August 2008 - Digital Ship

Transcription

August 2008
IMO agrees on
mandatory ECDIS
T
A scaled implementation of ECDIS will see it become a
mandatory fit on a range of ocean going vessels by 2018
Schedule
A scaled implementation
period, with staggered
dates for different vessel
classes, has been envisioned. Newbuild vessels
will be the first to include
a mandatory carriage
requirement for ECDIS,
according to this schedule:
New passenger ships
Bernard Schulte to install
GSM onboard - 2
Inmarsat FleetBroadband
satellite launch confirmed as
takeover bid moves closer - 6
For existing ships the
requirement
will
be
phased in over a slightly
longer period, according to
the following timetable:
Passenger ships above
500 gt, from 1 July 2014
Tankers above 3,000 gt,
from 1 July 2015
Various other sizes of
cargo ships will be
required to fit ECDIS
equipment between 2016
and 2018, depending on
their size, while there are
exemptions included for
ships that will be taken out
of service within two years
of the implementation
dates.
One year on
above 500 gt, from 1
July 2012
New tankers above
3,000 gt, from 1 July
2012
New cargo ships above
2013
New cargo ships above
2014
satcoms
KVH and ViaSat plan global Ku-band
VSAT - 5
After years of debate and analysis, IMO’s NAV54 subcommittee meetings
concluded at the beginning of July with agreement on an implementation
schedule for mandatory ECDIS on deep sea vessels, beginning in 2012
he years of debate
about the mandatory carriage of
ECDIS (electronic chart
display information systems) seem to be close to a
conclusion, with reports
from IMO's NAV54 subcommittee meetings confirming that members have
reached a consensus in
favour of making the technology a required fit for
ocean going vessels.
With agreement having
finally been reached, IMO
is now looking forward to
the further necessary steps
to add this requirement to
IMO's Safety Of Life At Sea
(SOLAS) convention.
These steps will include
the presentation of the
NAV54 agreement to
IMO's MSC (Maritime
Safety Committee) at its
85th session later this year
for ratification, but it
seems likely that this
approval will be granted
and that mandatory ECDIS
will soon become a reality
on future vessel bridges.
IN THIS ISSUE
The
move
towards
mandatory ECDIS has
been a while coming for
some members of the
NAV subcommittee. Last
year's NAV53 also considered the topic of a carriage requirement, and
featured an in-depth
study by Det Norske
software
Stolt-Nielsen completes Cisco network
installation - 10
New database system for TMSA2 users
launched - 15
Shipdex - a maritime standard - 18
with Grimaldi Naples, SpecTec,
ABS-NS, ShipServ, MacGregor,
Alfa Laval, Lyras Shipping and
Germanischer Lloyd
electronics and
navigation
Vroon agrees ECDIS
deal for 3 vessels - 22
Hapag-Lloyd to install
condition based monitoring - 24
Space-based AIS satellites
launched - 25
Mandatory ECDIS - the final
countdown - Dr Andy Norris - 30
continued on page 2
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N O Wa b l e
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SATCOMS
Vol 8 No 10
Digital Ship Limited
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Veritas (DNV) outlining some of the safety benefits that could result from using
the technology.
The recommendation from that study,
that a mandatory requirement be introduced, was supported by Denmark,
Finland, Norway and Sweden, and suplemented by a further proposal by Japan
calling for the mandatory carriage of
ECDIS on certain vessel classes.
These proposals were rejected however, and the consideration of mandatory
ECDIS postponed until this year's
NAV54. It would seem that the arguments of the delegates have now proven
Thrane & Thrane is set to make its
first step into the VSAT arena with the
introduction of a maritime Ku-band VSAT
solution and network in September 2008.
Thrane & Thrane will offer the new
SAILOR 900 VSAT and various fixed
broadband data packages up to 1024 kbps
downlink / 256 kbps uplink, at flat monthly rates. The system comes with a built-in
VoIP adapter and routing management
technology as standard.
Taide Network, a provider of IP
solutions via satellite and a member of the
Vizada Group, has rebranded itself as
uct launch in the autumn.
Vizada Networks.
Remote Knowledge, a provider of
satellite internet applications, has jointly
announced with Alpha Circuits the
production of its marine broadband router
for use in customer sea trials in the US.
The trials are scheduled to last for the
duration of the summer ahead of a prod-
convincing enough for the subcommittee to accept such a move this
time around, and that ECDIS will
become a standard feature on future
vessels.

For further details on the IMO decision on mandatory ECDIS,see our feature 'Mandatory
ECDIS - the final countdown' by Dr Andy Norris, on page 30
Wireless Maritime Services has
signed a new five year contract to continue
providing cellular at sea wireless service
to guests and crew aboard all ships for
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. and
Celebrity Cruises. New ships entering the fleets are also included under this
agreement.
Vizada is now offering the full range
of Thuraya mobile satellite services in
the Asia-Pacific region. The development
follows the launch of the Thuraya-3 satellite in January 2008. The satellite has
extended the coverage for Thuraya services throughout the Asia-Pacific region,
including major markets like China, Japan,
Korea, Indonesia and Australia.
US company SkyBitz has launched
the GLS 100 satellite mobile communicator, a global asset tracking solution that
operates over the Globalstar Simplex
data network. The company hopes to
expand its presence in the maritime industry with the product, which it says is easy
to install and has a 5-year battery life.
Broadpoint
has
appointed
Errol Olivier as president and Chief
Executive Officer. Mr Olivier comes to
Broadpoint following his retirement from
a 17-year career at satellite and telecommunications
provider
CapRock
Communications, where he served as
president and chief operating officer.
www.thrane.com
www.vizada.com
www.rkiq.com
www.cellularatsea.com
www.vizada.com
www.thuraya.com
www.globalstar.com
www.caprock.com
www.broadpointinc.com
Bernard Schulte to install BOW GSM
www.blueoceanwireless.com
Blue Ocean Wireless (BOW) has announced
that Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement
Deutschland (BSMD), Hamburg, is to install
the BOW GSM solution.
BSMD will initially install the GSM system on the vessel CAP BRETON (ex.
Christiane Schulte), which will allow seafarers to make and receive voice calls, and
send and receive SMS messages, using their
existing mobile phones onboard the ship.
Following recent upgrades to its
network, in conjunction with partner Smart
Communications Inc, a subsidiary of the
Philippine Long Distance Telephone
Company (PLDT), BOW now also offers onboard e-mail capability and global roaming
as part of its service (see facing page).
Subscribers to other telecoms networks
can roam on all equipped vessels using
their existing handset and SIM card. The
roaming capability operates in the same
way as traditional land based GSM roaming and requires no special equipment or
preparation on the part of the user.
BSMD operations co-ordinator Jacobus
Varossieau commented: "We are very
pleased to announce the installation of the
Blue Ocean Wireless service on our vessel
CAP BRETON. This technology represents
a step change in the welfare and working
environment for our crew members."
"The ability to make and receive voice
calls and use SMS from an individual's
mobile phone will be significant in the
lives of our crew when they are in deep
ocean water. We very much look forward
to working with the team at BOW".
Blue Ocean Wireless CEO, Robert
Johnson added: "We are delighted to welcome Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement as
a customer of Blue Ocean Wireless. This
represents another significant customer
milestone for the Blue Ocean Wireless team.
We have made, and continue to make, rapid
progress in growing our customer base
since our launch just over one year ago."
Crew aboard the CAP BRETON (ex Christiane Schulte) will be able to use their GSM phones while at sea
Digital Ship August 2008 page 2
Digital Ship
Blue Ocean Wireless
extends services
Wired Ocean completes FleetBroadband integration
www.wiredocean.com
www.blueoceanwireless.com
Merchant maritime GSM provider Blue
Ocean Wireless has unveiled three new
enhancements to its service.
The first of these new features is the
introduction of a reduced tariff for voice
calls over the at-sea mobile network, with
seafarers now able to make calls to their
friends and families on their own mobile
phones for $0.99 per minute.
"While it has always been our intention
to make this service as affordable as possible, the phenomenal success of our product
roll-out has allowed us to offer this price
reduction sooner than we had expected,"
said Robert Johnson, Blue Ocean Wireless
CEO. "Our new tariff of 99 cent will enable
more seafarers to spend longer each month
speaking to loved ones at home."
This reduced rate service will also be supplemented by two further enhancements to
the Blue Ocean package, with the launch of
new e-mail services and an extended Global
Roaming agreement for the network.
The new e-mail application will allow
crews to access their e-mail using the
BOW communications set-up. This system
is separate to the ship's own communications system, meaning seafarers can access
their messages without interfering with
the vessel's business communications.
With the Global Roaming facility, subscribers to other networks will also now
be able to roam on all Blue Ocean Wireless
equipped vessels using their existing
handset and SIM card. The roaming capability will work in the same way as traditional land based GSM roaming, and
requires no special equipment or preparation on the part of the user.
The global roaming feature will be made
possible by network upgrades that Blue
Ocean partner company Smart Communications has recently undertaken, upgrading
the Blue Ocean Wireless network with a new
GSM switch and a full Global Lease Line.
"We are delighted to announce the network
upgrades and our impending global roaming
service," commented Mr Johnson. "This
enhancement to the Blue Ocean Wireless solution represents another major step towards
achieving a fully comprehensive communications solution for those that work at sea."
Communications company Wired Ocean
reports that it has completed the development and testing necessary to enable its
Satellite Broadband Server (SBS) system to
integrate with Inmarsat FleetBroadband.
With this system, the company says
that it can reduce the costs per megabyte
of shore-to-ship FleetBroadband data to
approximately 10 per cent, by channelling
the downlink through a vessel's satellite
TV antenna.
The Wired Ocean downlink can be
almost twice the speed of a standard
FB250 downlink without the SBS, while
vessels fitting an FB500 will benefit from
improved responsiveness and 20 per cent
faster downlink speeds.
Wired Ocean has also incorporated performance enhancement systems into the
technology, to minimise latency, remove
unnecessary handshaking and to compress and cache transferred data.
These systems are built into the network hub and SBS, removing the need
for any software to be loaded onto ship
computers.
"FleetBroadband users will see an
immediate boost in the performance of
their communication systems after the
simple integration of Wired Ocean, when
sailing in our coverage area of European
waters and when not in coverage, users
can be confident of a seamless fallback to
their FleetBroadband or other services,"
comments Victor Barendse, managing
director, Wired Ocean.
'FleetBroadband users will see an
immediate boost in performance' Victor Barendse, Wired Ocean
Iridium OpenPort distributors sign up
www.vizada.com
www.otesat-maritel.com
www.straosglobal.com
Vizada, Stratos and Otesat-Maritel have
become the latest distributors to partner
with satellite operator Iridium in agreeing
to distribute the new Iridium OpenPort
service, launched earlier this year and
expected to be commercially available in
September 2008.
Iridium OpenPort offers data and voice
services (up to three voice lines) that
can be used simultaneously, and is available at speeds of 9.6kbps, 32kbps, 64kbps
and 128kbps. Advance orders are now
being taken in anticipation of the commercial launch
Peter Döhle Schiffarts-KG, with a fleet
of approximately 350 container ships and
bulk cargo freighters, have agreed to betatest the service with Vizada.
"The global coverage provided by the
Iridium constellation, as well as the low
price of airtime and terminals, make
Iridium OpenPort a very attractive
proposition for owners of large fleets
of vessels," said Michael Dittmer, IT
and communication coordinator fleet,
(FUUIF#JH1JDUVSF
Peter Döhle Schiffarts-KG.
"With this in mind, we are particularly
interested in equipping vessels with
a minimum of one Iridium OpenPort
terminal in order to provide essential
redundancy for our IT and communications systems."
Erik Ceuppens, CEO, Vizada EMEA &
Asia, commented: "Ship owners are
increasingly in need of more comprehensive IT and telecommunications solutions
on-board. Iridium OpenPort, combined
with the Vizada Solutions portfolio, is a
powerful package providing closer links
with teams on land, truly global coverage,
and important tools for boosting crew
morale and welfare."
George Polychronopoulos, CEO of
Otesat-Maritel, is also excited about being
able to offer the service to the market:
"Adding Iridium OpenPort in our services
portfolio is in line with our strategy of
offering broadband satellite solutions to
the maritime industry."
"Combining the unique features of
Iridium OpenPort with specially designed
value added services for the IP satellite
networks, we shall be able to offer to our
Greek and global customers more value
and efficiency in their day-to-day communications," he said.
Stratos will concentrate on offering
additional value-added services as a global distribution partner for Iridium
OpenPort.
Customers using Iridium OpenPort
from Stratos will be able to use the Stratos
Advantage system, a collection of services
that provide cost control, traffic control
and data optimisation.
This includes the Stratos Dashboard,
with which the new Iridium OpenPort
systems will be fully integrated, that provides information on the amount of traffic
used for voice and data, and the associated costs.
Stratos' Iridium customers can familiarise themselves with Stratos Dashboard
via a new e-learning module, which offers
users an overview of the capabilities and
set up of Stratos Dashboard for Iridium.
"Advance orders for Iridium OpenPort
terminals are outpacing forecasts, and we
are on track for commercial deliveries to
begin in the third quarter of this year,"
said Greg Ewert, executive vice president, global distribution channels,
Iridium.
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SATCOMS
MCP renews cruise GSM deals
www.mcp.com
Maritime Communications Partner (MCP)
has won a contract extension with P&O
Cruises and Ocean Village Holidays to
provide onboard GSM services.
According to the terms of the agreement,
MCP will remain the preferred supplier of
its CellAtSea mobile phone services on eight
vessels under the P&O Cruises and Ocean
Village Holidays brands. The contract also
covers new ships entering the fleet.
As well as running a passenger mobile
roaming service, MCP also provides crew
members onboard the vessels with a
CrewSIM service, for private communication with friends and family.
This contract follows-on from an initial
agreement reached in 2006, when MCP
equipped eight P&O cruise ships with the
technology.
Mette Soderberg, general manager fleet
commercial activities, Carnival UK commented: "The introduction of GSM services
and continuous working relationships
with our partner MCP has been smooth
and effective, and valued by customers
and the company alike."
ThurayaMarine distributors sign up
www.thuraya.com
Thuraya reports that it has signed ten distribution agreements for its new
ThurayaMarine voice and data communications product.
ThurayaMarine is designed for small
and medium sized vessels, and features a
compact terminal that supports voice,
data, fax, GPS and GmPRS over an omnidirectional antenna.
Distribution agreements have been
reached with Fort Info Technology, GPTC,
IEC, Intermatica, Moodotel, Nera
Telecommunications, Satcom, Satlink,
WorldCom Japan Traders and Xtralink.
These service providers will market
and promote the ThurayaMarine service
throughout Thuraya's coverage area in
Europe and Asia.
"We are thrilled with this rapid interest
in ThurayaMarine across many markets. It
is clearly a promising sign for the success
of this product in a large, lucrative industry such as the maritime communications,"
said Thuraya's CEO Yousuf Al Sayed.
Mr Al Sayed also added that the growing
strong distribution base will facilitate a faster
roll-out of the new service to customers.
ThurayaMarine comes with a wireless
phone handset, allowing for greater
mobility and flexibility onboard ships for
people wishing to make a call. Coverage is
available in the Arabian Gulf, Red Sea,
Mediterranean, Arabian Sea, North Sea,
Baltic Sea, parts of the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans, and international waters in most
of Asia-Pacific.
Marlink signs Sealink deal with Wilhelmsen
www.marlink.com
Marlink, a Vizada company, is to provide
its Sealink Maritime VSAT solution to
Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM),
and will equip 30 Wilhelmsen Ship
Management vessels with the system.
The deal features 'always-on' internet
access and Local Area Network (LAN)
communications at a fixed monthly price,
while Sealink will also provide PSTN telephone lines with standard fixed perminute charges.
Wilhelmsen Ship Management currently manages approximately 300 ships, of
which 185 are under full technical management, and employs 8,600 seagoing personnel. The company had performed a
number of tests on the quality and reliability of the Sealink system over a 12-month
period on board the roll-on roll-off vehicle
Digital Ship network
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VSAT for NOR Offshore
www.caprock.com
NOR Offshore Ltd., an operator of anchor
handling tug supply and construction support vessels, is to deploy CapRock's
SeaAccess VSAT communications system
onboard nine of its vessels.
