Digital Ship Dec 2011

TT he London P&I Club haswarned that improvements intelecommunications technolo-

gy onboard ships can create unwel-come distractions, leading to casualties.

In its latest StopLoss Bulletin, theclub notes that an alleged causativefactor in a recent pollution incidentinvolved the duty officer attemptingto make a Skype call on his laptopduring his watch.

A VDR playback revealed that theofficer of the watch (OOW) was lis-tening to a news bulletin from hishome country which was beingstreamed through a laptop computer.

The officer appears to havemissed a radar target and a VHFwarning call while listening to thebreaking news from home.

The club says, “Onboard commu-nication has improved significantlyover the last few years, with techno-logical advances enabling crew to usemobile phones and laptops to stay incontact with family and friendsashore. However, the use of suchequipment at inappropriate momentsmay distract crew from the naviga-tion or operation of the ship.”

“Another issue is the risk of beingexposed to excessive information andsimply being unable to process it all.Bridge equipment is increasinglysophisticated and it can provide thecrew with access to extensive infor-mation regarding the relative posi-tions of other ships.”

“But, unless it is used in a focusedmanner, it can confuse, rather than

clarify, and ultimately prove counter-productive.”

In another case cited by the club,the OOW decided to use theAutomatic Radar Plotting Aid to track99 different ships whilst transiting acongested anchorage and to overlaythe radar image with AutomaticIdentification System data.

With so much information beingdisplayed, he failed to notice that oneof the targets had both a minimalclosest point of approach (CPA) andtime to CPA and, ultimately, therewas a collision.

The club says, “It is worth givingcareful thought to how such equip-ment can best be used without riskinginformation overload.”

“An important principle of keepinga safe navigational watch is that theOOW ensures that an efficient look-outis maintained at all times and theCollision Regulations are compliedwith. It is therefore essential that anydistractions from those duties are as faras possible minimised or eliminated.”

Chart problemsThis latest communication fromLondon P&I is not the first time theclub has expressed its misgivingsabout how the use of technology inmodern shipping can lead to undesir-able consequences.

In a 2010 edition of its StopLossBulletin the Club highlighted a varietyof incidents it had encountered where

IN THIS ISSUE

December 2011

electronics and navigation

software

satcomsNew Ku-band antenna fromMarine Technologies – 2Sea Tel introduces GlobalXpress antenna and FB line – 4Reducing complexity is key – Satcom Round Table Discussion

Featuring Peter Döhle,Vizada, Inmarsat,MTN, CSW Consultingand Nordic IT – 10

Electronic forms for United Tugs – 20BW Maritime to implement Palantirsystem across fleet – 22Reducing waste in the maritime supply chain – 26

Technology can cause costlydistractions – London P&I Club

MOL commits to BNWAS roll-out – 30Online type-specificECDIS training systemlaunched – 32

Navigation systems and the dangers ofpresumed competence – 36Navigational integrity – Dr Andy Norris – 38

In its latest bulletin, the London P&I Club has warned how the use of moderntechnologies onboard ship is leading to new claims where ships’ officers

are being distracted by the latest gadgets

continued on page 2

An alleged causative factor in a recent incident involvedthe duty officer using Skype during his watch

© 2

01

1 D

UA

LOG

AS

. A

LL R

IGH

TS

RE

SE

RV

ED

.

“Now I can enjoy the day” - Thomas Dinter, IT Manager, Seaarland Shipmanagement

Seaarland Shipmanagement in Hamburg has recently focused on the strategic importance of ship-shore data communication and have ultimately selected Dualog® Connection Suite™.

"Dualog Connection Suite provides us with a real time overview and the ability to respond quickly and efficiently." says IT Manager, Thomas Dinter. "The software includes an integrated firewall so there is no additional hardware to worry about and no unexpected or unauthorised traffic." says Dinter, conclud-ing “Dualog Connection Suite has improved our everyday situation.”

(+47) 77 62 19 00 or [email protected]

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37

SATCOMS NEWS

Digital Ship December 2011 page 2

Vol 12 No 4

UPCOMING CONFERENCESDIGITAL SHIP HAMBURG

Magnushall1-2 February 2012

DIGITAL SHIP SCANDINAVIAScandic Hotel Bergen City

28-29 February 2012DIGITAL SHIP CYPRUS

St Raphael Resort, Limassol28-29 March 2012

DIGITAL SHIP SUBSCRIPTIONSGBP £150 per year for 10 issues

Subscribe online at www.thedigitalship.com

or contact Stephan Venter [email protected],

tel +44 (0)20 7017 3407

Digital Ship Limited2nd Floor,

8 Baltic Street EastLondon EC1Y 0UP, U.K.www.thedigitalship.com

PUBLISHERStuart Fryer

EDITORRob O'Dwyer: Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 3410

email: [email protected] EDITOR

Julie Ann Chan. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7017 3414email: [email protected]

CONFERENCE PRODUCERSKarl Jeffery: Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 3405

email: [email protected] Hodge: Tel +44 (0) 20 7253 2700

email: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGRia Kontogeorgou: Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 3401


PRODUCTIONVivian Chee: Tel: +44 (0)20 8995 5540


Diana Leahy EngelbrechtTel: +44 (0)118 931 3109


CONSULTANT WRITERDr Andy Norris (navigation)

[email protected]

No part of this publication may be repro-duced or stored in any form by anymechanical, electronic, photocopying,recording or other means without theprior written consent of the publisher.Whilst the information and articles inDigital Ship are published in good faithand every effort is made to check accura-cy, readers should verify facts and state-ments direct with official sources beforeacting on them as the publisher canaccept no responsibility in this respect.Any opinions expressed in this maga-zine should not be construed as thoseof the publisher.

continued from page 1

navigators had been using incorrect and out-of-date chart data, citing this issue as a con-tributing factor in a number of claim cases.

One of the incidents described in thatbulletin relates to a claim made by atelecommunications company which hadalleged that a submarine cable had beendamaged by a ship’s anchor.

The report says, “The first assumptionwas that, if the anchor had contacted thecable, then it must have been because itwas dragging and the ship had not beenable to recover the anchor in due time.”

“However, the Club-appointed survey-or quickly established that the ship had, infact, anchored directly over the cable butthat the bridge team had been completely

unaware of the hazard beneath them. Thesurveyor identified that the ship had usedan old edition of the chart, which predatedthe laying of the cable.”

“Apparently, on preparing the passageplan, the second officer had not checkedthat he had the current edition of the chart.”

Another case featured a ship which hadbeen damaged as it struck a hazardouswreck.

Investigators of the incident subsequentlydiscovered that the current edition of thechart was in use but that it had not beenproperly corrected – even though a chart cor-rection displaying the wreck had been issuedapproximately three years previously.

Sadly, as regular readers of Digital Ship

will be aware, incidents and accidentswhere improper or incompetent use oftechnology is cited as a contributing factorare all too common.

The tools that are available no doubthave the potential to significantly enhancesafety and efficiency in the shippingindustry – be they advances in communi-cations, electronic navigation or sophisti-cated software applications – but it is clearthat these systems are not ‘foolproof’.

Training, company policies and proce-dures, and continued vigilance all play amajor part in ensuring that these technolo-gies act as ‘aids’ to living and workingonboard ship – and not as distractions thatwill have the opposite effect.

Printed by The Manson Group Ltd

Reynolds House, 8 Porters' WoodValley Road Industrial Estate

St Albans, Hertz AL3 6PZU.K.

DS

www.marine-technologies.com

Marine Technologies (MT) has introducedits newest Ku-band VSAT antenna,theMT-BB100, which features a redesignedparabolic dish and feed and incorporatescomputer simulation software used in theaerospace industry.

Building on the technology of the pre-vious BB90 version, the MT-BB100 gatherslocking information from an internaltuner, the satellite modem and the AGC(automatic gain control) level.

The antenna is constructed of carbonfibre and weighs less than 55 kg, and isdesigned to minimise stress on belts andmotors for extended operational life andminimum maintenance.

MT also says that the carbon fibre con-struction makes the antenna immune to salt,oxidation, thermal excursions and humidity.

The company also claims that this newantenna is one of the first VSAT antennasin the world to be constructed with allelectronic components integrated into thedome, including the modem.

It comes pre-commissioned fromMarine Technologies and is ready to con-nect automatically to the satellite networkwithout the help of specialised technicians.

The MT-BB100 configuration interface isentirely web-based and can be accessedlocally or remotely through the satellitelink or other backup connections.Reconfiguring the antenna for deploymenton different missions can be done remotely,

without the need for a local technician.The antenna is OpenAMIP certified and

offers automatic beam switching (ABS),selecting the best satellite source for thecoverage area. Dual antenna configurationis supported as well, using an additionalintelligent switchbox.

This component provides hitlessswitching between same type or differentmanufacturer antennas using a switchinglogic that can be configured by shadowareas or signal level.

MT says that no network loss should benoticed by the customer during switchingevents.

MT also claims that the MT-BB100 isthe only antenna currently on the marketequipped with an embedded computeralerting the user of signal downtimecaused by heavy rain, vessel position, lackof power or sea status.

The antenna remote controller unit(ARCU) chooses the best available medi-um for data transfer, and acts as a satellitebackup or out-of-bandwidth maintenancelink integrating a 3G UMTS (UniversalMobile Telecommunications System)modem with a multi-SIM card reader anda WiFi module with diversity antennas.

Downtime information is stored in anonboard log that is available locally orremotely via a web interface. The systemalso informs the NOC (network operationscentre) of any downtime. NOC operatorscan be notified via an SMS (short messageservice) message via the cellular network.

Diagnostics, of either a single antenna orthe entire fleet, is available via a web-basedserver that collects real-time and historicalperformance data from all ships. Event log-ging and remote diagnostics are document-ed automatically by the ARCU which sendsa short report to the NOC every five minutes,along with a complete event log each day.

Other existing functions carried overfrom the BB90 include the ability to switchthe LNB (low noise block-down converter)between co-polar and cross-polar modes,wideband and narrowband tuners, or ABS.

The internal tuner has been upgradedto DVB-S2 (Digital Video Broadcasting –Satellite – Second Generation) and is capa-ble of coherent locking to a tracking carri-er or monitoring the AGC level.

The MT-BB100 is compliant with stan-dards required by satellite operatorsAnatel, Intelsat and Eutelsat.

New Ku-band VSAT antenna from MT

MT’s carbon fibre antenna weighs less than 55kg

www.harriscaprock.com/assuredcare

Harris CapRock Communications reportsthat it has finalised development ofAssuredCare, its customer service andnetwork management programme.

The AssuredCare programme willallow Harris CapRock customers to haveimproved real-time visibility into theirglobal communications through a combi-nation of customer service personnel, asupport infrastructure, proactive monitor-ing systems and a customer portal.

The company says that AssuredCareintegrates best practices and capabilitiesfrom the four organisations combined toform Harris CapRock in April 2011.

“While the particulars of customer mis-

sions vary across the three vertical mar-kets Harris CapRock serves – energy, gov-ernment and maritime – we consistentlyhear one need: customers must have confi-dence in their communications so they canstay focused on their core missions,” saidTom Eaton, president, Harris CapRockCommunications.

“AssuredCare provides field-deployedpersonnel and headquarter offices with com-plete peace of mind in their remote commu-nications, making it an extension of HarrisCapRock’s mission to be the industry’smost trusted communications provider.”

Harris CapRock notes that customerswill also benefit from network optimisationservices under the programme, includingnetwork performance diagnostics, in-depth

recommendations and implementation ofperformance optimisations.

A monitoring system is used to automatically detect more than 80 per centof potential network issues for immediateresolution, while the customer portal com-bines various management systems andoperational tools to provide near real-timevisibility for users of the service.

The portal provides a single point ofaccess to these various tools, as well asautomatic notifications.

Live testing of the programme beganwith selected customers in October, andHarris Caprock says it is now working toport all customers’ services over to theexpanded system ahead of an official launchfor all customers in the first quarter of 2012.

Customer network management from Harris CapRock

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37

SATCOMS NEWS


One Horizon Group subsidiarySatCom Global has added a point ofpresence (PoP) in Sydney, Australia,which will enable customers to terminateInmarsat FleetBroadband IP traffic locallyand reduce both latency and cost.

Orange Business Services hasbeen certified as a Silver Partner underInmarsat’s Connect AccreditationProgramme. Silver-level service providersare required to pass examinations to testknowledge of the Inmarsat network andservices, as well as related hardware andtelecom technologies.

els, and is over 30 per cent lighter. The equipment can be shipped as a sin-

gle, fully assembled and tested unit in astandard 20-foot container, to reduceinstallation time and allow the system to beconnected while ships are on routine portcalls rather than waiting for dry dock.

“iCGlobal is available in a wide range ofpricing models and leasing packages whichrender it highly competitive in pricingwhile providing unlimited capacity, com-mitted information rate (CIR) and superiorperformance than solutions such as hybridKu/FBB and future Ka,” said GiorgioSantantonio, general manager of TelemarCompagnia Generale.

“With this solution, ocean-going vesselscan achieve true global connectivity today,and rest assured that the quality of servicewill be constant anywhere and under anyweather.”

www.marlink.com

Chinese National Petroleum Cooperationsubsidiary, BGP, is rolling out VSAT com-munications systems from Marlink for itsfleet of seismic vessels.

The latest vessel to join the fleet is the100m BGP Prospector, recently deliveredfrom a Korean shipyard and equippedwith Marlink's Sealink C-Band, SCPCVSAT.

The BGP Prospector has a 1 MB fullduplex dedicated satellite communicationservice, which will be used to support arange of applications on board.

BGP operates seismic vessels on a glob-al basis, providing marine seismic dataacquisition services. The vessels are oper-ating in the Gulf of Mexico, South

America, West Africa, the North Sea, theRed Sea, the Bay of Bengal and South-EastAsia.

“Our long term relationship with BGPis testament to our position as the premierprovider of high quality and cost effectiveservices, backed by local customer sup-port and a commitment to our importantregion,” said Gunnar Valle, director forMarlink in Asia.

“Marlink has a dedicated sales andservice team based in Singapore which islikely to expand further in support of ourgrowing customer base in Asia. By offer-ing a comprehensive portfolio of bothVSAT and MSS solutions, Marlink is ableto satisfy any customer requirement forconnectivity by customising a servicepackage to satisfy specific vessel needs.”

www.onehorizongroup.comwww.orange-business.comwww.inmarsat.com

Chinese Petroleum subsidiary continues VSAT rollout

www.cobham.com

Sea Tel has made two significant newannouncements, introducing its Ku- to Ka-band upgradable antenna, the firstapproved antenna for use with Inmarsat'sforthcoming Global Xpress (GX) service,while also launching a range ofFleetBroadband antennas.

The Sea Tel Model 4012, a one metreKu-band to Ka-band upgradable marine-stabilised antenna system, is now expect-ed to be available ahead of schedule, withsales set to commence during the firstquarter of 2012.

Cobham (Sea Tel's parent company)says it will be beta testing the product dur-ing the fourth quarter of 2011.

Based on the Sea Tel 4009 antennapedestal, the company says that the Model4012 system will be GX ready at launch,with a "simple and intuitive" Ku- to Ka-upgrade path that can be performed in thefield in one or two steps by a Cobhamtrained technician.

The Model 4012 architecture is beingdesigned for one-step commissioning,using a web user interface with securedsocket layer (SSL) password protection,built-in remote management capabilities,and integration into network manage-ment systems through a media exchangepoint (MXP).

“I am confident that the Model 4012will be the next industry standard just asthe 4009 antenna system is today,” saidFred Cahill, vice president of CobhamAntenna Systems.

“The 4012 will have the mechanicalsuperiority of the 4009, easy to use web user interface and monolithic soft-ware architecture. The system will alsobe field upgradable to the Global Xpressnetwork.”

On the FleetBroadband side, Cobhamhas announced plans to have a Sea Tel FXline of FleetBroadband products availablein March 2012.

The Sea Tel FX line will consist of acomplete range of FleetBroadband termi-nals, with the Sea Tel FX 500 being the firstto enter the market, followed by the FX250 and FX 150 in due course.

The addition of this line of

FleetBroadband products to its VSATportfolio will also allow Sea Tel to offer allof the hardware for Ku-band and L-bandhybrid services, as well as Global Xpressand L-band solutions in the future.

The company says that the combinedoffering of both systems will be madeavailable through accredited dealers forSea Tel’s products.

“The unique combination of Cobham’sunrivalled expertise in building bestantenna systems, together with Inmarsat’sundoubted leadership in the global mar-itime L-band sector, brings a strong valueproposition to the world’s maritime andshipping markets,” said Mr Cahill.

“We were a key hardware provider atthe inception of Inmarsat in 1979 with ourSea Tel products and the new FX productline marks Cobham’s continued develop-ment in this extensive market. This is anexciting development, in particularbecause it enables maritime customers toharness the full range of service opportu-nities offered by Inmarsat.”

Addvalue Technologies' wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Addvalue Innovation, hasbeen selected by Sea Tel for the design andsupply of the FX FleetBroadband line.

Sea Tel introduces Global Xpress antenna and new FB line

Sea Tel’s FleetBroadband line will be used to supplement its VSAT antennas

www.otesat-maritel.com

Otesat-Maritel has introduced its s@tGateservice, for management and optimisationof maritime broadband data for both busi-ness and crew usage.

Otesat is a provider of Inmarsat,Iridium and VSAT services, and s@tGatecan be used to control usage of all of thesesystems onboard.

The service includes s@tGate hardware,specifically developed for maritime use,and a web interface for remote andonboard management.

Other features of the service includecrew pre-paid and operational post-paidinternet access, data compression andcaching and a single rate plan for businessand crew.

The service is provided via Otesat-Maritel’s network, meaning that a hub isnot required at the customer’s premises.

Installation and configuration includesthe creation of user accounts, which can berefilled with vouchers. These accounts canalso migrate from vessel to vessel withinthe same fleet, and units can be transferredfrom user account to user account.

Otesat launchess@tGate

www.telemargroup.com

www.orbit-cs.com

www.milanoteleport.com

Telemar, in partnership with antennamanufacturer Orbit CommunicationSystems and Milano Teleport, hasannounced the launch of its new iCGlobalC-band VSAT service.

The service includes Orbit’s compactOrBand C-band VSAT antenna and othernecessary equipment as part of a recom-mended package that features unlimitedglobal airtime with a committed informa-tion rate (CIR) of 128kbps at a cost of$3,300 per month.

The OrBand antenna is designed to besignificantly smaller than traditional mar-itime C-band services, with the companiessaying that it takes up 40 per cent lessdeck space than industry-standard mod-

iCGlobal – worldwide C-band VSAT for $3,300 p/month

Model 4012 will be upgradeable to Ka-band when Global Xpress is launched

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37


SATCOMS NEWS

www.itcglobal.net

www.broadpointinc.com

ITC Global (ITC) has announced it hassuccessfully completed the acquisition ofthe satellite operations of Broadpoint LLC.

