Abstract: A navigation-monitoring apparatus comprises a fixed ground station sending forth an interrogation signal to a ship and a transponder carried on the ship and transmitting a reply signal to the fixed ground station in response to the interrogation signal. A microwave sensor carried on the ship measures the distance between the ship and the nearest bank. Data on the measured distance is added to a reply signal sent forth from the ship to the fixed ground station. The fixed ground station measures an interval between a point of time at which the interrogation signal was issued and a point of time at which a reply signal from the ship was received, thereby defining the position of the ship from said time interval and data on the ship-to-bank distance.