Under the three-year agreement,
CapRock will provide the equipment and
installation for the broadband service,
which will include always-on connectivity
at a fixed monthly rate, as well as offering
maintenance and support.
Vessels will have unlimited access to
Voice over IP (VoIP), the NOR corporate
network and the internet, while the shore
office will be able to monitor onboard IT
systems, providing remote diagnostics
and support.
Additionally, NOR says that it will use
SeaAccess to provide enhanced crew communication services, including access to
the internet, and the ability to send and
receive e-mails and make telephone calls
by using calling cards.
"Providing crew communication services that help us retain qualified crews is a
top priority for us," said NOR offshore
operations manager, Eirik Thorseth.
"SeaAccess will enable us to do so and
will help the crew stay connected with
family and friends while offshore."
SingTel award for 1.5m C-band antenna
www.singtel.com
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel)
has won a Seatrade Asia Award for
Technical Innovation, for the development
of a 1.5m C-band stabilised satellite antenna, with partner SeaTel.
SingTel says that the antenna allows
sea-going vessels to enjoy higher bandwidth than a traditional 2.4-metre C-band
antenna at a lower cost, with an option for
dedicated bandwidth.
The 1.5m C-band antenna is designed
carrier the MV Tampa, before deciding to
contract for the service.
"Marlink's Sealink solution has successfully provided the MV Tampa with telephone and data connectivity in all weather conditions as it made its course around
the world," said Hans Christian Siltvedt,
HSEQ superintendent at WSM. "It has
become indispensable in addressing our
communications needs on board."
The Sealink Maritime VSAT services
for WSM include dedicated global satellite
bandwidth, separated between crew and
administration. Crew has access to free
internet for applications such as web
browsing, e-mail exchange and online
banking, as well as multiple telephone
lines for crew calling. For business and
administrative purposes, LAN-LAN data
communications on board are in place, as
are multiple direct dial telephone lines.
to work with SingTel's satellites and
ground infrastructure, and has been successfully implemented on more than 18
vessels since its launch.
Titus Yong, SingTel's vice president of
satellite, commented: "This breakthrough
caters to the increasing demand for
'always-on' broadband solutions, which
help maritime customers improve productivity and enhance crew welfare."
"With its compact size, the antenna
makes these services more accessible to
smaller vessels."
Digital Ship
SEACOR deal KVH and ViaSat plan global Ku-band VSAT
for Broadpoint
www.minivsat.com
www.broadpointinc.com
US telecoms company Broadpoint has
been awarded a contract by SEACOR
Marine, to provide connectivity services
for five new vessels, including the M/V
SEACOR Cheetah - the first of SEACOR's
new crew transport vessels to be put into
service.
While Broadpoint has provided communications services to ships operated by
SEACOR Marine, a provider of support
services to oil and gas operators in the
Gulf of Mexico for more than 13 years, this
new agreement marks the first international partnership between the two companies as the SEACOR Cheetah heads to
the West African coast.
The SEACOR Cheetah was developed
to provide crew transportation for offshore oil and gas operators, and can hold
up to 150 passengers and reach speeds of
up to 40 knots - twice the speed of conventional crew boats.
Under the contract, Broadpoint will
provide SEACOR Marine with a turnkey
solution for secure voice and data applications. The services will operate on
Broadpoint's VSAT network.
VSAT provider KVH has announced a
new agreement with ViaSat to begin the
global rollout of KVH's mini-VSAT
Broadband satellite communications
service.
The mini-VSAT Broadband service is
already available throughout North
America, the Caribbean, the North
Atlantic, and Europe, with 512 Kbps
(upload) and 2 Mbps (download) connectivity offered at fixed monthly rates.
Under this new agreement, KVH and
ViaSat plan to roll out an exclusive global network offering access to KVH's
mini-VSAT Broadband service for maritime use, with airtime revenue to be
shared between the two companies. The
coverage expansion is scheduled to begin
in the fourth quarter of 2008.
As part of the coverage expansion,
KVH has agreed to acquire satellite
capacity from Ku-band satellite operators, as well as purchase three new
regional satellite hubs from ViaSat.
These hubs will use ViaSat's ArcLight
spread spectrum mobile broadband technology and be operated by ViaSat.
KVH will be the global provider
for maritime service while ViaSat
will provide products and satellite
network services into aviation markets
worldwide.
As the rollout continues, either
KVH or ViaSat will work to establish
additional regional hubs and satellite
capacity. Over the course of the 10-year
agreement, KVH and ViaSat also expect
to implement future enhancements to
the mini-VSAT Broadband spread
spectrum maritime services and related
products.
"Expanding
our
mini-VSAT
Broadband service to provide seamless
global coverage of maritime broadband
communications is one of our top
strategic priorities," said Martin Kits
van Heyningen, KVH's chief executive
officer.
"Our new service offers customers
predictable fixed airtime rates that
are significantly less expensive and
much faster than alternative maritime
communications solutions. We feel
the lower airtime rates combined with
antennas that are 85 per cent smaller
and significantly less costly than traditional VSAT products will help the
market grow."
'Seamless global coverage of maritime
broadband is one of our top strategic
priorities' - Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH
Becker and SRH Marine partnership deal
www.becker-marine-systems.com
Becker Marine Systems Communication
and SRH Marine Electronics have signed a
joint strategic agreement to collaborate in
the provision of technology services to their
customers.
Both companies will offer Becker's
umc.global network service, which integrates different communication systems
such as satellite services, 2GSM, 3GSM and
highspeed wireless internet access in ports.
The collaboration agreement will make
SRH Marine Electronics the main integrator
and distributor of umc.global network services in Greece. This will allow 24/7 on-site
support, and a direct contact person for
Greek shipping companies using the service.
SRH Marine Electronics will also establish an infrastructure for umc.connect portnet services, initially at the port of Piraeus.
This service will provide internet access for
vessels within range of the port with up to
6 Mbps bandwidth for a global flat-rate,
without any limit on time and volume.
"We at SRH Marine Electronics are
extremely pleased to have combined
forces with Becker Marine Systems
Communication. We are certain that this
joint strategy will form the basis for a
broad and productive collaboration in the
maritime communication industry in the
Greek market," says Athina Vezyri, managing director SRH Marine Electronics
SingTel to offer global VSAT
www.singtel.com
Singapore Telecommunications Limited
(SingTel) has agreed a deal with satellite
operator SES NEW SKIES to contract
capacity on its NSS-7, NSS-703 and NSS-5
satellites, with the intention of extending
its maritime satellite communications
offerings to the global market.
The contract will run for three years for
up to 5MHz of capacity over the three
satellites, though financial details of the
arrangement have not been disclosed.
Titus Yong, SingTel's vice president of
satellite, commented: "SingTel has been
providing VSAT services with regional
coverage for over two years. We are
pleased to work with a top-tier global
satellite service provider such as SES NEW
SKIES to extend our reach to provide
seamless and secure worldwide coverage
over all major shipping routes."
The SES NEW SKIES satellites will also
support
demand
for
SingTel's
OfficeAtSea@SingTel maritime VSAT systems, which include 'always-on' unlimited
broadband internet access, e-mail, lowcost Voice over IP (VoIP) calls, GSM
onboard and ship surveillance.
Elias Zaccack, vice president of sales Asia
Pacific at SES NEW SKIES, added: "SingTel is
packaging its extensive maritime satellite
solutions with SES NEW SKIES' global and
ubiquitous satellite reach to offer seamless
and complete telecommunications solutions
to vessels and offshore operations."
"We look forward to working with
SingTel to provide coverage for
OfficeAtSea@SingTel over all major shipping routes worldwide."
SATCOMS
Satellite launches and takeovers - busy times at Inmarsat
It has been an eventful summer at Inmarsat - the company has finally confirmed that the last of its I-4 satellites
will be launched in August, which will pave the way for FleetBroadband to go fully global. On top of this,
a US investment fund has become involved in a ‘will they or won’t they’ takeover bid. Digital Ship looks at the details
nmarsat has announced that the last
of its Inmarsat-4 satellites, which
form the backbone of its flagship
FleetBroadband service, will be launched
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on the 14th August (13th August
GMT). This launch represents the final
step before FleetBroadband can be offered
as a global service.
International Launch Services (ILS) has
scheduled this mission having recently
received the all-clear to return the Proton
Breeze M rocket to service, following an
investigation into a launch failure involving the vehicle earlier this year.
During that March 15th incident, the
launch vehicle, carrying an AMC-14 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome,
experienced problems when the Breeze M
upper stage shut down two minutes
before the end of the planned second burn
of its engine.
As a result of this anomaly, the AMC14 satellite the rocket was carrying was
released, leaving it in an orbit lower than
that required for its intended operation.
A Russian State Commission began an
investigation following the incident,
analysing possible scenarios and reviewing
I
the processes, hardware and systems related to the engine and its supporting systems.
It concluded that the failure was caused
by a ruptured exhaust gas conduit, which
led to a shutdown of the turbo pump feeding the Breeze M engine.
The commission recommended a number of corrective actions, with the primary
step being a replacement of the existing
conduit with a thicker-walled conduit.
ILS' own review concurred with this
analysis, stating that it believed that the
root cause of the failure was that the conduit walls were thinner than the minimum
specification, which played a major part in
the rupture.
Khrunichev Space Centre, the company
that constructed the rocket and a primary
shareholder of ILS, says it has since successfully completed certification testing of
a flight engine with the new conduit, and
that the new conduit will be incorporated
in all future engines.
Postponed flight
Inmarsat, as a result of this March failure, had
decided to suspend indefinitely its own
scheduled launch in April, pending an examination of the results of the investigation.
Apparently satisfied with the results of
the independent review and the subsequent corrective actions undertaken, the
company has now committed to the
rescheduled launch, more than four
months after originally planned.
A successful launch would allow
Inmarsat to complete the three-satellite
network required for worldwide coverage
of FleetBroadband, and push ahead with
plans to finally make the service globally
available after its initial launch in
November 2007.
The I-4 satellite is scheduled to be
shipped to Baikonur in early July for a sixweek launch programme. The satellite, an
EADS Astrium Eurostar 3000 model, will
weigh approximately 6 metric tons at liftoff.
"Having participated in the Failure
Review process in its entirety, I am satisfied that the appropriate actions have been
taken to deal with recent failures and to
reassess the quality of the Proton vehicle,"
said Gene Jilg, Chief Technology Officer
for Inmarsat.
"Inmarsat now expects to transport the
satellite to the launch site and complete
certain other formalities in sufficient time
to target the launch date."
ILS president, Frank McKenna, added:
"We thank Inmarsat for its support and
patience. We know how important this satellite is for the continued success of Inmarsat's
growing broadband services, and we look
forward to the start of the campaign."
Takeover talks
This newly agreed lift-off date was not the
only major development for the satellite
operator this summer.
News of the rescheduled satellite
launch was quickly followed by a wave of
Inmarsat-related activity on the stock
exchange, as rumours of a potential
takeover of the company began to spread
throughout the financial markets.
This was eventually confirmed on July
7th, as Inmarsat released a statement saying that it had received a "very preliminary approach" made on behalf of US
hedge fund Harbinger, which "may or
may not" lead to a takeover offer being
made for the company.
Harbinger already holds a 28.8 per cent
stake in Inmarsat and is currently its
largest shareholder.
Changes of heart
However, on July 21st, just two weeks
after the original announcement confirming discussions, Harbinger issued another
statement declaring that it had called off
these talks, and would not proceed with
any deal in the immediate future.
The company pointed to concerns that
such a deal might fall foul of US competition
regulator the FCC (Federal Communications
Commission) as the fundamental reason
behind this change of heart.
Harbinger commented: "Discussions
have taken place between Harbinger and
The final I-4 satellite will be launched
August 14th, taking FleetBroadband
global
Inmarsat and their respective advisers and
these discussions have focused upon the
lengthy regulatory and competition
approval process required to effect an
offer for Inmarsat."
"In light of this lengthy process, which
could take up to 18 months, Harbinger
does not consider it appropriate to make a
firm offer for Inmarsat at this stage and
therefore the parties have agreed to suspend these discussions."
"However, Harbinger remains interested in acquiring control of Inmarsat and is
therefore actively considering whether to
pursue the relevant regulatory and competition approvals in order to be able to
make an offer for Inmarsat in the future."
"Assuming there is an acceptable conclusion to the regulatory approval process
Harbinger would intend to re-enter into
discussions with the board of Inmarsat
regarding the terms of an offer and
endeavour to seek a recommendation
from the Inmarsat board at that time."
This confirmation that talks had been
suspended had an immediate negative
impact on Inmarsat's share price, which fell
more than 12 per cent on the news, before
recovering slightly to settle at 466.50p,
down almost 9 per cent for the day.
The next twist in the tale came on July
25th, a mere four days after the companies
had announced that talks had stalled, with
another apparent change of heart from
Harbinger as the US investment company
made a statement to the London Stock
Exchange expressing its intention to make
an offer for Inmarsat.
It appears that Harbinger now intends
to begin taking the necessary steps
towards securing regulatory clearance for
a takeover, and has committed to a deal
going ahead if approval is given.
The company states: "Assuming an
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acceptable conclusion to the Regulatory
Approvals process, (Harbinger) intends to
enter into negotiations with the board of
Inmarsat regarding the terms of an offer
and endeavour to seek the recommendation of the Inmarsat board."
"(Harbinger) expects that any offer, if
made, would be made to shareholders of
Inmarsat in the second half of 2009 and
that such an offer would be completed as
quickly as possible thereafter."
Future plans
With this confirmation that an offer will be
made, details about Harbinger's plans for
Inmarsat following a takeover are starting
to emerge.
Harbinger currently owns 48.43 per
cent of SkyTerra, a US satellite network
company that has already been involved
in cooperative agreements with Inmarsat
in the past.
It appears that Harbinger intends to
utilise the combined capabilities of these
two satellite companies, including
SkyTerra subsidiary Mobile Satellite
Ventures (MSV), to offer a new range of
services in North America.
"With its global satellite fleet and complementary plans for next generation
satellites, Inmarsat offers a compelling
strategic fit with SkyTerra, and its subsidiary MSV," said Harbinger.
"MSV, together with MSV Canada, is
developing an integrated satellite-terrestrial communications network to provide
seamless, transparent and ubiquitous
wireless coverage of the United States and
Canada to consumer handsets."
Harbinger has confirmed that it will make a takeover offer for Inmarsat,
pending regulatory approval
"In an effort to realise additional value
embedded in the combination of both companies' radio spectrum, MSV and Inmarsat
recently signed a cooperation agreement for
L-Band operations in North America."
"The proposed (takeover) offer would
allow MSV and Inmarsat to increase substantially the scope of their existing cooperation, further enhancing spectrum efficiency to support the development of an
integrated satellite-terrestrial communications network in North America, based on
MSV's patented ancillary terrestrial component technology."
Further to this potential match up,
Harbinger also announced that it has
agreed to provide $500 million of debt
financing to fund SkyTerra's business plan
through the third quarter of 2010.
This deal contains several references to a
potential merger of the companies, and
seems to lay some of the groundwork for
the combination of the companies' business.
The financing arrangement states that
SkyTerra and MSV will enter into a
'Master Contribution and Support
Agreement' with affiliates of Harbinger
with respect to the possible combination
of SkyTerra and Inmarsat.
Inmarsat is not a party to this agreement,
which is also subject to the receipt of
required regulatory and antitrust clearances.
"The combination of SkyTerra and
Inmarsat, assuming financial terms can be
reached, makes a great deal of strategic and
operational sense," said Alexander H. Good,
SkyTerra chairman, CEO and president.
"It would greatly enhance spectrum
efficiency and North American L-Band
spectrum while providing a foundation
for innovation in the global mobile satellite industry."
"The combination would also provide
opportunities for greater efficiencies and
scale benefits and coordination in the pursuit
of next generation integrated satellite-terrestrial networks, products and applications."
Assuming receipt of regulatory
antitrust approval, Harbinger says that the
proposed business combination with
Inmarsat would be structured as an offer
by SkyTerra to acquire all of the issued
and to be issued shares of Inmarsat not
owned by Harbinger, though the company notes that "it is not the intention of
SkyTerra and Harbinger to announce the
formal terms or structure of a possible
offer at this stage."
