact(). This quantitative evaluations can examine the change and influence of the surrounding environment, validity of infrastructures, and consumer-side satisfaction, etc. through the Standard Evaluation Model of AtoN Infrastructures. For the verification and application to this model, this study makes an evaluation of the currently operated maritime infra and overland infra to expand the reliability and usefulness of this model.
The standard evaluation model for the AtoN infrastructures can be used as the basic tool for re-arranging a core resource of public purposes and planning a similar facility operation in marine traffic environment. Also, it will be a means of maximizing and improving safety and efficiency of marine traffic environment on the basis of each evaluation content.