STED INQUIRY, is the Telematics Desk of the Diportist a flop?

Boats stranded for months, enraged shipowners unable to sail, harbor masters, shipyards, concessionaires, charters, and shipping agencies held in check by delays in STED, the Telematic Service for the Yachtsman, paradoxically slower than the previous paper-based system. From 7 to 10 days of waiting time, it has increased to 35 days for a new STED registration and up to 2 to 3 months for a transfer of ownership. What are the causes of these delays? It was to be a beacon in the fog, bringing simplification and automation.

STED has been operational since January 2021, but it is sailing with a headwind. Already exasperated and paying the price are shipowners who wonder why bureaucracy has won in our country, while the provisional navigation license in other European countries, such as Poland, is obtained In a maximum of three days. We tried to understand how STED works in detail. And where it could have been done better. Fortunately, the situation is slowly improving

STED FLOP? OUR INVESTIGATION

Purfortunately, the STED, Telematics Desk of the Diportist, is off to a bad start. Up to 40 days to register a new boat, two and a half months for a transfer of ownership for a used boat. These are the times that have been reached since January 2021, when the new system was made official. Captaincies clogged with requests, charters forced to cancel reservations because boat documents are not ready. Dealers forced to deal with complaints from desperate customers with a ready boat that cannot sail. A shipping agent from Genoa, shows us the filing cabinets he has had to purchase since the introduction of STED to file thousands of photocopies, pending paperwork, and to collect old paper licenses.

STED DOESN’T WORK,

IT’S TOO SLOW

What happened? Why is it that the brand new STED, starts so slow to the point of clogging up? Why is it that despite the professionalism and virtuosity of the capitancies that expedite data entry operations, the agencies that report problems to technical support, and the developers that quickly fix problems, more paperwork is entered than processed to the point that it clogs the system for weeks? The various trade associations protest, many articles come out online complaining about the situation.

JULY MORE STAFF

FOR MORE BUREAUCRACY

The MIT (Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport) urged by UNASCA (Unione Nazionale Autoscuole Studi Consulenza Automobilistica) is forced to announce in July the hiring of 13 people at UCON (Ufficio di Conservatoria Centrale delle Unità da Diporto) to make up for the amount of work generated by the new computer system. The time frame is shortening, but this news is also an admission of defeat, Manual labor, in a new generation telematics system, should reduce, in theory…

STED WAS BORN HEAVY

ALREADY AT THE LEGISLATIVE LEVEL

The new STED is certainly a step toward centralization of paperwork, but because the computerization is only partial and does not integrate the entire process, for the boater the STED is just a new path between the rocks of bureaucracy to get used to.

The first cause of the delays and complexity of STED should be sought directly in the text of the Presidential Decree – 14/12/2018 – no. 152. which defines what SISTE Central Nautical Telematics System is. The legislature wanted to play the role of the engineer by already going to the legislative level to define structure, necessary documents and procedures. These definitions are immutable constraints that have prevented any improvements to those who made the STED computer system. To do better is, in essence, to violate the law.

According to the Presidential Decree, SISTE must be composed of ATCN, Archivio Telematico Centrale Unità da Diporto (the acronym does not match!) have a related UCON office and have a STED portal in telematic connection with the CED (Data Processing Center of the General Directorate for Motorization of the Department of Transport) active in the Harbour Offices, maritime district offices, at the Civil Motorization, and in the licensed maritime agencies.

STED, SUBPAGE OF THE MOTORIST PORTAL

ATCN, CED and the STED portal are not being engineered from scratch, but are implemented by adapting technology already in place at the Department of Transportation. STED, for example, is a subpage of the Motorist Portal. From a technological point of view, it appeared to us that the STED is, in essence, a central database with remote access, not much more.

STED STARTED WITHOUT

THE PRELOADING OF THE DATA

Did you think that with the official activation all existing boats at RID (Register of Recreational Boats) were already pre-enrolled in the STED system? Not at all. Boats must be entered at the time any operation on them is requested (such as a change of owner’s residence).