However, the statement does note that
"upon completion of the proposed business
combination of SkyTerra and Inmarsat, it is
expected that Harbinger will own in excess
of 85.0 per cent of the outstanding voting
stock of the combined entity."
With a satellite launch, global service
availability of FleetBroadband, and this
possible takeover on the horizon, the next
year promises to be a very interesting one
for Inmarsat and its shareholders.
DS
Stratos unveils new services for crews
www.stratosglobal.com
Stratos has introduced a range of new
communications services for the maritime market, with the launch of
StratosOceanView, ChatCard Data, and
the AmosConnect Crew CommCenter.
Available worldwide as a free
service
for
Stratos
customers,
StratosOceanView provides a mapbased view of the location, heading,
speed, satellite communication traffic
data and contact details (based on existing Inmarsat-C DNID reporting) for
every vessel in a company's fleet on a
single web page.
Satellite communication traffic data
is also included, to offer an overview
of monthly Inmarsat and Iridium airtime costs and AmosConnect mail
queue information.
ChatCard
Data
will
enable
crewmembers to expand the use of their
prepaid Stratos ChatCards to include
internet access, while also helping ship
managers to manage and control internet
costs
over
Inmarsat
FleetBroadband. With this new feature,
all crew internet-access costs are separated from the ship's business-communication costs and charged to the crew
with the prepaid ChatCard.
In a move aimed at providing better
facilities
to
serving
seafarers,
AmosConnect Crew CommCenter is the
latest version of Stratos' AmosConnect
Crew satellite communications service.
This application features an
enhanced user interface and additional
internal communications and newswire
services, with an 'Announcement
Board' that enables ship managers to
send internal corporate bulletins to
their crewmembers at sea, and a 'Daily
World News' service that offers
crewmembers customised global and
local news and sports updates from
their home countries.
This service can be browsed directly
from within their own e-mail account at
no cost to the mariner.
News will be sent in small text data
files from shore to the vessel server, so
that crews can enjoy a web-browsing
type experience without the cost of
being connected to the internet over
the satellite link.
AmosConnect Crew CommCenter
will also double the e-mail message
length limits of the previous version
of the system, and provides ship
managers with additional controls
to manage a crewmember's weekly
mail quotas.

The Crew CommCenter will display company announcements (left) and news from the seafarers’ home countries (right), at no extra cost
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SOFTWARE
Peter Andersen has joined Inchcape
Shipping Services in the newly created role of director - partnership sales,
based in the UK. He joins ISS from
Trigonal Ltd., a specialised shipping
software firm which he co-founded with
partners in 2003.
SOFTimpact has signed a contract
with SEACOR Marine to implement
Seanique 4.0, SOFTimpact's ERP solution
for the maritime industry. Under the
terms of the agreement, SOFTimpact will
implement its crew and payroll functions
in Lowesoft, UK, for UK and West Africa
crewing activities, and at the Dubai
branch for Dubai crewing activities.
Q88.com has completed a project to
integrate PMI’s vetting system with
Q88.com's online questionnaire service.
The integration allows tanker owners to
complete PMI's vetting questionnaire
directly on Q88.com. The data is automatically sent into PMI 'Velas' vetting system,
hosted by Maritime Information Systems.
Allin Corporation has secured an
agreement with MSC Cruises to install
Allin's digital interactive television solution
on the MSC Fantasia, the first in MSC's
newest class of cruise vessels scheduled to
be delivered in December, 2008. The MSC
Fantasia, currently being built at Aker France
yard in Saint Nazaire, is the largest cruise
ship ever built for a European ship owner at
133,500 gt, 1,093 ft long, and 125 ft wide.
Condition based maintenance company
James Fisher Mimic has appointed
Graeme Brown as sales director, as part of
what the company calls its 'intention to
diversify into the commercial marine sector'. Mr Brown previously worked for
Inmarsat Ventures and Bimco.
Veson Nautical has added five new
staff members to its Boston and Singapore
offices, having expanded its pre- and postinstallation team, welcoming Evangelos
Efstathiou, David Kanof, Brian Berry,
Michelle Lim Meiyan and Thomas Norris.
The company has also expanded its
Summer Internship programme.
'Compass Roses', a blues band featuring
a number of staff from maritime software
company SpecTec and other assorted
musicians, has featured at the Pistoia Blues
festival in Italy. The band played the main
stage of the festival on July 11th.
Germanischer Lloyd has release
GL ShipManager 2.0, an updated version
of its software system. The Windows Vista
compatible program includes a new module structure, adding Reporting and
Analysing and Compliance Management
to the existing Technical Management,
Ship and Voyage Management, and
Procurement modules.
Autoship Systems Corporation
and Seaboard Marine Ltd. of Miami,
USA have reached an agreement for the
delivery of Autoload-SPS (ship planning
system). The roll-out of the software will
be phased in over the next year, with 40
ships and all Seaboard offices being outfitted with the system.
www.iss-shipping.com
www.softimpact.net
www.q88.com
www.jfmimic.co.uk
www.veson.com
www.spectec.net
www.gl-group.com
www.autoship.com
ShipServ reports 33% half-year growth
www.shipserv.com
ShipServ reports that the number of suppliers and the number of ships managed
on its TradeNet e-commerce platform has
grown by 33 per cent in the first half of
2008. The company expects that it will
reach 3.5m transactions with a Gross
Merchandise Value (i.e. the total monetary
value of all purchases) of over $1bn by the
end of this year.
According to ShipServ, over 120 owners/managers managing close to 4,000
ships are now trading with over 8,000 suppliers via the network. The number of
TradeNet users has also grown, to more
than 30,000 users in 90 countries.
On the buyer side, new customers
included Companhia de Navegacao
Norsul (Brazil), Crowley (US), DSD
Shipping (Norway), Great Lakes Dredge
and Dock (US), Great Offshore (India),
Ishima (Singapore), International Tanker
Management (Dubai), JQC Shipping
(Singapore), Malaysia International
Shipping Corporation Berhad (Malaysia),
Prisco Tankers (Singapore), Southern
Shipmanagement Ltd. (Chile) and SuisseAtlantique Société de Navigation
Maritime S.A. (Switzerland).
On the supplier side, new agreements
were signed with Atlas Incinerators
(Denmark), Bosung (Korea), Furuno
(Denmark), and Viking (Denmark).
In addition to these new partners, a
significant number of companies signed
at the end of 2007 have now gone 'fully
live' with their ShipServ implementations. These included Alaska Tankers
(US), E.R. Schiffahrt (Germany),
International Shipping Partners (US),
Seabourn Cruises (US) and Sealion
Shipping (UK).
As well as seeing growth in the use of
its e-commerce network, ShipServ's online maritime suppliers directory,
ShipServ Pages, has also seen increased
usage, with 7,500 visitors per week using
the service to find suppliers in 6,500 ports
around the world.
The directory has recently topped
20,000 supplier listings, and ShipServ says
it estimates that the sourcing activity generated by the service is worth in the region
of $400m per annum.
"2008 has truly been extraordinary in
terms of market success," commented Paul
Ostergaard, CEO & Founder, ShipServ.
"On the trading side, it's incredibly
exciting to see so many new customers
represented on TradeNet. And on the
sourcing side, Pages represents a previously untapped opportunity for buyers
and sellers to find each other easily."
Tero Marine has become the latest
external software company to integrate its
maintenance system, TM Master, with
TradeNet, joining the likes of Spectec
AMOS,
ShipNet,
BASS,
ABS-NS,
Logimatic ePos, Consultas, and CL-Sea.
Stolt-Nielsen completes Cisco installation
www.cisco.com
Stolt-Nielsen Philippines has overhauled
its network infrastructure and installed a
new system by Cisco, that will enable the
ship operator to use the technology as a
platform to accelerate the delivery of new
applications.
At the heart of Stolt-Nielsen's system is
the Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switch, a
line of stackable multilayer switches to
improve the operation of the network by
offering redundancy and failover.
"The comprehensive upgrade of our
network is in line with our overall office
renovation," said Ricardo Sacay, training
computer administrator at Stolt-Nielsen.
"The aesthetic and technological transformation of the Stolt-Nielsen facilities has
done wonders for our employees' daily
operations. We now have a visually
appealing workplace and a more capable
and robust network system."
Stolt-Nielsen's worldwide accounting
transactions have recently been transferred to the Manila office, making it the
accounting hub of global operations and
necessitating this IT overhaul.
"We receive hundreds of scanned
receipts from all over the world daily. We
used to have a difficult time processing
large incoming files. Since the network
upgrade, this has become very manageable," said Mr Sacay.
Stolt-Nielsen currently uses 18 switches
spread throughout the four floors of the
Stolt-Nielsen main office in Makati City, with
wireless access points on the four floors.
BASS installations for CMA CGM
www.bassnet.no
BASS reports that it is nearing completion
of one of its largest ever contracts for the
installation of its BASSnet Fleet
Management Systems, for container group
CMA CGM.
Under the terms of the agreement, BASS
has already implemented the BASSnet
Procurement, BASSnet Maintenance, and
BASSnet Document Manager modules of
the system, which is operational on 50
CMA CGM ships and in three shore offices
in Le Havre, London, and the company's
headquarters in Marseilles.
In Q3 2008, the fleet and offices are
scheduled to be upgraded with BASSnet
2.5, which will allow for the integration of
additional functions requested by CMA
CGM experts.
Further modules, such as BASSnet
Operations (Navigation and Engine
Events Log) and BASSnet SAFIR (safety
management) will also be implemented
during this time.
"We always demand high performance
and reactivity to our suppliers. BASS is
delivering to our satisfaction on targeted
budgets, and we have already started to
obtain benefits from their solutions,"
noted Frédéric Viet, deputy vice-president
of CMA SHIPS.
The BASS system is operational on 50 CMA CGM ships
Fortune to supply Mare Maritime
www.frtntech.com
Fortune Technologies reports that it has
agreed a contract with Mare Maritime, for
the supply of the Microsoft Dynamics Nav
- Fortune Maritime Add On Solution to
the entire Mare fleet.
The project includes the delivery of the
Microsoft Dynamics Nav - Fortune Maritime
Add On Solution, the database conversion,
and customisation of the systems, as well as
all necessary installation and training.
Fortune says that the project has
already begun, and that the new system is
expected to be fully implemented within
the next nine or ten months.
Optimising convergence between
satellite and terrestrial voice
and data networks
IP Signature provides a gateway to always on communication using the new generation of IP based satellite services.
The unique structure allows shared use of the IP connection, and genuinely ubiquitous communication for Officers and Crew members alike.
User defined protocols control which activities or services can
be charged to the company post-paid account and which must
be paid for by a personal pre-paid account.
IDENTITY
PRESENCE
IPSIGNATURE USER PERSPECTIVE
CONTEXT
Optimising convergence between satellite and
terrestrial voice and data networks
BROADBAND
SATELLITE TERMINAL
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Free voice calls to network
users
Dedicated company network
‘Mobile’ office - no
dependence on PABX
Virtual Fax
E-mail
Virtual Telex
SMS
Instant Messaging
Cheapest form of data
communication
File transfer
Reduced tariffs to satellite
networks
Instant communication
Message store/search
SMS
Instant Messaging/ file
transfers to vessels
Automatic file transfer
Voice via ADSL (in port)
Free calls to network
users
Call Records
Pre-paid / Post-paid options
Management reporting
Standard
mobile phone
connectivity
IP Signature software is FREE OF CHARGE, there are
no monthly fees or license costs, users only pay for
airtime. Supports Inmarsat Fleet, Fleet Broadband
and Iridium Openport.
For further information e-mail
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Pre-paid and
post-paid web
surfing
Pre-paid / Post paid / Split Billing
Access to mail boxes / admin controls
AAIC Services / call records
Historical Analysis
Wireless Connectivity
Free on-network calls
Low cost global calls
AND branded
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enabled
Reduced tariff calls worldwide
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Instant Messaging
Low cost via GPRS
Free on wireless
connection
Direct access to
vessels
Daily Monitoring
Call Records
Pre-paid / Post-paid options
Forecasting
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SOFTWARE
Superstar installs Marine Software
www.marinesoftware.com
UK based Marine Software has completed
the supply of its Marine Planned
Maintenance, Marine Storekeeper, Marine
Purchasing System and Marine Safety
Manager systems to the Superstar, a
30,277gt recent addition to the Tallink/
Silja Line fleet.
Marine Software was contracted to
supply the software and set up the MPM
system during the build by Fincantieri in
Ancona, Italy, with the setup of the system
carried out at Marine Software's office following the supply of a comprehensive
range of information by the shipyard.
This allowed Fincantieri to deliver the
vessel with a fully populated planned
maintenance system as part of the new
build project.
Marine Software visited the vessel in
Ancona to inspect the Superstar and
finalise the database during the delivery
voyage, while crew training on the systems was also provided during the delivery voyage.
The planned maintenance system has
been integrated with the vessel's L3Valmarine monitoring system, to allow
the latest equipment running hours to
be automatically imported into the MPM
system.
The Superstar is now in operation
between Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki,
Finland, and Marine Software reports that
it has now also been contracted to set up
the planned maintenance on the Tallink's
latest vessel, the Baltic Princess.
ShipServ names e-commerce
shipowner of the year
The Marine Software system was installed on the Superstar during the build in Italy
BASS releases new software
www.bassnet.no
www.shipserv.com
ShipServ has named Masterbulk as its
shipowner of the year at the ShipServ 2008
TradeNet Awards, for its contribution to
the e-commerce platform. Lagaay
International picked up the ship supplier
of the year prize.
The winners were picked from a shortlist of nominations originally submitted by
the TradeNet community of 115 buying
and 7,000 supply organisations. ShipServ
says that the awards represent an acknowl-
edgement of achievements in innovation,
and driving collaborative working best
practices with trading partners.
"The driving force behind ShipServ's
success has always been the innovation
developed by our community of buyers,
sellers and software partners," said
ShipServ founder and CEO Paul
Ostergaard.
"The TradeNet Awards highlight the
leaders in our community who have
demonstrated excellence and innovation
in using the TradeNet Platform."
Software company BASS has released the
the latest version of its software package,
BASSnet 2.5, which aims to help users in
their management of risk, safety, selfassessment (TMSA), and to ensure regulatory compliance.
The new modules launched in BASSnet
2.5 include BASSnet Risk Manager, BASSnet
Self Assessment (TMSA), and BASSnet
SAFIR - all fully integrated in BASSnet's
Fleet Management Systems. Like other
BASSnet modules, the new products are
developed on the Microsoft.NET platform.
Martin Bjoernebye, general manager of
BASS research and development, notes
that the success of BASS' product suite is
built on the company's 2002 decision to
migrate from Microsoft Visual Basic (and
its Microsoft Component Object Model) to
Microsoft.NET.
"Visual Basic is difficult to upgrade and
is plagued by compatibility issues," he said.
"Our goal was to streamline installation onboard and building our systems
on the Microsoft.NET platform has made
this possible."
Online registration for IMarEST
www.imarest.org
A new online registration system has been
introduced for prospective members of
the Institute of Marine Engineering,
Science and Technology (IMarEST), a
global professional membership organisation for marine science, engineering and
technology professionals.
An Elective Member can now join
the institute with a single click from
the 'Join the IMarEST Now' link at
www.imarest.org, which opens a list of
membership benefits and an application
form. Payment can be made by credit or
debit card.
Elective Member is an initial category
of membership providing access to
IMarEST benefits and services. The institute encourages Elective members to
upgrade to professionally recognised categories of membership in due course.
"Once anyone has taken this first
speedy step to membership, they can then
opt for formal recognition of their professional status via professional membership
and registration," said Graham Hockley,
head of professional affairs at IMarEST.
"Our new online facility immediately
links them to an established network of
15,000 marine science, engineering and
technology professionals, and enables
them to join one of 50 branches worldwide, each with a local programme of
technical, scientific and social events, and
to special interest groups."
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Digital Ship
Questionnaire automation website launched for dry bulk market
www.baltic99.com
The Baltic Exchange and Q88.com
have launched 'www.baltic99.com' , a
new website for the dry bulk shipping
industry that aims to improve accuracy
and efficiency when dry
bulk shipowners complete
and distribute vessel questionnaires to charterers and
port terminals.