ITC manages a global VSAT networkacross approximately 25 satellite beamsand nine teleports. Broadpoint customerswill now be able to access ITC's world-wide service, technology advisors andmanaged support.

Broadpoint will retain its core cellulartelecommunications business, which oper-ates a cellular voice and data network inthe Gulf of Mexico.

"Acquiring Broadpoint supports ourstrategy of enhancing our already strongpresence in the global resource segment,"said Joseph Spytek, ITC Global's chiefexecutive officer.

"The combination of Broadpoint's satel-lite business and ITC Global provides oil& gas companies with a high-performancesolution that can scale with their businessto address critical communications needs."

ITC completesBroadpoint acquisitionwww.globecommsystems.com/maritime

Globecomm Maritime has launchedse@FLEX, a new maritime VSAT packagecombining Ku-band coverage with L-bandback-up services, while also announcingthe first customer for the service, GlobalSeatrade, a unit of the Hartman MarineGroup.

se@FLEX is a combination of servicesfrom the Globecomm Maritime companiesTelaurus, Evosat, C2C and Mach6, and isoffered using flat rate monthly pricing,with options including hardware leasingand unlimited Ku-band usage and L-bandairtime starting at US$2,850 per month.

The se@FLEX service will manage auto-matic switching between Ku-band beams

Globecomm launches combined Ku/L-band package and L-band services.

Globecomm also notes that se@FLEXwill include options to convert to Ka-bandservice platforms as they become availablein the future.

"We think that se@FLEX has the capa-bility to be a game-changer in the mar-itime market, which is moving progres-sively towards higher bandwidth VSATsolutions," said Malcolm McMaster, VPGlobecomm Maritime.

"With a high quality global Ku-bandservice at its core, se@FLEX offers thebest available coverage and throughputspeeds at very competitive prices.Globecomm Maritime offers guaranteedservice levels and dedicated bandwidth,delivering our customers significant longterm cost savings."

Global Seatrade's implementation ofthe service includes QOS systems to pri-oritise mission-critical traffic, ensuringthat vessel management, navigation andsafety applications get priority over crewwelfare communications.

It also supports VoIP, whichGlobecomm says will significantly lowervoice costs compared with legacy mar-itime voice solutions.

Global Seatrade’s vessel Atlantic will be one of the ships to implement the new service

www.globalstar.com

Globalstar has reported that a number ofthe 12 second-generation satellites itlaunched in July 2011 and October 2010have experienced in-orbit anomalies asso-ciated with their momentum wheels,while also announcing that its scheduledlaunches in December 2011 may be delayed.

The company acknowledged the issuewith the momentum wheels in a filing tothe US Securities and ExchangeComission, noting that it is currentlyworking with the satellite manufacturersThales Alenia Space to develop a solutionto the problem.

However, Globalstar has said that itcannot guarantee that a successful solu-tion will be found, and that "one or moresatellites may not provide reliable servicegoing forward."

Globalstar’s second-generation satel-lites were designed with four momentumwheels, with the design requiring threefunctioning momentum wheels for opera-tions and one momentum wheel forredundancy (a non-operating wheel act-ing as a spare on the satellite in space).Momentum wheels are flywheels used toprovide attitude control and stability onspacecraft.

The company reports that one of thesix second-generation satellites launchedin October 2010 has experienced an in-orbit anomaly associated with its momen-tum wheels. In July 2011, the spare wheelalso experienced a similar anomaly, whichthen required the company to place thesatellite into a 'safe hold' mode.

In this mode the satellite remains stablein its operational orbit while a potential

solution, involving a firmware update, isdeveloped. This satellite is not currentlyproviding communication services.

In October 2011, Thales informedGlobalstar that it had identified furthermomentum wheel issues that couldimpact the six second-generation satelliteslaunched in July 2011 and the six satelliteslaunched in October 2010.

One additional second-generationsatellite launched in October 2010 hasexperienced a similar anomaly, but is cur-rently providing full communication serv-ices. Globalstar says that additional satel-lites in the first batch of six satellites couldalso be impacted by a similar anomaly.

The two companies are workingtogether to develop a software solutionthat will allow the satellites to operatewith two momentum wheels instead ofthe designed three. If they are unable todevelop and implement a solution toresolve these anomalies it could mean thatthe satellites will no longer be capable ofproviding communication services.

Globalstar also warns that, even if asolution can be developed, it can provideno assurance that this would allow thesatellites with only two functioningmomentum wheels to provide full com-munication service over their designed 15-year life.

On the launch side, the remaining twolaunches of six satellites to complete thenetwork of 24 second-generation satelliteshad already been previously delayed dueto issues with the Soyuz launch vehicle andrescheduled to resume in December 2011.

However, Globalstar says that theselaunch dates may now change, partly dueto the continued review of the momentumwheel issue.

‘Anomaly’ reported on Globalstar satellites

www.stratosglobal.com

Sandigan Ship Services is to deploy theInmarsat FleetBroadband satellite com-munications service across its fleet of com-mercial vessels, following the agreementof a deal with Stratos.

Based in The Philippines, Sandiganmanages a global fleet that includes bulkcarriers and car carriers. Stratos says it hasalready provided FleetBroadband on 12Sandigan vessels, and that deployment onthe remainder of the fleet is expected to becompleted by the end of this year.

This deployment for Sandigan includesStratos Advantage value-added servicesto manage FleetBroadband performance,security and cost control, as well as onlineinvoicing and firewall management.

“FleetBroadband from Stratos is meet-ing our high expectations by enabling usto achieve faster data transmission andbetter voice quality than the systems wepreviously used – at a lower cost,” saidSandigan president, Capt. TomoyoshiYanagita.

“The service has increased the perform-ance of many of the IP-based applicationson which we depend. This has enabled usto improve business management.”

“Stratos provided a comprehensiveapproach to this deployment. TheirSingapore support team analysed ourdata traffic and provided a range ofoptions. They patiently helped us reducecommunications costs and improve theperformance of critical applications suchas BASSnet, our planned maintenancesoftware.”

In other news, Stratos GovernmentServices (SGSI) and Segovia, both whollyowned subsidiaries of Inmarsat, have beenawarded a new contract by the US Navy.

The Indefinite Delivery/IndefiniteQuantity contract by the DefenseInformation Technology ContractingOrganisation (DITCO) is for the US Navy

Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) NextGeneration Wideband (NGW) commercialsatellite communications (COMSATCOM)infrastructure and service.

MSC operates approximately 110 non-combatant civilian-crewed ships thatreplenish US Navy ships, conduct spe-cialised missions, strategically prepositioncombat cargo at sea around the world, andmove military cargo and supplies used bydeployed US forces and coalition partners.

The contract, with a $315 million ceilingprice, replaces the MSC’s AfloatBandwidth Efficient Satellite Transport(BEST) COMSATCOM infrastructure. Theeight-year period of performance includesa four-year base period plus four one-yearoption periods.

To meet the requirements of the MSCcontract, SGSI and Segovia joined forces todevelop a solution that supports aCommercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-basedNGW system.

SGSI and Segovia services create anend-to-end IP communications pathwaylinking globally deployed MSC ships andassets.

The pathway includes space-segmentservices, satellite infrastructure, shipboardterminal hardware, supporting software,and a terrestrial-backhaul infrastructurefor redundant global connectivity.

The SGSI/Segovia solution alsoincludes worldwide installation and sus-tainment services for the MSC fleet.

“This award demonstrates the ability ofSGSI and Segovia to effectively combinetheir considerable strengths to meet thecomplex communications requirements ofone of the US Government’s most impor-tant organisations,” said SGSI presidentand CEO Bob Roe.

“This network will improve the capa-bilities of MSC to support our troops by delivering supplies and conductingspecialised missions across the world’soceans.”

Fleet-wide FleetBroadband deal for Sandigan

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:37

For additional details please contact Telemar at +39.06.322.1800, [email protected]

Telemar Group is an international company with presence in: Italy, Germany, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, USA, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Caribbean

i C GlobalYou Can Never Be Too Far Away

2.7m/106”

2.2m/88”

OrBand™ (590 Kg)

Other Systems

Recommended package

AVAILABLE TODAY

$3300/month

i C Global is a Telemar product powered by:

The Future of VSAT and Broadband is already here!Ultimate C-Band Compact Solution providing:

Anywhere - global coverage

Any weather, always connected

Unmatched compact and lightweight Wide portfolio of Value Added ServicesVAS

‘Plug and Play’ - one day installation

Tailored maritime broadband packages

Flexible pricing packages guaranteed to be competitive with hybrid Ku-FBB and future Ka solutions$

Ultim

A h l b

mate C-Band

l

d Compact Sand

olution provoadband Br

l‘P

viding:eand is alr

d’ld P

e!ady her

itlltid

Anywhere - glob

, alAny weatherr,

mpo cedhmatcUn

al coverage

lways connected

hgeitwhgi ldt anacp

d

th Wide p

lug a‘P

eiloraTTa

alue portfolio of VVa

dy’ - oneland Pa

doa breimitrad me

Added Services

iontllaaty insda

sgeacknd padba

elemaTTe

For add

oup is an intear Gr

ditional details please

e Ka sand futurFlexible pricing

national companyr

elemar at +contact TTe

solutionspackages guara

esence in:y with pr

+39.06.322.1800, icg

anteed to be com

, Si, Germany Italy

.comglobal@cgtelemar

mpetitive with h

e, China,ngapor

m

hybrid Ku-FBB

Hong K

iC lGC

Kong, USA, United Kip

elema is a TTeloba

ngdom, Sweden, Nop y

et powoducar pr

, Finland, Caribbrwayy,y p

:ed byer

beanyy

g p

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:38

SATCOMS NEWS


www.thrane.com

Thrane & Thrane has announced that twonew Inmarsat service enhancements forFleetBroadband, the Multi-Voice Serviceand the Dynamic Telemetry Service, willbe available on SAILOR FleetBroadbandterminals when the services go live in Q1and Q2 2012.

The new Inmarsat FleetBroadbandMulti-Voice Service provides facility forup to nine simultaneous voice lines on aSAILOR 500 or SAILOR 250FleetBroadband, while a SAILOR 150FleetBroadband can offer up to four con-current calls.

Each line will have its own uniqueFleetBroadband number (+870).

This new functionality will be availableon existing SAILOR FleetBroadband ter-minals via a firmware upgrade and will befully functional in all new terminals.

Due to built in PBX functionality, theSAILOR FleetBroadband terminals don’t

require integration with an external IPPBXto enable the Multi-Voice Service. Allusers need to do is to configure theirFleetBroadband terminal and attach aThrane IP Handset, or, if desired, connectan existing PBX.

The Dynamic Telemetry Service (DTS)is used to provide support for lowthroughput applications of any type, suchas Data Reporting, Polling and Telemetry,and will similarly be available on all newSAILOR FleetBroadband terminals out ofthe box and through a firmware upgradefor existing terminals.

DTS is expected to offer a range of newopportunities for remote (shore-ship)monitoring and control of systems on-board a vessel, as well as various trackingapplications.

“These exciting new services are majorenhancements to FleetBroadband so weare committed to making them availableon SAILOR FleetBroadband from themoment they go live,” says Casper Jensen,

VP maritime business unit, Thrane &Thrane.

“With over 20,000 terminals shipped sofar, there will be a lot of users out therekeen to bring multi-voice and DTS intodaily operation, and with SAILORFleetBroadband it will be a straightfor-ward, cost-effective process.”

In other news, Thrane & Thrane andComtech EF Data Corporation have alsoannounced the successful completion ofinteroperability testing of Thrane'sSAILOR 900 Ku-band VSAT marine sta-bilised antenna systems and Comtech'sROSS Open Antenna Management(ROAM) protocol.

The use of the ROAM protocol isintended to help the VSAT antenna sys-tems to globally roam across multiplesatellite beams when operating on mar-itime vessels, maintaining connectivitywhile moving through different satellitefootprints.

The ROAM protocol offers a common

management interface for Comtech EFData’s Roaming Oceanic Satellite Server(ROSS) and third-party Antenna ControlUnits (ACUs) by providing a generic set ofcommands, information, interfaces andstatus queries. ROSS is an integrated loca-tion server that works in conjunction withComtech EF Data’s Vipersat ManagementSystem.

ROSS additionally enables remotemodems to interface with stabilised, auto-tracking antennae, monitoring vessel posi-tion data, satellite signal and managementstatus to determine when satellite handoffis necessary.

“The interoperability of the ROAM pro-tocol and ROSS automation with theSAILOR 900 VSAT will provide maximumbandwidth efficiencies and roaming capa-bilities for maritime operators’ satellite-based communications,” said Daniel Enns,senior vice president strategic marketingand business development for ComtechEF Data.

Thrane terminals to offer new Inmarsat FB services

www.globewireless.com

Globe Wireless has announced the com-pletion of the 500th Globe iFusion installa-tion, for German shipping company E.R.Schiffahrt, while its GlobeMobile GSMsolution has surpassed 800 installations.

In September 2010, Globe Wirelessreleased and started installing GlobeiFusion, a single box that incorporates anInmarsat FleetBroadband 250, a dual fire-wall, optimised IP connections, onboardGSM equipment, internet browsing capa-bilities and multiple least cost satellitegateways.

“We are honoured to be the 500thinstallation of the Globe iFusion. GlobeiFusion has so far met all of our require-ments and provides an extremely uniquecrew solution based on GSM technology,”said Roland Felbinger, nautical seniorsuperintendent with E.R. Schiffahrt.

“In addition, Globe iFusion has low-ered our cost and gives us the ability toremotely support shipboard IT systems.”

The system provides crew members

prepaid access to voice and SMS messagesfrom mobile phones as well as e-mail fromshipboard computers, and includes aGlobe iPortal which offers shore side con-trol of the solution, with administration ofuser profiles and the other various aspectsof the solution.

“I am very pleased with the success ofthe Globe iFusion rollout,” commentedDave Kagan, president of Globe Wireless.

“The level and functionality and ease ofinstallation of Globe iFusion is far superi-or to what standalone terminals can offer.We are proud to have E.R. Schiffahrt, oneof the leading shipping companies in theworld, using Globe iFusion as their pri-mary communication system.”

The GSM component of the iFusionsystem, marketed as GlobeMobile, hasalso enjoyed significant standalone suc-cess, with Globe Wireless recentlyannouncing the 800th installation of theonboard GSM solution.

GlobeMobile, launched in 2009, onlyrequires crews to insert the GlobeMobileSIM card into their GSM phone to connect

to the service onboard.The GSM system is built on technology

developed by Zynetix, a UK-based firmwhich originally provided services as aGlobe Wireless partner before beingacquired by Globe at the beginning of 2010.

At the time of the introduction ofiFusion, Globe had indicated pricing forthe GSM services of $0.25 for SMS, $0.55per minute for GSM voice (to landlines),and $5.50 per megabyte for e-mail.

Free onboard mobile to mobile calls aresupported, as are multiple voice lines overthe FleetBroadband terminal (though Globenotes that iFusion can also be used withVSAT and Iridium OpenPort terminals).

“I am very pleased with our success ofbeing able to provide a high quality voicesolution with inexpensive calling rates forGSM users onboard the ship,” said MrKagan.

“We understand how important it is forcrew members to communicate back homeand look forward to continuing with theinstallation and expansion of our afford-able GlobeMobile GSM solution.”

www.cellularatsea.com

Wireless Maritime Services (WMS) hasagreed a deal to provide wireless servicesonboard Star Cruises' ships in Asia.

The multi-year agreement between thetwo companies will cover cellular wirelessservices for guests and crew members onthe SuperStar Virgo, SuperStar Libra,SuperStar Aquarius and Star Pisces.

Passengers and crews on SuperStarAquarius can already use the new technol-ogy to make and receive telephone calls,send text messages, access e-mails andsurf the internet at rates WMS describes as"similar to international roaming." Theservice will be rolled out gradually on theother three vessels.

WMS services allow those onboard touse their mobile phones as they currentlydo on land while the ships are at sea.Connectivity is activated when the shipleaves port and turned off when in rangeof land-based providers.

"We are pleased to work together withWireless Maritime Services to providequality mobile services for our cruise pas-sengers and ship crews," said Kenny Ng,senior vice president, information technol-ogy, Genting Hong Kong.

"As a leading cruise line in AsiaPacific, Star Cruises continues to enrichour passengers' cruising experience withvalue-adding technologies as well as newtravel products."

Expansion for GlobeMobile and iFusion

www.intelsat.com

Orbital Sciences Corporation reports thatthe Intelsat 18 satellite has completed itsin-orbit testing and has been handed overto Intelsat for operation.

Intelsat 18 is to be operated at 180degrees East longitude, where it will pro-vide C-band communications services toeastern Asia, the Pacific and the westernUnited States, and Ku-band communica-tions services to French Polynesia, NewCaledonia, eastern Australia and theUnited States.

Intelsat 18 was launched aboard a Zenitrocket from the Baikonour Cosmodromein Kazakhstan in early October. A team ofIntelsat and Orbital engineers have sinceconducted several weeks of orbit raising

and testing operations to prepare thespacecraft for commercial service.

"We are very pleased with howsmoothly the post-launch operations ofIntelsat 18 proceeded," said ChristopherRichmond, Orbital's senior vice presidentof its Space Systems Group.

"We have now turned over full opera-tional control of the satellite to Intelsat andstand ready to support their operationsover the next 15 years. We are also contin-uing production and testing of Intelsat 23,the tenth Orbital-built satellite that willjoin the Intelsat fleet in 2012."

Orbital designed, built and tested theIntelsat 18 satellite at Orbital's satellitemanufacturing and test facility in Dulles,US. It carries a hybrid C- and Ku-bandpayload.

Intelsat C-/Ku-band satellite completes testing

Orbital has handed over control of Intelsat18 after completing testing

Star Cruises introduces wireless

onboard

www. thed ig i t a l sh ip .com

Keep your finger on the pulse with ourweekly e-mail newsletter and our online network for maritime IT professionals

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:38

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39


SATCOMS

How do shipping companies use satellite communication to improve their operational efficiency, what impact does the implementation of FleetBroadband or VSAT have on the wellbeing of sea staff, and willInmarsat’s new offer, Global Xpress, solve the challenges created by increasing technology onboard ships?

These topics were addressed at a round table discussion that Digital Ship recently held in Hamburg, Germany

Reducing Complexity is Key –Round Table Discussion

TT he latest Digital Ship round tablediscussion session titled ‘Increas-ing Operational Efficiency through

Satellite Communication’, hosted byInmarsat in Hamburg, Germany, broughttogether a panel of seven shipping compa-ny and communication supplier experts.