It is up to the relevant Port Authority or UMC (Bureau of Civil Motorization), upon request, to retrieve the paper and enter and validate the first data in the STED. Automatic data recognition, a technology now available on any smartphone, is not used, but even these initial steps must be done one by one at the keyboard.

Depending on the number of boats registered at the location, and the personnel available, the first delays, from 3 to 10 days, accumulate in this preliminary making.

A NEW STEP

BUREAUCRATIC PROCESS CAUSES A LOSS OF

7 DAYS

Before starting any STED operation, a new document must initially be attached: the Declaration of Construction or Importation (called DCI). What is the purpose of DCI? Verbatim: “The DCI is the document with which to verify the compatibility of the data of units placed on the market with those available to the owner.” They then explained to us that it was introduced as an anti-fraud tool. The DCI Must be requested “from the most nationally representative associations of manufacturers, importers and distributors.” Which ones? Currently there is only Confindustria Nautica (formerly Ucina). There is a special form to be filled out and sent via email addressed to dci@ucina.net with attached copy of the applicant’s tax identification number and data, and proof of payment of 25 euros to the body itself to be made to the current account in the name of Confindustria Nautica. Up to 7 days are lost at this stage.

STILL QUEUING AT THE POST OFFICE

FOR BULLETINS

AND REVENUE STAMPS

In order to obtain STED-generated documents, such as a sailing license for example, one has to pay, and here we are surprised by the need to have to stand in line at the post office. As with Boating Licenses, payments cannot be made online (a paradox for a “telematic” counter), but will have to be made using only the “white slip mod. TD123.” To be precise there are 3 bulletins, one for “SISTE Fees” (see “Fees” fee box), a second one amounting to 9.50 euros for each requested transaction justified “STED activity fee” and a third bulletin of 1.95 euros for license printing costs. Then one will have to go to the tobacconist’s for the inevitable revenue stamps, three 16-euro ones.

OTHER STEP: INPUT

OF 50 ENTRIES IN MANUAL FIELDS

Having entered the boat into STED and obtained the DCI, the duty office moves on to enter the boat’s data. Needed are about fifty entries to be typed by hand in the various fields and drop-down menus of which the portal is made up: manufacturer data, hull data, engine data, declaration of conformity, owner master data, the data related to the transceiver equipment on board and the relevant license to operate the radiotelephone equipment, data related to the navigation license, the data related to the safety certificate…etc etc. If there is any inconsistency, or missing data, we do not move forward. Depending on the office or maritime agency tracking the file, and the backlog they have accumulated, it may take a few hours or several days.

If there is any technical problem, the agency often does not know where to turn, and the phone calls begin, the calls to the always busy switchboard and the waiting for the technical problem to be solved.

For data that has already been entered, corrections cannot be made directly in the system, but you must ask support or restart the file from scratch.

FINALLY WAIT

CHECK CED AND UCON …

It has already been about 10 days, more will have to wait for although the data has already been entered by the harbor master’s office, the DCI has been obtained, and it has been entered into the portal…. it is necessary to wait for verification! The data is sent telematically, precisely, to the CED, which automatically assigns a progressive chronological number to the application. One has to wait until the congruence of the received data with those in the ATCN is verified, and if confirmed, the CED proceeds to update the archive and authorizes the STED to print the requested navigation document. This is the stage where delays have accumulated, and this is where 13 people have been hired as a new workforce.

Many practices got bogged down in some inconsistencies or incorrect data. Since July, it appears that paperwork is starting to speed up and waiting times are being reduced from 20 to 5 days for new paperwork.

MEANWHILE IN POLAND

THEY REGISTER IN THREE DAYS…

Despite the improvements, at the moment, because of its complex structure and the usual bureaucracy that not even a system that was born telematic seems to be able to do without, a new registration via STED takes, barring snags (and often, snags there are!) about 15 days, for a used one about a month. Interestingly, other European countries have been moving in this direction for years already, and often are better at it than we are. The Polish provisional sailing license is obtained in three days, remains valid for the life of the yacht, no inspection visit is required if the hull is under 24m, it is obtained online for a fee of about 600 euros, no residence in Poland is required…and no queue at the post office for bulletins!

COULD IT HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER?