In conjunction with the
launch, the Baltic Exchange
has revised Baltic99, its
standard dry cargo questionnaire for owners and charterers. A new version is available for download from
www.baltic99.com.
This new website allows
for automatic completion of
required documentation by
linking 90 of the currently
required questionnaires to a
common database. In addition, the website also allows
the user to search the database for specific information
about each vessel and to
keep track of certificate
dates.
Fritz Heidenreich, president of Q88, noted: "This sys-
tem has been successfully used in the
tanker industry for the past seven years. It
was logical to expand the service to the
dry bulk industry as the need for questionnaires has grown and many of our
tanker customers have been asking us to
support dry bulk vessels as well."
Jeremy Penn, Baltic Exchange chief
executive, said: " We believe this system
offers real benefit to all users and are
delighted to be able to offer a discount to
Baltic Exchange members."
New module
from
MESPAS
www.mespas.com
Swiss-based company MESPAS reports that it has
released an enhanced version of its fleet management
software.
The new reporting tool is
included in release 5.11 of
Mespas R5, which the company says is now available
for its customers.
This tool will make it
possible for users to generate reports from different
modules of the management
software.
The company also reports
that it is to release a new
module for users involved
with
TMSA
(Tanker
Management
and
Self
Assessment) as part of its
upcoming Mespas R5 release
5.12, to help companies with
their with quality management.
MESPAS believes that this
module will assist tanker
operators in complying
with the restrictions of
OCIMF (the Oil Companies
International Marine Forum)
and to manage the assessment process efficiently.
New subscribers can use this service at
no cost until January 1, 2009. Thereafter
each subscriber will be charged an annual
fee per ship.
Access to www.baltic99.com is via a
password-protected login.
SOFTWARE
New analysis tools from BMT SeaTech
www.bmtseatech.co.uk
BMT SeaTech has launched two new
software systems, with the release of
its SMARTSHORE and SMART POWER
programs.
SMARTSHORE is an office-based tool
that integrates with BMT's Ship-board
Monitoring, Analysis and Recording
Technologies (SMART) suite of software
products, allowing users to view, analyse
and compare data from ships fitted with
BMT's other SMART systems, on a single
or multi-ship basis, simultaneously.
Superintendents or Fleet Managers
can view information previously only
available on-board, and are able to report
or investigate a vessel's motions, struc-
tural response or performance, providing the necessary feedback to the Master.
Vessel data can be automatically sent
ashore at regular intervals, via an e-mail
attachment.
Reports can be customised to the
user's own individual requirements, and
data can be exported in common file formats for use in spreadsheets or other
applications.
SMART POWER is a realtime ship performance monitoring and analysis tool that
continuously records speed,
fuel consumption, shaft rpm
and torque, together with
navigational and environmental parameters, in order
to present performance and
trends over time.
SMART POWER features
include continuous recording of performance, navigational and environmental
parameters; graphical comparison of data (ship's speed,
shaft power, fuel consumption etc.); graphical trends of
ship speed vs. power over
time; voyage benchmarking;
and an automated sea trials
function.
SpecTec in
CBM
partnership
www.spectec.net
SpecTec has developed a
strategic alliance with the
UK marine services provider
James Fisher, to market and
deliver the 'Mimic' condition
based maintenance (CBM)
software offered by the
British company.
Mimic will interface with
SpecTec's AMOS software to
provide a fully integrated
CBM
and
CMMS
(Computerised Maintenance
Management System) solution, which will gather data
from the ship's machinery
equipment and use that data
to identify wear and tear and
any abnormalities in the
equipment's performance.
Mimic is already used to
supply maintenance and
related asset management
services to the UK Royal
Navy, with its condition
based maintenance system
installed on the majority of
the Navy's warships.
Since its acquisition in
October 2003 from WM
Engineering Ltd, the new
entity James Fisher Mimic,
led by general manager
Simon Forshaw, says it has
redeveloped and updated
the Mimic software to
improve its offering to the
commercial shipping sector.
Digital Ship
Asset management firm buys into maritime software
www.voyagermaritime.com
Prime Income Asset Management, a
Dallas-based advisory and management
company to real estate and energy sector
companies managing over $2.5 billion in
assets, has become a minority owner in
Resurgence Software, a maritime software
development company.
Resurgence has developed a 'Voyager
Maritime Payment Solution', a new fuel
payment system for ocean going vessels.
The system has been created in partnership with Lloyd's Register, which
already owns a subsidiary that provides
fuel testing and mediation services for
ocean going vessels, and US Bank
Voyager, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
US Bancorp, which also provides fleet
fuelling and maintenance cards for vehicles and aircraft fuelling.
Daniel J. Moos, the president and chief
operating officer of Prime, introduced the
Resurgence Maritime program to US Bank
when he served as General Manager of the
combined Voyager and Multi Service
companies.
"With the strong and committed backing of Prime Income Asset Management,
Lloyd's Register and US Bank Voyager,
Resurgence Software will undoubtedly
emerge as a leader in maritime payment
Odfjell to install Infonic system
www.infonic.com
Odfjell has agreed a contract for the purchase of Infonic's Geo-Replicator network
acceleration software for deployment
across its 60-strong fleet, to deliver twoway ship to shore updating of its Quality
and Safety Management System (QSMS).
The solution, developed for Odfjell by
Infonic's partner Confido, converts PDF
documents into HTML files, and then uses
the Geo-Replicator's differencing algorithms to compress that HTML by over 90
per cent. This creates a fully collaborative,
PDF-based QSMS viable for ships at sea.
Odfjell will also deploy this technology
to replicate news and other websites to the
servers on board their ships at sea.
The news pages that are being replicated by Geo-Replicator look and feel exactly
as if the end user were accessing them
online. All buttons and search functions
work exactly as on the live site, but in reality the content is being stored locally and
then updated when a satellite link is available.
Gunnar Eide, project manager at
Odfjell commented, "We wanted to communicate data between ship and shore
whilst reducing cost. We are using GeoReplicator to replicate news sites for our
crew at sea, and soon will be looking to
roll the project out to optimise a broader
range of data transmissions."
Japanese success for AVEVA
www.aveva.com
AVEVA has reported that Namura
Shipbuilding Co. in Japan has recently
increased its number of licences for
AVEVA software.
Namura, a shipbuilder since 1911, specialises in bulk carriers, tankers and LPG
carriers. Current notable ships on order
are 250,000dwt very large ore carriers designated as 'WOZMAX'. The first WOZMAX vessel is scheduled to be delivered
in 2010.
Tomoyuki Yamasaki, executive officer,
senior general manager of design depart-
ment, Namura Shipbuilding, said: "We see
great value in AVEVA solutions in reducing initial and production design manhours plus increasing overall efficiency in
our shipyard. Furthermore, we have great
trust in AVEVA's technical support."
Peter Finch, President, AVEVA Asia
Pacific, added: "For five decades, Japanese
shipbuilding companies like Namura
have contributed to the advancement of
maritime transportation and the world's
economic development. But with new
challenges posed by competitors, they
need the qualities that AVEVA solutions
offer to sustain a competitive advantage."
solution technology," says Mr. Moos.
"Having worked on the maritime payment program while employed at US Bank
Voyager, I am aware of its capabilities and
I am delighted to have the opportunity to
support Resurgence as they market this
marine payment system."
The Voyager Maritime Payment
Solution is used to grant credit terms to
shippers and generate payments to merchants, and also includes a fuel testing
component for large bulk purchases of
fuel for ocean going vessels.
Resurgence says that, by arranging
credit instead of needing payments to be
made by cash or money order, this new
payment system will offer companies flexibility in their payment options, as well as
the ability to conduct and manage their
assets in a more efficient manner.
K. Thomas Bubrig, president and chief
executive officer of Resurgence Software,
noted: "The maritime fuel industry is a
$165 billion dollar a year industry. Our
new maritime payment system will be the
first to consolidate this industry and provide an optimal solution for both the suppliers and the buyers and will make us the
industry leader worldwide in maritime
payment solutions."
The new payment system is patent
pending.
New database for TMSA2
www.ocimf.com
The Oil Companies International Marine
Forum (OCIMF) has announced the
planned release of the latest version of the
Tanker Management and Self Assessment
(TMSA) programme, dubbed 'TMSA2',
which will feature an improved online
database to assist ship operators in their
quest for compliance.
This enhanced web-based database will
provide tools for recording internal assessment results and selecting recipients for
TMSA data.
The OCIMF Secretariat says it will continue to provide hosting and technical
management to this database, but that
control over the release of the recorded
results still remains in the hands of the
ship operator, who will be responsible for
updating his own results as he progresses
through the programme stages.
Access to submit Self Assessments to
the online database will be controlled by
login IDs and passwords, via a software
licence subscription. In TMSA2 the subscriptions can be taken out instantly on
the Web using a credit card through a
secure payment system, at a cost of £50
per year.
The database has been made accessible
to ship operators as of the 19th June,
which OCIMF says was to allow time for
the Assessments to be created in the new
format before the commencement of full
operation of TMSA2 on 1st July 2008.
Since this date the existing TMSA database has no longer been accepting submissions, but will remain open for 3 months
to allow operators to access their existing
data and send it to recipients if required.
Detailed information and instructions
for using the database is available on both
the OCIMF and TMSA websites.
Indonesian company to install AMOS
www.spectec.net
SpecTec has secured a contract with PT.
Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi Tbk.,
Indonesia, to supply AMOS Business Suite for
six vessels, as well as the company's office site.
These vessels comprise four product
tankers, a chemical tanker, and a dry bulker,
while an option for another seven vessels, on
the successful implementation of the initial
complement, has also been included.
The project began on June 2nd 2008,
with a two-week requirement study of PT.
Humpuss' business processes and work
procedures, including a requirements
study for each individual department.
PT. Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi
Tbk (HITS) is one of Indonesia's national
shipping companies, and owns and operates tankers for LNG, oil, and chemical/methanol, as well as container vessels,
tugs and barges.
SOFTWARE
Shipdex - providing ship technical
information electronically
The Shipdex protocol aims to introduce a standard that could revolutionise the way vessel maintenance databases
are constructed, improving safety and slashing costs. Digital Ship brought the founders of the project together
for a conference in Hamburg, to explore the future of Shipdex
D
igital Ship recently held the first
ever conference about Shipdex, a
new data exchange protocol for
ship equipment information, which aims
to lead to the end of paper manuals on
ships. Shipdex stands for SHIP Data
EXchange.
The protocol covers all technical information which is normally supplied to vessels on paper, including equipment manuals, drawings, maintenance procedures,
and lists of spare parts.
technical manuals are a photocopy of an
old manual they got somewhere, and not
really consistent with the equipment they
are delivering."
"One vessel has 80 to 100 different
equipment manufacturers, with 700 to 900
components, up to 1000 parts per component, and 33,000 different general stores."
With data provided in Shipdex format,
seafarers will be able to get much faster
answers to critical questions. "People ask we have 25 tonnes of cargo. Can we load
Seeing Shipdex as a way to make life easier for shipping companies and suppliers: Bjorn
Stenwall, director, sales, marketing and major project unit at MacGREGOR, with Mats
Ottosson, strategic project manager, parts and service equipment, Alfa Laval
Shipdex arose out of the frustration
which two leading shipping companies,
Grimaldi
Naples
and
Intership
Navigation, were having with paper manuals, and their decision to do something
about it.
"We get 1.5 tons of paper with a new
vessel, including technical manuals, drawings and specifications," said Grimaldi's
purchasing director Giancarlo Coletta. "It
is very hard to accept that, when EDI and
communication is state of the art, the shipping industry should have this huge
amount of paper."
By having all of the data for a new vessel provided electronically, Mr Coletta
estimates that he might be able to save as
much as 8 per cent on the total costs of
maintenance, because it will be much easier to manage efficiently.
"All the information you need, you can
pick up from your database exactly. We can
have access immediately to the information
and supply faster answers," he said.
"With so much paper onboard, it's very
hard to have rapid and quick access to
information when it's needed. Sometimes
this on the vessel? Instead of searching
through your manuals, you can answer
immediately. It will be a great advantage
in my opinion," said Mr Coletta.
As well as its planned maintenance systems, Grimaldi anticipates using Shipdex
data in its quality management systems,
technical library and computer based
training systems.
There are plenty more benefits.
By receiving all the electronic data in
Shipdex format, you can also reduce the
enormous cost associated with manually
building an electronic maintenance system for a new vessel - currently as much as
$20,000 per ship.
You can manage your spare parts much
better - so you are more likely to have the
spare parts onboard which you need, and
not have spare parts onboard you don't
need - and small percentage improvements in spare parts management can lead
to big financial savings.
You can also keep your technical data
up to date easier - if a supplier sends out
an update to a manual, it can be automatically incorporated in the shipboard elec-
tronic manual - no posting out pieces of
paper and wondering if they made it to
the right ship.
In future, Shipdex could do many wonderful things - for example, to pass on
information to shipyards about what
equipment is onboard the ship, and store
this data in a standard format, as will be
required under IMO's forthcoming ship
recycling legislation.
It could be used to communicate data
with regulators, surveyors and suppliers,
about exactly what is on the ship, and any
problems with the equipment.
All of these things, of course, have the
potential to improve safety - if it is easier to
manage maintenance on the vessel, and
ship staff can find the right answers to their
questions much faster than they can with
paper, the whole ship should operate better.
So will Shipdex be embraced by the
maritime industry?
Till Braun, head of department - sales
projects, Germanischer Lloyd, and chair of
the conference, noted that there were representatives of major shipping companies,
including BP Shipping and Maersk, present at the conference, "with their eyes
wide open."
MacGREGOR, one of the world's
largest suppliers of hatch covers, cranes,
and equipment for RoRo ships and ports,
has already decided to wholeheartedly
commit to providing technical information in Shipdex format. It will also use
Shipdex to manage the data about its manuals internally, so it can easily make
updates and make sure new equipment is
provided with the right manual, even if it
is in paper format.
Alfa Laval is another company embracing Shipdex, starting by making its manuals for separators available in Shipdex format, and then its manuals for freshwater
systems. MAN Diesel is also part of the
working group.
Grimaldi Naples and Intership
Navigation currently have 90 new vessels
on order between them, and will use their
purchasing leverage, as far as possible, to
try to cajole their suppliers and shipyards to
provide the manuals electronically.
One delegate from BP Shipping said
that he would consider trying to get
OCIMF (the Oil Companies International
Marine Forum) involved in Shipdex, using
the purchasing clout of oil companies to
encourage tanker companies to encourage
shipyards and equipment suppliers to
provide equipment manuals in Shipdex,
because it can potentially lead to
improved safety.
Maritime charts are currently making a
slow, but unstoppable, move from paper
to electronic. Won't ship manuals go the
same way?
S1000D - following
aviation
It helps that Shipdex is based on a standard called S1000D, which is used internationally in aviation and defence (including
naval vessels). All documentation in the
aviation and defence industry must be
written in the same standardised way, so
it can be easily imported into different
software systems (though this is a suggested rather than mandatory inclusion,
and is dependent on contracts).
S1000D is sponsored by the Air
Transport Association of America (ATA),
the Aerospace and Defence Association of
Europe (ASD), and the Aerospace
Industries Association of America (AIA).
The document describing the standard is
more than 2600 pages long.
By using a standard developed for aviation, it means the maritime industry can
take advantage of all of the software and
services already developed for S1000D. It
also means that many maritime equipment suppliers are already providing
manuals in S1000D format, if they also
supply to the defence industry. Shipdex
expects to ultimately be an official part of
the S1000D organisation.
It won't be the first time the maritime
industry has followed aviation; vessel traffic systems, voyage data recorders, automatic identification systems, and using
English as a standard language were all
first done in the aviation industry and
subsequently adopted by shipping.
Convincing the shipyards
But the biggest obstacle to Shipdex is
already clear - convincing the large mer-
You just need two lines in your contract
with the shipyards to force them to
provide the technical information in
Shipdex format, said Marco Vatteroni,
SpecTec ILS manager and Shipdex
technical manager
Digital Ship
chant marine shipyards, mainly in South
Korea and Japan, to provide their technical information in this format.