The aim of the session was to examinehow shipping companies make use of satel-lite communication in order to boostimprovements in vessel operations andincrease efficiency, as well as to illuminatehow satcom contributes to the safety andwellbeing of seagoing staff. A further keytopic was whether more bandwidth is whatshipping companies need from the suppli-ers in order to improve their efficiency, ordo they require something different.

Digital Ship posed a number of specificquestions to the panel (identified in thetable below), starting with a look at howwell the industry is taking advantage ofthe latest current available technology inmaritime communications.

A major part of the discussion revolvedaround the question of how crew welfareand crew retention is influenced by theimplementation of satellite communica-tion and how the discrepancy in availabil-ity of communication options could bebalanced between high and low band-width vessels. The debate then moved onto the challenges that the implementationof satellite communication entails and dif-ferent methods of resolving those issues.The round table was eventually concludedwith an outlook of what shipping compa-nies will ask from satellite communicationproviders in the future and how these sup-pliers are positioned to fulfil their cus-tomers’ expectations.

Satcom enabled apps DS: What modern, satcom supportedtechnology does your company use todayto make its operations more efficient?

MD: We use satellite communications,which include VSAT as well as Fleet andFleetBroadband systems for private com-

munication (telephone, email, internet,chat, video streaming) and for officialcommunication (email, reporting, ordermanagement, maintenance, troubleshoot-ing etc).

As well as updates for nautical publica-tions, antivirus software and weather fore-cast systems are sent by satcom viaChartCo or competitors and by email.Soon we will also start to transfer dailyupdates from the onboard maintenancesoftware to the company’s head office.

We do use remote management as well.However, we use remote managementonly on vessels equipped with a VSATsystem and usually only to administrateall admin PCs onboard. Remote manage-ment is also used for any kind of trou-bleshooting as well as the usual updates.

DS: Does modern satcom provide infor-mation to help sail the ships more effi-ciently, like live weather data for example?

MD: We do use satcom provided infor-mation for weather routing and respectiveforecasts; we use ChartCo via Fleet 77 andChartCo-select via FleetBroadband.

This enables the crew to view theweather for a whole Ocean region; theexact area can be defined in the onboardsystem.

In the beginning we had troubles whenusing the ChartCo-email option as wecould not provide the emails to the vesselproperly and very often data was missing.

Now we use the ChartCo receiver andinternet solution ChartCo Select, whichworks reliably and offers on top an emailsupport service in case problems willarise.

DS: Is real time data something that isimportant to you? What about video?

MD: I believe that, at the moment, real-time data is overestimated; especiallywhen it comes to the instant exchange of emails.

On the contrary, I try to encourage thecaptains to store mails until there is a

greater package and a bigger amount ofmessages to be sent. In this way the mailexchanges are reduced to three up to fivetimes a day and not every 15 minutes.This way we could reduce the cost up to25 per cent.

On vessels with VSAT equipmentshorter video streams are provided in reg-ular intervals. Otherwise video does notplay a role at the moment, but for sure thefuture will bring changes and video mightbe used for maintenance or medical pur-poses. The whole development is ofcourse always a consideration betweencosts and resulting benefit.

Inmarsat made a clever move, whenchanging the increments to a minimum of10 seconds, which was increasing theobservable costs in our fleet; we’re talkingabout five digits each year!

HH: Video is nowadays used for med-ical incidents. However, a medical emer-gency occurs very seldom. Because veryoften you are sailing close to the coast,having a lot of ports or a helicopter canpick up the person who has an accident, orwho is ill. It is not so often that we makean appendix operation onboard.

DS: Has the implementation of modernsatcom helped your company to save ontravel costs?

MD: We are permanently monitoringand comparing the communication costsand of course we are trying to save costs asfar as possible and in view of the function-al and commercial benefit.

Until now the travel costs have notbeen reduced recently due to the imple-mentation and improvement of satcomsystems. For the IT matters we usually do not fly around the world to solveIT problems.

Every five years the vessels are dry-docked and remain idle, this time is usedfor the change of the administration com-puters onboard and to set up the IT sys-tem. This cannot be done remotely any-way and ship visits from the IT site willalways be necessary!

Even in the past we have not been trav-elling a lot. We have a standardised IT sys-tem with a uniform configuration in orderto create as little problems as possibleunder normal circumstances. All comput-ers have been installed and configuredequally on the vessels and ‘troublemakers’have been removed or minimised as far aspossible.

If a hardware problem occurs, we canalways send a new pre-configured com-puter to the vessel – as a last straw. Thiswill be much cheaper than flying aroundthe world or ordering some onboard serv-ice to fix it. For sure other problems mayoccur, e.g. damaged network cable etc.,but even here we send out the parts and ashort instruction how to connect andreplace the parts.

If we have a larger or more complexproblem, which needs to be settled imme-diately, a lot of communication betweenship and shore is required – in this casesatcom helps of course.

The panel consisted of (abbreviations in brackets):(MD) - Michael Dittmer, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG(RL) - Reinhold Lueppen, Vizada(JC) - James Collett, Inmarsat(LK) - Lars Kroog, CSW Consulting Group(HR - Holger Ritter, MTN(HH) - Heiko Höfer, Nordic IT(DS) - Digital Ship

Who’s who: The Panel

The panel of seven shipping company and communication supplier experts debate Digital Ship’s questions

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

One size fits all

Iridium OpenPort enables affordable, flexible, maritime communications. Anytime. Everywhere. Supported by the world's only truly global commercial communications network — it packs a whole lot of value into a small footprint.

Backed by an industry-leading 5-year warranty and Global Service Program, Iridium OpenPort is a product you can rely on.

No matter what size the vessel or operation, Iridium OpenPort is always a perfect fit.

Iridium OpenPort®

www.iridium.com/OpenPort

GLO

BAL SERVICE PROGRAM

Iridium OpenPort®

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

SATCOMS


Satcom and crewDS: To what degree is the implementationof satcom motivated by crew welfare?

MD: Crew welfare is an importanttopic for Peter Döhle. The company is con-stantly looking for solutions to provideextensive communication options for ourcrew at competitive costs, thus increasingcrew welfare and attractiveness as anemployer at the same time.

But the involved costs have to beaffordable for both parties, the shippingcompany and the employee as well. It ismuch easier to invest more money, if thereis a predicable cost saving advantage,which can in the same way optimise thevessel’s and company’s efficiency.

There is not really a designed and fixedamount which we spend on crew welfare.It depends on the individual basic situa-tions; e.g. kind and trade of the vessel,individual satcom system onboard etc.There is no real amount designed for it inthe budget.

DS: Have you found that crew choosetheir employer according to the commu-nication options they offer?

MD: We had the experience that thereare some crew members who prefer ves-sels with modern satellite communication,but this is by far not all of them.

However, I do not think that crewchooses their employers according to thecommunication options – yet. But thetrend shows that communication optionsare increasingly important and one daywe might well get to a stage where this isan important factor in the recruitmentprocess.

HH: When our customers change fromMini M, where a crew email would cost 60cent for 2 pages, to FleetBroadband, wherea 3 page email costs 8 cent, the communi-cation volume rises dramatically.

Where crew would have sent 50 emailsper month before we now have vesselsthat send up to 700 emails, which is twiceas much as the vessel is sending for oper-ations. This shows that the availability ofcommunication options is clearly impor-tant for the crew.

HR: Some of our customers, who equiptheir new builds but not the entire fleetwith VSAT see the tendency that crew whochanges ship from one with modern sat-com to one without, are easily dissatisfied.

This shows clearly that as soon as thecrew has had the good experience of being

able to use such communication options,they are keen to keep this standard.

Last week at the Cyprus MaritimeConference, John Whitlow from the ITFsaid, that the integration of social mediawill become essential in order to motivateand retain young crew. Even AlfonsGuinier from the ECSA, representing theship owners, agreed.

In my opinion, it is not the question ofwhether or not internet access for crewwill become mandatory on vessels; it is aquestion of how fast this is going to hap-pen. Mandatory internet access will thenentail the availability of social media suchas Facebook.

Shipping companies who considerthemselves to be industry leaders andinnovators already provide crew internettoday. The companies who don’t will, inmy opinion, fall behind more and more. Inorder to stay attractive as employers, ship-ping companies will have to work on theirsocial media strategies.

MD: Even if crew does not choose theemployer according to high bandwidth,there is another potential dilemma.

If on parts of a fleet communication isoffered on the basis of a flat rate virtuallyfor free and on other vessels the commu-nication is charged to the crew, this maywell instil discontent.

And if this situation prevails overlonger time some crewmembers will insistto sail on broadband vessels only.

DS: What could be ways of solving thediscrepancy between satcom equippedvessels and others?

MD: A sensible solution needs to takeinto account the crew on one hand and thecosts for the company on the other. A possible compromise would be to chargethe same rate for all crew members on all vessels and to share and equalise thecosts internally.

This is unfortunately only an idea,which would be nice for the crew. I didnot find a solution how this is possible yeteven by the circumstance when moreproviders are implemented.

I think it is very important to balancethese rates for the crew and with this solu-tion the shipping company will not haveto pay huge extra amounts.

HR: Resolving this discrepancy is avery important aspect. I would like tocompare this to the aviation industry. Ifyou fly today you expect a certain baseservice, such as a decent meal and some-thing to drink. Therefore, the airline pro-viding this service cannot set themselvesapart from the competition.

The passenger only sees the value ofbase service once he has flown with a lowcost airline.

This also holds true for the crew on thevessels. If a shipping company starts offer-ing satcom supported communicationoptions virtually for free the crew will getused to them and take these ‘employeebenefits’ for granted. The crew will thennot know the value of the availability ofthese options anymore.

LK: I see the very same danger. Therewill be the situation that all crew want tosail the broadband vessels and the motiva-tion to sail the other vessels will be lost.

This has a negative impact on crewmorale, which should be avoided. If only apart of the fleet is broadband equippedthere has to be a compensation. The com-pensation could be of financial nature orthrough the provision of a ‘narrowband’solution.

HR: The approach depends on what ashipping company wants to achieve.Amongst our customers we have shippingcompanies who have the philosophy thatcrew should get completely free internetaccess. Teekay is amongst them where thecrew does not pay anything.

Other shipping companies regard pro-viding communication options to the crewas an additional employee benefit. They

want to be able to track the usage and billthe crew to partly refinance the company’ssatcom costs.

RL: The airline example is a good one.The important question is why low costairlines are so successful?

They are so successful because there areenough people who would rather save themoney and forego the service becausethey do not find it worthwhile.

The same principle applies to crewcommunication in the shipping industry.Everybody wants broadband communica-tion but not everybody is willing to payfor it.

Among our customers we see differentkinds of mentalities. There is the ‘Teekay’customer who wants Ku-band and offers aflat-fee for the crew.

Then there are others, who do want tooffer these possibilities but who do notwant to pay for it. They need a solutionwhere communication is possible but thecosts can be tracked and the crew charged.

And there is a third group, who doesnot even want this, because they see thedanger of the crew downloading trojansand viruses with the content. These com-panies stay with older satcom solutionsfor the moment. They might yet upgradeto a broadband solution but I wouldn’tcall them early birds.

HR: There is another aspect that needsto be taken into account.

As a provider I would not sell a VSATsolution without discussing securityissues with the customer. There mustalways be a change in the company’s ITstructure. The ship’s network has tochange work being done in an ISDN modeto an internet-based mode.

VSAT or broadband in general changesmore than just the bandwidth. There areissues such as firewalls, security, userrights, admin etc.

DS: Will higher bandwidth and a grow-ing number of applications change therole of the crew?

RL: The growing number of applica-tions will necessitate crew to acquire new skills.

Under a solution such as Fleet 77 that istechnologically not challenging there wasno need for IT experienced crew. After achange to FleetBroadband, even if it is notused for complicated applications, itbecomes important to have crew onboardwho know what they are doing.

‘Ship visits from the IT site will always be necessary!’ - Michael Dittmer, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG

‘Taking out complexity is key’ - James Collett, Inmarsat

‘Everybody wants broadband communication but not everybody is willing to pay for it’ - Reinhold Lueppen, Vizada

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

RADIO HOLLAND CONNECT: AIRTIME ANYWHERE

WE C NNECT AT SEA

www.imtechmarine.com

FOR ALL YOUR

A N I M T E C H M A R I N E C O M P A N Y

C NNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

SATCOMS


For me this explains why there are ship-ping companies who choose not to imple-ment new satcom. They stay with Fleet andhope they won’t need all the IT stuff andchoose the crew accordingly, namely crewwho is not demanding satcom.

MD: Higher bandwidth allows for agreater number of applications. For thesecrew need instructions and manuals.

However, many problems onboard arecaused by the user itself. Even though thecrew is briefed in advance and is equippedwith manuals and specific instructionthere are incidents where supportbecomes necessary.

Sometimes, simply the effort to read themanual or the instructions onboard wouldhelp and solve the problem.

DS: Is additional IT training, possiblyeven satcom supported eLearning, a solu-tion? Or is there a tendency to outsourcethe support?

MD: Presently there is no link betweentraining and satcom. Usually the training iscarried out directly onboard by means ofclasses or eLearning, which is based on aset of CDs/DVDs and respective software.

For the eLearning process we formerlyused Seagull and nowadays a training sys-tem by Videotel is onboard, which includesdifferent sessions and training topics.

However, we find that for IT relatedissues eLearning is not the optimal solu-tion. Apart from the difficulty of findingtime to complete such training, it wouldbe nearly impossible to create such train-ing sessions because the various systemsare not standardised and specific to theshipping company.

This means that every company wouldneed its own eLearning programme foreach system. Furthermore, the technologychanges very quickly and permanentmodifications of the eLearning modulewill be necessary, which requires a lotwork and financial effort.

RL: In the past, the captain knewthrough his nautical education the mostimportant systems and for everything elsehe used the telephone.

Nowadays, we have a multitude of dif-ferent systems on the bridge that the cap-tain has to fix in case of a problem. Andthe number of different systems is grow-

ing. It is impossible for a single person tohave the relevant knowledge.

The solution can only be to outsourcethe support to the supplier who has con-structed the individual systems. The ship-ping company sails a ship and the suppli-er does the IT.

HR: I recently visited the COSCOGermany with its state-of-the-art bridge,which, the captain told me, has 48 systemsfrom different suppliers. This is on thebridge alone; the engine room has noteven been taken into account!

With such a high complexity and diver-sity of systems, one person, even the cap-tain or chief cannot know all these systemsin detail. It follows that he needs decisionsupport from somewhere.

MD: Outsourcing of the support for thegrowing number of systems and applica-tions is not a solution for us.

Regardless of the way this could bedone, there will be extensive costs for thiskind of service. Even if the suppliersfound a way of doing it, they would tryand hand down the additional supportcosts to the shipping company in one orthe other way.

It is not even possible to route supportrequests through to the individual suppli-er’s support. This is, for various reasons,technically not feasible. We would havehuge security issues if we allow remoteaccess to these systems.

The result is: We do not want suppliersto have access to our vessels and we can-not transfer the responsibility of the ves-sel’s systems to someone else.

Challenges throughsatcom - complexity

DS: How do shipping companies handlethe growing number of applications?

MD: Higher bandwidth allows formore applications and new IT adds to thecomplexity of running a ship. This istherefore something that needs to be con-sidered before investing in new systems.The growing number of applications caus-es us problems and poses a considerablechallenge.

A further complication arises due to thefact, that our crew has had negative expe-riences with new IT implementationsbefore. This makes them dubious of the

serviceability of added applications,which does not make things easier.

The problem is that the crew does not getsubstantial IT training yet. However, witha high number of different programmesthey need to be more and more able tooperate the onboard systems and all relat-ed applications in their entire complexity.

In order to help with this challenge, weare trying to train the key persons onboardwith some briefing in our office beforethey join the vessel. However, the time wehave with them on site is, of course, limit-ed and IT is just one of the modules duringthe briefing.

The crew’s training helps with some ofthe applications, but since the training islimited, there will often be cases where crewcannot solve a problem that arises. It’s thesecases that then become time consuming.

The crew will first look at finding asolution themselves. If the crew cannotfind a solution onboard they will reportthe problem back to the office. This is alengthy process, which results in consider-able communication with the company’sIT team in the office who try to help solv-ing the issue.

LK: What you said in the beginningwas interesting. Does this mean the peopleare rather afraid of new technology?

Which is a pity, because the new tech-nology should help, but they are afraid ofit so there is something that has gonewrong and the question is how do wesolve this, to turn this into somethingwhere they perceive it as positive?

MD: This is just a summary of experi-ence. Crew has repeatedly experiencedtrouble with IT in the past. This experiencesticks. The IT department will never be ableto convince crew that this time everythingwill go well, even if it does in the end.

Another challenge of growing satcom,that is not to be underestimated, is theimpending overload with information.More satcom allows for a higher volumeof data and information to be passed on tothe vessels.

This makes life for crew more difficult,who are overloaded with information as it is.

For example, satcom allows for all sortsof control systems, which should help the

crew. But even when these systems pro-vide a lot of valuable information, thecrew is simply unable to process theamount of additional data, due to timerestrictions.

There are lots of sensors which are con-nected to the automation system; some-times we have even more equipmentinstalled than necessary, there are plentyof installations onboard which shouldassist the crew to do their job and whichsupply helpful and useful data.

But it is the crew’s job to read the infor-mation provided by all the systems torealise what is going on with their mainengine. Today we have sensors which tellus everything, but this has to be realisedby the crew.

The solution to this dilemma is notmore satcom, more applications and more data.

Instead of creating more and more sys-tems, we need to make it easier for thecrew to handle the existing ones. Higherbandwidth might work against this.

DS: How do suppliers address this prob-lem of increasing complexity and can sat-com also help?

HR: I ask myself the question: with somuch technology is crew really able to gothrough all the parameters, or wouldn’t itbe better to have dedicated people onshore, which monitor the systems withalerts for specific conditions?

MD: With broadband connectivity adirect remote support would be possiblebut such a solution would demand ahigher manpower in the office to main-tain the whole IT system and solve thesingle problems.

I do not think remote monitoring sys-tems will solve the situation. Even withbroadband, we cannot connect every system with our satcom and solve prob-lems remotely.

IT managers are not the service techni-cians for those 48 different systems. Wecan only support our PC systems that wehave implemented onboard and therespective software solution used.

