Congratulations, Inmarsat! - Digital Ship

AA little over fifteenmonths after theinitial launch of

Inmarsat’s next-generationFleetBroadband service,the satellite operator’sflagship communicationssystem is now finallyavailable on a global scale,with seamless coverage forvessels operating aroundthe world.

At the time of writingInmarsat has confirmedthe scheduled global com-mercial availability of thesatcoms service onFebruary 24th, followingthe repositioning of thecompany’s three-satelliteconstellation and transferof all services to theirrespective spacecraft intheir new operationalregions.

Consisting of the mostsophisticated satellitesInmarsat has ever pro-duced, the I-4s, the net-work offers bandwidthspeeds of up to 432 kbps tothe deep sea merchantmarket, demarcated underthree regions – Americas,EMEA and Asia-Pacific.

The repositioning of theI-4 F1 satellite, the first ofthe three satellites to belaunched in March 2005,

was the final piece in theglobal network puzzle.

It began its journey toits new home at 143.5degrees East on 6thFebruary, following thesuccessful transfer of allInmarsat’s broadbandservices to the I-4 F2 satel-lite, which is now the I-4EMEA satellite.

Testing of the systemwas undertaken while the spacecraft was actual-ly travelling to its new orbital location,meaning that Inmarsatwas afforded the opportu-nity to have the system‘go live’ almost immedi-ately upon its arrival inposition, and begin globalcommercial availability ofFleetBroadband.

Worldwidecoverage

The global availability ofthe FleetBroadband sys-tem is something thatInmarsat has been build-ing up to for almost threeyears, since the launch ofthat first satellite.

The land-based versionof the system, known asBGAN (Broadband GlobalArea Network) was ini-tially available over the

first two I-4 satellites,launched in March andNovember 2005 and cov-ering the world’s majorland masses, but with nocoverage over the PacificOcean.

The FleetBroadbandservice for the maritimeindustry was launched inNovember of 2007, aheadof the company’s plans tolaunch a third I-4 satelliteand make the serviceavailable across the globe.

A problem with anunrelated satellite launchby another companypushed back the sched-uled April 2008 launch ofthat third satellite, butonce the mission was final-ly completed, in August2008, Inmarsat was finallyin a position to beginmoves to fill the coveragehole over the Pacific, andpreparations for the satel-lite repositioning pro-gramme got underway.

Inmarsat is now hopingto see the take-up of its lat-est satellite communica-tions offering accelerate asit reaffirms its position as aglobally available mar-itime satcom operator.

“"We were establishedas a global operator, and

it’s important for us todeliver our broadbandservices globally," saidPiers Cunningham, headof maritime business atInmarsat.

IN THIS ISSUE

March 2009

electronics and navigation

continued on page 2

software

satcomsGlobecomm takes on maritime VSAT market – 4BSM completes FleetBroadband trial – 7Tanker TV – a step towardcrew retention at Unicom – 9

Iridium satellite in collision over Russia – 12

New software aims toreduce rolling risk from resonance – 14

Eniram nets Euro 5m financing deal – 17Going green and saving moneyat Interorient Navigation – 18

Search and rescue emergency distresssignal frequency changeover – 27

The future of trainingtechnology – 29

The human factor andthe Digital Ship – 33

Dealing with faulty navigation systems –Dr Andy Norris – 38

FleetBroadband goes globalFebruary 24th 2009 marked the completion date for

the repositioning programme of Inmarsat’s three I-4 satellites – and the commercial introduction of global coverage for FleetBroadband

The launch of the thirdInmarsat I-4 satellite in

2008 brought the promiseof global coverage for

FleetBroadband

© 2

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Congratulations, Inmarsat!Morten Lind-OlsenCEO, Dualog

The shipping community is facing a range of new and exciting opportunities. The challenge now is to take control and optimise usage. Working closely with early adopters of broadband, Dualog has developed Dualog® Connection Suite™ to meet the requirements of the new broadband era.

More than 20 shipping companies have chosen Dualog® Connection Suite™. Customer feedback applauds smooth installations, user friendliness and simplicity: “We can now plan hands-on with our ships as if they were branch offices,” and last, but not least “we have taken full control over usage and cost!”

- on your contribution towards providing truly global broadband coverage.

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

Meet us at Digital Ship ar - to learn more

and receive a live demo!www.dualog.com

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 20/02/2009 12:21

Thrane & Thrane has unveiled thelatest generation of its SAILOR VHF mar-itime radio series, due on sale in mid 2009.The new SAILOR 6210 VHF, SAILOR

www.thrane.comwww.seanet.sewww.shipequip.nowww.caprock.com

SATCOMS NEWS

Digital Ship March 2009 page 2

Vol 9 No 6

UPCOMING CONFERENCESOSLO

Telenor Expo Centre, OsloMarch 10-11, 2009

DUBAIMövenpick Hotel Bur, Dubai

April 21-22, 2009

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 7510 4937

Digital Ship Limited213 Marsh Wall

London E14 9FJ, U.K.www.thedigitalship.com

PUBLISHERStuart Fryer

EDITORRob O'Dwyer: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4940

email: [email protected]

CONFERENCE PRODUCERSKarl Jeffery: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4935

email: [email protected] Hodge: Tel +44 (0) 20 7510 4945email: [email protected]

ADVERTISINGRia Kontogeorgou: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4931


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


EVENTSDiana 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 the pri-or written consent of the publisher. Whilstthe information and articles in Digital Shipare published in good faith and everyeffort is made to check accuracy, readersshould verify facts and statements directwith official sources before acting on themas the publisher can accept no responsibil-ity in this respect. Any opinionsexpressed in this magazine should notbe construed as those of the publisher.

continued from page 1

"The core of our maritime service pro-vision has always been, and always willbe, seamless global coverage. It reflectsthe requirements that deep-sea merchantcustomers expect of us, and underpinsour commitment to those customers. Theyexpect, we deliver.”

New capabilitiesWith the improved technology making awhole host of new applications availableto the merchant fleet, Mr Cunningham islooking forward to seeing how the ship-ping industry will take advantage of theopportunities afforded by the higher-

speeds and IP capabilities that theFleetBroadband network can provide.

“The advanced technology ofFleetBroadband supports faster networkaccess, faster access to IP services, andimproved functionality for ship manage-ment applications, via seamless oceanicroaming,” he said.

"It is a quantum leap forward in everyarea: it’s faster, smaller, lighter, cheaper,easier to install. And it’s now global. Noother service can provide this level of per-formance and flexibility, in a single satel-lite communications solution, throughcompact terminals, on a global basis.”

"The repositioning also sends a strong signal to our customers. Theywant the assurance that their satellitecommunications provider will be aroundfor the long-haul. We now have a fully-funded, fully-optimised, next-generationnetwork in place, with assured serviceinto the 2020s.”

With global coverage to be followedlater in the year by the introduction of abrand new mini-sized low-costFleetBroadband terminal, the FB150, itlooks like 2009 is set to be a year of fiercecompetition in the satellite communica-tions market. DS

Printed by The Manson Group Ltd

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at sea," said Jin-Wook Son, KT's vice pres-ident, global business.

"Intelsat's Network BroadbandGlobal Maritime service not only meetscurrent demands, but the platform willbe able to accommodate future applica-tions that will be critical for crew wel-fare and retention."

Jay Yass, Intelsat's vice president, net-work services, added: "Our NetworkBroadband Global Maritime service offerscustomers the ability to roam the worldwithout compromising broadband con-nectivity and provides a robust quality ofservice capability that manages band-width efficiencies across multiple vesselsand marine platforms for advanced IPapplications."

"KT Corporation's leadership in serv-ing maritime customers makes it an idealpartner as we look to expand our presencein the Asia-Pacific region."

www.intelsat.com

www.kt.com

KT Corporation (previously KoreaTelecom) has been appointed as a distri-bution partner for Intelsat's NetworkBroadband Global Maritime VSAT servicein the Asia-Pacific market, as the satelliteoperator looks to expand its business inthe region.

Intelsat's Network Broadband Global Maritime platform, part of its GlobalConnex (GXS) range of servic-es, utilises C-band capacity provided by three ocean-region satellites and aterrestrial network including hubs atFuchsstadt, Germany, and Riverside,California.

"Our global maritime customersrequire cost-effective communications fore-mail, telephony, television program-ming and data transfer services when out

KT partners with Intelsat in Asia-Pac

6215 VHF DSC Class D and FCCapproved SAILOR 6216 VHF DSC Class Dare specially designed and developed forthe fishing and work boat segments.

Swedish company Seanet MaritimeCommunications has selectedEricsson to be the supplier of its newGSM system. The agreement covers instal-lation, commissioning and operation of thecomplete GSM 1800 system, including thecore network and base stations.

Ship Equip Americas has hiredBrian Staton as business developmentmanager, to join sales manager DavidQuarders at the company's Seattle Office.Mr Staton previously worked with

Thrane & Thrane’s latest VHF technologyis due out in mid-2009

Simrad and Navico Inc over his 23year career.

CapRock has selected Philip Harlowas its new chief technology officer. Prior toworking for CapRock, Mr Harlow servedas vice president of engineering for DRSTechnical Services and has held posi-tions at G2 Satellite Solutions andEsatel Communications.

www.marlink.com

Marlink has announced a new five yearcontract with German cruise companyAIDA Cruises, for the supply of its Sealinksatellite communications system.

Sealink will be provided to five existingcruise vessels and three planned newbuilds, the first of which is due to be inoperation from spring 2009, with the oth-ers expected in 2010 and 2011.

The new contract, a continuation of anexisting relationship, will include the pro-vision of VSAT bandwidth capacity forbusiness applications for the cruise line aswell as passenger services.