This also means convincing equipment
suppliers to provide technical information
in Shipdex format.
Theoretically, all a shipowner needs to
do to have all the technical information in
Shipdex format is insert a small clause into
the contract, stating that 'all
technical information should
be delivered in accordance
with the Shipdex protocol'.
This is what the Italian
Navy did with Italian shipyard Fincantieri, recalls
Marco Vatteroni, SpecTec
ILS manager and Shipdex
technical manager, who was
working at Fincantieri at the
time.
"There were just 2 lines in
the contract, saying that publications should be supplied,
generically, in electronic format" recalled Mr Vatteroni.
"It was at first a nightmare
for us to deal with different
formats. We convinced the
Italian Navy to change the
contract and adopt just one
electronic format based on
S1000D at no extra cost."
In Fincantieri's case, the
Italian Navy got its own
way, and ended up with
more electronic and standardised data than in the
past, Mr Vatteroni said. But
will a merchant marine shipping company have a similar
amount of clout over its shipyards?
Naval shipbuilding contracts are usually prestigious
and highly valued, so shipyards go a long way to win
them. Merchant marine
shipbuilding is the other end
of the extreme; shipyards
have their slots full for years,
and actively discourage
shipowners
from
any
bespoke requests.
Stories abound in the
industry illustrating shipyards' reluctance to provide
anything special for individual customers, such as the
shipowner who was asked to
pay a hundred thousand dollars to have a staircase painted in a different colour.
And if shipyards don't
take their manuals very seriously, then it is unlikely that
a smaller supplier, who only
sells direct to the shipyard
(and doesn't even use the
equipment), will take them
seriously.
The small suppliers also
often operate on low margins, and will be unwilling to
make investments in new
systems for manuals - they
would prefer to keep sending out the same document
they have been making for
the last 20 years.
Safety benefits
When you realise the enormous safety
benefits that could accrue from having
manuals supplied electronically, you
might expect the International Maritime
Organisation to make it mandatory.
The primary safety benefit will be in
ships being better maintained - because
they have better maintenance manage-
ment systems, with data directly input
from the manufacturer's procedures.
A secondary safety benefit is that if
there is ever any problem, seafarers can
find out what to do about it much faster
from an electronic manual, than having to
look for the right page in 1.5 tons of paper.
"By having the information very
well structured and searchable, you can
quickly find the correct information for
the specific equipment," says Eva-Lisa
Martinsson,
manager,
Technical
Documentations Services, Competence
Centre Cranes, MacGREGOR, "You can
have the correct safety instructions for
particular equipment. If something happens, it's easy to find the right page in our
manuals."
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SOFTWARE
"We got one supplier to agree with us - it
is impossible for crew to read what we have
delivered. Have you ever seen Japanese
handbooks translated into English?
Sometimes I'd rather read Japanese."
The reason manufacturers often do not
provide particularly good manuals today
is because they lack incentive - people
tend to buy equipment on the basis of its
price and fitness for purpose, not the quality of the manuals.
"97 per cent of negotiation (with the
manufacturer) is about 'are we getting
what we want for the price we want'," said
Dimitris Lyras of Lyras Shipping. "I don't
think manufacturers believe they get a
competitive advantage from the information in their manuals."
It takes 1 minute instead of 10 minutes
to find the answer to a critical question Kay-Michael Goertz, head of logistic
procedures and IT at HDW ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems
"If you have a question, how do I fix the
pump, it takes 1 minute instead of 10 mins
to find the answer," said Kay-Michael
Goertz, head of logistic procedures and IT
at HDW - ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
Managing spares
If equipment information is supplied in
Shipdex format, shipowners can also load
the data about their spare parts automatically into their purchasing systems - and
with better data in their purchasing system, they can make sure they have the
right spare parts onboard and always
order the right spare parts.
Even if only a small percentage of your
spare parts are wrong, it is very expensive
and potentially dangerous.
There are many stories in the industry
of shipowners forced to airlift critical
parts, or charts, to a vessel by helicopter,
because they will be detained if they don't
have them.
By having a better database of your
spare parts, it is possible to do many new
things. For example, you might determine
that a supplier is trying to get you to buy a
spare part, which is only needed for one
procedure, and that procedure can only be
done by a dry dock - so there's no point in
buying it.
Benchmarking and
dashboards
Having better data should make it much
easier to compare one vessel with another,
so companies will have a better idea of
how well they are doing.
"We have one customer with 23 vessels,
each database is built by different people,"
said SpecTec's Mr Soncini. "So they are
completely different databases. It's impossible to compare one ship with another."
Bob Kessler of ABS Nautical Systems
recalled a Dilbert cartoon, which showed a
manager asking for executive summary
information, or 'dashboards', but not caring whether the underlying data is any
good or not, a scenario many in the maritime industry will be familiar with.
"Everybody wants 'dashboards'," he
said. "But if you have bad data, you won't
get any useful dashboards."
Managing the service
bulletins
If all technical information is supplied in
Shipdex format, it should make it easier
for suppliers to update their manuals for
equipment in service.
Currently, the only way for suppliers to
update their manuals is to send out a
paper 'service bulletin' - but this isn't easy,
if you don't know exactly which ships are
using the equipment, there is no easy way
Better manuals
A big hope for Shipdex is that it will
encourage suppliers to improve the quality of information in their manuals.
There is no guarantee that a manual
provided electronically will be of any better quality than a manual supplied on
paper, but it should be easier to assess the
quality of an electronic manual, and so put
pressure on the supplier to improve it.
For example, a common problem with
today's manuals is that they have a reference to another manual, but the page in
the other manual doesn't exist any more or
can't be found. If the links are electronic,
the computer can alert you if there are any
broken links, so they will all need to be
kept up to date.
"Very often handbooks are absolutely
terrible quality. The information is rubbish. It's very difficult to find the information you want," said Giampiero Soncini,
CEO of SpecTec.
to post the bulletin to the ship, and you
have no way of knowing if it has been
received and is being read as needed.
It would be so much easier if the update
could be sent to the ship electronically,
and automatically incorporated into the
shipboard electronic manuals, with the
maintenance, spares and purchasing systems updated as required; and Shipdex
makes this possible.
This communication between supplier
and vessel could also be two ways - with
the vessel providing the supplier with useful information about how well the equipment is performing (both provided manually and electronically).
Neil Firth, chief technology officer with
electronic purchasing company ShipServ,
suggested that his company could potentially assist here, by carrying manual
updates through its TradeNet hub, which
many vessels and equipment suppliers are
already connected to.
ShipServ's technology could be used for
updates and service bulletins
- Neil Firth, ShipServ
The benefit is the reduced amount of IT
integration which needs to be made. Every
time a vessel connects to a supplier, there
is IT work in doing the integration; and if
each vessel is connected to multiple equipment suppliers, and each supplier is connected to multiple vessels, that's a lot of
integration work. But if each vessel and
supplier connects once to TradeNet, no
further integrations are required.
Some suppliers may work on the basis
that they can send out updates by e-mail,
but Mr Firth pointed out that there are
many shortcomings to this, in particular
not knowing if the message has been
received.
"It's not a safe mechanism for delivery,"
he said. "With our process, you have an
audit process."
Building the database
faster
Everyone wants management 'dashboards'
but they are only any use if the underlying
data is of good quality, pointed out Bob
Kessler, head of Europe, Middle East and
Africa with ABS Nautical Systems
Perhaps the benefit of Shipdex with the
biggest immediate impact on the
shipowner's bottom line is the reduced
cost of putting together a good maintenance database on a new vessel.
Or, since only a small proportion of
shipowners are making this investment, it
means that the vessel can actually have a
really good maintenance system for the
first time.
Creating a good maintenance management system using current methods is
very expensive.
Grimaldi Naples currently spends 2 to 4
months manually inputting data for each
new vessel it has, at a cost of around $20,000.
The time to build a maintenance
database for a new vessel would
reduce from 90 days to 2 days
- Giampiero Soncini, CEO of SpecTec
Other shipowners work with contractors to create a computerised maintenance
management system from the information
in the manuals.
Building a maintenance system from
the paper manuals involves "a lot of data
population steps; none of them very simple," said Dimitris Lyras, special advisor
to Ulysses Systems, a company which provides this service. "There's a million ways
to make errors."
"Someone has to understand the manuals - things aren't listed in the same way,"
he said. "People have to look at the manuals, mark them up, and have someone
extract the data. It's a bit like translating.
We have to abstract people's translations
into a common format."
"It takes 6-8 weeks to do. We get the
crates of manuals, then they have to be
opened, indexed, studied, copied,
repacked and sent back."
Don't expect much help from the shipyards, who put the manuals together.
"Shipyards don't find this stage important
or particularly interesting," he said.
Giampiero Soncini, CEO of SpecTec,
estimated that it takes 90 days (12 weeks)
to build a maintenance system for a new
tanker or bulk carrier from the paper documents; but if the data was available electronically, it would reduce to 2 days.
"If you do it in the Philippines, it may
cost $10,000, but you have to pay another
$10,000 to send the manuals there and get
them back, and you only have 1 set of
manuals," he said.
SpecTec currently earns $4m every year
from its manual data entry services, but
Mr Soncini would be happy if the company didn't have to do it anymore. "We
could turn the 40-50 people who do it into
consultants and have them doing work
onboard instead," he said.
There are no real short cuts to putting
together a maintenance management system, said Mr Soncini.
One unfortunate habit is for shipowners to buy software with a so called 'skeleton database' already on it - which refers
to general equipment parts, not something
specific to the vessel.
They then discover that having a generic maintenance system is worse than useless, in that it tells seafarers to do tasks
which don't need doing, and doesn't tell
them what actually needs doing.
Digital Ship
At that point, the person who made the
decision to buy it typically looks for other
people to blame (such as the chief engineer or the software company), instead of
blaming himself for buying the wrong
software, Mr Soncini said.
Also at that point, so much investment
has been made in trying to make the poor
quality software work, that there is a real
reluctance to throw it away
and start with something
better, although that is the
only way forward.
"It has a list of equipment
but with no information on
it," Mr Soncini said. "It is sold
for $2000. But people never
say 'I made a mistake' after
buying it."
Many companies invested
in maintenance systems to
meet their ISM requirements
in the late 90s, but invested
in a system which would get
the 'tick in the box', not a system which would actually
provide value.
sel is being operated safely. "Shipowners
need to know if someone is in the tank
who shouldn't be in the tank," he said.
Shipdex could be used to communicate
information about the status of box containers - for example, to enable people to
check that the refrigeration unit on their
container is still working ok, suggested
Kay-Michael Goertz, head of logistic pro-
cedures and IT at HDW - ThyssenKrupp
Marine Systems.
There were suggestions that Shipdex
could be used as a tool to communicate
navigation information - connecting the
navigation equipment with suppliers of
navigation services and electronic charts and possibly linking in with IMO's
"e-Navigation" initiative.
Shipdex, pdfs and paper
Many of us have used manuals supplied
electronically as a pdf, and it is important
to emphasise the difference between
Shipdex and a pdf manual.
A pdf is an electronic document.
However, unlike the digital display of a
paper document you get with a pdf, where
the computer cannot understand the infor-
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There are plenty of ideas as
to how Shipdex could evolve
in the future to do more.
For example, it could be
useful in future for facilitating
communications between the
vessel and class, flag state and
shipowner, about any problems related to equipment.
"If you have an accident
on the vessel, you can talk to
class, flag state, owner, and
say '1567' and they know
which anchor winch isn't
working," suggested Till
Braun from Germanischer
Lloyd.
There are plenty of potential benefits to class societies,
who often have to communicate a lot of information about
equipment, for example
between the class surveyors
and the equipment suppliers.
"We are all aware, such an
industry standard would
very much support our day
to day work," said Mr Braun.
"Class can see Shipdex as a
way to communicate with
manufacturers."
Bob Kessler, from ABS
Nautical Systems (a maritime
software company linked to
class society ABS), said that
ABS is already working to
develop a database system
which can gather information
automatically from surveyors, and it could use Shipdex
for this communication. "We
need it too," he said.
Dimitris Lyras, a director
of Lyras Shipping, suggested
that Shipdex could be used
as a basis for a wide range of
communications
systems
related to ship equipment including enabling shipping
companies to check the ves-
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All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies • The unique light-colored dome with dark contrasting baseplate is a registered trademark of KVH Industries, Inc.
Meet us at Digital Ship USA, Booth No. 6
SOFTWARE
Building a maintenance database
manually, as it is done today, involves a
million different steps, none of them very
simple - Dimitris Lyras, special advisor,
Ulysses Systems
mation contained within, a Shipdex
dataset contains chunks of text, data and
drawings, which the computer can under-
stand and utilise in different ways.
Different pieces of software are available which can be used to put these
chunks of information together to display
it or create an electronic document from it
(which could also be a pdf).
But the information can additionally be
imported into maintenance and purchasing systems. So, for example, you might
want to import information about recommended intervals between maintenance
for a certain item into your maintenance
system. When it is time for the maintenance task, the software can automatically
display information about the necessary
procedures, show you the diagrams, and
also arrange for the right spare parts to be
ordered, via your purchasing system.
An equipment supplier might also
choose to manage their manuals within the
company by keeping the data in Shipdex
format, and then using this data, with
appropriate software, to create a conventional looking manual when needed by the
customer - which can be provided as a pdf
or on paper. MacGREGOR plans to manage
its manuals internally in this way.
Having an electronic manual does not
mean you can only read it on screen.
Screens are not a particularly good way to
provide information to someone doing a
maintenance task; so it is likely that seafarers will still want to print the information out and take it with them on paper
when they do the maintenance.
But there is a lot of difference between
a printout from an electronic manual, and
using a paper manual.
You can find the information you need
much more quickly if it is electronic, than
you can from one cubic metre of manuals.
You can also update and work with the
data much more easily if it is supplied
electronically. Then you can throw the
paper away when you've finished with it it doesn't matter if it gets covered with
engine oil.
"People must have the capability to
print," said Kay-Michael Goertz, head of
logistic procedures at shipbuilder HDW -
ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. "You can
print out A4 cards and take it with you
when you are working."
Getting too much data?
One possible pitfall with Shipdex is that
shipping companies could get besieged
with so much data they don't know what
to do with it.
To take an extreme example - a simple
blender in a galley could have 100 different parts in it, any of which could potentially fail. If you received your manual for
the blender in Shipdex format, and it was
completely comprehensive, should you
import data for all of those spare parts into
your purchasing system, knowing that
you are very unlikely to want to order any
of them over the lifetime of the equipment
- ever bought a spare part for a blender?
Bob Kessler, head of Europe, Middle
East and Africa with ABS Nautical
Systems, had an interesting solution to
this problem - look at your historical purchasing data, and see which parts you
MacGREGOR - the first supplier to embrace Shipdex
MacGREGOR, one of the world's largest
suppliers of vessel hatch covers, cranes,
and solutions for cargo lashing, bulk handling, offshore load-handling and naval
logistics, is the first ship supplier to
wholeheartedly embrace Shipdex, seeing
it as a way to make life easier for itself
and its customers, and also to differentiate itself in the market.
We decided to go for the standard and
use it for all our manuals in the future,"
- Björn Stenwall, director, sales,
marketing and major project unit at
MacGREGOR.
"We decided to go for the standard and
use it for all our manuals in the future," said
Björn Stenwall, director, sales, marketing
and major project unit at MacGREGOR.
"We are convinced this is a good thing
to do. A common standard is what we
need for sure."
"When we started we were a bit sceptical," he admitted. "But then we made
quite good decisions about it, and put in
good resources to get it going."
Mr Stenwall explained how having
manuals as electronic data could lead to
savings in many different areas.
"With Shipdex, shipowners can
improve spares and maintenance costs.
They know what to buy and what to
maintain," he said.
Shipdex can help reduce storage costs,
by helping companies build better systems to keep track of what they have in
stock. "We have over 35,000 articles in
stock and don't necessarily know what
we have onboard after a while," he said.
Shipowners might be able to reduce
their insurance costs, or they can demonstrate they are keeping their equipment
better maintained.
A standard protocol should certainly
be able to help reduce maintenance costs.
"Maintaining all the documents on a ship
takes a lot of administration," he said.
