IBNet (IceBreakerNet) is a computerised information and management system used by the Swedish and Finnish icebreaking services.
IBNet contains a great deal of information that is highly useful to the icebreakers in their day-to-day assistance operations. IBNet contains registries of merchant vessels, the positions of all vessels, port information, current traffic restrictions, etc.
The icebreakers enter information on traffic in their own districts. The information is transmitted automatically to the Icebreaking Management Unit and other Finnish and Swedish icebreakers.
The Finnish Meteorologial Institute transmits satellite images almost every day which can be presented along with icebreaker and ship positions. IBNet gives the Icebreaking Management in Norrköping and Helsinki a complete and current picture of conditions that facilitates allocation of icebreaking resources.
Some of the Swedish Maritime Administration’s units also have access to IBNet. At present, the system is in use at the the Joint Resque Coordination Centre and the Canal-centre in Trollhättan. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) are able to access icebreaker reports on ice and weather conditions via IBNet. SMHI uses this information as one of its sources of input for issuing ice forecasts, which are also distributed via IBNet. IBNet was developed by the Finnish Technical Research Centre, VTT.