LK: For me this is a undesirable trend. Itseems as though some shipping companiessee IT as a kind of threat, because it’s adding

‘We should not forget that the IT onboard is only a small part of sailing the vessel. It is, unluckily or luckily, quite a key position’ - Holger Ritter, MTN

’Instead of creating more and more systems, we need to make it easier for the crew tohandle the existing ones’ - Michael Dittmer, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

20 years experience. 1 simple solution.• Type Approved PMS

• Minimal Training Required

• Rapid Technical Support Service

• No ‘Per Seat’ or any Annual License Fees

• Global Customer Base from VLCC’s to Workboats

• Complete Package or Single Modular Components available

• PMS, Stock, Procurement, Dry Dock, Safety & Document Management Solutions

From ship to shore,simplicity is the key to success.

Visit www.marinesoftware.co.uk or email [email protected]

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:39

SATCOMS


complexity. But it’s not only adding com-plexity, it’s adding efficiency also.

There are certain things shipping com-panies look at when investing in IT and byoptimising these we can help them.

Our clients always look at the cost ofnew applications first when investing intonew systems. There are applicationswhich are needed to run the ship andthere are applications which are optimis-ing the ship operations.

We have to emphasise that new IT canpay off quite quickly. Shipping companiesneed to make a return of investment cal-culation. And in addition, the companiesneed to consider if they add a new systemthat they might need new support.

HH: There is much need for help fromthe supplier side. Especially when we lookat developments in the industry. A lot haschanged, if you look back 50 or 20 yearsago. There were standalone systems; theship was operating on its own, not reallyconnected to the shore.

The complexity of the systems hasgrown so much; I think it is our job to reduce this complexity, by giving crew means to make their lives easier andsimpler.

We talked about aviation. How muchdecision support does the pilot get fromthe ground?

A lot. A lot more than a captain on a vessel.

And the systems onboard are gettingmore and more complex from the perspec-tive of the network as more and more sys-tems onboard are based on IP. The solu-tion must be to hide this complexity fromthe crew onboard so they can do the job.

HR: We should not forget that the ITonboard, the communications onboard, isa small part of the whole shipping. Sailingthe vessel, that’s the major part. It is,unluckily or luckily, quite a key position.

The point is that the crew onboard

might or might not have the relevantknowledge and for this reason we have toprepare everything as simple and as easyas possible so that the crew can do theirjob without any problems.

We need to give them troubleshooting,supported by manuals with pictures andeasily understood explanations. So thatthe crew can solve the problems by them-selves with our assistance.

Satellite communication gets more andmore important and will continue to do soin the future, so it is always a key position.

RL: To solve the problem we need achange in the mind-set of captains andshipping companies. It will be inevitablethat support from shore needs to beaccepted in order to run a ship successful-ly with new technology.

This does not mean to take awayresponsibility from the captain; on thecontrary: it’s empowering him with sup-port from the shore. And that is what I see,especially in the oil and gas market, this isalmost state of the art today.

Outlook: more bandwidthor cheaper rates?

DS: Is satcom going to help your compa-ny run more efficiently in the next threeto five years? And do you need morebandwidth?

MD: More bandwidth will not reduceor minimise the general problems. It’simportant to have this bandwidth avail-able and it’s good for us, but it won’tchange the way we run our vessels, if there is more bandwidth available right now.

So I am not sure if I see the advantageof the next step of having more availabili-ty of something.

JC: It’s an interesting debate because Iwould have thought there are things youwould like to do on the ship today thatprobably are bandwidth constrained?

MD: The demand for higher band-width to run the company and the vesselsefficiently will not considerably grow inthe next years!

For sure the data volume is increasingyear by year, but will not necessarilyrequire higher bandwidth as well.

The bandwidth might be more interest-ing for the crew welfare though, if you want to provide internet access orchat sessions.

DS: So if more bandwidth is not what youare looking for, what would you want theproviders to give you in the future tomake your operations more efficient?

MD: I think what is much more impor-tant than bandwidth is to make satcommore affordable!

More bandwidth will not make us moreefficient, whereas saving money on sat-com is a very important point for us. All ofus shipping companies are spending a lotof money on the annual communicationwith the vessels.

Ultimately the more affordable basisrates have to come from Inmarsat.

We need a crew internet solution as wellas telephone for the crew; although thecosts for crew telephone have decreasedalready, when using FleetBroadbandinstead of Fleet77.

I hope that we will get a solution fromInmarsat with a reduced price in order tomake the crew internet attractive. Weneed a good and relatively cheap solutionto be installed.

At the moment we are testing crewinternet via FleetBroadband and a sepa-rate crew telephone which is installed in aseparate room like an internet café inorder to provide a certain level of privacy.

We will go ahead with this system ontwo further vessels and are anxious to seehow the system will work and how thecrew will adopt it. But for sure there

have to be further price reductions on the price for the internet use, as it is stilltoo expensive.

JC: I think anybody who has beenwatching how FleetBroadband priceshave changed over time will see thatthey’ve been heading down. Now, wherethey haven’t been heading down is foroccasional users.

For occasional users we haven’t reallychanged the price at all, not because foran occasional user FleetBroadband isalready a huge saving, over Inmarsat-Bspecifically. Not so much on Fleet, but it’sstill a saving.

Where the big change is really wouldbe for those people who are really step-ping up their spend, and ready to con-sume higher data volumes, and I thinkwhat we see now is through value addedsolutions like the Vizada XChange. Theycan take a single subscription and it splitsup between the bridge and the crew, andbecause the whole overall package isquite a high level of commitment, as far aswe’re concerned, the price per megabyteis much lower.

So this is then hitting a point where Ithink it’s getting into the bounds of accept-ability to the crew in terms of price point.In terms of ease of use, the PIN manage-ment and all those things, they arethrough the value added solution.

I think the direction is certainly movingthat way, whether it’s moving fast enoughis obviously interesting feedback.

DS: What kind of solution could providelower rates?

JC: If I was to turn the question back toyou and say if we were to maintain thequality of the service you have on thebridge, with the same accessibility, withthe same premium of availability, andthen we were to provide you with an alter-native service for crew, for which thethroughput might not be as great andwhich would have significantly differentparameters to what you have on thebridge, and I was to offer that to you at alower price – would that be interesting?

MD: This sounds like a solution. Itwould be attractive, because on the bridgewe are not interested in surfing, so we

Digital Ship poses the question, ‘is more bandwidth what shipping companies want?’

‘Some may see IT as a threat, because it’s adding complexity. But it’s also adding efficiency’

- Lars Kroog, CSW Consulting Group

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:40

Find out how KVH TracPhone V7 can change your business at:

www.kvh.com/digitalship

Dramatically cut your airtime costsand improve your ship’s operations with the world’s largest maritime VSAT network, KVH’s mini-VSAT BroadbandS M – the most affordable service for broadband Internet, e-mail, and telephone!

What broadband at sea was meant to beSM – TracPhone® V7.

©2010-2011 KVH Industries, Inc. KVH, TracPhone, and the unique light-colored dome with dark contrasting baseplate are trademarks of KVH Industries, Inc. “What Broadband at sea was meant to be” and “mini-VSAT Broadband” are service marks of KVH Industries, Inc. ArcLight is a registered trademark of ViaSat, Inc.; all other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Patents Pending.

Fast, low-cost Internet at sea – Rely on broadband Internet with speeds as fast

as 2 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up while saving

85% or more vs. other solutions.

Crystal-clear telephone calls – Make calls whenever and wherever you want

using either of the two lines of integrated voice

service optimised for maritime customers or

KVH’s crew calling solution.

Easy to install and setup –ViaSat’s exclusive ArcLight® spread spectrum

technology enables a small 60 cm antenna

with dramatically superior performance, easy

installation and activation in as little as 1 day!

“ In today’s competitive shipping market, our ships, charterers and fleet managers require secure and reliable IT networks to support critical business processes. It is also equally important to improve crew welfare in order to attract and retain skilled sea-farers. By choosing KVH, we are

gaining an affordable, compre-

hensive solution that brings

together proven hardware,

a global network, and fully integrated network management and

crew welfare solutions that will support our needs for years to

come.

“

– Rob Frenks, Group ICT Manager; Vroon B.V.

K V H I N D U S T R I E S W O R L D W I D EWorld HQ: United States | [email protected] EMEA HQ: Denmark | [email protected] Asia-Pacific HQ: Singapore | [email protected]

+1 401.847.3327 +45 45 160 180 +65 6513 0290

Great MONEYSAVING!Promotions!

Visit:

w

ww.kvh.com/WOW

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:40


SATCOMS

don’t use the bridge for surfing or for any-thing else other than email, telephone andour chart corrections.

JC: Not any intranet access?MD: No, not at the moment.

DS: Is there anything else that you wouldask of suppliers to help make your oper-ations more efficient?

MD: Another thing that supplierscould do for us would be to ensure betterconnectivity.

Satcom is only good as long as you areonline, even with C-band offline times willoccur as shadows by mast, funnel organtry cranes in port cannot be alwaysavoided.

It’s not very often, but you are offlineand even in these times you are using abackup solution – FleetBroadband – andthen it is interesting what volume youdownload or send up.

DS: What control mechanisms do youhave in place to ensure that bills do notget out of hand even when VSAT isdown?

MD: We do not allow internet usage. Another restriction we have in place is

checking the amount of megabytes sent byemail to the vessel. Thus, we ensure thebill doesn’t get out of hand. Even picturescan be sent in different formats and we caneconomise on MBs.

If someone is trying to send an emailthat exceeds this volume we get a notifica-tion. The system works both ways: fromship to shore and shore to ship. You haveto tell everybody who is sending an emailto the ship to not exceed this restrictedamount.

RL: All our customers, whether it’sFleetBroadband or Ku-band, have ademand for control, control, control.Independent of flat rates.

Flat rates are helping definitely to con-trol the budget, but even with a flat ratethere needs to be control, and controlwhich cannot be changed onboard other-wise they can do whatever they want.

Even with flat rates we have peoplegoing crazy. In the end, you are asking thequestion “how do you limit it?”

I think it’s key in the end, whether it’s

now or in five or ten years, to have mech-anisms in place, which is implementing anIT policy, which is defined from the shoreside, and which is rolled out over theentire fleet and is the same ship by ship sopeople get used to it. And it has to be apolicy that cannot be overcome even ifthey do tricks and so on.

JC: We get these uplifts in bandwidththat come along, but the fact of the matteris that the applications, in terms of theirbandwidth demand, are always going tomove faster than our ability to supportthem over satellite.

So even when we are about to put on anew generation satellite network, whichwill have a huge increase on the band-width we have today, it will never beenough. And the management of thatconnection will always be fundamental.

There will always be the exception inremote places, but in terms of managingan enterprise it’s never going to work thatway. You are always going to have tomanage that connection either if you arespending a lot of money to get the bestout of it, or you don’t want to spend a lotof money.

The investment in that area alongside

the investments that other people aremaking in terms of networks is going to bekey. And I think the point that was madeearlier that echoes with me is the fact that,from the solution side of things, actuallytaking out complexity is key.

What I’m picking up on from this dis-cussion is there might be the availability ofcertain solutions and everyone said “whydon’t you do that”, but from the runningof the ship standpoint, unless you removecomplexity, it doesn’t hold weight.

A solution through Global Xpress?

Is the new Inmarsat offering GlobalXpress going to provide a feasible solu-tion for you?

MD: I hope Global Xpress can replacethe FleetBroadband, so we can install asingle solution. We need one single solu-tion, where it is not necessary to switchbetween the different solutions. I hope theprice for the airtime and the respectivehardware is acceptable and we will notneed huge antennas.

JC: To clarify what Global Xpress willbe – Global Xpress is a three satellite Ka-band system which will have a global net-work in 2014. What we will be able to dounder that network is to offer higherbandwidths than you are able to get today,typically in Ku-band.

That gives us a couple of choices; wecan either offer faster speeds to some cus-tomers, or we can drive down the cost perbit. It’s clear from this side of the tablewhich the priority is.

But this is a next generation system, itby no means is intended to replace L-band, we still see FleetBroadband and L-band playing a huge part in the marketand for some users L-band will continueto service their needs.

In fact, the benefit that we will havewhen we come to Ka-band is that ourheaviest users in L-band will naturallymove into Ka-band. This will then releaseL-band capacity back into the networkand should allow us to improve price per-formance in L-band.

But you made the point about dual sys-tems and worldwide Ka-band havingissues over rain, shadowing, coverage, soFleetBroadband will be an integral part of

the service, but the way the service will bedelivered will be as one package.

The hardware that you will use willinclude the below decks integration sys-tem, which will be seamless to you.

MD: Do you also supply the connectionbox between Ka- and L-band and as wellthe port, where we can plug in ouronboard IT system?

JC: Yes. That will all be managed. Andfrom your perspective, when you are onthe FleetBroadband network or the Ka-band network, depending on which typeof plan, what you won’t have to worryabout is if the Ka-band network is downthat you’ve got an expensive bill, becauseit’s all part of one bill, and it will automat-ically go over to L-band.

The advantage you’ve got is theFleetBroadband installations you are mak-ing today are an integral part of that solu-tion, so you are actually future-proofingyourself, so then it’s just an upgrade part.

Within certain fleets there will be cer-tain vessels that are ready for higher band-width connections and they can be sup-plemented by Ka-band, but other vesselsmay remain on FleetBroadband.

MD: Does this mean it will offer a fixedprice per month?

JC: Yes.MD: On which all the potential backup

volume of FleetBroadband is included?JC: Yes.MD: However, again we will have two

equipments, more maintenance and againmore space necessary on the compassdeck of the vessel.

And I hope this time it works, becausegenerally Inmarsat is a good dealer incommunication.

JC: We are working with some fairlysolid names for hardware.

MD: A quite big problem might be toinstall a further antenna, even smaller size,as the main view is always on the connec-tivity without shadows caused by mastsor funnel arrangement, which is of coursedepending on the general size and layoutof the compass deck.

Mainly we are using Fleet77 orFleetBroadband 500 and in addition aVSAT antenna for the reception for Sat-TV. You might think about the TV anten-nae, but then you have to think how youcan support the crew with TV.

Even if it will be possible to broadcastTV channels via Ka-band, you probablyhave to agree some service contracts andpay for it to. It would be best to have oneantenna, which can be used for broadbandtraffic and as well receive Sat-TV.

JC: That sort of thing is possible but it’sheading in the wrong direction of low cost.

DS: Thank you very much for sharingyour comprehensive insight into the cur-rent situation and your thoughts onfuture developments of satcom withDigital Ship.

It seems that however fast satcom isevolving there are still a number ofissues to be addressed – namely thegrowing complexity of applications andhow crews can handle the additionalworkload.

What suppliers will do to help ship-ping companies solve this problem andwhere Global Express will fit in,remains to be seen.

Will Inmarsat’s offering, Global Xpress, solve the challenges created by increasing technology onboard ships?

DS

’Global Xpress - We need one single solution, where it is not necessary to switch’ - Michael Dittmer, Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:40

ECDISPLUS from Kelvin Hughes is revolutionising the way

you manage your data. Our unique Outfit Management

System has been developed to allow fast, compliant remote

management of all the Chart Licences and updates essential

for a smooth transition from paper charts to ENCs.

With ECDISPLUS, you can be assured of the latest ECDIS

equipment, cost effective supply and management of charts,

real-time updates and IMO-approved ECDIS training. All

of this comes with total flexibility to choose your provider,

worldwide installation and an unrivalled global support

network. ECDISPLUS offers the only complete ECDIS solution

for your needs, making every voyage smarter.

OUTFIT MANAGEMENT MADE E PLUS SYEase the headache of multiple Chart Licence confusion

with one complete, compliant Outfit Management System.

The Only Complete ECDIS Solution

p1-19:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 11:40

www.portvision.com

PortVision reports that it has extended itsTerminalSmart offering for marine termi-nals to include a new Dock Managementmodule.

The TerminalSmart Dock ManagementSystem (DMS), which integrates withPortVision’s existing TerminalSmart andAIS-based PortVision Advantage products,allows for the combining of job scheduling,activity logging and business intelligenceutilisation, and demurrage reporting.

Once a vessel is docked, the DMS soft-ware takes over, maintaining the dock log,demurrage data, and other informationpertinent to the statement-of-facts relatedto the vessel call.

“Until now, most marine terminals usedpaper-based and spreadsheet-based systems

in order to schedule and manage dock oper-ations and activities,” said Dean Rosenberg,PortVision chief executive officer.

“This limits productivity, causes redun-dant data entry, increases errors, andmakes it difficult to monitor, analyse andoptimise operational efficiency. With theTerminalSmart DMS, companies signifi-cantly improve their understanding ofresource usage, outage and availability.”

“The DMS can support applicationsranging from demurrage reporting andanalysis to overall multi-dimensionalcomparative performance reporting, aswell as other important tasks related tomanaging docks at waterborne terminals.”

TerminalSmart DMS is available as abundled option with the company’sPortVision web-based vessel tracking,management and analysis service.

www.senermar.es

Spanish engineering company Seaplacehas acquired new licences for theCAD/CAM FORAN System, to be used inits marine projects.

The new agreement includes packagesof Forms, Naval Architecture andAdvanced Design and Drawing of ver-sion V70 of FORAN. These licences willbe added to Seaplace's existing licences.

Collaboration between SENER, thedeveloper of FORAN, and Seaplace beganin 1998, and Seaplace has been usingFORAN continuously since then.

Seaplace is currently using the NavalArchitecture modules of FORAN V70 forthe design of an offshore crane vessel witha lifting capacity of 2,500 ST and an over-all length of 172.5 m.

The estimated workload for the designcontracted is around 10,000 engineeringhours.

“With the extension of licences of the lat-est version of FORAN V70, launched bySENER in November 2010, Seaplace takes abig step forward in its technology upgradeto continue offering high value-added serv-ices to the industry,” said Luis García, gen-eral manager, SENER Marine Business Unit.


PortVision introduces Dock Management system

Seaplace will expand its usage of Sener’s ship design technology

Seaplace acquires new CAD/CAM licences

SOFTWARE NEWS

that allow the vessel and shore to see theexact same information.

On the vessel, BT Forms uses 'smartforms' that verify and validate informa-tion before transmission, reducing manualerrors at the point of data collection.

The hosted BT Forms web applicationon the shore-side can then compile the data into a variety of reports for managers.

"United Tugs is a forward thinkingcompany and has been a valued customerof Boatracs since 2004. With a commit-ment to using technology to improveoperations, they have added BT Forms toour core Boatracs satellite communica-tions offering to further enhance theiraccess to critical operational and compli-ance information," said Irwin Rodrigues,president and CEO of Boatracs.

"Optimised for satellite transmission,Boatracs BT Forms is a highly flexible soft-ware solution for data communicationsand reporting between any vessel and itsshore-side office."

"It is exciting to see this product beingused to solve a variety of operationalissues, including regulatory compliance."

www.boatracs.com

Boatracs reports that it has completed theinstallation of Boatracs BTForms, an elec-tronic forms product, on multiple vesselsfor United Tugs, Inc.