There could also be savings on the
crew cost. "The crew must be very frustrated in the situation they are in today they don't know what to do or when to
do it," said Mr Stenwall.
Typical operating costs for a vessel
today are 47 per cent crew, 20 per cent
spares and maintenance, 12 per cent
administration, 10 per cent insurance and
11 percent lubrication and storage, so you
can see how Shipdex might impact total
operating costs (which are themselves 56
per cent of the lifetime cost of ownership
of a typical ro-ro vessel).
"If we decide 100 per cent of our manuals should be available in a structured
way, I am more and more convinced the
pay off will be there," he said.
Mr Stenwall used a Rubik's cube to illustrate the complexity of managing all the
information about equipment on a ship. "A
Rubik's cube has 27 small cubes and 6 sides,
and I couldn't solve it," he said.
By comparison, "a ship might have 100
suppliers, with 800 different pieces of
equipment, with 100 different parts in
each one."
Katarina Munter, manager, technical
documentations services, competence
centre RORO with MacGREGOR, told the
story of how MacGREGOR became
involved in Shipdex.
"We started on this because we were
invited by our customers and were curious
about where this was heading," she said.
"We wanted to have influence on this
new standard, and we wanted to have
some positive PR."
MacGREGOR expects to reduce some
of its document production costs from
using Shipdex.
"By using Shipdex we should reduce
our document type definition (DTD)
development costs," said Ms Munter.
"It is time consuming and costs a lot of
money to make manuals - also it's really
seen as a contractual obligation."
Shipdex should also make it easier to
communicate changes in the manuals to
customers.
At the moment, "we have trouble communicating changes to the customer, and
it's very hard to know if an update has
reached the customer," she said. "We don't
We wanted to have influence on this new
standard, and we wanted to have some
positive PR - Katarina Munter, manager,
technical documentations services,
competence centre RORO with
MacGREGOR
have a natural way to send out the
updates."
"There is a possibility of misunderstanding between suppliers and the end
user, because it is so hard to get updates
to the customer."
"We have a problem getting feedback
from the end user," she said.
Meanwhile Eva-Lisa Martinsson,
Manager, Technical Documentations
Services, Competence Centre Cranes,
MacGREGOR, has also been experimenting with Shipdex and is pleased with
what she has discovered so far.
"We see our information in a new
way," she said. "We see that by changing
our way of working to XML, we have a
lot of opportunity to make our way of
working much better."
"We can make producing our manuals
more secure and faster. By decreasing the
manual work involved in making manuals, we get less errors. We know we have
the correct information in our manuals.
There is less cost and administrative
work doing the manuals."
"We also see - this thinking fits very
well into the product lifecycle management system (PLM)," she said. "A good
PLM system, using Shipdex as the standard, will make our lives better."
MacGREGOR is currently developing
a new product lifecycle management system, which will connect with its documentation system and use Shipdex data
protocols.
Ms Martinsson is particularly pleased
about the improved two way communication between buyer and supplier which
Shipdex should help facilitate. "Putting
out information that we have should really be automatic," she said.
"We will have a closer relationship
between the supplier and shipowner. We
know what we have onboard and can
supply the correct spare parts. The key to
success is close co-operation between
buyers and suppliers."

Digital Ship
have bought in the past, and only add
these to your purchasing system.
Or, maybe one of the companies which
operates maritime electronic
purchasing systems, such as ShipServ,
could be persuaded to provide information about which spare parts the whole
shipping industry has purchased; you
could reconcile the list of spare parts for
your equipment against the
list of
spare parts purchased by
shipping companies before,
and those are the ones you
put in your purchasing management system.
enables you to use Shipdex documents.
Of course, there is nothing technically
stopping you from using Shipdex without paying the fee, but without paying
the fee you do not have a voice in the
development of the protocol, and you
cannot access the documentation which
describes how to make documents in
Shipdex standard.
Live demonstration
A live demonstration of Shipdex was
presented at the conference by SpecTec
and Hico, of the first two software applications which have been developed to
use the protocol.
In one example, SpecTec's AMOS data
manager software was used to validate
Shipdex datasets, and create a Virtual
Publication Structure.
In the second example, the Shipdex data
was imported into AMOS, and used to
automatically create the relevant database.
Further technical information about the
protocol was presented at the conference
by Marco Vatteroni, and can be downloaded from the Shipdex website
www.shipdex.com.
DS
Expanding the
user group?
One possibly controversial
decision by the operators of
Shipdex has been to deny
new members the chance to
join the protocol maintenance group, on the basis
that it will make decision
making too slow.
Giampiero Soncini, CEO
of SpecTec, has said that he
would not have gone ahead
with developing the protocol
if more companies had been
involved in the outset,
because the amount of work
would have been much
greater.
This is a decision which
may need to be changed over
time. It is hard to imagine a
big shipyard such as
Hyundai agreeing to provide
all of its manuals in Shipdex
format without a seat on the
protocol maintenance group
(although the protocol maintenance group will aim to
take into consideration
requests from Shipdex members).
Having said that, if the
shipyard doesn't want to use
Shipdex, it does have the
option of using the full version of S1000D, the 2,600
page document being used
in aviation and the defence
industry, which Shipdex is
based on and will be compatible with.
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The Shipdex
organisation
There is a membership fee
for joining Shipdex - Euro
2,500 initially, and Euro 500
per year after that.
Shipdex is technically a
non profit making company
owned
by
shipowners
Grimaldi and Intership navigation. The fee is used to
maintain the company which will employ staff to
run the Shipdex website, and
answer questions.
For this fee, you do not
automatically get access to
the manuals, but you buy the
rights to use the Shipdex protocol in your software, which
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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS
New Croatian ENCs are now available
global reporting system used to collect
information to assist in search and rescue
missions, by identifying other ships in the
area of a ship in distress.
PureBallast, Alfa Laval's chemicalfree system for ballast water treatment,
has received full Ballast Water Type
Approval from DNV on behalf of
Norwegian authorities. The certification
confirms that PureBallast complies with
pending ballast water treatment legislation from the IMO.
Comark Corporation has released
the first in a new line of large screen displays for the maritime industry. The
MDU37 is a 37-inch LCD display designed
to meet various maritime standards, and is
expected to receive ABS certification later
this year.
BMT Group Ltd has announced the
appointment of Jim Davis as President of
its subsidiary company, BMT Syntek
Technologies Inc., based in Virginia,
USA. Before joining BMT, Mr Davis
worked for a number of technology
companies,
such
as
NorthropGrumman Ship Systems and IBM
Corporation, as well as completing
twenty years service for the US Navy.
MaxSea has launched the newest version of its navigation software, MaxSea
X7. MaxSea X7 is designed to work with
Furuno’s FAR2xx7 radar series, providing radar overlay on navigation charts and
direct control of the radar from the navigation software. The system can control
two different radar types, allowing the
user to switch between them by clicking
on an icon, and integrates a number of
other navigation tools.
www.primar.org
www.radiohollandgroup.com
www.amver.com
www.alfalaval.com
www.comarkcorp.com
www.bmt.org
www.maxsea.fr
Croatia has released 14 new ENC cells in
the coastal navigation band, expanding
existing coverage of the Adriatic Sea.
Primar says that the charts have been
made available to users in its base CDs
released in week 26 (23-29 June).
Guido Speelman has been appointed
general manager of Radio Holland
Netherlands, Rotterdam, with his
predecessor, Paul Smulders, moving
into the position of global operations
manager for the Group at its Dutch
headquarters.
The US Coast Guard's AMVER
(Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel
Rescue System) service has recently celebrated 50 years in operation. AMVER is a
MaxSea's navigation software allows users to switch between radar displays with one click
Vroon agrees ECDIS deal
www.pcmaritime.co.uk
Lilley & Gillie has been awarded a contract by SELEX Communications to provide PC Maritime Navmaster ECDIS systems for installation aboard three field
support vessels, now being built by
Astilleros Zamakona in Bilbao, Spain, for
Vroon Offshore Services Ltd (VOS).
The new contract is in addition to six
Navmaster ECDIS systems that were
ordered in 2006 for installation on a
series of six new 1,500grt offshore support vessels originally ordered from
Zamakona by Aberdeen-based Viking
Offshore Services.
The first of these ships was delivered
in December 2006 and the last is due to be
handed over in March 2009.
In May 2007, Viking Offshore Services
was acquired by Vroon BV, thus creating
one of the largest offshore support fleets in
Europe. The company now operates as
Vroon Offshore Services Ltd.
VOS currently operates a total of 59
vessels from bases in Aberdeen, Scotland;
Den Helder, The Netherlands; and Genoa
in Italy, and has a total of 23 new build
vessels on order.
Its fleet includes conventional and
multi-role emergency response and rescue
vessels, platform supply, anchor handling,
and dive support and utility vessels, operating principally in the North Sea and the
Mediterranean.
SELEX Communications is responsible
for the entire bridge outfit on these nine
VOS ships.
The ECDIS systems to be installed feature remote diagnostics, voyage data
recording and replay, route planning, and
companion training software to assist
companies in providing cost-effective
ECDIS training.
Vroon is to install PC Maritime's Navmaster ECDIS on three field support vessels
Connect.
Communicate.
Control.
In the highly regulated world of maritime shipping, exchanging and retrieving
information and essential documentation is a tremendous operational challenge.
ShipDecision is the software solution. With access through a
secure web portal, you can communicate with business partners around the world and electronically exchange all of your
critical information. A “vault” feature ensures that every
message, form and document exchanged is stored in digital
format so that it can be retrieved rapidly when it is required.
ShipDecision technology does not make you change the way
you conduct business. What it does deliver are significant
improvements in productivity, efficiency and accuracy.
Developed with extensive input from shipping industry
partners, the system features fully integrated modules
designed specifically for Owners, Operators, Charterers,
Agents, Brokers, Surveyors and Insurers.
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Highly structured capture of information
Totally flexible searches
Integrated instant messaging
Accurate trace of all activities
Extensive reporting functionality
Secure, remote data storage
Open communications with other systems
No IT infrastructure investments required
Visit www.shipdecision.com and take a
look at what ShipDecision can do for you.
Or contact us to arrange an on-line
demonstration.
[email protected]
+1 514 281 8570
ShipDecision is a trademark of Stelvio Inc.
Hapag-Lloyd to install
Condition Based Monitoring
www.rovsing-dynamics.com
Hapag-Lloyd is to install a bearing wear
monitoring
system
from
Rovsing
Dynamics on six new mega containerships,
after tests on three vessels in service.
The company hopes to save time, cost
and manpower with the predictive maintenance solution, by avoiding open-up
inspections. A spokesperson for HapagLloyd noted: "Online condition monitoring provides a significant potential of saving cost plus reducing the risk and cost of
open-up induced damages."
Six months ago Rovsing Dynamics
installed its OPENpredictor solution on
three 4,000 TEU Hapag-Lloyd containerships in service since 2002, Dublin
Express, Glasgow Express and Liverpool
Express.
Besides online monitoring of the 9-
cylinder Wärtsilä engines, the system also
monitors the vessels' Napier turbochargers. It detects signs of bearing wear and
other machinery faults at an early stage,
and issues warnings with automatic fault
identification (AutoDiagnosis) and prediction of lead time to inspection.
Following the successful field test,
Hapag-Lloyd has now decided that each
of the 12-cylinder MAN B&W main
engines of its six new mega containerships
under construction are also to be equipped
with OPENpredictor bearing wear
monitoring.
The new 8,750 TEU containerships will
be identical to the recently named Kuala
Lumpur Express. It is among the world's
largest and holds Germanischer Lloyd's
"Environmental passport", issued to environmental friendly new buildings with
state-of-the art technology.
New ECDIS simulator for Polish Academy
www.transas.com
A new ECDIS classroom simulator has
been officially opened at the Szczecin
Maritime Academy in Poland.
The host of the opening ceremony for
the Transas NTPro 4000 Virtual Bridge
Simulator was the Institute of Marine
Navigation, represented by Dr Janusz
Uriasz, with Prof Boleslaw Kuzniewski
performing the honours in starting up the
equipment for the first time.
The simulator consists of 16 user and 2
instructor stations, with each user station
equipped with a full 3D view (360° visualisation), one of four selectable radars
(Nucleus 4000, Furuno, BridgeMaster,
BridgeMaster Pro), and a steering console
individually designed for every vessel.
The ECDIS console included with the
system is equipped with ENC (electronic
navigational charts), ARCS (raster charts)
and Transas charts.
"These types of simulator are able to provide a wide range of educational courses.
The main aim of such courses is to increase
the safety at sea through a proper educational process covering ECDIS usage," said
Dr Andrzej Bak, chief mate and head of the
Marine Navigation Institute.
"In order to achieve satisfactory results,
we need to give officers the correct
knowledge, accurately supported by
hardware and software. It creates an
understanding of the rules and interdependence in ECDIS systems."
Transas ECDIS and VTMIS contracts
All ECDIS-required sensor interfaces are
connected to both stations independently
for redundancy, and Transas will supply its
Transas has agreed a deal to supply its
TX-97 world chart folio for each vessel.
Navi-Sailor ECDIS (electronic chart disThe selected hardware configuration
play information system) to 25 newbuild
will allow easy upgrade to full dualvessels for Columbia Ship Management
ECDIS in the future, should the company
(CSM).
require it.
Eleven of the vessels are being conTransas also reports that it has received
structed at the Aker MTW Shipyard at
an order to supply, install and commission
Wismar in Germany, with the other foura Vessel Traffic Management Information
teen being built at GWS Guangzhou
System (VTMIS) for Mina Khalifa Bin
Wenchong Shipyard in China.
Salman Port (KBSP) in Bahrain.
The CSM vessels will deploy the chart
KBSP is being developed by Bahrain at
system fully prepared with hardware for
Hidd across the harbour from the existing
ECDIS operation. The installation set conMina Salman Port.
sists of one 23-inch TFT-ECDIS workstaThe new port is scheduled to start opertion in the navigation console and one 19ating at the end of 2008, and will comprise
inch TFT-ECDIS desktop workstation at
Six Hapag-Lloyd mega containerships will install the Rovsing Dynamics monitoring system
900,000 sq m of container terminal/generthe chart table, with LAN-interconnection
al cargo area, 10,800 ground slots for terbetween both stations.
minal storage, and 1800m of
berthing length for container, conventional /Ro-Ro
cargo and passenger vessels.
The VTMIS will feature a
coastal radar with a 19-ft
antenna, that is proposed for
installation on top of a
BAPCO tower located across
the harbour, to monitor and
control approaching traffic.
An additional 12 ft radar
t in Weather Services from Jeppesen Marine
was also proposed for installation on top of the KBSP
You trust your crew, depend on your gear and as an experienced mariner you have
control tower for better
conﬁdence in yourself. But from experience you know that you can’t rely on the weather.
tracking in the immediate
The sea can be your best friend, but bad weather can turn it out to be your worst enemy.
area surrounding the port.
e vessel
sel aand the crew it is important that the navigator plans
The VTMIS configuration
n too account the best weather forecast data available.
also includes provision of
herrNav may be the best solution for you, as it is for an
CCTV cameras, meteorologig nuumber of seafarers around the globe.
cal sensors for wind speed,
inttegrated solution that proposes a safe route
direction, visibility, tide and
sed on detailed charts and weather forecast data
currents information.
All data would be prop ddedicated forecast by setting your own alarms
vided
at the control tower
ghlyy compressed data ﬁles for quick downloading
via
two
operators, and also
wayys up-to-date with charts and latest weather
remotely to the port regulasy ddownloading and browsing of weather data
tors and other interested
Forr m
more information contact:
government bodies, once
Jeppesen
Norway AS, Tel:+ 47 51 46 47 00
ppe
the system is complete. It
E-mail:
mai [email protected] - www.c-map.no
has also been proposed
that the meteorological
information will be provided remotely at the Port
jeppesen.com
Pilots Office.
www.transas.com
If you can’t rely on the weather...
Digital Ship
Jeppesen and BSH complete XML pilot study
www.jeppesen.com
Jeppesen Marine and Bundesamt für
Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH)
have concluded a pilot project that tested
the feasibility of converting BSH sailing
directions content into Jeppesen print,
online and data presentations that BSH
certified as preserving the BSH content.
