Accessibility Statement

Our Commitment

HeyMariner is committed to ensuring that its platform is accessible to all users, including seafarers, port professionals, maritime administrators, and members of the public who may have disabilities or who use assistive technologies. We believe that reliable maritime information should be available to everyone regardless of ability, and we work continuously to improve the accessibility of our website and digital tools.

This accessibility statement describes the current state of HeyMariner's conformance with recognized accessibility standards, identifies known limitations, and explains how users can request assistance or report accessibility barriers. We review and update this statement at least annually and whenever significant changes are made to the platform.

WCAG 2.1 AA Compliance

HeyMariner targets conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WCAG 2.1 AA is widely recognized as the benchmark standard for web accessibility and encompasses requirements across four principles: content must be Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR).

The following table summarizes our current conformance status across key feature areas of the platform:

Keyboard Navigation Support

HeyMariner is designed to be fully navigable using a keyboard alone. Users can navigate the platform using standard keyboard controls:

• Tab and Shift+Tab move focus forward and backward through interactive elements (links, buttons, form fields).
• Enter or Space activates buttons and links when focused.
• Arrow keys navigate within menus, dropdown lists, and tab panels.
• Escape closes modal dialogs and dismisses dropdown menus, returning focus to the trigger element.
• A visible focus indicator (a teal outline) is displayed at all times to show the currently focused element.
• A "Skip to main content" link is provided at the top of every page to allow keyboard users to bypass repeated navigation elements.

We test keyboard navigation against the W3C ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG) patterns for common UI components. If you encounter any element that cannot be reached or operated by keyboard, please report it using the contact information below.

Screen Reader Compatibility

HeyMariner is tested for compatibility with widely used screen reader and browser combinations. Our current tested configurations include:

• NVDA with Mozilla Firefox (Windows)
• JAWS with Google Chrome (Windows)
• VoiceOver with Safari (macOS and iOS)
• TalkBack with Chrome (Android)

We use semantic HTML5 elements and ARIA roles, properties, and states to communicate the structure and behavior of our interface to assistive technologies. Dynamic content updates — such as search results and notification alerts — use ARIA live regions to announce changes to screen reader users without requiring a page reload. We do not use ARIA in a manner that overrides or conflicts with native HTML semantics where native semantics are sufficient.

Known Limitations

Despite our efforts, some areas of the HeyMariner platform currently have accessibility limitations. We are actively working to resolve these issues in order of priority:

• Interactive port maps: Drag-to-pan and pinch-to-zoom map interactions do not currently have full keyboard equivalents. A keyboard-accessible list view of port data is available as an alternative.
• Legacy PDF documents: PDF files published before January 2023 may not be fully tagged and may present challenges for screen readers. We are working through a backlog to remediate these documents. Users who need an accessible version of a specific document may request one by contacting us.
• Third-party embedded content: Some content embedded from third-party maritime data providers (such as vessel tracking widgets) may not fully meet WCAG 2.1 AA. We have notified these providers and are working on alternatives.
• Complex data tables: Some regulatory comparison tables use nested column headers. While we have implemented ARIA scope attributes, rendering may vary across older screen reader versions.

We aim to resolve the interactive map keyboard navigation limitation and complete the PDF remediation backlog by Q4 2025. Progress is reviewed quarterly.

Feedback and Contact

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of HeyMariner. If you experience barriers when accessing any part of our platform, or if you require content in an alternative format, please contact us:

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the relevant national body responsible for enforcing accessibility legislation in your jurisdiction. In the United States, this is the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. In the United Kingdom, it is the Equality and Human Rights Commission.