Burkhard Mueller of AIDA Cruisescommented, “We pride ourselves in pro-viding our ships with the very best servic-es for both passengers and crew, so it isessential that the supply of communica-tion systems matches the standards wedemand. It was therefore a logical decisionto extend our contract with Marlink for afurther five years.”

Sealink offers ‘always-on’ voice, inter-net access and Local Area Network (LAN)communications, with a fully managedturn-key service.

Operating in the Mediterranean,Northern Europe, Caribbean and Asiaregions, the AIDA vessels will be equippedwith Sealink C-band VSAT technology by1st of May 2009. Bandwidth on the systemranges from 384 kbps to 768 kbps with ded-icated SCPC (single channel per carrier).

The cruise line also has the option tomove to shared solutions from Marlink,based on either Vipersat multicast SCPCor iDirect technology, subject to final test-ing and requirements.

AIDA Cruises VSAT deal

www.inmarsat.com

In spite of increasing worries over theeffect of the global economic downturnin the shipping industry, Inmarsat has said that it expects to see an increasein revenues of between 6 and 8 per centin 2009.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Inmarsat presidentMichael Butler said that he expects thenumber of people using the company'sbroadband services will grow afterInmarsat completes full global coveragefor FleetBroadband.

This will include new coverage over thePacific Ocean, Japan, parts of China andAustralia, where FleetBroadband was pre-viously unavailable.

"We are not seeing weakness (in anyof our market sectors), we have strongmomentum from the pull through in theprevious years," said Mr Butler, in theinterview.

Inmarsat's last set of published finan-cial results, released in November 2008,had seen revenues rise by over 16 percent, ahead of market forecasts.Inmarsat's full 2008 financial report willbe published in March.

Inmarsat expects growth despite downturn

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

seven seas. one communication provider.™

Always online and unlimited use of internet and e-mail

at a fixed cost. High quality - low cost telephone lines.

SEVSATShip Equip is the worlds fastest growing, always on maritime broadband

provider, offering the SEVSAT high speed maritime broadband with

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Visit us Digital Ship Oslo, stand 10, March 10-11!

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p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

SATCOMS NEWS


www.globecommsystems.com

Globecomm Systems reports that it isentering the shipping VSAT market withthe launch of a Global BroadbandSatellite Maritime Solution, with an ini-tial order, in partnership with Mach6,from a satellite solutions provider basedin the Netherlands.

The Globecomm maritime solutionoffers connectivity for IP-based applica-tions, and will include the ability todynamically allocate bandwidth to sup-port higher bandwidth applications orapplications that are sensitive to timing.

Globecomm’s VSAT system will becombined with Mach6’s technologies foronboard computing, content distribu-tion, and other maritime-specific appli-cations. The VSAT system is an out-sourced global Ku-band service based onthe Vipersat Technology platform fromComtech EFData.

The partnership between Globecommand Mach6 builds upon a prior agree-ment established in a Memorandum ofUnderstanding signed between the com-panies in 2008, under which formal trialswere conducted for proof of performanceand demonstration of the solutions nowbeing offered.

The companies also recently complet-ed an installation on a new vessel in

Shangri, China, for CS Marine. Patrick Visser, general director of

Mach6, noted: “We’re introducing aglobal roaming, flexible bandwidth service ranging from 128 kbps to 512kbps on a shared 512kbps outbound carrier with dedicated return carriers. It is a value added service offering,which includes bandwidth on demandsupport for short duration ad hoc broad-band bandwidth needs such as remoteengine inspection, file distribution orvideo conferencing."

"There are currently ten satellitebeams covering approximately 70 percent of the major shipping routes today.The satellites are being served from anumber of teleports around the worldwith VPN connectivity to two locationsin Europe, where terrestrial access to thepublic internet is served.”

Keith Hall, senior vice president, general manager of GlobecommNetwork Services, added: “The size ofthe addressable maritime marketplacefor Globecomm consists of approximate-ly 120,000 vessels, with 50,000 vesselshaving over 2 tons of capacity.”

“Existing narrow-band operators tra-ditionally serve the blue water or thedeep ocean tanker market. The currentoperational expense of these providers isgrowing due to the importance of e-mail,

Globecomm takes on maritime VSAT market Thrane enters TV-RO market

Station 711 Mobile Satellite Communication by RRsat

Station 711 operates a sophisticated infrastructure of linked Satellite Land Earth Station (LES) and land networks, provides high quality Mobile Satellite Communication

www.station711.com [email protected] +972.8.8610000 www.rrsat.com

Station Seven Eleven is Happy to announce its Fleet Broad Band Services Station 711 FBB - Much more than just a Broad Band!

By LandBy AirBy Sea24/7

internet access and the move to electron-ic documents. Other drivers includeextending ERP and applications likeplant maintenance, electronic manualsand safety training offshore."

Mr Hall also expects the maritimemarket to increase its usage of broadband systems as more demandingapplications become more and moreubiquitous.

"Ship owners and operators recognisethe value of broadband VSAT fixed-ratepricing in the face of new applicationsand increasing usage,” he said.

“The ability to accurately project andcontrol future expenses is attractive.Globecomm’s experience with VSAT,converged cellular, multi-media andcontent management services over globalIP networks positions it well to deliverhigh-demand integrated services to themaritime industry."

"Commercial shipping of container,liquid and bulk carrier deliveries requirehemispheric or global coverage for officeand crew communications and thereforehave a need for ubiquitous service inde-pendent of their vessel location. Themaritime eco system has specific needsas to which Globecomm has dedicatedthe past 18 months evaluating and work-ing with customers and suppliers todevelop specific solutions.”

www.thrane.com

Thrane & Thrane has signed an agree-ment to acquire the marine TV and radio antenna manufacturer, NavalElectronics AB.

The Naval product line includes newlydeveloped tracking satellite antennas forTV-RO (TV Receive Only) for commercialvessels, a product currently not part of theThrane range.

The systems will continue to be soldthrough the Naval distribution network inaddition to Thrane & Thrane's own globaldistributor network.

"We are dedicated to expanding ourproduct offering to include new areas andNaval's highly regarded marine TV anten-nas and solutions fit this strategy perfect-ly," said Walther Thygesen, CEO, Thrane& Thrane.

"We are confident that our distributornetwork will add real value for existingand potential users of Naval's high qualityproducts."

Founded in 1971, and based in Malmo,Sweden, Naval has 15 employees and waspreviously owned by Lars Risberg, itsmanaging director and founder. Navalgenerated revenue of around SEK 30 million in 2008.

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

73 Grammou St & 123 Kifissias AveMaroussi • GR-15124 • Greece

Tel : +30 [email protected] www.and-hellas.gr

MINIMUM COST, MAXIMUMCONTROL OF YOUR SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS

Tanners Bank • North Shields • Tyne & Wear • NE30 1JHTel: +44 (0) 870 444 9679 Sales: +44 (0) 870 444 9681

www.and-group.net

INSTANT MESSAGING

For further information [email protected]

• Context and presence informationUsers can see who is online and available for contactClient software available for PC’s, laptop, mobilephones, Blackberry’s, PDA’s

• Real time communication• Store and forward function to send messages to users

not currently online• Conference / chatroom facilities• Full conversation history and archive• File and document transfer facility• Interface with shore based PDA / Blackberry devices

FAX• Sends and receives faxes as e.mail• Each vessel is allocated a unique fax number allowing

senders to use standard fax services

RAPIDOMAIL 5.0• See features on the right

SMS• Simple to use interface• Send individual and group messages• Receive SMS replies• Long text function allows you to type long messages -

which are split and sent in sequence• SMS Delivery notification - be alerted when a message

you send has not been received

INTERNET ACCESS• User profiled secure internet access• User authentication defines which websites or web pages

can be accessed by the user on the post paid account andwhich on their personal pre paid account

• Caching and pre-fetching• Content filtering• Content security• Full log reporting

COMPANY INTRANET• Web based access

File sharingWeb linksActive directory synchronisationData importFTP file transfers

• Input information directly to shore side serversImproves operation efficiencyNo costly daily update filesCustom designed form templates

• Automatic creation of back up onboard vessel for futurereference

• Easy to update – information can be added or removedinstantly

REMOTE SUPPORT• Quickly establish remote control with minimum data cost• Access for AND Group support personnel and shipping

company IT administrators• Drag and drop two way file transfer• Service unattended machines• Extensive system snapshot with remote diagnostics• Reboot and reconnect

BILLING & REPORTING• Up to the minute access to current vessel costs• Per-user billing of service use; splits your terminal bill

into usage by user account• Pre-paid and post paid billing• Quota limits for post-paid service usage• Real-time updates of session cost• Full visibility of service use for accounting and cost

control• Pre-paid account top-ups using Virtual PIN or online

Credit Card authorisation

NEW RAPIDOMAIL 5.0NEW Advanced features• Instant automated retrieval of mail received into ships

shore-side mailbox• Auto-sync – synchronises dial up connections and starts

moving data within 3 seconds• Antivirus – with automatic updates, average size 20kb

per day• Crew pre-paid data cards

Other Features• Automated set up procedure, all settings can be

maintained and updated shore side• Advanced data compression – compresses data by 90%• Enterprise class antivirus and spam filters• Full archiving• Point of failure restart• Automated file transfer protocol to interface with

existing applications• Split billing capability• Web based reporting including;

• Up to the minute vessel costs• Connection history – access to Inbox and Outbox

records• News and weather reporting service

BACK OFFICE• Service access is controlled by shore-side managers, via

our web-portal• Detailed service usage billing reports available online• Enterprise class fully hosted email servers• Email Spam and virus filtering• Sophisticated email filter rules with whitelist / blacklist

and size constraints• Web filter with virus, spy-ware and mal-ware protection• Shore-side IP firewall to block unwanted traffic• Fine grain control of web site access from the server• Enterprise class private hosted Instant Messenger server

SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED FREE• IPSIGNATURE & RAPIDOMAIL SOFTWARE is FREE OF

CHARGE, there are no monthly fees or licence cost, usersonly pay for airtime incurred

24/7 TECHNICAL SUPPORT• AND Group provide full 24/7 support for all of our

software products. Our support personnel have aminimum of 5 years experience in satellitecommunication systems

Full Communications Suite Advanced E-mail Connectivity

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

www.thrane.com

www.kvh.com

KVH and ViaSat have completed a successfulrollout of Pacific Ocean Region satellite cov-erage for the mini-VSAT Broadband mar-itime communications service from KVH.

