METHOD TO AUTOMATICALLY NAVIGATE AND CONTROL A MARINE VESSEL

The invention relates to a method to automatically navigate and control a marine vessel comprising a navigator unit (110) and propulsion system (101), and comprising an operator selecting a desired destination for the navigator unit and retrieving fairway data for at least one fairway (F; F, F) between a current position (Pi) and the requested destination (P), which at least one fairway (F; F, F) has a centreline (C) and a pair of outer boundaries (B, B'; B, B'). The operator selects a desired lateral position (X; X) of the vessel within the at least one fairway (F; F, F) to be travelled and the navigator unit calculates a route (R; R; R; R) to reach the desired destination (P) using the desired lateral position (X; X) of the vessel within the at least one fairway (F; F, F) and controls the propulsion system to reach the destination using the navigator unit. The invention further relates to a vessel operated using this method and computer program comprising program code means for performing the method.