The project entailed the conversion ofseven of United Tug’s paper forms into anelectronic version that captains can com-plete with their onboard PC.

"BT Forms has been an importantpiece of our compliance plan," said TomDantin, vice president of operations forUnited Tugs.

"Our goal was to reduce the manualwork and paper needed to document com-pliance for the Responsible CarrierProgram – to make the data collection assimple and automated as possible."

"On the vessel, BT Forms has beenextremely successful in helping us gatherthe information needed for compliancewithout adding to the Captain’s work-load. On the shore side, we use BTForms to streamline our record keepingand reporting."

BT Forms software was developed toconvert paper forms to electronic versions

70 per cent mark) a theoretical and practi-cal assessment.

For the diploma course, following com-pletion of the online training section, stu-dents will need to produce written assign-ments for a number of specialist subjects.A three-hour examination then completesthe diploma course.

"Students will be able to earn either cer-tificates or diplomas, depending on thelevel they study, in coatings and corrosioncontrol," said Andrew Williamson, Lloyd’sRegister’s marine training manager.

"The qualification achieved by takingthe course on Performance Standards forProtective Coatings is equivalent to theNACE and FROSIO qualificationsrequired by IMO and IACS. Students canlearn and progress at their own speed, andwhen it is convenient for them."

The courses - recognised by theInstitute of Corrosion (ICorr), the BritishCoatings Federation (BCF), the Societyfor Protective Coatings (SSPC) and theUniversity of Portsmouth - "make it easi-er and more cost-effective for unlimitednumbers of students to enrol," said Mr Williamson.

United Tugs installs electronic forms across fleet

www.lr-training.org

Lloyd’s Register is offering new onlinetraining courses to support compliancewith marine coatings standards.

The International Maritime Organisation(IMO) and the International Association ofClassification Societies (IACS) coatingsstandards require inspections to be carriedout by qualified coatings inspectors certi-fied to National Association of CorrosionEngineers (NACE) Coating InspectorLevel 2, The Norwegian ProfessionalCouncil for Education and Certification ofInspectors for Surface Treatment (FRO-SIO) Inspector Level III, or equivalents.

Lloyd’s Register has developed thisnew series of online marine coatings train-ing courses to help to meet growingdemand for these qualified inspectors.

Students can register for the courseonline, and after they have paid their feesthey will gain access to the online trainingand have 12 months in which to completethe course. They must achieve 100 per centto pass.

To achieve the IMO PSPC certificate,students must also pass (with a minimum

Online coatings inspection trainingfrom Lloyd's Register

www.marinecfo.com

GIS Marine has agreed a deal to imple-ment the MarineCFO Enterprise softwaresuite, the companies report.

GIS Marine provides a fleet of supplyvessels and crew boats to support oil andgas operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

"While GIS Marine is relatively new tothe marine vessel business, we are grow-ing fast and are fully committed to stayingthe industry leader when it comes to safe-ty, performance and service,” said MarkPregeant, CEO of GIS Marine.

“We fully understand that technologyplays a key role in the future growth

of our marine service offerings. Weresearched the market and foundMarineCFO to be the ideal software tailormade for the marine industry. Thereporting capabilities of this system arephenomenal.”

“MarineCFO gives us a tremendouscompetitive edge in that it will allow us tomanage our business in a more efficientmanner thus improving our bottom lineand allowing our customers to access real-time data that will aid in managing theiroperations. We are extremely excitedabout our partnership with MarineCFOand are looking forward to going live withour fleet in 2012.”

GIS Marine to implement MarineCFO

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:03 Page 1

QUICKDRAWSAND SHIPPING.

When product tanker captain, Frank Zimmerman scales a rugged rock face wall he depends on know-how, experience and the right equipment. No surprises. Predictability is key. Quite similar to last week when he contacted Star Information Systems regarding fleet maintenance updates. Top quality, dependable. SIS – a reliable maritime software partner.

www.sismarine.com

Onboard software: Vessel maintenance, procurement, asset management, QHSE, project management

Office software: Management of fleet maintenance, procurement, projects, QHSE and KPI’s

Services: Consultancy and Training

Credible. Professional. Dynamic.

Blue-C

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:03 Page 2

SOFTWARE NEWS


www.jotron.com

Danish shipping company D/S NORDEN isto implement a fleet management softwarepackage from Norwegian-based JotronConsultas across a number of its ships.

The two parties have signed an agreement which includes rollout of the

latest version of the Consultas FleetManagement software suite for both thefleet and the office, v.4.

The new version of the system includesa Dashboard with customised KPI reportsbased on roles or responsibilities.

The deal also includes the applicationsC-Maintenance, C-Spares, C-Budget and

C-Experience for installation onboardship, and C-Purchase, C-Budget, C-Experience and C-Maintenance (Fleet ver-sion) for the office.

Under the contract approximately 30ships owned and operated by D/S NOR-DEN will be fitted with the software.

"Over the last few years, NORDEN hascontinued a fleet expansion to a level ofmore than 30 vessels, which means thatboth efficient and effective vessel manage-ment plays an increasing role for us," saidLars Lundegaard, senior vice president atD/S NORDEN.

"At the same time we have set ambitiousgoals for the quality and safety of our ves-sels that aim to maintain our leadershipposition. We think Consultas is the righttool for NORDEN and our fleet of vessels."

Jotron says it will commence work onthe project in week 43 of 2011, and expectsit to reach final completion by the end ofAugust 2012.

www.spectec.net

Norwegian company Grieg ShippingGroup has signed a contract withSpecTec for the supply of its AMOS soft-ware system.

Grieg Shipping Group is part of theGrieg Group, one of the largest manage-ment service companies in Scandinavia.Founded in 1884, The Grieg Group estab-lished a shipping branch in 1961, StarShipping, which became Grieg ShippingCompany in 2008.

Today the company owns a 26-shipstrong OHGC (open-hatch general cargovessel) fleet, and has just taken delivery offour new open hatch vessels.

The company is also currently in themidst of a development programmeincluding up to ten 50,000 dwt open hatchships with a new crane design, togetherwith two Supramax vessels. The ships willbe delivered from the Hyundai Mipo ship-yard in Korea in 2014.

The contract with SpecTec is for the supply of AMOS Business SuiteMaintenance & Purchase software sys-tems to these ten OHGC newbuilds andto both of the new Supramax vessels.

The Maintenance and Purchase soft-ware will be used to integrate mainte-nance work, cost management, stock con-trol and requisition flows between the ves-sel and headquarters.

Users can check how much has beenspent on purchases, and see how that fitswith both current and future budgets.

The new deal is a continuation of anexisting relationship between the compa-nies, with Grieg Shipping Group havingsigned its first contract with SpecTecin 1994.

www.palantir.no

BW Maritime has appointed Palantir to actas the solutions partner for its fleet-wideBW Common Vessel IT Infrastructureproject.

Under the agreement Palantir willwork with BW on the design, implementa-tion and support of a common IT infra-structure across all BW vessels. This newsystem will be built on Palantir's existingKeepUp@Sea solution, and for a period oftime will be delivered as a managed serv-ice from the Palantir headquarters inStord, Norway.

“We believe that the KeepUp@Sea solu-tion from Palantir would best meet the

overall objectives for BW, which is to pro-vide a reliable and secure IT networkonboard our vessels,” said GeraldinePang, general manager global IT, BWMaritime.

“We have chosen Palantir because theyprovide a unique, comprehensive andproven solution, with many years of oper-ational experience at major shipping com-panies. By utilising Palantir’s extensiveexperience, we will be able to jumpstartthe process, and quickly start seeing thebenefits.”

“Through the flexible KeepUp@Seasolution, it is possible for future upgradesand changes to be deployed from a singlepoint onshore, reducing travel costs and

improving efficiency.”Additional deliveries covered in the

agreement include hardware, logistics,roll-out and migration services onboardthe vessels. Following a pilot period, theglobal implementation across the BW fleetwill commence at the end of 2011.

“This major deal is a statement of qual-ity – both for our KeepUp@Sea solutionand the skills of the people involved insupporting and developing theKeepUp@Sea solution,” said ArvidDregelid, CEO of Palantir.

“The core focus on standardisation andautomation of IT&C services proves to bean advantage towards achieving new,international customers.”

Jotron fleet management software for D/S NORDEN

The Nord Neptune, one of a group of vessels set to implement Jotron software

BW Maritime to implement Palantir across fleet

www.krillsystems.com

Krill Systems has introduced its new man-agement tool, the Vessel OperationsCenter (VOC), which aims to allow fleetmanagers to monitor fleet fuel usage andreceive synchronised fleet reports via theinternet.

Krill uses Microsoft SQL server data-base technology to record all sensor datawith two second resolution, and offersstorage of at least one year.

Any communication system includingcellular or satellite internet access, sup-

The Krill system allows shore offices to keep track of fuel usage onboard vessels at sea

porting standard SMTP email protocols,can be used to transmit the customisablereports and sensor data menus, in Excelformat.

While every Krill-fitted vessel in a fleetwould have its own database, the VesselOperations Center (VOC) collects thedatabase from each vessel in the fleet andconsolidates them into a single ‘VOC’database.

The ‘VOC’ database is continuouslysynchronised with all vessel databases inthe fleet and provides a single overview ofall vessel activity.

Krill introduces VOC

www.veson.com

Norway-based Odfjell SE is to manage itsentire fleet with Veson Nautical’s IMOS(Integrated Maritime Operations System)and Veslink, the automated system forship to shore communication, under arecently agreed deal.

Odfjell’s shipping division, OdfjellTankers, transports bulk liquid chemicals,acids, edible oils, clean petroleum prod-ucts and other special products; its fleet ofabout 100 chemical tankers ranges in car-rying capacities from 4,000 to almost50,000 DWT.

When Odfjell’s management decided toreplace the company’s in-house softwaresystem with a fully integrated solution, itshortlisted companies that could addressOdfjell’s biggest 'pain points'.

Odfjell was looking to automate rou-tine tasks, streamline communicationsbetween departments, increase productiv-ity, and to use real-time voyage data tomake the most profitable decisions.

Einar Øye, senior project manager

Odfjell to implement IMOS for tanker fleet

in Odfjell, explains, “From our first meet-ing, the Veson team demonstrated an in-depth understanding of our businessprocesses and a holistic and advancedapproach to voyage management andsoftware design. That combination was animportant factor when we chose Veson.”

Odfjell has begun the implementationphase and expects to go live with IMOS bythe end of 2012 for the shore based organ-isation, including about 15 global sites.Veslink is scheduled to be deployedonboard 100 vessels.

The company is also integrating IMOSinto its corporate accounting package.

"IMOS and Veslink give us the abilityto capture voyage related information atthe source, and automatically utilise thatinformation throughout our workprocesses," adds Mr Øye.

"It’s our goal to provide Odfjellemployees with tools which enable themto easily access information relevant totheir work. We believe the Veson solutionsupports this goal, and this will be incred-ibly beneficial for us."

Grieg Shippinggoes for AMOS

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:03 Page 3

www.globewireless.comPhone: +1 (321) [email protected]

IntroducingDigital Quality Voicefor FleetBroadband! The first FleetBroadband to support multiple voice lines Superior voice Inexpensive shore to ship calling using standard U.S. numbers

Globe iFusion®

Communications Made Simple!

- Caller ID: incoming and outgoing

- Free onboard mobile to mobile calls

- All calling features supported from GSM phone

- GSM services available on over 800 vessels

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 4


SOFTWARE NEWS

Container ships added to online valuation servicewww.vesselsvalue.com

The VesselsValue online ship valuationservice, which already covers tankers andbulkers, is now valuing container shipsfrom Feedermax (500 teu) up to ULCV(18,000 teu).

VesselsValue was launched earlier thisyear by London based S&P broker SeasureShipping Ltd. The service provides data-driven ship valuations and marketinsights for vessels and portfolios whichare currently being used by the commer-cial banking, investment fund, ownershipand broking sectors.

The VesselsValue methodology incor-

www.marinesoftware.co.uk

Marine Software reports that it has suc-cessfully supplied the NATO research ves-sel RV Alliance with its Marine PlannedMaintenance, Stock Control andRequisition/Purchasing software suite.

The vessel is being managed on behalfof the NATO Undersea Research Centreby Anglo Eastern (UK) in Glasgow.

Office management software has alsobeen delivered to the local Base Manager’sOffice at La Spezia, Italy, which will moni-tor vessel input to the PlannedMaintenance and onboard Stock Controlmodules, along with the Purchasing mod-ule which initiates ship requisitions into thePurchase platform to include in budgeting.

The contract also required MarineSoftware to migrate data from the vessel’sexisting system prior to installation, toensure all historic Planned Maintenanceand spare part component history recordswere accurately transferred into the newsystem.

A barcode label option was also includ-ed that will assist with stock control andtracking of spare parts.

During the final database commission-ing visit, Marine Software personnel deliv-ered a three day training course for theship officers and local shore managementteam associated with requisition and pur-chase, and will provide follow-up trainingfor those involved in maintenance loggingand stock control.

Marine Software installed on RV Alliance

porates ship specifications, real time salesand freight earning sentiment, to enablemarket valuations of vessels.

This model is updated and recalibrateddaily to give the closest possible fit toreported sale prices.

Accuracy is tested and reported bycomparing valuations against pricesachieved in the market.

VesselsValue believes that, by addingcontainer ships to the service, it will pro-vide a much needed benchmark for shipvalues in this sector.

The service is available on subscriptionbasis or pay-as-you-go, depending onthe user.

WaveSentry project launches Knowledge Networkwww.marinesoutheast.co.uk

WaveSentry, a project by Marine SouthEast developing a system for the measure-ment, forecasting and portrayal of sea-states, has launched ‘WaveSentry KN’, aknowledge network which aims to facili-tate the identification and exploitation oftechnologies for managing the risks ofmarine operations in adverse sea states.

The WaveSentry project wants todevelop an improved decision supporttool for marine operations that are impact-ed by adverse sea conditions for reasons ofboth economics and safety.

The WaveSentry project partners saythat currently available information isbased on atmospheric/ocean modelswhich lack temporal and spatial informa-tion, and that they aim to exploit new datasources, including satellite remote meas-urements of wave steepness as well asreal-time buoy and ship derived data.

The project is inviting organisationsfrom both industry and the knowledgebase concerned with the provision or useof sea-state measurements and forecastingto join the Knowledge Network, which canbe done at: www.groupspaces.com/wavesentrykn/join.

The RV Alliance has installed a range of Marine Software modules

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 5


Digital Ship

www.seagull.no

Seagull has added two more modulesrelated to environmental protection to itsportfolio of computer based trainingcourses for the shipping industry.

The first of these is the MarineEnvironmental Awareness CBT unit, abasic training programme designed forseafarers in management, operational andsupport level roles.

The aim of the training programme is tomotivate seafarers at all levels to con-tribute to the prevention of marine pollu-tion by stimulating a sense of involvementand responsibility in this area.

The main learning objectives are that, after completing this training programme, the seafarer will be able to demonstrate the basic knowledgerequired to prevent pollution in themarine environment and will understandthe importance of doing so.

“This is an important addition to ourrange of courses as it addresses one of thespecific requirements of the Manila 2010amendments to the STCW Code,” saidSeagull director training content, CaptainBjarke Jakobsen,

“These amendments enter into force inJanuary 2012, and so shipowners willshortly have to comply with them.”

“This module has been tailored tomeet the needs of seafarers at different

levels onboard ship.”This new CBT unit has been developed

by Seagull in cooperation with the ProseaFoundation of The Netherlands. Prosea, anon-profit organisation, has been provid-ing marine awareness courses since 1999and is the author of the IMO model coursein Marine Environmental Awareness inaccordance with the STCW 2010 Manilaamendments.

This is the first time that Prosea has been involved in developing a CBT course.

The second new programme fromSeagull is a CBT module providing anintroduction to the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) 2008 VesselGeneral Permit (VGP).

The VGP regulates discharges inciden-tal to the normal operation of vessels in USterritorial waters. The new CBT module istargeted at senior officers onboard anddesigned to give them an understandingof what the VGP aims to achieve, andexplains its structure and the require-ments it places on shipping companies.

It also sets out which onboard opera-tions may have to be reorganised to com-ply with the VGP.

The course includes sections on whenVGP coverage starts and ends; the dis-charges that are covered; and monitoring,inspection, recording and reportingrequirements.

It complies both with the US EPA’sVGP and the IMO’s ISM Code regula-tions and takes around one hour to com-plete. It also makes reference to theimplications of the VGP for shore-basedmanagement.

www.axsmarine.com

AXSMarine is launching a new version ofits software for tanker brokers, calledAXSTanker.

The new system includes a messageboard, a fixtures tool and an enhancedAIS screen.

AXSMessageBoard helps brokers com-municate by keeping their exchangesrecorded in one place, to assist in search-ing for key information.

AXSTanker will be available as amobile version, and an AXSTanker mobilewebsite will allow users to access theapplication from any mobile device. Themessage board is also accessible from themobile application.

AXSMarine says that at present thereare more than 1,000 individual users ofAXSTanker all over the world.

Environmental CBT from Seagull

‘The CBT has been tailored to seafarers atdifferent levels onboard the ship’ – Capt Bjarke Jakobsen, Seagull

New version of tankerbroker software

Regs4ships is planning a major rede-velopment of its website, working withpartners aap3, an IT and business solu-tions provider. The company says that itwill examine the design, the type of infor-mation that is displayed and the way thepages are coded for the new site to ensurethat its products keep in line with chang-ing trends.

www.regs4ships.com

Unlock the Potential of Internet On Boardwith Dualog® Connection Suite™.

Contact the Maritime Communications Experts today about what really concerns you.

(+47) 77 62 19 00 or [email protected] | www.dualog.com

www.run

elarse

n.biz

© 2

01

1 D

UA

LOG

AS

. A

LL R

IGH

TS

RE

SE

RV

ED

.

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 6

AA s global economic gloom contin-ues to cast a shadow over ship-ping and industries in every sec-

tor, driving efficiency and making smarterchoices are two of the basic operationalgoals of any savvy business manager.

As growth and revenue continue to besqueezed, cutting costs without adverselyaffecting performance and service to thecustomers that are still around is one ofthe best ways for companies in the currentenvironment to improve their bottom line.

Saurish Nandi, head of purchasing atSelandia Ship Management, believes thatthe maritime procurement function is onearea that is particularly ripe for this kindof cost cutting attention.

Mr Nandi has more than eight years ofexperience working in purchasing andsupply chains, working with both TheGreat Eastern Shipping Company andWilhelmsen Ship Management in Indiabefore relocating to Singapore in 2008.