The new coverage area, which includesAlaska, the west coasts of Canada and theUnited States, Hawaii, and extends intoAsia, is part of KVH and ViaSat's jointefforts to provide mobile Ku-band broad-band connectivity around the globe.

Vessels will now have access to uninter-rupted mini-VSAT Ku-band internet andvoice services from the Asian coast east-ward throughout North America and theCaribbean, across the North Atlantic, andall the way through Mediterranean waters.

Maps illustrating the current andplanned coverage for mini-VSATBroadband service are available athttp://kvh.com/footprints.

"We have now successfully rolled out asingle, unified broadband service acrossroughly two-thirds of the world's majorshipping and aeronautical lanes, enablingus to offer commercial, leisure, and govern-ment customers a unique mobile commu-nications hardware and service solution,"said Martin Kits van Heyningen, KVH'schief executive officer.

"Our goal, as we enter 2009, is to com-plete our global mini-VSAT Broadbandnetwork and support the growing demandfor faster, more affordable data and voiceconnections for people on the move."

The mini-VSAT Broadband serviceuses 24-inch VSAT hardware to deliverVoice over IP phone service and internetaccess up to 512 Kbps (upload) and 2Mbps (download) at fixed monthly rates.

The TracPhone V7 antenna is approxi-mately 75 per cent lighter and 85 per centsmaller by volume than traditional 1-metre VSAT antennas.

KVH also reports that it has signed aglobal distribution agreement withThrane & Thrane for the mini-VSATBroadband service and compatible marinehardware, which the companies hope willlead to a faster roll-out of global coverage.

A new SAILOR branded version of theKVH TracPhone V7 and mini-VSAT hasbeen created, based on KVH's existingantenna system.

"By using the KVH mini-VSATBroadband solution in combination with ourSAILOR FleetBroadband and backed up byour extensive worldwide distribution andservice network, Thrane & Thrane and KVHwill become an integral force in setting thenew standard for global VSAT service," saidWalther Thygesen, CEO, Thrane & Thrane.


www.eurosatlink.com

European Satellite Link GmbH (ESL) hasentered into an agreement with Danishshipping company DS Norden to providea combined VSAT and satellite TV solu-tion for the DS Norden fleet.

The IP@SEA VSAT solution from ESLhad previously been installed and tested bycrews on a number of DS Norden vessels,with the feedback provided allowing forthe system to be adapted and optimised.

Benn P Johansen, master of the NordMermaid, commented: “The ESL solutionprovides a broad range of improvedmeans of communication for us onboard.For welfare purposes it is a huge successand really something I believe will be dif-ficult to live without when first installedonboard."

"Especially the fact that Hotmail andYahoo can be accessed enabling crew toread and reply to their own mails are real-ly something being talked about as wel-fare onboard. Also the fact that it is nowpossible to read news online is being usedfrequently."

He continued: "For business purposesthe VSAT is a huge advantage as mails canbe sent and received more regularly thanbefore, replies are received and sent with-out delays and larger files can be sent

without additional cost.”“Also the possibility of downloading

MSDS, newest reporting format and infor-mation for various ports etc. are beingused. Also news can be read online such asthe DS Norden intranet, updates regard-ing pirate attacks etc. are improving in theday-to-day business onboard."

The VSAT system will provide internetconnectivity with speeds up to 1 Mbit to theDS Norden fleet, and will be supplementedby a programme of IT integration andinstallation work to be carried out by ESLonboard the vessels as part of the contract.

"The good thing with the project is thatDS Norden’s strategy has been clear fromthe beginning and through months ofclose dialogue and testing we have devel-oped and designed a solution that willmeet DS Norden’s objectives and supporttheir strategy today and in the future,"said Henrik Christensen, ESL CEO.

“During the process it has been essen-tial to develop a scalable solution; whichwill enable DS Norden to adapt andupscale the onboard IT setup in line withhow their corporate and onboard IT strat-egy develops and reaches new phases.”

Implementation onboard the DSNorden vessels is already underway, andis expected to be completed over the com-ing 12 -18 months.

BSM completes FleetBroadband trialwww.stratosglobal.com

Stratos reports that it has successfully com-pleted an Inmarsat FleetBroadband field trialwith Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.

The three-month field trial was conduct-ed onboard the Bernhard Schulte merchantvessel Marianne Schulte in Europeanwaters and the Caribbean Sea. BernhardSchulte affiliate Telaccount Overseas man-aged the installation of the Thrane &Thrane SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband termi-nal onboard the vessel.

The successful trial led to BernhardSchulte Shipmanagement retaining theFleetBroadband system, which it will useto manage the Marianne Schulte's dailyoperations at sea.

During the trial the satcom system was

successfully integrated with AmosConnectto manage all e-mail traffic, with otherapplications such as office applications,remote support via Ultra VNC, MSNinstant messaging, video chat, FTP via CuteFTP, and web browsing also part of the trial.

"We are a busy vessel that carries valu-able cargo, so we need to stay in touchwith our shore office in Shanghai everyday," said Marianne Schulte CaptainAbrahim Mohan.

"From the beginning we had no prob-lem using FleetBroadband for key opera-tional tasks, because the system is simpleto use and reliable. The voice channel isvery clear and data transfer is much fasterthan the system we had before."

Capt Mohan continued: "I'm delightedthat we are able to keep the

Coverage extended for mini-VSAT DS Norden goes for VSATDigital Ship

the first maritime mobile VoIP operator

connected to the 7seas

www.7ccell.com

com4crew is the first mobile VoIP service at sea …

• crew calling & on board communication• secure network & reliable bandwidth

management• cable-free radio coverage extension

FleetBroadband from Stratos systemonboard permanently. Our positive experi-ence has led to our recommending the sys-tem to 15 of our ship-owner customers."

Adonis Violaris, group marketing andcommunications director for BernhardSchulte Shipmanagement and director ofTelaccount Overseas, said, "The trial gave usthe opportunity to evaluate the pros and consof a new technology and to see how we couldmake it work for our fleet and our crew."

"We were very satisfied with the per-formance because we managed to run allour office applications from the vesselover FleetBroadband."

Stratos channel partner One Net assist-ed Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagementwith many aspects of the MarianneSchulte field trial, providing training on

Stratos Dashboard and AmosConnect."The FleetBroadband system onboard

the Marianne Schulte is operated understrict cost-control rules, using the flexibili-ty of Stratos Dashboard," said One Netdirector Michalis Hadjisttylianou.

"With FleetBroadband from Stratos,the vessel is transmitting higher data vol-umes than before the trial, at the samespending levels."

The successful Bernhard SchulteShipmanagement field trial was one in anextensive global series of trials that Stratosis conducting to secure feedback from shipmanagers on FleetBroadband and itsvalue-added services.

Stratos says that it has activated severalhundred FleetBroadband systems across allmajor geographic regions and vessel types.

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

KVH Europe A/S • Kokkedal Industripark 2B • 2980 Kokkedal • Denmark

Tel: +45 45 160 180 • Fax: +45 45 160 181 • E-mail: [email protected] ©2009 KVH Industries, Inc. KVH, TracVision, TracPhone, and the unique light-colored dome with dark contrasting baseplate are registered trademarks of KVH Industries, Inc.

“What Broadband at sea was meant to be” and “mini-VSAT Broadband” are service marks of KVH Industries, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies. Patents Pending.

KVH TracPhone® V7 with mini-VSAT BroadbandSM service

What broadband at sea was meant to be.SM

“The reliability of the mini-VSAT Broadband service continues to astound us...” – Damion Abder, Capital Signal

Visit www.kvh.com/digiship for complete details

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Increase the operating performance and efficiency of your ships and crew with affordable broadband Internet access, e-mail, and VoIP telephone using the compact TracPhone V7 and mini-VSAT Broadband service from KVH.

Small 60 cm antenna: For fast easy installations on any size vessel with convenient 1-day activationFastest data connections: Internet connections up to 2 Mbps down/512 Kbps upGreat service pricing: Flexible airtime plans include “fixed monthly” and “per-megabyte” ratesCrystal-clear telephone: Integrated Enhanced VoIP Service tailored to maritime customersSeamless roaming: Totally automatic satellite switching between regions in KVH’s expanding global network

Using the latest spread spectrum satellite technology, TracPhone V7 offers your captain, crew, and business an end-to-end communications solution with superior performance at the lowest cost. For the complete commercial solution, combine it with TracVision® satellite TV for improved crew morale and KVH Inmarsat FleetBroadband for global backup – all delivered by KVH – your reliable source for sales, installation, activation, and support.

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p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05

CC rew welfare and management isundoubtedly one of the currenthot topics in the maritime indus-

try. While the global economy may haveslowed dramatically over the last 18months, the availability and retention ofquality seafarers has remained a seriousproblem for many in the shipping sector.

Tanker operator Unicom, the exclusiveship management company for Russianstate ship owning company Sovcomflot, isone such company that has been keenlyaware of the competition for crews in thecurrent market.

With a fleet that includes oil, chemical,LNG and LPG tankers, having experi-enced and qualified crews is an essentialcomponent in running an efficient, andmore importantly safe, business.