The findings of the study have been
presented to the IHO Standardisation of
Nautical Publications Working Group
(SNPWG).
During the study Jeppesen Marine
defined an XML solution, converted the
sample sailing directions content to a single XML repository, and produced print,
web and CSV data extract output that preserve the BSH source content.
BSH provided sample updates to the
sailing directions and Jeppesen applied
the updates in the XML repository and
demonstrated the ability to produce
updated versions of the three prototype
encapsulations.
While the scope of this pilot was limited, the companies say that the evidence
supports the conclusion that the industry
could benefit right away by utilising
aspects of the SNPWG object model and
the recommendations of the study.
"This was a very important project that
demonstrates how private companies and
hydrographic offices can work together
for the good of the marine industry," said
Michael Bergmann, director, Jeppesen
Marine Hydrographic Services.
"Jeppesen Marine is dedicated to building upon our working relationship with
BSH, as well as fostering additional relationships with hydrographic offices
around the world."
Space-based AIS satellites blast off
www.orbcomm.com
ORBCOMM has successfully launched
six AIS-equipped satellites (a Coast
Guard Concept Demonstration satellite
and five Quick Launch satellites) after the
Cosmos 3M rocket carrying the company's payload blasted off at 10:36am
Moscow time (06:36 GMT) from Kapustin
Yar, in the Astrakhan Region, on June 19.
The satellites are equipped with
Automatic Identification System (AIS)
technology to receive and report transmissions from AIS-equipped maritime
vessels from anywhere within the satellite
coverage area, information which is
expected to be of major interest to authorities
interested
in
Long
Range
Identification and Tracking (LRIT) in the
marine domain.
ORBCOMM says it intends to market
this AIS data to US and international coast
guards and government agencies, as well as
to companies whose businesses require ship
tracking and other navigational activities.
These satellites represent the first stage
of a multi-year satellite upgrade plan,
which ORBCOMM says now makes it the
only satellite company providing worldwide commercial AIS data services.
Chart agents to offer weather services
www.lilleyandgillie.co.uk
www.dpm.co.uk
Admiralty chart agents Lilley & Gillie and
DPM have teamed up with weather company Meteo Consult to provide weather
forecasting data to their customers by
offering
Meteo
Consult's
Ship
Performance Optimisation System (SPOS)
with their chart services.
SPOS is an onboard weather advisory software tool that provides wind, sea and swell
forecasts, and ocean current, hurricane/
typhoon and ice formation data twice daily.
Alternative routes can also be provided, allowing the master to make better
informed decisions on final voyage plans.
"We are always looking to expand our
range of products and services which
bring benefit to our customers," said
Glenn Heathcote, managing director of
both Lilley & Gillie and DPM.
"We are confident that SPOS will
enhance our range and enable us to offer
both an easy-to-use and highly reliable
weather forecasting service."
Lilley & Gillie and DPM are both members of the Charente Group.
ORBCOMM has successfully launched six AIS-equipped satellites
SiiTech launches online Radar-ARPA targeting
Sperry Marine expands Chinese operations
www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com
Sperry Marine has announced the completion of a major expansion of its commercial marine service operations in
Shanghai, China, with additional spares
inventory, and technical and administrative staff, to serve the local market.
The two-year development programme
involved the expansion of Sperry Marine's
commercial marine service facility in
Shanghai to over 4,700 square feet, more
than doubling the number of staff and
establishing a full complement of
depot spares.
Sperry Marine says is now able to provide better shipboard service for bridge
navigation and communication electronics in China. The spares inventory is supplemented, replenished and distributed
throughout the region by the company's
Asia-Pacific Distribution Centre in
Singapore.
The service operation in China is now
fully capable of performing installations of
integrated bridge systems and other
Sperry Marine equipment at all of the
country's major commercial shipyards.
www.siitech.net
Canadian company SiiTech reports that it
has launched a new service for displaying
real-time Radar-ARPA targets on the web.
SiiTech believes that it is the first company in the industry to offer this type of
technology.
The company has recently been working with the Virginia Aquarium and New
England Aquarium in the US, who have
been working on a group project to evaluate the ship traffic in the Chesapeake
Bay area.
An AIS receiver and Radar were
installed on a high elevation fixed location in Virginia Beach, with SiiTech set-
ting up a server that could accept streams
from the equipment.
Once this data is received, the system
allows the scientists working on the project to view and store data simultaneously and account for vessels missed
by AIS using Radar in a geographic
database.
The system can be viewed in real-time
at http://ais3.siitech.net/VTSLite, detailing the site around Virginia Beach where
the test project has been ongoing.
If the periodic survey has been completed, an example of the service can be
seen at www.siitech.net/VTS (free registration required) by running the History at
July 14, 2008 08:00 a.m.
THE FULL PICTURE
LOGBOOK: 2000
HRS: HYUNDAI SHIPYARD, ULSAN, S. KOREA
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customers with innovative
and dependable solutions
that maximize performance.
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Digital Ship Ship August 2008 page 25
> COMMUNICATION
> HYDROACOUSTICS
Rutter completes oil spill radar detection trials
www.ruttertech.com
Rutter Technologies reports that an independent trial to test the viability of its Sigma
S6 Radar processing system for oil slick
detection has been successful, showing that
the system could detect oil on the sea surface from a moving vessel using conventional marine X-band and S-band radars.
The trial was carried out with the permission of the Norwegian government
under the supervision of the Norwegian
Clean Seas Association for Operating
Companies (NOFO) and the Norwegian
Coastal Administration, and was hosted by
the Norwegian Coastguard. Planning and
reporting was conducted by Norconsult.
Three individual tests were conducted
in an area north of Andoya Island,
Norway, with initial winds of ENE 7-9m/s
and sea state 4. Later in the trial (into the
second test) the wind calmed to 4-5m/s
and the sea state fell to 2-3.
The first test involved a 1,200 litre oil-inwater emulsion spill, where the Sigma S6 was
able to detect the slick on short pulse with a
conventional X band radar at a distance of 1
nautical mile. The second spill of 2,400 litre
oil-in-water emulsion was detected at 1 nautical mile using both the X and S-band radars.
The third test involved a 600 litre oil-in-
water emulsion spill with the slick being
detected using the X-band radar. All spills
were detected while the ship was moving.
Byron Dawe, president of Rutter
Technologies, products division, commented: "We are extremely pleased that this trial
has shown yet another application for the
S6. Using Rutter's Sigma S6 radar processor, a vessel can now reliably detect and
track an oil slick. As well, the technology
enables the vessel to track an oil slick at
night or in low visibility conditions."
Rutter's Sigma S6 radar processing system detected oil spills on both X-band and S-band radar, while the vessel was moving
Radar and AIS - book launch UK extends Bluefinger contract
www.nautinst.org
Digital Ship's resident navigation expert
Andy Norris has launched a new book,
detailing some of the latest advancements
in navigation technology.
'Radar and AIS' by Dr Norris builds on
the basic radar theory and target tracking
knowledge that seagoing officers already
have - while looking ahead into the future
where New Technology (NT) radars are
hoped to provide significantly enhanced
performance.
From the 1st July 2008, all new radars
required mandatory AIS (automatic identification system) integration. While much
effort has gone into ensuring that AIS,
radar and chart information is consistent,
with uniform symbols and a standard resolution, operators still need guidance and
instruction.
This new guide argues that mariners
will be better equipped with AIS integrated into radar displays, and that AIS has an
ever expanding role to play in improving
navigational integrity and accuracy.
Furthermore, increasing use of real and
virtual AtoNs (Aids to Navigation) will
undoubtedly improve the information
available to the mariner. With ever more
information to process and react to, it is
vital that the operators understand how
their responses need to evolve in order to
make use of the extra data.
This book attempts to assess the new systems approach to onboard integration and
conveys complex information in a clear style.
'Radar and AIS' was formally launched
on 24th July at the Inmarsat Building in
London, published by the Nautical
Institute as Volume 1 of its Integrated
Bridge Systems series. It will be sold for
£20 from The Nautical Institute, at
www.nautinst.org.
Members of the Nautical Institute and
Royal Institute of Navigation are offered a
30 per cent discount, while bulk discounts
are also available.
www.cybit.co.uk
Telematics company Cybit has announced
that its BlueFinger maritime division has
signed a contract extension with the UK
Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (DEFRA), acting on behalf of
the UK Fisheries Departments.
The UK Fisheries Departments will
continue to use the BlueFinger satellite
tracking system (SAFFIRE) to monitor
fishing activity in UK waters until 2012.
The system is currently being used to
monitor fishing activity by EC and third
party country vessels in UK waters, as
well as to track all British vessels over 15m
in length around the world.
Since 1999, it has been a legal requirement for fishing vessels over 24 metres
(over 15m from 2004) in UK waters to
report in via satellite every two hours. It is
also a legal requirement that the UK
Fisheries Departments have in place a
platform to enable the monitoring of this
ChartWorld - Your Partner In Navigational Digital Services
fishing activity in UK waters.
The SAFFIRE system is used to determine which vessels are not reporting via
satellite as well as ensuring closed areas,
and other relevant regulations, are
observed. Any transgressions will then be
investigated using air support, patrol vessels and land based staff in ports.
"We could be tracking anything up to
1000 vessels per day in UK waters," commented Adam Jarrett, UK project leader
for the Vessel Monitoring System for the
Marine and Fisheries Agency.
"The system has to be extremely reliable because we have to constantly monitor activity on all vessels over 15 metres in
UK waters as well as provide onward
reporting of UK vessels to meet our obligations to other Member States and third
party countries. The SAFFIRE system has
been designed for us to specifically meet
these requirements, and that is the reason
that we have chosen to extend the contract
until 2012."
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Digital Ship
Locater system saves 3 lives
www.mobguardian.com
The lives of three fishermen have been
saved thanks to the MOB Guardian man
overboard and vessel locater alert system
developed by the UK's RNLI (Royal
National Lifeboat Institution), the first
time that the system has been used to full
effectiveness in helping to save lives in an
emergency situation.
The RNLI Operations Room in Poole,
Dorset received a vessel overdue alert off
Sark at 6pm, Tuesday 24 June. After verification the alert was transferred to the agencies responsible for coordinating maritime
search and rescue - first to Falmouth Coastguard, who then passed it to the Channel
Islands Search and Rescue authority.
The RNLI St Peter Port lifeboat from
Guernsey was then tasked to search for
the missing fishing vessel, Guyona.
Using the last MOB Guardian verified
position and taking into account weather
and tides, the RNLI lifeboat worked out
the likely position of the fishing vessel.
At the time the lifeboat was on exercise
only 12 miles away from the predicted
position and the fishermen were located in
a liferaft at 6.50pm, five miles south southwest of Sark, 25 minutes after the lifeboat
was alerted.
Peter Bradley, RNLI MOB Guardian
and operations manager commented: "The
crew of the Guyona were found safe in a
liferaft that had deployed as their vessel
sank. However they had also been in the
water for 20 minutes and were battered
and bruised by their ordeal."
Andrew Freemantle, RNLI Chief
Executive added: "On average 20 fishermen lose their lives every year in our
waters. I sincerely hope that more UK fishermen will now decide to take advantage
of the heavily subsidised MOB Guardian
offer and that we will be able to save more
fishermen's lives in the future."
The MOB Guardian saved the lives of three fishermen (inset) off the coast of the UK
Maritime electronics standard approved
www.nmea.org
The US National Marine Electronic
Association's NMEA 2000 Standard for
Serial Data Networking of Marine
Electronic Devices has been approved
by the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC).
The IEC prepares and publishes international standards for electrical, electronic
and related technologies across a number
of industries, including maritime, and has
approved the NMEA 2000 Standard as a
means of connecting marine navigation
and radio communications equipment
aboard all classes of vessels.
The IEC now lists the NMEA standard
on its website under the designation 'IEC
61162-3', which can be found at
www.iec.ch/online_news/justpub/
jp_2008/jp.htm#61162-3.
Australian VTS gets funding
Australian Transport Minister John Mickel
has announced a AUS$5 million allocation
for the construction of a Vessel Traffic
Service centre to monitor shipping movements on the North Queensland coast.
The port of Townsville, which will host
the centre, had over 1400 vessel movements last year, while nearby areas Abbot
Point and Lucinda experienced about 270
and 36 movements respectively.
"The Townsville centre completes a key
link in a network of Vessel Traffic Service
centres that track and monitor shipping
movements in all major Queensland
ports," said Mr Mickel.
"In addition to monitoring vessel movements in Townsville, the new facility will
use remote monitoring technology to track
and organise vessel movements in the
ports of Abbot Point and Lucinda."
Detailed planning of the Maritime
Safety Queensland Vessel Traffic Service
centre has already begun, with building
expected to begin later this year and the
centre to become operational early in 2010.
Maritime Safety Queensland will also
relocate the Great Barrier Reef and Torres
Strait Vessel Traffic Service (ReefVTS)
from Hay Point south of Mackay to the
new Townsville Vessel Traffic Service
centre.
There are about 7000 ship movements
each year through Torres Strait and the
350,000 square kilometre Great Barrier
Reef, and some 30,000 smaller vessels
active in the region.
Sperry systems for Brazilian vessels
www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com
Sperry Marine is to supply electronic navigation systems for four new offshore supply
vessels to be built in Brazil, with a package
that will include radars, autopilot, speed
and heading sensors, and other equipment.
Vision Marine, Sperry Marine's sales
and service representative in Brazil, will
be responsible for installation, commissioning and servicing of the navigation
packages on the vessels.
The four platform supply vessels will
be built for Companhia Brasileira de
Offshore (CBO) at Estaleiro Aliança ship-
yard near Rio de Janeiro. Rolls-Royce is
providing the design and equipment
package for the 3,500 deadweight ton vessels, which are scheduled for delivery in
2009 and 2010.
They will be placed on long-term charter with the Brazilian state oil company,
Petrobras, to transport supplies to offshore oil platforms.
"We are very pleased to be teaming
with Rolls-Royce and the CBO group to
provide state-of-the-art navigation technology for these new platform supply vessels," said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of Sperry Marine.
NMEA 2000 is a moderate capacity,
bi-directional multi-transmitter/multi
receiver instrument network standard,
that operates controller area network
(CAN) technology over connectors and
cables that are compatible with industrial
bus systems.
Korea moves on ENCs
www.primar.org
in having to purchase charts that contain
identical information in some places.
The new grid-based Korean ENCs are
now available.
The Norwegian Hydrographic Service
(NHS) reports that it has signed an
agreement with the Korean
Ocean Research Association
(KORA), to facilitate the
delivery of Korean ENCs to
the market.
This move has also been
supplemented by Korean
moves to convert all of its
ENC (electronic navigational
chart) units to a newly established grid system.
Following this technology
changeover, all Korean ENCs
will now be available as individual cells.
Implementing the grid
system will eliminate overlaps between Korean ENCs,
Kjell Olsen, Norwegian Hydrographic Service,
removing some of the frusand Oh Soon Bock, chief executive KORA,
mark the new agreement on Korean ENCs
tration ENC users have noted
Euro 7 million contract for Simrad
www.simrad.com
Simrad Spain, the Spanish sales division
for Simrad and Kongsberg Maritime, has
agreed two new contracts worth Euro 7
million for the supply and installation of
navigation, positioning and research systems on two newbuilds for the Spanish
Oceanographic Institute (I.E.O).
The twin 45m research vessels are
specifically designed for research on the
Atlantic and Mediterranean coastal areas.
The first vessel is expected to be delivered
in December 2009, and the second in
December 2010. Both vessels will be
'silent', in accordance with the noise
reduction recommendations set out by
ICES 209.
The first contract, signed with M Cies
Shipyards in Vigo at a value of Euro 3.2
Million, is for the supply and installation
on each vessel of the Kongsberg Maritime
Integrated K-Bridge, VDR, K-Pos with CJoy (Dynamic Positioning), Seapath 200,
SSU (Sonar Synchronising Unit), MDM400
(Marine Data Management), EA600 single
beam echo sounder and navigation sensors.
Simrad equipment is also included as
part of this contract in the form of the
multi frequency EK60 echo sounder,
FS20/25 and ITI trawl monitoring and
other fishery research systems.