As well as running the Selandia pur-

chasing department, Mr Nandi is also cur-rently doing a Masters in BusinessAdministration at the S P Jain Center ofManagement. As part of these studies hehas done a lot of work on the managementof maritime supply chains, and the resultsof his research have highlighted howmuch potential there is for improvementwithin this sector of operations.

“What I found out was that 30 per centof the time a purchaser spends is oninvoice clearing,” he told us. “30 per centis on following up on logistics, and 30 percent is on ‘last minute’ exigencies, like lastminute orders.”

“So that only leaves 10 per cent of theirtime available – where is the time for sourc-ing? That’s the basic job of a purchaser.”

Certain that there must be a better way toorganise procurement for ships, Mr Nandibegan to explore the make up of the mar-itime supply chain, to try and get a betterunderstanding of how business theory couldbe applied to the shipping environment.

“Typically in a marine scenario the sup-ply chain includes the vessel, and the logis-tics which surround the vessel and providea very important support base for the ves-sel managers. Without them the supplychain will definitely collapse,” he said.

“The procurement function forms theheart of the supply chain, for me. Any mis-take you make in procurement will bemultiplied, and any benefits or savingsyou make in procurement will also bemultiplied across the chain.”

“Then the other parts of the supplychain include the accounts function, andthe superintendents and vessel managers.”

Supply chain theoryTo analyse the maritime supply chain fur-ther, Mr Nandi decided to apply ValueChain theory to the procurement function,a concept developed by Michael Porter in1985 in his book Competitive Advantage,which basically describes any activity inan organisation which adds value to thefinal product or service as being part of the‘value chain’.

“Within this model we have the sup-port activities Procurement, Technology,Human Resource Management, the FirmInfrastructure – all important parts of thevalue chain,” said Mr Nandi.

“This led me on to the concept of wastedeveloped by Taiichi Ohno of Toyota.According to him any activity which doesnot add value to the final service or prod-uct is a waste.”

Taiichi Ohno is considered to be thefather of the Toyota Production System, theconcepts behind which were the founda-tion of ‘Just In Time Production’ and thegeneric Lean Manufacturing movement.These concepts aim to preserve value whilereducing the amount of work required.

Within the Toyota system, seven

‘wastes’ were identified for improvementor elimination: Transportation, Inventory,Motion, Waiting, Over-Processing, Over-Production, and Defects.

To demonstrate the idea of waste moreclearly, Mr Nandi draws on his experi-ences of transiting Bombay Airport.

“You’re supposed to arrive there threehours before the flight actually departs tobe on time. The actual process of prepar-ing for the flight takes about 10 minutes,with the baggage screening and immigra-tion and those things,” he explained.

“The rest of the time you are spendingqueuing up. That is waste in the valuechain – there are better things you couldbe doing with your time than queuing up.The same concepts can be applied in anyservice industry.”

In an attempt to examine how to reducethe potential waste within the maritimesupply chain Mr Nandi draws on theTheory of Constraints developed byEliyahu Goldratt.

“According to Mr Goldratt youshould first identify the constraint, thenallocate resources to it and then ensurethat the constraint no longer remains,”Mr Nandi explained.

“If you apply the same logic to waste inthe same way, you would similarly identi-fy the waste, decide how to remove it andallocate resources to do that.”

“Can waste totally be eliminated?According to me, no. We will always havewaiting and have queues, but you can findways to reduce them. We can alwaysmake efforts to reduce the waste.”

Technology and reducing waste

Mr Nandi recommends a number of keysteps that a shipping company purchasingdepartment that is looking to reduce waste

Cutting costs is a key goal for most companies in the current economic environment, but identifying where tocut those costs can be a difficult process. Applying technology to the procurement function is one way in whichsubstantial waste could be eliminated, as Saurish Nandi, Selandia Ship Management, explained to Digital Ship

Reducing waste in the maritime supply chain

‘Any mistake you make in procurement will be multiplied’ – Saurish Nandi, Selandia Ship Management


SOFTWARE

WITHERBY

Witherby Seamanship International

4 Dunlop Square, Livingston, Edinburgh, EH54 8SB, Scotland, UK.

Tel No: +44(0)1506 463 227 Fax No: +44(0)1506 468 999 Email: [email protected] Web: www.seamanshiplibrary.com

A new way of managing digital publications onboard will arrive in 2012.

Ask your local chart agent or see

www.seamanshiplibrary.com

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 7


Digital Shipin its processes should follow, which focusmainly around reducing the complexity ofthe purchasing network.

“You should reduce the number of sup-pliers, and try and formulate long termsupplier-buyer contracts. Appoint fewer,but reliable, freight forwarders. And final-ly, and this is key, start planning with aspecial focus on cost reduction,” he told us.

Reducing supplier numbers may seemlike a straightforward concept, but, as MrNandi notes, it can go somewhat against thegrain for purchasing departments that mayhave been used to adding more and moresourcing partners to their supplier lists.

“Let me give you an example. Everyweek in my purchasing department I get requests from our purchasers to addfour vendors to our database – our data-base already includes a thousand ven-dors,” he said.

“In a month that would be an extra 16vendors, in a year more than 200 beingadded to the database. The more suppliersyou have the more vendor evaluations youneed to do, according to your purchasingprocedure. Everything is multiplied.”

The idea of establishing long term rela-tionships with a smaller group of suppliersis again something which Mr Nandi hasseen as being contrary to the establishedway of working in many organisations.

“It’s very typical in shipping to avoidthis, we see it happen in manufacturingbut in shipping it seems to be somethingvery different for people,” he said.

“I was reading an article a few months

back about the relationship between J Lauritzen and Fuji Trading, where a pur-chaser from Fuji Trading actually comes toJ Lauritzen and sits there for six months,so he will know what is happening on theother side. Then a purchaser from JLauritzen goes to Fuji Trading and hechecks what’s happening there.”

“That’s the kind of supplier-buyer rela-tionship that we’re looking for, that’s whatwe should be focusing on. At the end ofthe day it should help both parties, that’swhat it’s all about. The same idea can alsoapply to freight forwarders, have fewerfreight forwarders, or preferably just one,that can take care of the logistics for you.They are the experts in that field.”

According to Mr Nandi, technology, inthe modern business environment, is thekey to waste elimination.

“Without technology you can’t do it.Unfortunately you can’t just wake up onemorning and decide to go to a shop andbuy technology and apply it to your valuechain – you have to set a base for that,” he said.

“Planning is the crux of all this, in ship-ping you always have things happening atthe last minute, because lots of the thingsare not planned. But they could be – if thepurchasing software system is properlyimplemented you’ll have a critical inven-tory list flowing into your network, andyou order on the basis of that.”

“That will make life much easier andyou can avoid last minute exigencies.”

Mr Nandi suggests that it would be

helpful to introduce integrated platformsthat would connect the various stagesinvolved in purchasing within one overallsystem, rather than using varied differentpackages to manages different aspects ofthe function.

“Currently I would roughly say thatmost companies have vessel-buyer por-tals, and then other buyer-supplier por-tals,” he said.

“Then their supplier has a differentportal to connect to their sub-suppliers,and a separate portal again to connect toforwarders, who use a separate portal toconnect to the airlines.”

“Besides that, the buyer also has to usea separate portal to the accounts system,which also needs a separate portal forbanking. So we’re talking about five or sixportals just here, and it can be more insome cases.”

Maritime e-purchasing companyShipServ has done a lot of work in thisregard, in its attempts to bring maritimepurchasing to a more centralised plat-form. Mr Nandi believes that the compa-ny has made important strides in theright direction, but notes that the tech-nology is still a long way from being theperfect waste-eliminating electronic pro-curement system.

“I’m quite a fan of ShipServ, they havedone good work with their e-invoicingand have also linked up with the for-warder portals, and that’s the right wayfor this to be going,” he said.

“But we have to go further than this, we

need one common platform – I think thatis the way forward. Each portal is addingto the waste in the value chain, it is addingon work needed to monitor each portal.Why don’t we have a single portal for allof this? I know it’s not going to happentomorrow, but this is the way we shouldbe heading.”

“Once we do that we could have a‘utopian’ supply chain, where you have asingle portal that connects your logistics,your suppliers, your forwarders andyour accounts. Once we have somethinglike that then we can bring the vesselsinto it, and it becomes the perfect supplychain.”

One final important note Mr Nandiadds is that it is imperative to have execu-tive support for any work in this area, ifthere is to be any chance of success.

“It’s very important within an enter-prise for the top management to beinvolved in this, it’s not just at the groundlevel or operational level,” he said. “Thetop people have to sit down with the oper-ational people and identify the waste, asthey will need to allocate the resources.”

“Once that has been done and thewaste has been reduced you also need tokeep checking for inertia and keep moni-toring everything so that the same wastedoesn’t occur, or you don’t have newwaste in the supply chain.”

“As they say – start by measuring,because what gets measured getsanalysed, and what gets analysed getsacted upon.”

www.marlink.com

Welcome to MarlinkThe world’s preferred satellite communications provider.Marlink provides VSAT and MSS solutions for any size or type of vessel or maritime operation.

Backed by the industry’s most trusted support network, Marlink provides global coverage with always-on or pay-as-you-use systems. We offer solutions that provide our customers with world class communications within their budget.

Welcome to Ma

Communications you can rely on

Every 4th vessel at sea which requires on-demand satellite communications uses Marlink; you can join them by contacting any of our regional of ces or email [email protected]

Tel (24/7) +32 70 233 220 · Fax +32 2 332 33 27

OSLO • LONDON • HAMBURG • BRUSSELS • ATHENS • DUBAI • MUMBAI • SINGAPORE • TOKYO • WASHINGTON DC • HOUSTON

DS

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 8

Organisers: Posidonia Exhibitions SA, e-mail: [email protected]

www.posidonia-events.com

Posidonia4-8 June 2012, Metropolitan Expo, Athens Greece

The International Shipping Exhibition

A unique blend ofbusiness and social interactions

at the heart of Shipping

Be part of the great Posidonia experienceat a state of the art new venue

p20-28:p1-14.qxd 05/12/2011 15:04 Page 9

Safebridge has been awarded statefunding by the Hamburg Authorityfor Management, Commerce andInnovation (BWVI), to enable furtherdevelopment of its electronic navigationtraining system.

VSTEP’s NAUTIS Full MissionBridge Simulator has received Class A cer-tification from Det Norske Veritas(DNV). The NAUTIS simulators arenow qualified to operate as fully-certifiedmaritime training simulators with anymaritime training school worldwide.

www.forcetechnology.com

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and theMaritime and Port Authority of Singapore(MPA) have awarded a contract to FORCETechnology to provide simulation facili-ties at the Integrated Simulation Centre(ISC) at Singapore Polytechnic (SP).

FORCE Technology will manufacture,install and operate a series of full missionsimulators under the deal.

This is the first contract for the compa-ny to be handled directly in Singapore,with previous business in the country hav-ing been handled from FORCE offices inDenmark. The company says that thisagreement has contributed to its decisionto build up a permanent business base inSingapore.

FORCE Technology notes that it willwork in close cooperation with theSingapore Maritime Academy (SMA) atSP and MPA to develop its applieddomain knowledge, engagement inadvanced training, certification, researchand innovation in the maritime field.

The development of the IntegratedSimulation Centre (ISC) into a maritimesimulator centre will form a significantpart of this process.


OceanSaver has appointed HoutanHoushangi as interim Chief ExecutiveOfficer. Mr Houshangi replaces Stein Fosswho has worked on the development ofOceanSaver's BWT system technologysince the company’s inception in 2003.

A new version of the Orion INS(Inertial Navigation System) is beinglaunched by Teledyne TSS. The unitprovides attitude, heading and heave dataand can support applications such asmulti-beam sonar surveys or the construc-tion of major seabed installations.

Comark Corporation has receivedType Approval on its 47-inch Series ofMDU Marine Displays from theAmerican Bureau of Shipping(ABS). The MDU47 utilises a 47-inchdiagonal, LED backlit, 1920 x 1080P high-resolution LCD, coated to protect againstmoisture and corrosion.

Alphatron Marine has introduced itsAlphabinnacle series of magnetic compass-es. The compasses will be available in 3 ver-sions: for vessels above 150 Grt, for vesselsup to 150 Grt and for non SOLAS vessels.

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS Digital Ship

FORCE agrees Singapore

simulator contract

www.nautissim.comwww.oceansaver.comwww.comarkcorp.comwww.alphatronmarine.comwww.tss-international.comwww.safebridge.net

Houtan Houshangi, OceanSaver’s new CEO

NAUTIS simulators are now DNV approved

www.marinestar.no

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 1

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS


French contractfor Kannad

www.classnk.or.jp

ClassNK has issued its first Type SpecificTraining Course approval for an ECDISTraining Course offered by FURUNO INSTraining Centre Singapore.

The approval, which coincides with theopening of the new training centre, certi-fies that the course offered by the centrecomplies with the classification society’snew Standard for Maritime Education &Training

New requirements for the installationof ECDIS systems will be phased in from 1July 2012, after which vessels will berequired to navigate using ECDIS as theirprimary chart system.

As part of this process, masters anddeck officers will be required to undergoadequate training and prove their under-

standing and proficiency in using the newsystems.

In addition to the generic ECDIS train-ing required by the STCW Conventionand Code, the governments of the UK andIreland, as well as the Paris MOU, requiremasters and all deck officers on flag ves-sels which make use of ECDIS systems astheir primary means of navigation toundergo Type Specific ECDIS training forthe ECDIS systems used onboard theirvessels.

In recognition of this growing demandClassNK developed new certificationstandards for Type Specific ECDIS train-ing programmes, that it hopes will becomea de-facto standard for the industry.

ClassNK executive vice presidentKoichi Fujiwara, who has directly over-seen ClassNK’s expansion into maritime

ClassNK approves first Type Specific ECDIS coursetraining certification, said: “With theincreasing level of technology used fornavigation and ship operation, as well asgrowing regulation of seafarers, there is anincredible demand throughout the indus-try for higher quality seafarer trainingprogrammes.”

“By developing new standards for mar-itime training, and working with trainingcentres to meet these new standards, wehope to positively address these needs,and contribute to a safer future for ourentire industry.”

In addition to certification for bothgeneric and Type Specific ECDIS training,ClassNK is also developing certificationservices for Maritime Education &Training programmes, as well as certifica-tion and training programmes for instruc-tors of such courses.

www.kannad.com

Kannad has been awarded a contract tosupply an Aids to Navigation (AtoN)Remote Monitoring System to the Centred'Etudes Techniques Maritimes etFluviales (CETMEF – French Institute forMaritime and Inland Waterways), worth€1 million over 3 years.

Kannad has been working withCETMEF since 2009, developing an AISAtoN Station for use on buoys and bea-cons around the French coast.

“The team at Kannad has enjoyedworking with CETMEF on this mutuallybeneficial and technically advanced proj-ect, and are very pleased to receive thiscontract, which is a result of a lot of hardwork by all involved,” said Pierre JeanJannin, Kannad business unit manager.

Kannad’s system currently comprisestwo main AIS AtoN Stations; theKanAtoN 1 (AIS transmitter) and theKanAtoN 3 (AIS transmitter/receiver),plus various interfaces.

This particular contract was for the newKanAtoN 3 AIS AtoN Station with inter-faces, which allows for remote control of anumber of functions on the aid to naviga-tion, the activation of emergency equip-ment, control and activation of spare equip-ment, remote monitoring of the onboardsystem and malfunction detection.

This data is controlled and monitoredvia a network of land-based servers, or‘Shore Stations’, relaying data exchangesbetween Aids to Navigation and theSupervision & Control Centre.

The Remote Monitoring System oper-ates via a web-based application that isplaced on a server to receive the AIS mes-sages relayed ashore.

www.martek-marine.com

Mitsui OSK Line has committed toinstalling Bridge Navigational Watch andAlarm Systems (BNWAS) on board itsships ahead of regulatory requirements,having taken the opportunity of the dry-docking of 17 of its vessels so far this yearto install the Martek Marine NavgardBNWAS.

MOL said it was likely that all of itsexisting vessels would be fitted withBNWAS before the end of 2011.

Under the terms of the revised SOLASregulations new passenger vessels andcargo ships greater than 150gt have had toimplement BNWAS since July 2011.

However, existing passenger ships andcargo vessels greater than 3,000gt can waituntil July 2012 before BNWAS becomesmandatory, while existing cargo ships ofbetween 500gt and 3,000gt can wait until

July 2013, and those between 150 and500gt until July 2014.

Alan Stewart, MOL TankshipManagement (Europe) deputy generalmanager, explained that the carrier hadalready witnessed an increasing frequen-cy of comments by SIRE inspectorsregarding whether or not a BNWAS was fitted.

He said that MOL had decided on acourse of “being proactive and not waitinguntil the last minute, as is usual in themarine industry.”

The International Chamber of Shippinghas carried out an investigation into acci-dent reports in the Malacca Straits whichare transited by more than 70,000 vesselseach year. It identified ‘loss of situationalawareness’ as one of the most significantfactors that need to be addressed as acause of accidents.

Of the incidents examined, 68 per

cent resulted in collisions and all couldhave potentially caused harm or pollu-tion incidents.

BIMCO has also issued advice to itsmembers urging them to consider fittingsystems at drydockings before themandatory implementation date, and notto wait until annual surveys within thecompliance window.

“There have been a number of inci-dents recently which show a lot can hap-pen in three minutes, let alone 12 minutes,and so it is vital systems such as Navgardare installed on vessels as soon as possi-ble,” said Paul Luen, Martek CEO.

“Navgard is the world’s first BNWASsystem fully type approved by all majorclassification societies. Owners delayingimplementation of BNWAS until the lastminute are risking the lives of their crewand the safety of their vessels. Where isthe sense in that?”

MOL commits to BNWAS

IIG buys Transas stake

www.transas.com

Industrial Investors Group (IIG) hasacquired a 25 per cent plus one share stakein Transas, as part of a transaction valuedat USD$50 million.

The partners say that this alliance willcreate new opportunities for Transas inareas such as avionics, aircraft simulators,unmanned aircraft, and virtual realityentertainment systems, but should alsocontribute to further development in itstraditional areas of marine navigation andcontrol equipment.

Industrial Investors Group already hasexperience in the marine sector, owningRussia’s largest dry bulk and containershipping company, FESCO, and will beable to provide Transas with input from ashipping client’s perspective.

Transas says that, at present, there areno plans to further increase IIG’s share ofownership in Transas, and that the acqui-sition will not entail any changes inTransas’ senior operational management.

The majority of proceeds from theacquisition have been reinvested into thedevelopment of Transas’ new and existingbusinesses.