With this in mind, Unicom IT managerAlexey Bozrikov decided that the compa-

ny needed to take a new approach to itscrew management, and find new ways toconvince the seafarers that Unicom vesselswere the only place for them to be.

“Most companies are going some waytowards trying to keep crews and haveretention rates at their maximum level,”he told us. “Seafarers are coming andgoing, and the average level of compe-tence and quality of the seafarers isdecreasing.”

“What everybody's trying to do is tokeep all of those people who have alreadybeen with the company for maybe 5 or 10consecutive years. We've tried, and we'vedone many different things, starting withpay raises and pension schemes and per-manent contracts, but everybody knowsabout this and everybody does it.”

“So at Unicom we decided to go onestep further and to introduce satellite TV

as an entertainment package for the sea-farers on board our ships.”

Having live TV systems on ships isobviously more complicated than gettinga subscription to new channels at home,with variable weather conditions andharsh environments, coupled with theinconvenient fact that the vessel is con-stantly moving, providing a range of engi-neering challenges.

“What we were looking for was a sys-tem that would be easy to install, whichcould be installed by the crew and thencommissioned by the supplier later,” saidMr Bozrikov.

“It needed the ability to work in heavyweather conditions, such as rolling, andthe ability to withstand low temperatures,because we've got a few ships trading inthe Arctic area where temperatures arereally low.”

“We also had some other technicalrequirements, like the ability to serve sev-eral TV receivers and satellite receivers,and having user defined satellites becauseobviously you can't just put all of the satel-lites in one system, it will depend on thevessel trading area. And, of course, sinceUnicom's crew is 99 per cent Russian-speaking we were obviously looking for asystem capable of delivering Russian lan-guage channels.”

Customised servicesHaving specified its requirements andevaluated the available options, Unicomdecided to proceed with a trial of theTracVision M9 maritime satellite televi-sion system from KVH.

“This system has a modem, satelliteantenna and master control unit, and thenyou connect what you want to that, yoursatellite receivers and end user equip-ment,” Mr Bozrikov said.

“You use normal satellite receivers likeyou would at home and a normal TV. Youcan use several receivers and several TVs



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Tanker TV – a step toward crew retentionWith the demand for quality crews in all sectors of the shipping industry nearing critical, companies around

the world are looking for new ways to improve the onboard experience and daily lives of their seafarers. For tanker manager Unicom this involved an exploration of the possibility of offering live TV on its fleet of vessels.

Alexey Bozrikov, Unicom, told Digital Ship about the project


Digital Ship

60 vessels in the Unicom fleet are to be installed with satellite TV systems that will allow crews to watch Russian language programmes

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:05


SATCOMS

if you want, on some ships we have two orthree sets, though most of the ships justhave one.”

Unicom worked with Navicom, aRussian partner of KVH, to customise thesystem to its own specific requirements,particularly with regard to Russian lan-guage services and content.

“Basically the customisation was most-

ly in the software that was controlling theantenna, in order to squeeze the maximumamount of Russian-speaking content outof the unit, irrespective of the tradingarea,” said Mr Bozrikov.

“They also provided us with goodmanuals and videos on how to install thesystem, all in the Russian language.”

Having been satisfied with the per-

formance of the system through the initialevaluation Unicom decided to proceedwith a larger-scale implementation to seehow crews would react to their new-foundability to relax with the latest Russianprime-time TV.

“We started installing the systemaround September 2008,” said MrBozrikov. “There have been good reports

about the stability of the system, obvious-ly the signal is lost sometimes, especiallyduring thunderstorms but that is whatyou will experience at home when youhave a fixed dish on top of your house, it'smore or less the same.”

“The equipment met 95 per cent of ourneeds, and has also had a financiallyattractive package, though I won't be dis-

closing that! By now wehave about 50 vesselsinstalled out of 60, the con-tract was for 60 vessels.”

“For ease of installation,there were only a couple ofvessels where they said theinstallation was complicat-ed, but I think this dependson whether there was anelectrical engineer onboard.Normally in every crew youhave at least one satellite TVmaniac, so usually theyhave no problem trying todo it, and they've been veryinventive!”

The most critical aspect ofthe installation process wasthe need for caution dealingwith the potentially danger-ous environment onboardthe tankers.

“The most tricky thingwas doing cabling onboardtankers for the installations,because you need to dodrilling and that has to bedone very carefully,” saidMr Bozrikov.

“Everything else was ok,the dish installation is quiteeasy, you just have to find aplace with no blind or deadspots. Otherwise the crewssaid it was quite easy. Someof the dishes were installedfor new ships too, in theshipyards, so that was eveneasier.”

Crew reactionAfter a majority of theinstallations had been com-pleted and the system wasup and running, MrBozrikov and his team car-ried out a crew survey togauge the reaction of thoseonboard to the service.

“We did a vessel opinionpoll of the first 39 vesselsthat were installed, and thefirst thing we saw was thegreat enthusiasm of thecrews for this,” he said.

“We didn't even thinkthat acceptance of this wouldbe so high and that there'd besuch an appreciation of thecompany's efforts.”

The performance and reli-ability of the service, aspectsof the installations that MrBozrikov was keen to exam-ine with the system operat-ing in real trading condi-tions, received favourableresponses from the seafarers.

“For performance in diffi-cult weather conditions we

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:06



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Digital Shipgot very good responses from the vessels,”he said. “We asked them specifically toreport on what happened during rollingand so on, and they said it was almost likeat home during heavy rain or a thunder-storm. You do get a weak signal some-times, but most of the time it works.”

“As for service and help from the man-ufacturer, only 15 per cent of vessels actu-ally requested service, most of them didnot because it worked straight away, sowe are pretty happy with the equipment.”

“We didn't really have any serious reli-ability matters, although even though wewere specifically looking for systems thatcould operate at low temperatures wehave had certain issues with ships tradingin the Arctic, we now have two ships that

work permanently in that area where thetemperature goes to -20 or -25C. The exter-nal cables started to get kind of hard, sothey might need additional maintenance,we're working on that now.”

Crews also reported favourably onaccess to Russian channels using the sys-tem, though Mr Bozrikov is sceptical as towhether this is entirely accurate.

“For availability of channels, I think thereports may have even been a bit too pos-itive, because I know that around theUnited States you don't really get anyfreely available Russian channels, they areall 'pay' channels,” he said.

“We even went so far as to install a fewunits with smart cards aboard certain ves-sels trading in these areas because there

are no open channels in the Russian lan-guage. This is not a matter of equipmentor satellite coverage, this is just the avail-ability of satellite TV services.”

Future improvementsWith the system now bedded in and a partof the daily lives of crews onboardUnicom vessels, the company believes thatits decision to install the technology hasbeen a good one, and looks forward toextending the system and its capabilitiesin the future.

“We're already working on increasingthe number of TVs on board, because wegot some feedback from the seafarers thatthey wanted to have more places wherethey could watch TV,” said Mr Bozrikov.

“We think, as a management compa-ny, that this project has helped us inachieving good crew retention rates. Ourcrew retention rates, under the two yearTMSA (tanker management self assess-ment) formula, which I think everybodyknows about for their KPIs, for ratingsit's 94.6 per cent and for top officers 90.45per cent.”

With that in mind, Mr Bozrikov is nowlooking to work with KVH to fine-tune thesystem with a few improvements that willbring the service even more closely intoline with its specific requirements.

“For us the Russian language part wasso important, of course people could watchthe news in English but you really want tohave your home programmes,” he said.

“We would like to see some automatedsystems for updating the control unit,where you program the satellites' posi-

tions, because for now it's quite technical.”“There's usually someone on board

who's familiar with those kinds of thingsand how to use a communications pro-gram over a serial port to program thisthing, but if there was an interface, and e-mails distributed with the satellite datawhich they could just import, that wouldbe much easier.”

Mr Bozrikov recommends to anyoneelse that might be thinking of implement-ing such a service to examine their ownrequirements and decide upon the typesof channels they are looking for whenevaluating the right maritime TV systemfor themselves.

“For anyone who would be thinkingabout implementing the same services,just keep in mind that there is really poorchannel choice in the USA and Atlanticarea,” he said.

“In Europe there are no problems, thereare lots of satellites, lots of channels. Fareastern Japan and those sea areas alsohave similar problems to the USA, forwhat we want for our ships.”

“The last thing, which we are stillworking on, is the possible requirementfor additional antenna and cable mainte-nance if you operate at low tempera-tures. There might not be that many com-panies working in those areas but for usit's an important matter, and we have agrowing number of ships trading in lowtemperatures.”

Mr Bozrikov is hopeful that, as the sys-tem continues to improve Unicom willcontinue to retain its best and brightestseafarers well into the future. DSCaution during drilling for the installations is a must when working onboard a tanker

Crew reaction to the technology has been very enthusiastic

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:06


SATCOMS

Iridium satellite in collision over RussiaA freak satellite accident at 27,000 km/h in the skies over Russia has caused

‘brief outages’ on the Iridium satellite communications network

AA bizarre collision of two satellitesapproximately 800 kilometresabove Siberia has caused some

minor service outages on the Iridium glob-al satellite communications network.

The incident happened when a RussianCosmos satellite, launched approximately15 years ago and reportedly no longerfunctioning, crashed into one of Iridium’s66 low Earth orbiting satellites just before5.00pm (GMT) on February 11th.

Iridium has released a statement con-firming the collision, saying that it hadnow “lost an operational satellite.”

"According to information shared withthe company by various US governmentorganisations that monitor satellites andother space objects (such as debris), itappears that the satellite loss is the resultof a collision with a non-operationalRussian satellite,” it said

This crash is believed to be the first evercollision of two in-orbit commercial satel-lites, with the cause of the incident stillunclear at this point.