STED will improve with time, they say, but since STED has been talked about for years, could it have been done better? Wasn’t STED supposed to be an instrument of bureaucratic simplification as well as centralization? Has the opportunity been missed to build, from scratch, a true telematics service for the citizen, focused on the needs and times of the boater-owner and reducing the costs and steps of public administration? To readers the judgment…

Luigi Gallerani

FOCUS/1 – STED’S TARIFFS

By turning to an agency, the total costs for any file requiring access to STED are around 300-500 euros. Part of these costs are the famous “Rights for the activities yields from counters telematics of the yachtsman, Article 63, paragraph 1-bis, Decree Law July 18, 2005, no. 171″ to which are added 25 euros to be paid to Confindustria Nautica to obtain the DCI at the first operation and various revenue stamps.

– Issuance of navigation licenses 29.57 euros

– Navigation license upgrade 17.76 euros

– Registration in the telematics archive
central recreational units (ATCN) 35.48 euros

– License renewal 29.57 euros

– Copy of a document 11.82 euros

– Issuing a duplicate 29.57 euros

– Temporary navigation authorization
and provisional navigation license 23.65 euros

– Transcription of deeds relating to property and| other deeds and applications for which transcription is required; registration or cancellation of mortgages

– ATCN extract release 23.65 euros

FOCUS/2 – THE STED AS SEEN BY MARITIME AGENCIES

We asked UNASCA (National Union of Driving Schools Automotive Consulting Studies), which represents many maritime agencies in the territory, for its opinion on the STED. We are answered by National Boating Sector Studies Manager Dr. Marco D’Agliano.

How come STED started with so many delays?

“Starting in 2019, the system was activated for the first registrations discounting what we can call errors of youth and certainly an IT structure, not created specifically for boating but adapting an existing system: problems that came up again at the beginning of this year with the implementation of all the boating formalities that must be processed through STED. We can say that it was a stress-test to which the system is gradually breaking free with reduced waiting times.”

Was UNASCA involved in the conceptualization and implementation phases of STED? What critical issues have you found and when will they be resolved?

“Some pilot studies were carried out collaboratively in the testing phase that took place since early July 2019. The system already had its own architecture that, working with MIT and at the suggestion of associations including UNASCA, was implemented and corrected in some steps. The rush to get STED off the ground certainly weighed on the initial tightness of the system. For years there had been talk of digitizing Boating and a zero point had to be implemented. The critical issues are of an operational nature, due to the massive input of data into the National ATCN by the Port Authorities, which inevitably slows down the processing and validation phase. We are certainly on our way to a solution, with the targeted entries depending on the files being processed with priority for entering those subject to transfers of ownership.”

Will STED succeed in improving in timing the life of the boater, offering, for example for a change of ownership, a few days?

“We are aware that a new system suffers from the difficulties of aligning the old paper registers and consequently the timeframe is at the current stage longer than expected, but as happened with cars with the advent of telematic systems also in boating, through the joint efforts of the Captaincies, the Ministry of Transport and private Sted it will be possible to make up for these initial difficulties.”

Will it simplify the bureaucratic steps around STED such as payment of slips and stamps?

“With the advent of the PAGO PA system, all formalities processed by public administrations will be settled digitally, avoiding the old postal bulletin, a payment protocol now being fully implemented in every public sector.”

UNASCA promotes the figure of the Nautical Advisor, a professional who will follow and act as guarantor and advisor for buying and selling practices as well as the management of practices via STED. For the boater, does this have an additional cost?

“The new figure of the Nautical Consultant plays a key role in the telematics system of recreational boating, with no added expense for the user who will not pay any increase compared to the past when he wants to entrust the formality of registration or transcription of ownership of a boat to a STED qualified office. Keep in mind that some STEDs as STAs (Telematic Motorist Desks) are deputized by law to perform the signature authentications of boat purchases and sales , encompassing in a single professional figure three roles well defined by current regulations , namely The Authenticating Public Official, the Nautical Consultant, and as STED the person in charge of the administrative procedure related to the Naval Publicity. First one had to go to the Notary, then to the post office, and finally to the Captaincies….”

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