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 2


Digital Ship

www.ukho.gov.uk

The UKHO has announced the sale ofSevenCs and ChartWorld to Dutch-Belgian-Trading GmbH (DBT).

SevenCs is a software company thatdevelops software for the maritime naviga-tion industry, and was acquired by theUKHO in 2005 to support the developmentof digital navigation products and services.

Its subsidiary company, ChartWorld, isa digital chart agent and value addedreseller (VAR) which provides digitalmaritime data and data services.

"The sale of SevenCs and ChartWorldto DBT is part of our strategy to focusresources on our core area of expertise;

providing highly accurate, trusted naviga-tional data which seafarers need to oper-ate safely and efficiently," said IanMoncrieff, Admiralty CEO.

"We will continue to work closely withour distributors and customers to ensurethat we’re delivering that informationthrough Admiralty products and serviceswhich best meet their requirements."

"I’d like to thank everyone at bothSevenCs and Chartworld for their contri-bution to Admiralty’s development, andI’m delighted that DBT is committed tomaintaining both companies in Hamburgand has ambitious growth plans thatinvolve both SevenCs and ChartWorldtogether."

UKHO completes SevenCs and ChartWorld sale

Raytheon Anschütz GmbHD-24100 Kiel, GermanyTel +49(0)4 31-30 19-0Fax +49(0)4 31-30 19-291

www.raytheon-anschuetz.com

INTEGRATED NAVIGATIONSYSTEMS

R Anschütz

Synapsis Bridge Control combines most advanced functions with well-proven reliability in one cohe-sively developed bridge system.

Using the cutting-edge of navigation technology, Synapsis Bridge Control provides highest fl exibility in system confi guration as well as simplifi ed and predictable operation.

creating seaworthy software

www.autoship.com

Catch informationas it happens.

Stability & Strength AssessmentCargo Management & Load PlanningShip Design & ProductionWorld-Wide Service & Support

www.cmlmicro.com

CML Microcircuits has announced thelaunch of the new Marine AIS Search andRescue Transmitter (SART) processor, theCMX7045.

The CMX7045 is a baseband processorfulfilling the needs of an AIS-SART andmeeting IEC 61097-14 requirements.

An AIS-SART is a self-contained radiotransmitter that is deployed by a survivalcraft or distressed vessel to notify its posi-tion for the purpose of rescue.

In a rescue situation the device repeat-

edly transmits its updated position reportsusing a standard AIS. Position and timesynchronisation is derived from anonboard GNSS receiver (eg GPS).

Every minute the unit transmits multiple position reports to maintain ahigh probability that at least one of theposition reports is sent on the highestpoint of a wave, guiding rescue servicesto its location.

The CMX7045 employs a 9600 baudGMSK modem for the transmission of for-matted AIS data, and offers low powersleep modes to maximise safety-battery life.

AIS-SART launched by CML Microcircuits

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 3

www.maris.no

Tolani Shipping’s Singapore arm, TolaniShipping (S) Pte Ltd, is to use the VoyageDecision Support (VDS) system developedby Maritime Information Systems(MARIS) as part of an initiative to adoptgreen technology on its fleet of owned andoperated vessels.

Tolani Shipping owns a fleet of bulkcarriers ranging in size from 50,000dwt to84,000dwt, and with an average age offive years. With its origins in India,Tolani Shipping established a presence inSingapore in 2003 and operates vesselsunder both the Indian and Singaporeanflags.

“We are looking to provide our charter-ers with the option of using the system tominimise the carbon footprint and reduce

the impact on the environment and saveon fuel,” said Rohet Tolani, managingdirector of Tolani Shipping (S).

“Tolani Shipping’s target is to reducefuel consumption by an annual average of3 per cent per vessel and, on specificlonger voyages, by 5 per cent per vessel.”

The company will initially implementthe VDS system on five Singapore flagged vessels in support of theSingapore Maritime and Port Authority’sgreen initiatives, according to CaptMikkjal Poulsen, general manager, TolaniShipping (S).

“Each vessel will be able to reduce itsenvironmental impact through reducedemissions due to lower levels of fuel con-sumption, made possible by the systemproviding real-time guidance for optimalroute planning to the Master, using tech-

nology, data and methodology which issuperior to that used by traditional weath-er routeing services,” he said.

“The integration of this routeing withthe ECDIS system will also lead to safernavigation overall. It should certainlyestablish a new role model for superiorstandards within the industry.”

The MARIS VDS System is an electron-ic tool based on the MARIS ECDIS, and isdesigned to plan and execute voyages in asafe and optimised manner, while alsoallowing for documenting and analysis of results.

The MARIS VDS System comprises aseparate VDS computer, which is also afully functional ECDIS. It operates in aLAN with the two regular ECDIS installa-tions required for approved paperlessECDIS navigation.

The reason for choosing a total of threeis that the VDS will have a second impor-tant function as a spare ECDIS. All threeECDIS installations receive required navi-gational information from the MARISDigital Server.

“A reduction in the impact on the envi-ronment and the fuel saving potential ofthe VDS System has already been tested,proven and documented by major oil com-panies, but it has potential uses for othertypes of vessels such as bulk carriers,”notes Bhupesh Gandhi, director of AsiaPacific, MARIS.

“The project with Tolani Shipping willhighlight the unique advantage of VDSbeing based on an ECDIS system at theforefront of strategy as owners pursuemeasures to cut costs in this uncertain eco-nomic environment.”



ECDIS data simulator from

Sailsoftwww.safebridge.net

Safebridge has announced the first releaseof its new online courseware for type-spe-cific ECDIS training, which will be com-mercially available by the end of the year.

The Safebridge training software plat-form combines an e-learning componentwith OEM software and electronic charts(ENC). The learning process is controlled byLearning Management Software (LMS) toprovide an interactive simulator that is trueto the actual ECDIS brand being studied.

The company has cooperative agree-

ments to develop type-specific trainingpackages built around ECDIS productsfrom Sperry Marine, Imtech, Transas,Raytheon Anschütz and JRC, and expectsto develop similar programs for otherECDIS suppliers in 2012.

"As the new IMO ECDIS carriagerequirements come into effect in 2012,internet-based e-learning provides a cost-effective training tool to meet the type-specific training requirements mandatedunder STCW, ISM, Port State Control andFlag State regulations," said Ulf Steden,managing director of Safebridge.

Online ECDIS training set for launch"While many ECDIS suppliers offer

their own type-specific training courses, itis impractical and expensive for an officerto attend these one- or two- day coursesfor multiple ECDIS vendors. With theSafebridge solution, they now have theconvenience of doing it all online withself-paced guided courseware."

"It also makes it easy for officers toretrain on new equipment when movingto a ship using a different ECDIS systemand enables convenient re-certification assuppliers roll out new versions of theirECDIS software."

Users can log on to the Safebridge serv-er via the internet to access the e-learningmodes, including a guided tutorial, selftesting with feedback and free play on thelive system.

Students are taken step by step throughmodules as if they were using the actualtechnology, and are shown how to use eachfeature in various simulated scenarios.

Upon successful completion of thecourse, the student’s online examination isgraded by a qualified instructor, and thestudent receives a certificate of competence.

Mr Steden notes that internet-basedtraining can be a very efficient use of train-ing resources, since it can support a scala-ble number of students simultaneously.

CBT | ONLINE | VIDEO | BOOK

Training solutions & services for

IMO, ISM & STCW standards

[email protected] | www.videotel.com | +44 (0) 20 7299 1800

Videotel is the largest multi-media producer of high-quality

maritime safety training software and materials

serving the maritime community today.

Continuing to meet your

training needs

ser

itimmar

el is thVideot

itimeving the marr

aining y tretme saf

gest multi-mehe lar

daoy tommunite c

te and maarwtsof

er of hducoedia pr

tr

tinonC

.ya

ials ert

y high-qualit

aining needsr

ouro meet ynuing t

C

sales@

IM

arT

T | ONLINE | CB

om | w

C

el.c@videot

ISM & ST,, MOO,

ining solution

VIDEO | BOOK

om

ds

el.c.videotwww

CW standar

es fvicns & ser

K

m | +44 (0) 20 729

or f

99 1800

Tolani Shipping to use MARIS VDS for fuel-saving initiative

The Safebridge system allows seafarers to complete type-specific ECDIS training online

www.sailsoft.nl

Sailsoft has introduced its new ECDISMaster maritime navigation sensor simu-lator, used to assist in creating scenariosfor ECDIS simulator training.

ECDIS Master dynamically simulates anumber of navigational instruments andsensors like GPS, Gyro, weather, sounderand velocity, as well as different types ofmoving targets like AIS and ARPA.

The output of the simulator is in theNMEA 0183 (IEC 61162) data format,which can be input straight into chartplotters, ECDIS equipment and othernautical applications requiring NMEAinput data.

Sailsoft says that the system is inde-pendent of ECDIS supplier-type, and canbe used in uniform training routines overany IEC 61162 compliant ECDIS system,as well as for supplier-location independ-ent training.

The company has made a free trial ver-sion of the system available for downloadfrom its website.

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 4

released and can be downloaded from theFleetView website, including functionali-ties such as graphical fleet location presen-tation, vessel tracks, the ability to sendcommands to a terminal, user zones pres-entation and editing of alarms, weatherpresentation, and various reports (fleetreport, track report, SSAS log).

In addition, a mobile version of theFleetViewOnline website is available forother smartphones and tablet computers,using any operating system.

In other news, Transas also reportsthat the new French National SARTraining Center, to which it has suppliedthe simulators, is now open for trainingin St-Nazaire harbour in the West of France.

Volunteers will be trained there usingboth simulation and real navigationequipment.

The simulator bridge mock-up hasbeen designed in accordance with originalship drawings and is an exact 1:1 replicaof one of SNSM’s latest 14-metre life boats (V1NG).

A Full mission bridge with a 210° FOVwith circular projection, a small 3-channelcubicle, instructor workplace with selec-tive visual channel, introduced as anEvaluation bridge, and a completeVTS/MRCC desk with VTS simulatorincluding Navi-Harbour 4.3 VTS were alsosupplied.

www.transas.com

Transas Marine has introduced a new ver-sion of its fleet SSAS and tracking service,with the launch of FleetViewOnline 3.11.

The new version offers three alterna-tives for electronic chart presentation;Transas Marine’s TX-97 charts with world-wide coverage, OpenSteetMaps landcharts and any charts provided by WebMap Service.

Web Map Service allows for the loading

and display of georeferenced images gen-erated by a map server using data from aGIS database, such as, for example, chartsfrom third-party providers, weather fore-casts, satellite images, and images ofindustrial zones.

In FVO 3.11, SSAS and tracking func-tionality for Area A4 (Polar Regions above70 degrees North or South latitude) is alsoavailable, for vessels equipped withSAILOR H4122 Iridium SSAS.

An Android client for FVO has been

MITAGS getsECDIS course

approval

New version of FleetView from Transas

www.mitags-pmi.org

The US Maritime Institute of Technologyand Graduate Studies (MITAGS) hasreceived approval of updates to itsElectronic Chart Display and InformationSystems (ECDIS) MITAGS-179 course,part of its Advanced Navigation course.

This approval now aligns the coursewith the latest revisions to the Standardsof Training, Certification andWatchkeeping (STCW) code as amendedin 2010.

"Any applicant who has successfullycompleted the ECDIS course at MITAGSwill now be considered to have success-fully demonstrated the competencies of the amended STCW code of 2010," said Eric Friend, director of training for MITAGS.

"Our Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI)will be seeking approval for their courseas well."

"MITAGS-PMI has strived to maintainits leadership in maritime training andwill continue to remain vigilant about anyand all changes to US Coast Guard andInternational Maritime Organizationrequirements regarding training under theSTCW Convention."

“I don’t care about ECDIS.Why should I?”

Transas Marine.

The world’s number one in ECDIS

He’s right. When it comes to ECDIS implementation you don’t need to care. Not if you’ve chosen Transas that is. We’ve spent over 20 years refining the world’s best ECDIS System. We care. So you don’t have to.

For more info on ECDIS implementation go to ECDISfit.com or scan the QR code above.

The latest version of FleetViewOnline offers expanded options for vessel tracking


Digital Ship

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 5



establish the exact location of constantlymoving currents.”

“The combination of applied oceanog-raphy and meteorology can result inlarge bunker cost savings and in turnwill help ships meet their environmentalobligations.”

A live trial is currently underwayaboard several cruise liners, andTidetech says that it expects to havedefinitive results available by the end of 2011.

www.tidetech.org

A routing efficiency system by oceano-graphic data provider Tidetech is current-ly being trialled with a major cruise linecompany, the company reports.

The data can be integrated withonboard navigation systems and providesa feed of global ocean currents, sea surfacetemperatures and wave forecasts.

Tidetech’s managing director PennyHaire said the data could potentially save

shipping companies thousands of dollarsin fuel.

“Ocean currents and trade winds havebeen relied upon for hundreds of years intrade shipping,” she said.

“Previously data was based on esti-mates and historical information, provid-ing an average ocean current estimate fora given month. Our oceanographic scien-tists evaluate data from multiple sourcesincluding satellites, government agenciesand observation (among many others) to

Ship routing system begins trials

www.thomasgunn.com

Thomas Gunn has teamed up withRegs4ships to incorporate Regs4ships'digital maritime regulations into ThomasGunn's Voyager navigational data man-agement system.

Regs4ships delivers vessel electronicdocumentation covering Flag Staterequirements, EU Legislation, ILOConventions and IMO output, amendingand updating these key documents asrequired, to assist shipping companies inmaintaining regulatory compliance.

Thomas Gunn’s Voyager provides apersonalised database of publications,charts and the applicable notices tomariners (NTM).

Weekly updates are provided by e-mail or via the internet, using file com-pression to reduce the size of transfers.Only files of relevance to the vessel’s chartoutfit are supplied, to further minimisedata traffic.

Thomas Gunn says that nearly 2,000vessels are currently subscribed to theVoyager service worldwide.

"Today’s bridge environment isbecoming more complex and regulated,and the navigator is subject to increasingpressure in order to stay abreast of regulations and requirements," saidThomas Gunn, founder and managingdirector of Thomas Gunn NavigationServices.

"Officers and, in particular, navigatorsdemand access to the most up-to-dateinformation, exactly when they need it - be that navigational charts or legisla-tion. Our partnership with Regs4shipsmeans that this important informationcan be delivered regularly in one packagethrough the Voyager chart managementsystem."

"The synergy between our two busi-nesses can only benefit our customers.Customer response to this initiative hasbeen very positive so far and we are look-ing forward to a long and mutually pro-ductive partnership with Regs4ships inthe future."

Cooperation forThomas Gunn

and Regs4ships

www.polestarglobal.comwww.amver.com

Pole Star has reported that the number ofships contributing position reports to theAmver (Automated Mutual-AssistanceVessel Rescue System) search and rescueservice via the Pole Star automatic Amverlink has passed fifteen hundred vessels.

Pole Star developed the automatic linkin 2008, in collaboration with Amver,allowing ship owners and operators toautomatically send position reports direct-ly to the rescue system, relieving the mas-

ter of manually submitting position, devi-ation and final arrival reports.

Initially available to Fleet Managementcustomers, Pole Star extended the Amver link to its SSAS Alert Advancedcustomers in March of this year. Since that time, the number of vessels using the feature has almost doubled, growingat a rate of four vessels per day and reaching a new high of 1,500 vessels in November.

"Pole Star is committed to promotingsafety of life at sea which includes helpingto reduce the bureaucratic burden on the

1500 Pole Star ships contribute to Amvermaster and ships’ officers," commentedPaul Morter, director of sales (commercialmarine) at Pole Star.

"Automated reporting to Amver is oneway of supporting these goals."

Benjamin Strong, director of AmverMaritime Relations, also praised the serv-ice and Pole Star's customers for theirassistance in ensuring that calls for helpare answered.

"It's a demonstration of the sorts ofachievements that can be accomplishedwhen government and the private sectorwork together," he said.

The Tidetech system is currently being trialled by a cruise line, with the aim of reducing fuel usage

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 6

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 7

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION


The dangers of presumed competenceAn MAIB investigation into the collision between the container feeder vessel Philipp and the

fishing vessel Lynn Marie has highlighted the dangers of shipping companies presuming competence in their watchstanders, based on what their qualifications might suggest

EE arlier this year, in April 2011, a con-tainer feeder vessel, the Philipp,collided with the dredger FV Lynn

Marie off the coast of the UK. Thankfullythere were no injuries on either ship, butthe dredger did sustain significant dam-age and had to be towed to the Isle of Man.

An investigation into the incident bythe UK’s Marine Accident InvestigationBranch (MAIB) showed that the containervessel was fitted with an integrated bridgesystem comprising two multi-functionaldisplays fitted either side of a centrelineconning display.

This set-up included an electronicchart system (an ECS, rather than a fullECDIS, so paper charts were used as theprimary source of navigation) which wasoverlaid with automatic identificationsystem (AIS) data.

In addition to this an automatic radarplotting aid (ARPA) was also in useaboard the ship. The multi-function dis-plays were capable of displaying eitherelectronic chart or ARPA information, andboth were interfaced with the AIS.

The engine, helm and autopilot con-trols were positioned adjacent to the con-ning display, with each bridge wing con-ning station equipped with a single dis-play, helm and engine controls, and acompass pelorus.

However, despite the availability ofthese technologies, organised in a waywhich should have been enough to pro-vide sufficient situational awareness, thePhilipp’s OOW was still unable to avoid a collision.

Unfolding eventsThe events of April 9th aboard the Philippare described by the MAIB’s report as follows.

“After taking over the watch, the chiefofficer sat in the forward-facing chair sitedon the starboard side of the centreline con-trol console from where he could see elec-tronic chart system (ECS) with overlaidautomatic identification system (AIS)information on the display directly infront of him.”

“The display on the port side of the cen-treline console was configured to show‘X’-band automatic radar plotting aid(ARPA) radar information. The radar wasoperating in long pulse and the displaywas switched to the 6nm range scale,north up and in relative motion.”

“The radar origin was offset to thesouth east, enabling a detection rangeahead of the vessel of about 9nm. TheARPA alarms were set to activate for radartargets with a closest point of approach(CPA) of zero within 2 minutes.Automatic target acquisition was notselected. AIS information was also over-laid on the port display.”

After approximately 0424 the reportexplains that the chief officer began to

make a series of adjustments to the autopi-lot heading in an attempt to keep clear of anumber of different fishing vessels in thevicinity. However, at 0451 the MAIB notesthat the AB reported that Lynne Marie wasby now very close on the starboard bow.

“The fishing vessel’s red side light,white masthead light and aft deck lightswere clearly visible. The chief officermoved from his seat and adjusted theautopilot override joystick sited on thecentreline console in order to turn the con-tainer ship to port towards a similar head-ing to Lynn Marie’s; a maximum of 8° ofhelm was applied.”