Iridium does already have 9 spare satel-lites in orbit above the Earth to be addedto the network if necessary, and it isexpected that one of these vehicles will beutilised in this instance.

Iridium said in the statement that "thissatellite loss may result in very limitedservice disruption in the form of brief,occasional outages" of its services until the problem is resolved, which the compa-ny said was expected to be achieved within days.

The company has, however, so fardeclined to comment in detail on theextent of these outages, but a companyrepresentative told Digital Ship that out-ages experienced by any particular usershould last no longer than ten minutes atany given time, and that users should try

again to establish a connection a few min-utes later if they originally fail to getthrough.

The Iridium constellation is constructedwith a large number of satellites orbitingthe Earth at high-speeds, meaning thatusers in any particular location would beaccessing a different satellite each timethey try to communicate over the service.

Signals are then passed across betweenorbiting satellites before being beamed toan Iridium ground station.

As such, even though the satellite inquestion was over land when the incidentoccurred, maritime users could still beaffected if they are under the coveragearea of the damaged satellite at the timethey try to make a call or data connection.

Similarly, if the damaged satellite waspart of the route from a connected satelliteto the ground station it could also causeproblems. However, Iridium is working anetwork fix into the constellation so thattraffic can be re-routed across differentsatellites as the need arises.

The spare satellite that will come in toreplace the damaged vehicle and returnservices to normal is expected to be inplace before the middle of March.

ConstellationIridium was keen to point out that the inci-dent was not a consequence of any problemwith its network, noting in its statementthat “the Iridium constellation is healthy,and this event is not the result of a failureon the part of Iridium or its technology.”

“While this is an extremely unusual,very low-probability event, the Iridiumconstellation is uniquely designed to with-stand such an event, and the company istaking the necessary steps to replace thelost satellite with one of its in-orbit sparesatellites,” it said.

The Iridium satellite involved in thecollision, launched in 1997, was part of thecompany’s network of satellites that orbitthe Earth at around 27,000 kilometres perhour, with a weight a little over half that ofthe Russian vehicle, at approximately 560kg and 950 kg respectively.

Each Iridium satellite measures over 3.5metres in length, not including the extend-ed solar arrays used to draw power for thevehicle.

The high-speed impact created a largecloud of debris, with NASA having suggest-ed that hundreds of small pieces of the twospacecraft may now be floating in space.

“In the past almost 20 years there havebeen three other accidental collisionsbetween objects in orbit, but they've allbeen very minor," said Nicholas Johnson,chief scientist at NASA's orbital debrisprogramme, in the Guardian.

"The most debris ever produced in anevent was four – this is two intact space-craft colliding and we have hundreds ofdebris out there."

Iridium is currently in the development

stages for a brand new satellite network toreplace its existing spacecraft, with theproject, expected to cost in excess of $2 bil-lion, having been titled Iridium NEXT.

The schedule for NEXT would see anew network of satellites beginning alaunch programme in 2013 to replace thecurrent spacecraft as they come towardsthe end of their operational lifecycle.

In a previous interview with DigitalShip, Iridium’s Dan Mercer, vice presidentEurope, Middle East Africa and Russia,explained how the company’s plans forthe new network were progressing.

“With the existing satellites, the actual

trends are way into 2020 to still be there,but we'll have a new constellation in placewith that global canopy before that,” hetold us.

“2013 is the planned date for launchingthe first new replacement satellite, so we'llbe launching over a period, we have timeto plan. It will take a couple of years tocomplete. And we can accelerate that atany time if we need to bring it forward orpush it out, that can be done.”

“Around 2014 / 2015 we need to havethe new network very much under wayand under replacement, to maintain theservice to the customers.” DS

Iridium’s approx. 3.5 metre, 560 kg satellite was destroyed by the collision,but the company will reposition one of its orbiting spares to bring

the constellation back to its full 66-vehicle complement

‘2013 is the planned date for the launch of our next generation

of satellites’ – Dan Mercer, Iridium

p1-13:p1-14.qxd 18/02/2009 11:06

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Resonance warning software launched

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www.ulysses-systems.com

Ulysses Systems and Orca Company ofJapan have announced that they will beextending their partnership in the regionby combining their current resources andrelocating some Ulysses operations toOrca’s offices.

Ulysses has a number of customers forits Task Assistant software system in theJapanese market, such as Iino MarineServices- Japan, New Asia Shipping HongKong, and ITML.

“The key objective of the partnershipwith Orca will be to continue to build on Ulysses’ current success in the

region and improve the level of servicethat is provided to our esteemedJapanese and South East Asian cus-tomers through our Tokyo based staff,”said Martin Nygate, Ulysses VP of salesand marketing.

S Y Chang , managing director ofOrca Japan, added: “Our philosophy isto provide customer-centric technologysolutions to our target market. Ulysses'Task Assistant is within this philosophyand we believe that our partnership withUlysses Systems will increase the qualityof the service we provide to the localmarket, offering solutions that simplifyship operations.”

Ulysses and Orca join forces

www.marinesoftware.co.uk

Marine Software Limited has launched avessel 'Lay-up' maintenance systemwhich can be used either as an addition-al module for existing Marine PlannedMaintenance equipped vessels, or as astand alone system for any other vessel.

The first system has recently beendelivered to Bluewater Ship Management,

for the vessel UND BIRLIK.Typically, maintenance require-

ments for laid up vessels with idlemachinery differ from the normal running maintenance, and so specialLay-up JobCards can be created for thisscenario. These PM JobCards onlybecome active when the system is putinto lay-up mode, when they are auto-matically scheduled.

Marine Software launches planned maintenance module

www.shippingpodcasts.com

Maritime eLearning company Coracle has launched a new website,www.ShippingPodcasts.com, providing freeaudio content as podcasts on a range of top-ics including the tanker markets, the drycargo market, shipping law, marine insur-ance, ports and terminals, and the P&I sector.

Coracle has partnered with organisa-tions like The Baltic Exchange, Braemar-Seascope, Ince & Co, Reed Smith, TheLondon Club and Willis Marine to createthe content for the podcasts.

These audio files are provided for free via the website as well as via iTunes,

and are supported by advertising revenues divided between covering costs and supporting disadvantagedstudents via the Coracle Education Fund.

"ShippingPodcasts.com fills a gap in theindustry for topical and accessible onlinemaritime information," said Coracle andShippingPodcasts.com founder and manag-ing director, James Tweed.

"Every shipping professional can nowaccess these lively podcasts read by SonyAward winning journalist Katie Breathwick.In this fast moving business, we believe thatthese easy-to-digest audio updates on thedifferent maritime sectors can only help tokeep the industry on its toes."

Free shipping podcasts now available

www.awtworldwide.com

Applied Weather Technology (AWT), haslaunched the latest version of itsBonVoyage System (BVS) software foroptimising marine voyages, with Version5.6 offering advance warning aboutthreats of severe rolling due to resonance.

The system also features forecast, realtime Naval Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM)current data, which allows vessels to pre-pare an optimal passage plan based on thecurrents, potentially saving time and fuel.

Vessels using the new system canreceive alerts warning about forecast seaconditions which, when combined withthe vessel's course, speed and stability,could lead to resonance. Resonance is aphenomenon that can cause certain typesof vessels to roll and can lead to crew

injury, cargo and vessel damage. BVS 5.6 will display warning symbols

along the ship's course that are forecast toa maximum of 16 days ahead. This enablesthe user to evaluate not only the forecastweather along the route, but also thepotential for heavy rolling along the route.

In addition, the ship can continuouslymonitor for potential problem areas andmake the appropriate speed and headingadjustments to minimise the potential forsevere motions. When reviewing potentialresonance conditions, the user can call upa polar diagram display along the coursewhere the warnings are firing, and thisdisplay will graphically show the combi-nations of course and speed where heavymotions are most likely to occur.

At the same time, the chart also indi-cates which heading and/or speed might

All normal completed maintenance issuspended but any overdue maintenanceremains active unless it is completed dur-ing the lay-up period. Class Surveyremains unaffected and live whilst thevessel is laid-up.

Depending on the type of lay-up, nor-mal maintenance covering runningmachinery can be tagged to remain liveduring the lay-up period.

On reactivation of the vessel, the normal planned maintenance system can be reactivated giving the operator the option to continue with the suspend-ed calendar based maintenance schedulefrom the date of suspension, or to shift it forward re-commencing from the reac-tivation date. The specific lay-up PMCards are deactivated on reactivation ofthe vessel.

assist in the avoidance of the potentiallydamaging conditions, thereby minimisingthe potential for damage.

A.I. Shaad, Master of the M.V. Dubaioperated by the United Arab ShippingCompany, tested the resonance alert fea-tures within BVS 5.6 during voyages in theAtlantic and Mediterranean.

"In my opinion, the resonance alerts arethe best features of the new version ofBVS," said Captain Shaad.

"I believe the resonance features willhelp navigators on board container vesselsto plan their voyages and make decisionsto avoid potentially dangerous weatherconditions that could lead to resonance,severe ship rolling and cargo loss."

In addition to resonance alerts, AWThas also integrated the latest technologyused to determine ocean currents. Users

can now download daily updates of theNaval Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) cur-rent data.

Other new features added to BVS ver-sion 5.6 include enhancements of weatherand wave forecasts near coastlines; expan-sion from 10-day forecasts to 16-day fore-casts; additional port locations added tothe port forecast database.

The new software aims to combatresonance, which can cause rolling

of affected vessels

p14-21:p15-25.qxd 18/02/2009 11:23 Page 1

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www.chinsay.com

Swedish technology company Chinsayhas announced that it has signed a licenseagreement with Cargill OceanTransportation and BHP Billiton for theglobal use of its Chinsay Recap ManagerDry document management system.

The license agreement will allow thecompanies, and their brokers and counter-parties, to create and manage fixture doc-uments and charter parties online usingthe web-based application.