The second contract, worth Euro 3.8
Million, was awarded directly by the I.E.O
and consists of the supply and installation
of an extensive scientific research equipment package on both vessels, consisting
of the EM710 0.5º x 1º multibeam echo
sounder, Simrad ME70 scientific multibeam, HiPAP 500 Acoustic Positioning
System and TOPAS PS18 Parametric
Profiler.
"Many of our engineers have experience of similar projects and in addition to
the supply and installation, we have been
supporting other companies involved in
the project by working on areas such as
the hull and blister design and the configuration for classification society fulfilment," comments Vicente Carrasco, sales
manager for subsea, Simrad Spain.
Seatrans to install Jeppesen WeatherNav
www.jeppesen.com
Jeppesen Marine reports that trials of
WeatherNav, its integrated digital chart,
weather and sea state forecasting solution,
have been successfully concluded
onboard two Seatrans vessels, and that the
company has signed a contract to implement the WeatherNav system on its entire
21 vessel fleet.
WeatherNav
combines
Jeppesen
Marine electronic charts with updated
meteorological data in the C-Map
OceanView software and in compatible
bridge systems, to create an integrated
route planning tool.
Seatrans' Safety & QA manager, Karl
Johan Kleppe, noted: "Feedback from
masters on our ships using this solution
New radars launched
www.jrc.co.jp
www.raytheon-anschuetz.com
JRC and Raytheon have both launched
new radar systems, designed to comply
with the new IMO radar performance
standard MSC.192 (79), implemented for
radars installed on or after 1st July, 2008.
The new IMO radar performance standard IEC 62388:2008 includes additional
functionality features, such as improved
radar target detection performance in
rain and sea clutter; changes in the basic
requirements for radar performance;
new IMO performance standards on navigation presentation MSC.191(79); and
radar image display and measurement
by Consistent Common Reference
Position (CCRP).
JRC has received European MED
approval certification for three series of
marine radars, comprising 24 models,
from EU notified body QinetiQ, which it
says is the first such approval in the world
for radars complying with these new IMO
requirements.
In addition to producing a compliant
system, JRC has also integrated other new
technologies into the systems, such as its
EC 2007 make s yo ur ECDIS tick
Î Ove r
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on a trial basis was very positive. They
found the forecasts and route planning
very useful and accurate. As a result,
we chose to install this on all of our vessels across the fleet. It is now our company standard."
WeatherNav data includes forecasts
originating from the ECMWF (European
Centre for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts), and cyclone warnings from the
World Meteorological Organisation, a UN
body. Onboard updates come in either
HTML or a number of e-mail formats.
Jeppesen says that it has also received
very positive feedback from other trial
users of the system, such as Havdrøn,
the G.O. Sars Research Vessel, the
M/S Rødholmen Trond Vollen, and the
BB Worker.
15, 000 E le c t ro n ic Ch a rt S ystems
w o rld w id e h a ve o u r E CDI S Ke rnel i nsi de.
'Constaview' function, which rotates and
displays radar images in real time with an
interface for future integration of the
bridge system.
Raytheon Anschütz has launched the
newest compliant version of its NSC
Radar series, which utilises AIS
transponder information, with a new
'target association' feature the compares
target information from both ARPA
and AIS.
The two separate symbols can be
merged into one, to give a clearer indication of traffic dangers, though the ARPA
will remain the source of priority. Having
a merged source of information should
also cut down on the number of alarms on
the bridge.
The radars come with an enhanced
graphical user interface with standardised colours and symbols, and are available with full Chart-Radar functionality
that can read Chart CD-ROMs and store
chart data independently of any external
ECDIS.
A SeaScout anti-collision assistance system is also incorporated, which evaluates
the current traffic situation and highlights
'no go areas'.
Digital Ship
OSG goes for ECDIS
www.charente.co.uk
OSG Ship Management (UK) Ltd has
decided to fit ECDIS systems on board 20
of its tankers following the completion of
shipboard trials, with Lilley & Gilley contracted to supply and install the systems,
as agents for PC Maritime's Navmaster
ECDIS.
Of the 20 vessels included in the contract, three are VLCCs, one is a Suezmax,
four are existing Aframaxes, four are newbuild Aframaxes and eight are Panamax
vessels. The trials were conducted aboard
the 112,056 dwt tanker Overseas Shirley
Lilley & Gillie's managing director,
Glenn Heathcote, commented: "We pro-
vided OSG with the opportunity to trial a
Navmaster system on board its
112,056dwt Aframax tanker Overseas
Shirley for a period of six months."
"Feedback from the master of Overseas
Shirley was, we know, positive because
after the trial unit was removed from his
bridge, he made it clear that he wanted a
permanent Navmaster system installed as
soon as possible."
In addition to the supply and installation of the Navmaster systems, on-board
training is being provided by Lilley &
Gillie, while the contract also includes a
five-year support package.
Both Lilley & Gillie and PC Maritime
are part of the Charente Group.
Web based tracking launched
www.bluefinger.com
Cybit has announced that its BlueFinger
maritime division has launched a new internet-based online vessel tracking service.
Saffire-Online allows shipping companies to combine compliance with IMO
Long Range Identification and Tracking
(LRIT) regulations with a range of shipping fleet management tools over the web.
It provides a view of every vessel in the
fleet and enables activity and status reports
to be generated, so fleet managers can
acquire location information on each vessel
and, together with vessel grouping and geofencing management facilities, ensure that
shipments are on-course and on-time.
The Saffire system is fully compatible
with Inmarsat-C, D+ (IsatM2M), Iridium,
Thuraya and other satellite communication systems, and has also been selected to
track the position, direction and speed of
each yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race, the
round the world yachting challenge.
Saffire-Online can automatically provide necessary reporting to LRIT
International Data Centres and to any other
destinations that shipowners may require.
McMurdo type approved for Russia
www.mcmurdo.co.uk
Three safety products from British marine
electronics manufacturer McMurdo have
been awarded type approval in Russia
from Morsviazsputnik.
The SMARTFIND E5 EPIRB and GPSequipped SMARTFIND G5 EPIRB, along
with the McMurdo S4 Rescue SART, had
already been available in Russian territory
following an initial type approval from the
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping,
but this additional Morsviazsputnik
approval means that the equipment can
now be sold to any Russian SOLAS or
IMO legislated vessel.
The SMARTFIND range of EPIRBs
(Emergency Position Indicating Radio
Beacon) features both a non-hazardous
battery and high brightness LED locator
light, while the McMurdo S4 Rescue SART
(Search and Rescue Transponder) is a
hand held unit which transmits a response
signal to nearby ships' radar, enabling its
position to be pinpointed.
The SMARTFIND is certified by
COSPAS SARSAT, the international satellite-based search and rescue system, and
both models have a battery status monitor
and a 5 year battery change interval. The
SMARTFIND G5 model offers an additional level of accuracy with its integral
GPS receiver which gives visual indication
of GPS acquisition.
The S4 SART is a 9GHz X-band Search
and Rescue radar transponder, so that
when a radar signal is received from a
ship or aircraft, the S4 Rescue automatically transmits a response signal to identify
the survival craft on the radar screen by
means of a stream of 12 in-line dots. Once
activated the S4 will remain in standby
mode for over 96 hours and is waterproof
to 10 metres.
IMO progress on LRIT plans
www.imo.org
IMO has moved forward with plans for
the implementation of long-range identification and tracking (LRIT) systems, following the latest meeting of its Maritime
Safety Committee (MSC) in London for its
84th session.
The MSC made a number of decisions
to ensure the timely implementation of the
LRIT system, with the LRIT system
intended to be operational with respect to
the transmission of LRIT information by
ships from 30 December 2008.
A resolution on the Establishment of the
International LRIT Data Exchange on an interim basis was adopted, confirming that the
International LRIT Data Exchange will be provided temporarily by the United States at their
own expense, and that a permanent solution
should be found "as soon as possible".
The MSC also endorsed a financial
model based on the 'user pays' principle,
agreeing that charges for the provision of
LRIT information for the search and rescue of persons in distress at sea should, in
all cases, be free of charge to the search
and rescue service of the Contracting
Government requesting such information.
The International Maritime Satellite
Organisation (IMSO), acting as LRIT Coordinator, will authorise the integration,
on an interim basis, of the Data Centres
that have undergone and satisfactorily
completed developmental testing, into the
production of the LRIT system.
The ad hoc LRIT Group was authorised
to consider and adopt amendments to tech-
nical specifications for the LRIT system on
behalf of the Committee, during the period
between MSC 84 and MSC 85 (meeting
November-December 2008), and to develop,
agree and adopt the documentation for the
testing and integration of the LRIT system.
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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION
Mandatory ECDIS - the final countdown
The long journey since IMO’s first discussions on Electronic Chart Display Information Systems (ECDIS) in 1986 seems
to be moving towards a conclusion, with the recent agreement at NAV54 to make the technology a carriage
requirement on a wide range of vessels. Dr Andy Norris explores the road towards mandatory ECDIS
equirements for mandatory carriage of ECDIS will almost certainly be adopted at the November meeting of IMO's Maritime Safety
Committee (MSC).
MSC's
Safety
of
Navigation
Subcommittee, after lengthy discussion
over a number of years, finally achieved
consensus at the recent NAV54 meeting to
recommend mandatory carriage on a reasonably broad range of ships.
The recommendations are that ECDIS
should be fitted to new passenger ships
above 500 gt and new tankers above 3,000
gt from 1 July 2012. New cargo ships
above 10,000 gt would need to be fitted
from 1 July 2013, and a year later, new
cargo ships above 3,000 gt.
The recommendations to MSC also
cover many existing ships, with all passenger ships above 500 gt needing to be
fitted from 1 July 2014 and tankers above
3,000 gt from 1 July 2015.
Other cargo ships down to 10,000 gt
will need to be fitted at various dates,
depending on size, from 2016 to 2018.
There are exemptions for ships that will
be taken out of service within two years of
the implementation dates.
It is clearly far from a full list of SOLAS
ships but it can be expected that attitudes
to ECDIS will change considerably over
the next decade and that mandatory carriage for all ships will perhaps not be
much further away.
R
Long wait
ECDIS has taken a long time to mature
to the point when mandatory carriage can
be agreed.
IMO deliberations first started in 1986
and in the 1990's the IMO-IHO
Harmonisation Group on ECDIS was
influential in developing draft performance standards. These were based around
IHO's evolving standards for electronic
chart content and display (S-52) and digital hydrographic data (S-57).
IMO's first performance standards for
ECDIS were completed in 1995, although
type approved equipment did not appear
until 1999.
Original objections to ECDIS were
mainly based on cost and the general fear
of replacing a durable and proven paper
product with an electronic unit of
unknown reliability.
Over the years, user fears about relying
on electronic charts have been reduced by
a better understanding of the IMO
requirements for backup but also by users
increased familiarity with electronic chart
equipment.
Most of this experience has been on
ECS - non-IMO approved electronic chart
systems - and has been generally very
favourable.
Reductions in both equipment and data
costs, together with a growing apprecia-
tion of the benefits that accrue from using
ECDIS, have somewhat lessened the concerns about costs, particularly for new
builds. However, cost of implementation,
including training, clearly impacts shipping companies.
At a macro-economic scale cost advantages are apparent, as shown by various
Formal Safety Assessments (FSAs) performed by Det Norske Veritas, which have
been formally submitted to IMO.
More impressively, the IHO predicted
that for 2010 the comparable figures
would be over 95 per cent of medium and
large scale ENCs, with 100 per cent availability of small scale charts.
To help achieve this the IHO has set up
'capacity-building' technical assistance
schemes through regional hydrographic
commissions, bringing HOs new to ENC
production more rapidly up to speed.
ENC availability is also being helped
by such programmes as the UKHO's
Admiralty Vector Chart Service, launched
earlier this year. As part of this initiative,
the UKHO has made agreements to produce ENCs of areas under the control of
poorly funded HOs, until they can undertake the work themselves.
Training
ECDIS will continue to grow,
and paper charts will increasingly
be seen as an anachronism
With increasing sophistication of the
model, DNV has shown that savings
accrued by the reduction in groundings
resulting from the use of ECDIS will more
than compensate for its implementation
and running costs.
This assumes the fitment to categories
of ships somewhat similar to those agreed
at NAV54. It also assumes that about 10
per cent of an average voyage will not be
covered by ENCs (official electronic navigational charts).
Data availability
For some time the debate on mandatory
carriage has centred on data availability.
Hydrographic offices were initially
slow in building up ENC coverage and
there was little reliable information being
released about future coverage.
This made it impossibly difficult for
IMO to agree on firm dates for mandatory
carriage. IHO members have since reacted
to these shortcomings and have put a lot
of effort into increasing ENC availability
and in providing forecasts.
In the latest released figures from the
IHO, ENCs available commercially to
users at the beginning of 2008 were compared with the coverage available from
the UKHO global series of charts.
60 per cent of coastal areas (medium
scale) were available in ENC format,
together with 65 per cent of larger scale
ENCs (for the top 800 ports) and over 90
per cent of small scale 'planning' ENCs.
An important issue of implementation is
training. IMO recognises this and intends
to issue a Safety of Navigation Circular
giving guidance on transitioning from
paper charts to ECDIS navigation.
IMO already has a Model Course on
ECDIS and stresses the importance of undertaking additional familiarisation training on
the actual equipment that will be used at sea.
In practice, when ENCs are not available, it is likely that Raster Navigational
Charts, such as ARCS, will be used rather
than paper charts and the training must
therefore cover this aspect.
Some shipping companies have been
reporting that extended use of ECDIS makes
it difficult for users to go back to paper
charts. In the future this will become more
problematic until all ships are ECDIS fitted.
Bridge staff newly joining a paper chart
based ship would certainly need a refamiliarisation on paper chart use before
leaving port if they had not used them for
some time.
A surprisingly different mindset is
required from the OOW depending
on whether the primary chart is paper
or electronic.
For electronic charts the OOW needs to
make a conscious effort to stay involved
with the navigation process, simply
because chart plotting is performed automatically and continuously, and does not
require user intervention.
Importantly, use of ECDIS gives more
time for the OOW to dedicate to situation
awareness. This awareness can be greatly
benefited by carrying out the checks
and balances appropriate to ECDIS use,
which should be instilled by good training programmes.
The technology revolution
It will be interesting to see how the implementation of ECDIS will proceed during
the next decade.
In theory, there is a relatively slow
planned implementation of mandatory
carriage. In practice, it is likely to be affected by the technology revolution that is
having its main impact outside of the shipping world. This revolution has resulted
in the now common use of in-car electronic map systems.
Also, Google Earth has become a convenient choice for many who are planning
a day out or a holiday.
GPS fitted mobile phones and PDAs
are increasingly being used for personal
navigation. Location based services are
also becoming more common.
This rapidly growing public familiarity
with both the performance and often cost
advantages of digital maps is bound to
favourably influence purchase decisions
for ECDIS. Paper charts will increasingly
be seen as an anachronism.
It is worth remembering that ten years
ago it was unusual to see a PC on a ship's
bridge. They are now almost ubiquitous
and this has been true for some years, not
least because of their general familiarity at
home and in the office.
It is therefore quite possible that the
market timescales will outrun those
imposed by IMO and likewise many ships
that fall outside the mandatory carriage
requirements are likely to be fitted with
ECDIS during the next decade.
Paper charts are expensive to print,
update and distribute - and these costs
will continue to rise.
In particular, smaller print runs will
increase costs further. The comparable
costs for distributing electronic data are
far less - and will continue to fall. Reasons
for continuing with paper charts will rapidly diminish.
ECDIS is a key component of
eNavigation. The strategy for eNavigation
was agreed at NAV54 and an implementation plan will be developed by the NAV
Subcommittee over the next four years.
For it to be successfully implemented,
ECDIS carriage is considered essential.
The potential common fitting of
ECDIS should considerably help the
acceptance of eNavigation. However,
the experience of the long gestation of
ECDIS should remind people that
eNavigation could also be a very long time
DS
in implementation.
Dr Andy Norris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industry
for a number of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-tech
navigation companies but now he is working on broader issues within the
navigational world, providing both technical and business consultancy to
the industry, governmental bodies and maritime organizations.
Email: [email protected]
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