“The distance between Philipp andLynn Marie continued to reduce, so thechief officer sounded five short blasts onthe ship’s whistle and the lookout shone asearchlight towards the fishing vessel.”

“The chief officer also moved from thecentreline to the starboard side of thebridge to get a clearer view of the rapidlyclosing fishing vessel.”

“At 0453, the starboard side of the con-tainer ship hit Lynn Marie’s port outrig-ger; the container ship was still underhelm to port and her heading was passingthrough 250°. Philipp suffered cosmeticdamage to her starboard side in way ofbay 28.”

The mate keeping watch aboard theLynn Marie was, at the same time, monitor-ing his own chart plotter and radar, using aradar display set on the 6nm range scale.

However, the report notes that the matewas convinced from his information thatPhilipp had altered course and wouldpass clear of the Lynn Marie.

“The mate monitored Philipp’s radartarget until it was lost in the sea clutterclose to the centre of the radar display. Hethen stood up from his seat and looked outof the port aft wheelhouse window, whereupon he saw the container ship bearingdown onto Lynn Marie from abaft the portbeam: he did not hear the container shipsound her whistle.”

Based on the AIS and SVDR data gath-ered from the Philipp during its investiga-tion, as well as GPS data from the LynnMarie, MAIB reconstructed the momentsleading up to the collision to help identifythe contributing factors to the collision.

This reconstruction shows that,between 0440 and 0450, the compass bear-ing of Lynn Marie from Philipp movedfrom right to left, indicating that she waspassing ahead of the container ship.

The report continues: “It is estimatedthat had Philipp’s chief officer kept thecontainer ship heading 314°, instead ofmaking successive small alterations toport….Lynn Marie would have passed 1.5miles ahead of Philipp, with a CPA of 6cables (on) the container ship’s port bow.”

“The adjustments to the autopilot andthe chief officer’s use of port helm shortlyafter 0451, led to the container ship fol-

lowing a curve of pursuit toward LynnMarie’s port quarter while travelling attwice the speed of the fishing vessel.”

Situational awarenessSituational awareness, or lack thereof, is oneof the key points to consider from this inci-dent. MAIB notes that, based on descrip-tions and the reconstruction of events, it isclear that the Phillipp’s chief officer wasaware of other vessel’s in the vicinity andhad taken measures to avoid them.

However, the report also notes that: “itis equally clear from the recorded radarinformation that he did not acquire any of the radar targets using ARPA.Consequently, the chief officer did notmake full use of the information availableto him regarding vessels’ courses, speeds,bearing changes, and CPAs.”

“His preference to predominantlyremain seated at the starboard side navi-gational display, where only ECS and AISinformation was available, also meant thathe did not monitor the bearings of vesselsin sight using the compass peloruses sitedat each bridge wing.”

“The chief officer relied solely on hisvisual assessment of the relative move-ment of other vessels. Consequently, hissituational awareness was much reducedand he was only able to deal with imme-diate shipping problems, rather thanmaintain an overview of the traffic situa-tion and the likely consequences of hiscourse alterations.”

MAIB suggests that this lack of situa-tional awareness was what led to the inac-curate assessment of the risk of collisionwith the Lynn Marie, compounded by hisfurther inappropriate avoiding action.

On the Lynn Marie itself it was notedthat the mate had detected Philipp both byradar and visually when the containership was at a distance of about 4nm, how-ever it would appear that he lacked thenecessary competence to adequately dealwith the situation.

The report states: “Although the matedid not know how to fully utilise the nav-igation equipment fitted in the vessel’swheelhouse, and was also unfamiliar withthe COLREGS, his assessment that Philippwould pass clear down Lynn Marie’s portside was correct.”

“As the distance between Philipp andLynn Marie reduced, the mate was awareof the continued approach of the containership but, because he was not closely mon-itoring or plotting her movements, he wasunaware of her rapidly reducing CPA.”

This incident highlights what could be adisturbing trend in ‘presumed compe-tence’, where watchstanders, who mayhave the correct qualifications are, nonethe-less, not fully competent in performingtheir duties in certain circumstances.

In the case of the Phillipp, for example,the chief officer had attended courses in

the Philippines covering ECDIS, ARPAand bridge team management (BTM), buthis actions onboard the ship seem to sug-gest that a sufficient level of competencehad not been reached.

MAIB’s comments in this regard are as follows.

“Ship managers frequently assumedeck officers’ STCW certification guaran-tees a level of competency. While everydeck officer should have a sound knowl-edge of the COLREGS and apply themcorrectly, regrettably a significant numberof collisions, including this accident, indi-cate that this is not always the case.”

“Furthermore, individuals’ preferencefor how, and to what extent, navigationalaids such as ARPA, AIS, ECS and ECDISare used will vary considerably accordingto their knowledge and experience.”

“In order to raise and maintain bridgewatchkeeping standards, it is importantthat vessel managers are proactive inensuring that their bridge watchkeepingofficers are competent, and that they havethe knowledge and are provided with theguidance necessary to properly utilise thenavigational aids fitted to their vessels.”

Conclusions andrecommendations

The withering assessment of the compe-tence and training of the watchstandersinvolved in this incident is carriedthrough into MAIB’s conclusions and rec-ommendations following its investigation.

On the navigational side, the threeconclusions that are most relevant are the following:

“Philipp’s chief officer did not utilisethe full extent of the information availableto him regarding vessels’ courses, speeds,bearing changes, and CPAs. Instead, herelied solely on his visual assessment ofthe relative movement of other vessels.This resulted in him making an inaccurateassessment of the risk of collision withLynn Marie.”

“There is a need for vessel managers toensure that their officers are competent,and that they are trained and capable ofgaining the maximum benefit from thenavigational aids available.”

“Lynn Marie’s skipper’s decision to usean unqualified wheelhouse watchkeeper,who did not fully understand the opera-tion of the vessel’s navigation equipmentor have a working knowledge of the COL-REGS, to take Lynn Marie to the fishingground in a busy shipping environmentand in the dark, was inappropriate.”

To try and avoid such incidents infuture MAIB also recommended to thecontainer shipping company that itsbridge watchkeepers are “provided withtraining and guidance such that the opera-tion of navigation and anti-collision aidsfitted to its vessels is understood and theequipment properly utilised.” DS

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:36 Page 8

ShipNet delivers solutions that help

shipping companies operate more efficiently

and profitably. ShipNet’s success in this is

founded on the fusion of comprehensive

shipping industry understanding, with over

20 years’ experience working in the field, and

world class ERP software that together allows

organisations to streamline their processes

and manage their information and assets in

ways that help them make the right decisions

for their business.

ShipNet solutions provide a modular set

of applications tied in to the way you work,

so by using ShipNet you can achieve the

levels of operational efficiency you need to

be competitive and make the most of the

data that underpins the success of your

business. Key to the way Shipnet works

with customers is providing them with

extensive integration assistance and training

in implementing the solution and working

in partnership with them to ensure their

ShipNet suite remains in line with what they

need from a solutions provider.

ShipNet now has offices in seven countries

and a global client base of over 300 leading

shipping companies and has software

deployed on over 1,200 vessels. Solutions

cover all aspects of the shipping industry,

with packages for Chartering and Operations,

Liner Management, Finance and Accounting,

Technical Management, Procurement, and

Disbursement Management.

ShipNet 12Coming in December 2011, Version 12 of

ShipNet’s ERP system will provide a new

platform for the Commercial Management and

Finance and Accounting applications. Ship-

Net’s Liner application will benefit from Ver-

sion 12 features early next year. ShipNet 12 is

the most advanced shore based ERP system

delivered to date and offers exciting new capa-

bilities making it more useful than ever before.

According to ShipNet’s Head of Product

Development, Marcelo Espejo, ShipNet 12

is especially exciting as it offered an opportu-

nity to deliver significant enhancements to

the underlying code base. “ShipNet 12 is a

faster, more stable, and more streamlined

piece of software, this means systems admin-

istrators will find the maintenance of the

application very straightforward and ensure

maximum uptime for what we know is a

business critical application”.

When asked about the origins of ShipNet 12,

Head of Product Management Luis Panozzo

said “Version 12 comes out of an extensive

process of looking at industry trends and talk-

ing to our customers to see where ShipNet

can really deliver value to their business. The

functionality contained in ShipNet 12 will

definitely help shipping companies be more

efficient in what are undeniably testing times

for the industry as a whole”.

Better than ever FunctionalityShipNet 12 offers the most powerful shipping

management application available.

ShipNet Voyage Estimator replaces the

Voyage Calculation system – this provides the

ability to rapidly compare vessel and cargo

combinations side by side and ensure the right

voyage to maximize the utilization of fleet. It

is supplemented with drag and drop map

based routing giving unprecedented accuracy

in distance calculation.

ShipNet Task Manager supports users in

controlling how operational processes are per-

formed. The Task Manager gives the ability to

associate key tasks with individual voyages,

ensuring the correct process is followed at all

times and gives managers visibility of how

jobs are being performed.

Business Intelligence tools extract the data

and make it ready for analysis using industry

standard interpretation software such as the

PowerPivot plug in for Microsoft Excel.

ShipNet 12 allows full integration with

the ISS World of Ports database, covering

over 6,000 berths worldwide with full restric-

tions information. ShipNet 12 gives offers 3

months free access to this valuable dataset,

accessible directly online or through the

ShipNet application.

New and Improved UserInterfaceClean intuitive look and feel that will be famil-

iar to users, reflecting a Windows and Office

environment, which makes it easier than ever

for users to use the ShipNet application.

New Application LauncherA completely redesigned menu system makes

finding and accessing modules quick and easy.

Support for Windows 7Version 12 will run on all PCs, taking

compatibility headaches away.

Integration with WindowsAdministrationSystems Administrators benefit from full inte-

gration with Active Directory, which enables

centralized, secure management of an entire

network and promises to support a single

unified view of all objects (such as user

accounts, groups, computers and sites) on a

network and locating and managing resources

faster and easier.

ShipNet 12 is a key next step in the evolu-

tion of the application and gives a trusted

solution you can rely on.

Advertorial

Leading edge enterprise solutions for the maritime industry

North Sea SECA zone represented inShipNet Voyage Estimator

Contact information: [email protected] www.shipnet.noShip�et �orway: Oslo, Phone: + 47 21 01 92 00 Ship�et Americas: �orwalk, Phone: + 1 212 537 9298 Ship�et Singapore: Singapore, Phone: + 65 6221 1877

Ship�et Hellas: Piraeus, Phone: +30 210 4146 602 Ship�et Japan: Tokyo, Phone: +81-(0)3- 5442-6121 Ship�et UK: London,Phone: +44 203 0403400 Ship�et �etherlands: Rotterdam, Phone: +31 620 417 568 Ship�et UAE: Dubai, Phone: +971 50 884 0910 Ship�et India: Chennai, Phone: +91 44 43490100

Pick the right vessel and cargo combinations by quickly comparing estimatesside by side in Voyage Estimator’s main interface

ShipNet Voyage Estimator allows you to easily modify routes by dragging anddropping the voyage’s course on the map display

Visualize the different data sets that drive your company with completely configurable Business Intelligence toolsfrom ShipNet.

Keep up to date with ShipNet 12 at www.shipnet.no/ShipNet12

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:37 Page 9

II t has been often commented that thereis a distinct difference between olderand younger OOWs regarding their

attitude to electronic navigational aids.In the extreme caricature, the older nav-

igator highly distrusts any electronic equip-ment and relies solely on the view from thebridge windows while the younger one isglued to the instrumentation, paying scantregard to the reality outside.

Of course, the diligent OOW needs to behighly wary of any one navigational input,whether derived visually from the bridgewindows or electronically. An importanttask of the watchkeeper is to compare allthe relevant navigational data availableand look for tie-ups or inconsistencies.

This gives a measure of the integrity ofthe perceived navigational situation –where there are inconsistencies specialcare needs to be taken but appropriate tie-ups give more confidence that the situa-tion is being properly perceived.

The steady move to ECDIS needs anever greater awareness of the true capabil-ities and weaknesses of electronic basednavigation – after all, ECDIS does not havea non-electronic mode.

Positional integrity The normal operation of ECDIS relies onthe continuous availability of high accura-cy positional data.

Since this cannot yet be guaranteedalways to be the case, it means that continu-al consistency checks on positional accuracyhave to be part of the normal human processof using ECDIS – does everything tie up?

Fortunately, in many coastal andbuoyed waters there are near constantopportunities to see that there is reasonableconsistency every time ECDIS is looked at.

Compared to the use of paper chartsECDIS greatly simplifies this task, notleast because the electronic estimate ofown ship’s position is being constantlydisplayed on the chart.

Also, because the equipment is usuallysituated close to the bridge windows, itallows easy visual comparison with theoutside world. To an ever increasing num-ber of OOWs, it makes good sense to aidthis by generally using course-up or head-up display mode when route monitoring.

Even then, more formal checks on posi-tional integrity need to be carried out atfrequent intervals. These should at leastcheck whether a single visual or radarderived bearing taken on an appropriatecharted object accurately aligns with thatderived from ECDIS. For radar, a singlerange measurement is also usefully used.

The low latency that can be achievedwhen plotting a single bearing or rangeonto a well designed ECDIS can identifywhen even reasonably small positionalerrors are present.

However, on some bridges it can be a

long walk to take a visual bearing, consid-erably adding to the latency of the meas-urement, unless teamwork is employed.

Of course, consecutive bearings shouldideally be around 90° apart – in practice,generally at least greater than about 45° –to avoid hiding a positional displacementaligned to any one bearing measurement.

Furthermore, ECDIS provides a highlyuseful facility allowing two or more bearingor range measurements to be combined intoa positional estimate. An automated deadreckoning or estimated position processwithin ECDIS compensates for the timedelay between consecutive measurements.

The equipment automatically makes arecord of this position, together with theuser input bearings and ranges. This elec-tronic record replaces the regular ‘cockedhat’ positional checking evidence on papercharts so beloved of port state inspectors.

For ocean passages, the DR/EP facili-ties of ECDIS can be used to keep a longterm check on GNSS derived position.Furthermore, celestial position estimatescan be readily input into ECDIS.

The very same facilities are there to beused if there is a complete failure in electron-ic positioning. Despite a surprisingly com-mon view to the contrary, ECDIS is a highlyuseful asset when GNSS suffers an outage.

In contrast, the paper chart is much lesseffective.

Consistency checksOther consistency checks on all naviga-tional data significant to the voyage arenecessary to assess the integrity of the per-ceived situation. These should be carriedout using both ECDIS and radar.

A recently witnessed example on a chartradar – that is a radar with an ENC chartunderlay – showed that when set to a shortrange scale the radar returns from all chart-ed radar-conspicuous objects had becomenon-coincident with their charted positions.

There was initial speculation that it wasdue to a positional problem, an offset of theGPS or perhaps even a datum issue. Oncloser examination of the display, however,it was realised that all the radar targets hada very similar range discrepancy.

In fact, the radar had developed a rangeoffset of about 70 metres, which was use-fully identified by the visual analysis ofthe displayed discrepancy.

The same conclusion would have beenobtained if a short range comparison hadbeen made between radar and AIS returns.

Before AIS and electronic charts it wasquite difficult to check the accuracy ofradar and there has been a tendency bysome to assume that radar range and bear-ing is always correct.

However, in general terms, AIS is typi-cally at least twice as accurate as radar. Forrelative measurements radar only has tomeet a range accuracy of 30 metres on a

point target when operating at shortrange, and a 1° bearing accuracy, which at1 nautical mile is also about 30 metres.

AIS also conveniently defines the posi-tional reference of the target – the centroidof a raw radar return does not provide anyconsistent reference.

This is the very reason that can causestrange discrepancies in the tracking dataof a radar, particularly when a target ismanoeuvring and changing its aspect toown ship.

Of course, it is not uncommon that thetransmitted AIS information can be highlyin error, which can cause dangerous con-fusion. Fortunately, the instances of thishas significantly decreased since the earlydays of the system, mainly because of dili-gent monitoring and action by coastalauthorities, but it still remains an every-day problem.

ECDIS, radar and AISThe relative strengths and disadvantagesof radar and AIS are actually very compli-mentary and it normally makes a greatdeal of sense to have both shown on thesame display – the radar. Screen cluttercan be reduced by sensible use of the auto-matic target association facility.

When there is a good tie-up of a target’sradar and AIS properties there is a veryhigh probability that the observed situa-tion matches that of reality and thereforestraightforward decisions can be madeconcerning that target.

If there is no tie-up or a tie-up is ques-tionable then it requires a greater degree ofcaution in one’s own navigational decisions.

Some have urged that ECDIS should beused as an integrated navigation display,

with near continuous overlay of radar andAIS data. It has also been suggested thatcollision avoidance decisions can then bemade from the ECDIS.

However, even though the temporaryoverlay of such data can be highly usefulin assessing the integrity of a navigationalsituation, there are two major reasons whyECDIS should never be used as the pri-mary collision avoidance display.

The first is that it is an IMO require-ment that radar, AIS and other overlays onECDIS must not degrade the displayedENC data. This implies that the ENC datacould sometimes compromise the overlaiddata – a possible disaster situation ifECDIS is being inappropriately used forcollision avoidance.

The second is that any radar functionalityprovided by manufacturers on ECDIS – or amultifunction display in ECDIS mode – willalmost certainly not have been typeapproved to meet IMO’s radar requirements,simply because it is primarily an ECDIS.

In reality, it is particularly difficult toconceive of a single display mode thatcould simultaneously meet IMO’s radarand ECDIS requirements. It is thereforeimperative that both ECDIS and radar dis-plays are used together for the safe navi-gation of the vessel.

Also, since the electronic chart is so use-ful in being the backdrop for many navi-gationally significant functions, includingmet and NAVTEX data, it makes sense fora third display to be generally used forsuch overlaid data, rather than potentiallyconfusing the main ECDIS display.

On many installations this could use-fully be the regular function of the back-up ECDIS.

The usefulness of electronic navigational systems only stretches as far as the accuracy of the information they display. With this in mind, it is imperative to examine the integrity of

the data that is being relied upon, as Dr Andy Norris explains

Navigational integrity

DS

Dr Andy �orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industry for anumber of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-tech navigationcompanies but now he is working on broader issues within the navigationalworld, providing both technical and business consultancy to the industry, gov-ernmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION


AIS can be usefully employed to check the integrity of other navigational systems.Photo: Clipper

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:37 Page 10

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:37 Page 11

p29-40:p15-25.qxd 05/12/2011 15:37 Page 12

Digital Ship Dec 2011

Documents

Transcript of Digital Ship Dec 2011