The system allows users to manageand supervise all their global chartering

agreements in one standard format, insecure storage, and can be integrated intoexisting operations and voyage manage-ment systems.

Chinsay says that approximately 40ship-broking houses and over 300 individ-ual users worldwide are already connect-ed to the service, including Cargill, BHPBilliton and Koch Shipping Inc. The latestversion of the system, aimed at the drybulk shipping segment, has been success-fully tested in close co-operation withCargill, BHP Billiton and their main ship-brokers over the last 18 months.

"The web based system gives a quick

Chinsay signs license agreement for web-based application

Intergraph in DNV dealwww.intergraph.com

www.dnv.com

Software company Intergraph is to beginreselling DNV's Nauticus Early Designsoftware as part of its integratedSmartMarine Enterprise solution for shipand offshore platform design.

The SmartMarine system allows users to transition from the conceptualdesign and rules calculation phase ofship construction to the detailed andproduction design without the need toremodel.

Nauticus Early Design, which is basedon Intergraph's SmartMarine 3D devel-opment platform with additional DNVclassification rule calculations modulesfor the marine industry, is used for shipearly design integrating 3D CAD andship analysis systems.

It combines 3D modelling and draw-ing, integrated with Nauticus Hull forclass rules check and finite element

analysis, Sesam and GeniE. Early Design rule calculations are

needed to receive class approval signify-ing that the offshore platform or ship con-struction proposed is of sound engineer-ing and therefore applicable for insurancepurposes. The rules are based on morethan 100 years of experience gathered bythe class societies.

"Our rules calculation and analysismodules combined with Intergraph'sdesign platform provide an exceptionalarchitecture to enable ship and marinedesigners to have a powerful new way to ensure safe designs with the speednecessary to meet today's demandingproduction deadlines," said EllingRishoff, managing director, DNVSoftware.

Intergraph will offer Nauticus EarlyDesign under a reseller agreement withDNV Software, an original equipmentmanufacturer (OEM) for Intergraph'sSmartMarine 3D design software.

turnaround of essential contracts and doc-umentation, and provides a good and sim-ple solution for contract management,"said Niels Wage, vice president freight atBHP Billiton.

"In the present environment we some-times have to wait for months until thefinal contract is signed by both parties; theChinsay system is a good tool that willhelp the whole industry getting more dis-ciplined and organised; this is essential intoday’s environment."

Tom Beney, business development man-ager at Cargill, added: "The Chinsay RecapManager has allowed us to improve effi-

ciency in the handling, storing and distrib-uting of documents involved in our ship-ping contracts. We have found the Chinsayweb-based Recap Manager product tacklesan industry-wide challenge head on andleads us into the paperless environment."

"The product gives the users a simple,efficient way to create, organise and storetheir documents. The search functiongives fast access to all data within the con-tract. Today Cargill Ocean Transportationis rolling this product out across all itsglobal locations. Our goal is to have all ofour freight contracts on the system withinthe next six months."

SOFTWARE NEWS


www.veson.com

Motia Compagnia di Navigazione, basedin Italy, has chosen to install VesonNautical’s Integrated MaritimeOperations System (IMOS) at its Veniceheadquarters, with test installations of theIMOS OnBoard system also running onsome of its vessels.

The companies say that they expect thatthe OnBoard system should be fully oper-ational for all company vessels by thesummer of 2009.

Motia is the technical manager for theNetherlands-based Seaarland Shippingfleet, which implemented IMOS last year.IMOS has been managing all aspects ofcargo transportation for Seaarland’s fleet,which includes 11 handymax producttankers, 3 panamax bulk carriers, 4Aframax Tankers, and 3 Panamax tankers.

The fleet also includes 23 charteredtankers ranging from 35,000 to 160,000dwt. Seaarland is currently embarking on

a new building programme which willeventually include 5 Panamax and 4Minicape Bulk carriers, 3 Suezmax, 2Aframax, 1 Panamax and 2 ProductHandymax Tankers. Motia also has a newbuilding plan which includes 2 Mediumrange and 2 handymax Product Tankers.

Most of the vessels are employed inpool partnerships with Handytankers andAframax International.

The IMOS system allows Seaarland andMotia staff to share data while also con-tributing activity information to differentdatabases. Both companies have one serv-er each running the system, which need toallow access by different remote users asaccounting for Seaarland and Motia ishandled by different software packages.

Captain Roberto Zanca, global opera-tions manager for Seaarland ShippingManagement and Motia, remarked: “Lastyear, Seaarland sought an integrated,comprehensive solution to replace ourexisting software; we needed a consolidat-ed package that could easily manage datainput from various sources."

"Using IMOS, Seaarland has enjoyedincreased efficiency, a significant reduc-tion in manual labour and we have clearlyseen a return several fold on the value ofour overall investment. Because of the suc-cess we experienced at Seaarland, imple-menting IMOS at Motia was a logicalchoice, and so far we’ve been very pleasedwith the results.”

Motia installs IMOS

Infonic reports that it is to use TopImage Systems, an intelligent docu-ment recognition company, as a technolo-gy partner in the provision of the Infonicdocument management system.

MarineCFO has released EnterpriseVersion 2.0 of its maritime software sys-tem, which the company says allowsshipping companies to improve "integra-tion and flexibility of the vessel to on-shore data communications, but alsoimprove efficiencies of their personnel,maintenance, and financial managementsystems."

www.infonic-document-management.comwww.marinecfo.com

p14-21:p15-25.qxd 18/02/2009 11:24 Page 3

Digital Ship


Euro 5m for Eniramwww.eniram.fi

Finnish maritime technology companyEniram reports that it has recently com-pleted a Euro 5 million financing round,with Norwegian venture capitalist FerdVenture as the lead investor.

Finnish Industry Investment and exist-ing investor Conor Venture Partners alsoparticipated in the financing round.

This move comes on the back of thelaunch of Eniram's Dynamic TrimAssistant system in 2008. The new capitalmade available through the financingarrangement will allow Eniram toincrease the pace of expansion of its glob-al sales, distribution and support opera-tions for its products.

Eniram's systems are used to locate,analyse, quantify and connect real timeinformation within and from vessels todecision making systems. Its performance

optimisation systems monitor attributessuch as trim, hull, stabilisers, and propul-sion to ensure that the vessel will be oper-ated with reduced fuel requirements,reduced environmental load andimproved performance.

The Dynamic Trim Assistant productis at the core of the system, and Eniramsays that it delivers up to a 5 per centreduction in fuel consumption for manyvessel classes.

“With the field-proven ability to saveenergy and cut emission levels in seafar-ing, Eniram’s timing for approaching theglobal maritime market couldn’t be bet-ter,” said Helge Hellebust, partner at FerdVenture.

“We see a great potential for hightech solutions being deployed in themaritime segment, and view Eniram as a key player in the development of the industry.”

www.spectec.netwww.shipserv.com

SpecTec and ShipServ have announcedtheir intention to strengthen cooperationbetween the two companies, who willwork together to promote their combinedsolutions for e-business and purchasing tothe shipping industry.

As part of the announcement, the twocompanies' product development teamswill jointly work on several initiatives,including integration between AMOSSpare parts and ShipServ on-line cata-logues, to allow users to search for sparesinside ShipServ catalogues directly fromAMOS inventory registers or PurchaseOrder lines.

The aim of the systems integration is tocreate a seamless path between PurchaseRequisitions, Queries and Orders, and e-business processes, and to use shared datasources to create procurement relatedKPIs and reports.

"There is often an initial reluctancefrom purchasing departments in adoptinge-commerce. Still, most of the people whoare against e-business at work would gohome and buy the latest book or CD viaAmazon, or something via e-Bay," saidGiampiero Soncini, SpecTec CEO.

"It is strange, but not untypical of the

resistance to change which permeatesour working life. Yet once automatedpurchasing procedures are in place, the operators simply do not look back.They can see how effective, fast andreliable the whole process of buying viae-business is. And with the integrationbetween AMOS and ShipServ, all theprocesses will become faster and moreefficient."

This announcement follows ShipServ'srecent reporting of some of its perform-ance statistics for 2008, which saw anincrease of 69 per cent in the number oftransactions through the trading platform,leading to a $1 billion total value of ordersplaced for the year, an increase of 66 percent on 2007.

The number of ships signed up on the network increased by 50 per cent for the year, with A.P. Møller-Maersk,Bibby Ship Management, Companhia de Navegacao Norsul, Crowley, Far EastShip Management, MISC Berhad, PriscoTankers, Southern Shipmanagement Ltd.and Suisse-Atlantique Société deNavigation Maritime among 31 new shipowners, managers and yards joiningTradeNet.

2008 also saw the release of a Danaossoftware adaptor, allowing Danaos soft-ware users to integrate their systems into

SpecTec and ShipServ in cooperation agreementthe e-purchasing network.

ShipServ has also agreed with Ulyssesto develop an adaptor for release in early2009, which will mean that 'out-of-the-box'integration to TradeNet will be available

for users of ABS NS, AMOS, BASSNet,Consultas, Danaos, Logihold, PreMasterPRO, ShipNet SNAPS, SISCommerce,Teledata ShipManager, TM Master andUlysses Task Assistant.

p14-21:p15-25.qxd 18/02/2009 11:24 Page 4

SOFTWARE


‘‘GG oing green’ is very much envogue right now, with glob-al fears about carbon emis-

sions spreading into the corporate policiesof companies around the world, keen tocash in on the positive publicity of beingseen as environmentally friendly.

The shipping industry has suffered inrecent times from the perception, in somequarters, that it makes a significant contri-bution to the amount of carbon beingreleased into the atmosphere.

While the accuracy of this perceptioncan be debated, that there will be a gener-ally favourable reaction to industry effortsto reduce pollution is a view that is hard toargue with. The greatest benefits to theindustry however would be in the intro-duction of new methods of reducing theseemissions in a way that also increasescompany profits.

Peter Bond, general manager atInterorient Navigation, believes that thepossibility to do this already exists, andhas introduced a number of technology-based solutions at his own company thatcan help in the battle against harmfulemissions.

“Scientists have been telling us for along time now about a phenomenon calledglobal warming, and that one of the issuesbehind this warming are so-called ‘green-house gases’,” he told us.

“One of the main contributors to green-house gases is carbon dioxide, and ourindustry is guilty of emitting a lot of car-bon dioxide. Right now the IMO’s focus isvery much on what we can do to reduceour carbon dioxide emissions.”

“Industry has been working on devel-oping the ‘ship efficiency managementplan’, a guidance document to assist oper-ators in trying to reduce their ‘carbon foot-print’, or their fuel consumption. When Isay ‘industry’, this is coordinated by theInternational Chamber of Shipping, withinput from Intertanko, Intercargo andBIMCO.”

This plan is currently under develop-ment to be put forward to the IMO’sMEPC (Marine Environment ProtectionCommittee). A list of contents under con-sideration for the document includes anentry on ‘Guidance on Best Practices forFuel Efficient operation of Ships’, incorpo-rating a number of key areas.

“This encompasses: Fuel efficient oper-ations; Optimised Ship Handling;Propulsion Systems; Improved FleetManagement; Improved Cargo Handling;Energy Management; Fuel Type; OtherMeasures; Compatibility of Measures;Efficiency Management Plan (Tables),”said Mr Bond.

“I believe that there’s nothing actually

new in this plan, there’s nothing radical orinnovative, it’s just putting together allcurrent measures and ideas that are outthere in the industry, putting them alltogether and trying to show to everybodyelse that the industry is conscious and isdoing its best to reduce carbon dioxideemissions.”

Mr Bond is keen to emphasise thatthese initiatives very much need to be anindustry-wide effort to have any signifi-cant effect.

“Efficiency reaches across the wholesupply chain, and does not just affect theship operator themselves. We have to lookat all the stakeholders to have their inputinto this process, it involves charterers,port agents, port authorities – every indi-vidual organisation in the industry has totake part in this process,” he said.

“The problem in our industry is thatthis all depends on who is operating thevessel, if it’s the time charter, if it’s thevoyage charter who’s paying for the fueland taking care of these issues, these arefundamental things that have to be tackledby the industry.”

“If we don’t do this ourselves we knowwhat the consequences could be from theEU and other regulators. There’s alreadytalk about market-based measures beingimposed upon the industry, which isprobably not what we really want. If wecan prove to the world that we’re con-scious as an industry and that we’re doingour best to reduce carbon emissions it willput us in a good position.”

Improving throughtechnology

Mr Bond has identified a range of different measures which can help to com-bat emissions while also producing afinancial benefit for the organisation,using technology to increase the efficiencyof ship operations.

One of these areas is optimised routingand voyage planning.

“The IMO subcommittee on navigationis developing an e-Navigation strategy,and one of the opportunities is in improv-ing the efficiency of transport and logis-tics, and having reduced emissions byusing optimum routes and speeds,” hetold us.

“There are lots of providers of softwarethat can help the navigator to formulatehis voyage plans.”

“I can tell you that we asked all of ourfleet to review their own voyage plans tosee what they could save, and one of ourvessels, as an example, a Mediterraneanfeeder service, was able to save 39 miles onone leg of service. It doesn’t sound like a

lot, 39 miles, but that equates to 2.2 tons offuel oil and 0.3 tons of diesel oil. That wasachieved just by introducing more legsinto the voyage plan, with no sacrifice ofnavigational safety in doing so.”

Fuel savings, of course, create the dou-ble benefits of reducing the emissions thatcome from burning that extra fuel whilealso reducing the cost of the voyage to thevessel operator.

Another technology that can be used tosupplement the voyage planning applica-tions is weather routing, which Mr Bondsays can also help to cut further time andfuel from ocean voyages.

“We’ve been using weather routing formany years as a company, and I’m surethere are many people out there not usingit. I’d recommend it to everybody,” hesaid. “You can use weather routing for allvoyages, not just for ocean passages.”

“For example, for one of our ships on abasically coastal voyage from Korea toIndia, which is more or less a fixed route,you can’t really go any other way, with theweather routing we were able to save 15hours and 21 tons of fuel.”

“Weather routing is there and is avail-able to everybody, there are lots of solu-tions already available for the mariner, it’snot a matter of doing things by radio orcommunications to shore. You can havesoftware on board that overlays theweather charts on an ECDIS so themariner has live data and can make hisown informed decisions on his routing.It’s a good solution to take on.”

Mr Bond is also a proponent of vesselspeed management and ‘just in time’ oper-

ation, managing the movement of thecompany’s fleet to make sure that vesselsare idle and waiting for the minimum timepossible.

“‘Just in time’ operation is anotherissue our industry needs to take on board.Good communication with the next portmust be an aim in this, to give maximumnotice of berth availability, then you canuse the optimum speed to arrive at thatnext port,” he said.

“The liner industry has been using thisstrategy for many years with great effect,and this is where we can make significantgains in fuel efficiency in our industry. Wehave to apply this to other sectors, not justthe liner industry.”

Applying the ‘just in time’ concept alsomeans managing the speed at which thevessels are travelling, again aiming toachieve the optimum level to minimisefuel consumption.

“Speed optimisation goes hand inglove with the just in time concept,” saidMr Bond.

“Optimum speed is the speed at whichthe fuel used per ton mile is at a minimumlevel for that voyage. It doesn’t meangoing at the slowest speed of the ship, infact we know that engine manufacturerswarn us not to go below certain speeds, sowe’re cautious about that.”

“Right now bunker prices have comedown but last summer at the very highlevels they were at, people were focusedon that issue. Maybe that focus has gone away now, but it has to be broughtback into the spotlight so we can optimiseour fleets.”

Going green and saving moneyThe image of the shipping industry has, rightly or wrongly, often been tainted by the idea

that maritime transport is a ‘global polluter’, spewing tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Peter Bond of Interorient Navigation told Digital Ship about how he is determined

to improve the green credentials of his company, and increase profits at the same time

‘These are fundamental things that have to be tackled by the industry’ – Peter Bond, Interorient Navigation

p14-21:p15-25.qxd 18/02/2009 11:24 Page 5

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Software developmentInterorient Navigation has been workingon gathering all of the data required to cre-ate all of these additional efficienciesthrough the use of a specially developedsoftware system that is specifically aimedat helping vessels reach their optimumoperating level.

“Our own pool operator has beendeveloping some software which they callMOEPS, which is the Master Operationsand Environmental Performance System,”Mr Bond explained.

“This software is going to be used bythe commercial operators to gather datafor every ship’s voyage. From my point ofview, we’re looking at the voyage per-formance, where we can have the greatestopportunities for optimising.”

“This is the software that’s going tocapture all of that data, and with that datawe can hopefully prove to a lot of ourcharterers and brokers and traders wherewe are inefficient.”

The software has been applied to anumber of actual voyages undertaken bythe company to see how effective thesemeasures might be, and how much moneythe company might be able to savethrough the application of the technology.

“One actual voyage took about 7 days,she proceeded on the voyage at charterspeed of 14.8 knots and consumed 272tons of fuel,” said Mr Bond. “On arrivalshe spent a week at anchor waiting forberthing.”

“If she’d carried out the voyage at theoptimum speed of 11 knots she wouldhave saved 122 tons of fuel and still haveabout 2 days waiting for berthing. Thatexample, and a few others, really madeour operator open up and say ‘what canwe do here to try and improve on this?’”

Further study suggested that the com-pany could reduce its bunker fuel by overa quarter by optimising these differentvariables.

“The software will capture all of thisvoyage data and then hopefully we canshow to the charterers just what they arewasting,” said Mr Bond.

“We analysed 13 voyages and itshowed a gap of 26 per cent between actu-

al bunker consumption and what couldhave been achieved. That equated to 840tons of fuel. If you multiply that by all ofthe ships we have in the pool and by all ofthe voyages, we’re talking about thou-sands and thousands of tons of fuel that’sbeing wasted every year, just wasted, sim-ple as that.”

“We’re looking at CO2 emissions, butthere’s also the money – there’s a greatbenefit to all parties in the industry thereon the financial side.”

Additional efficiencyoptions

With the data gathered by the systemshowing the potential savings to be madethrough improving efficiency in certainareas, Mr Bond is also keen to identifyother operational areas where savingscould be found.

“We know that ships are designed towork at their full load, but we also knowthat the ship’s not always fully loaded andwe often have intermediate loading condi-tions, so we need to get the right trim toachieve the maximum efficiency,” he said.

“There’s a lot of software now availablethat can help operators and the navigatoron the bridge to choose the optimum trim.This software usually has to have a datacapture period of maybe three or fourmonths, with sister ships at variousdraughts and load conditions and all ofthe ambient weather conditions.”

“Then the software can start to formu-late for the operator on the bridge, bearingin mind the external conditions, how theyneed to adjust their trim and get to opti-mum fuel consumption. It’s amazing whatyou can do if you have the right trim.”

Mr Bond also sees potential savings inbetter management of vessel ballast andmonitoring of steering systems.

“Again we have to take into accountvarious external factors as well as internalfactors like steering conditions, compli-ance with rules and regulations and so on,to get the optimum ballast,” he said.

“If you’re in good weather conditionsand carrying too much ballast you’reusing more fuel to push that ballastaround. We have to be cautious in this

area, navigational safety is, of course,paramount, and make sure that the rightinformation is available to the mariner sowe don’t jeopardise safety.”

“But if we don’t get the ballast condi-tion right we can have problems, I’ve seenships at sea with propellers splashingaround out of the water and that can’t beefficient.”

He continued: “Optimum use of therudder, steering system, heading controlsystems is important, a lot of ships are fol-lowing poor routes because they don’thave the correct settings on their autopilot.Or they don’t have the right software forthe autopilot, it needs to be intuitive so itcan adjust correctly.”

“It can make the ship very inefficient,putting a lot more drag on the hull andusing a lot more fuel for the voyage.”

“On paper the captain may be happy,he’s met his charter party speed andeverything’s okay, but think about howinefficient it can be. Again, the softwaresolutions are available, and this needs tobe promoted to people so that they canmake these savings.”

Outside of software and data basedvessel optimisation, Mr Bond has a fewfurther suggestions as to where the indus-try might look to cut back on its use of fueland improve efficiency. One of these is inthe use of improved propulsion systems.

“This might not be so significant for anexisting ship, but there are technologiesavailable now that can improve on fuelefficiency,” he said. “Fuel cell technologyis the obvious one, and we’ve seen thewind sails experiments on a few ships,and ships coming out with solar cells.”

“There are additional things that can bedone, fuel additives, scrape down analysisof cylinder lube oil consumption, torqueanalysis, engine monitoring systems –these are all means of allowing the engi-neers to plan for the ship to achieve opti-mum performance.”

“Alternative fuels need to be thoughtabout for future newbuildings. Uranium,nuclear powered ships, these will proba-bly come back on the agenda at some timein the future, we had some around yearsago but it never caught on. But unless we

find alternatives we’ll need to look inthose directions.”

Better management of the deploymentof the fleet itself, and the promotion of an‘efficiency culture’ onboard the vesselsmay also lead to savings in the use of ener-gy, Mr Bond told us.

“We all must be looking at it thesedays, the liner operators have been doingthat as I said, they have very small lossesin their fleet optimisation,” he said.

“We hope with our own pool that wecan optimise our fleet better, so we canhave less and less ballast voyages, whichis also a benefit to the owner, who hasmore earning potential.”

“Energy management is something thatevery manager individually can do, Iknow when I was at sea we never thoughtabout turning the lights off in our cabinswhen we went out, but the electricity onthe ship has to be paid for. We have to bemore conscious. We have computer basedtraining programs on energy efficiencyand energy management onboard ship,and this can help the mariners to be moreconscious of these things.”

Further developments at Interorient

With all of these varied methods and tech-nologies available to improve the efficien-cy of the fleet, Mr Bond proceeded to askvessels within the fleet for their own sug-gestions and ideas for saving fuel. Onesuggestion was for ships to increase theirspeed at a slower pace.

“When you drop the pilot instead ofgoing from slow ahead to full ahead in onemovement, do it gradually,” said Mr Bond.

“When you’re driving your own car youknow that if you increase speed slowly yousave fuel, it’s the same here. It doesn’t takeany longer on the voyage, particularly ifyou have a week at anchor at the end of thevoyage, but you could save fuel.”

The use of harbour generators ratherthan shipboard power when a vessel wasin port was also given as a potentialopportunity to save energy.

“That has to be a possibility on manytypes of ships, where you’re using very lit-tle power when you’re alongside,” saidMr Bond. “If you’ve a big generator run-ning on low load it’s very inefficient.”

With all of these options available toreduce emissions, cutting back on green-house gases while also boosting profits,Mr Bond is hopeful that the industry willbe able to improve its profile in a way thatis beneficial to everyone.

“The effectiveness of a lot of these meas-ures depends upon the price of fuel oil – themore the price of fuel goes up, the morepeople will look at saving it,” he said. “Butwe should be thinking now about the envi-ronment and not just the price.”

“Measuring efficiencies is the big prob-lem we face right now, and we need tofind solutions. If we apply ten of the meas-ures I’ve discussed on a ship’s voyage,which ones are contributing to which sav-ing? It’s very hard to determine that.”

“We need to prove that we’re makingthese savings. We can do it over a longperiod by showing basic fuel consumptionfigures, but on each voyage how are wegoing to show the efficiencies of trim opti-misation or weather routing? We’re look-ing for solutions there.”

Digital Ship


DS

Interorient’s evaluation showed that operating under ideal (or optimum) parameters could save over one hundred tons of fuel on a single voyage

ARCTIC BAY

Daily Bunker Consumption

07 apr 08 apr 09 apr 10 apr 11 apr 12 apr 13 apr 14 apr 15 apr 16 apr 17 apr 18 apr 19 apr 20 apr 21 apr 22 apr DISCHPORT

Actual

Ideal

40,0

35,0

30,0

25,0

20,0

15,0

10,0

5,0

0,0

p14-21:p15-25.qxd 18/02/2009 11:24 Page 8

McMurdo has appointedNordwest-Funk (NWF) to distributeits range of emergency distress beaconsand safety equipment to Germany’sleisure marine market. Existing McMurdodistributor HDW Hagenuk will con-tinue to support the commercial maritimemarkets in Germany.

Kongsberg Maritime has signed a5 year research and education agreementwith the Norwegian University of

Science and Technology (NTNU),to sponsor a professorship in marinecybernetics. Three PhD scholarships willbe connected to the professorship, whichthe university will be responsible for con-tinuing once the 5 year sponsorship agree-ment is completed.

A new Radio Holland service loca-tion in the United Kingdom has beenestablished. The office of ImtechMarine & Offshore in the UK willperform service activities for navigationand communication equipment, trading asRadio Holland.

Alphatron Marine has beenappointed as an officially approved LRITTest Centre by the Dutch Directorate-General for public works and water man-agement (IVW). The company also notesthat it has expanded into Germany byopening two branch offices, and has beenappointed as a distributor by IntellianTechnologies, for Belgium, Germanyand Singapore.

Collecte Localisation Satellites(CLS) has sold its first Iridium-based

Dynamic Licensing to be added to ECDIS systems

Chris Thorne, UKHO’s new man inSingapore, with UKHO CEO Mike Robinson

www.radiohollandgroup.comwww.mcmurdo.co.ukwww.alphatron.nlwww.intelliantech.comwww.ukho.gov.ukwww.km.kongsberg.comwww.iridium.com

www.jeppesen.com

Jeppesen Marine reports that a numberof ECDIS producers, including Telko AS,L-3 Navigation, Sperry Marine, TotemPlus and Rutter Technologies, are toimplement its Dynamic Licensing elec-tronic chart service as part of their sys-tems in 2009.

Dynamic Licensing allows ECDISusers to acquire chart licenses as theyneed them, and has been under trialwith a number of ECDIS companiessince 2007.

Given a SENC chart catalogue, ECDISusers need licenses to open up geographiccells of navigational information on ENCsas they sail, or when they plan the route.Dynamic Licensing automates the processof acquiring these licenses and simultane-ously employs subscription zones andcredit limits to control costs.

Online updating and reporting ensuresthat both users and back offices have anaccurate picture of the situation at sea.

Jeppesen says that several ECDIS pro-ducers are now seeking type approvalfrom the IMO for consoles featuring thisDynamic Licensing system.

"The electronic chart supplier who isable to bring navigators the kind of infor-mation and services that they want mostfrom an ECDIS will win an invaluable roleas a partner in maritime navigation," saidTor Svanes, managing director, JeppesenNorway.

"Jeppesen Marine has dedicated itself,through services like Dynamic Licensing,to provide both navigators and ECDISmanufacturers with the best solutions fornavigation and chart data management."

The SENC distribution formatemployed by the Dynamic Licensingservice is a system of ENC compression

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS


Nordwest-Funk will now distributeMcMurdo safety equipment in Germany

compliant Long Range Identification andTracking (LRIT) terminals in partnershipwith Iridium. Through the CLS-Iridiumpartnership, CLS also delivered corre-sponding LRIT Conformance TestCertificates on behalf of the French flagadministration.

The United KingdomHydrographic Office (UKHO) hasopened an office in Singapore, based in theBritish High Commission. The initiative isbacked by the Maritime and PortAuthority of Singapore and is staffed by amember of UKHO’s InternationalPartnering team, Chris Thorne.

www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com

Sperry Marine is to supply integratedbridge systems (IBS) for six fast patrolcraft being built by Austal Shipyards inAustralia for the government of Trinidadand Tobago, which will be installed andcommissioned by Electrotech AustraliaPty Ltd.

The IBS will be based on SperryMarine’s VisionMaster FT technology, andincludes radars, electronic chart displayand information systems (ECDIS), high-speed autopilot, heading and speed sen-sors, echosounder, DGPS receivers andvoyage data recorders (VDR).

The 30-metre patrol boats for Trinidadand Tobago will have top speeds of 40knots and a range of more than 1,000nautical miles, and are designed to support a number of different types ofmissions.

“The advanced features and capabili-ties of our VisionMaster FT navigationtechnology are ideally suited for therequirements of high-speed patrol craft,”said J Nolasco DaCunha, vice president ofSperry Marine.

“VisionMaster FT represents a majoradvance in marine navigation technolo-gy, replacing discrete stand-alone single-task workstations with integrated multi-function consoles, greatly enhancing situational awareness for the bridgewatch team."

In other news, Sperry Marine has alsocontributed a gift-in-kind of navigationinteractive courseware (ICW) to the USNaval Academy Foundation, to supportnavigation training programmes at theAcademy.

The company developed the ICW les-sons to provide end-user training for itsVoyage Management System (VMS) navi-gation software, which uses electroniccharting systems. The 16 ICW lessonscover all aspects of VMS operations.

The donation, valued at more than $3million, will be used by the Academy’sDepartment of Seamanship andNavigation to instruct midshipmen in theoperation of advanced electronic naviga-tion systems. Since 2001, Sperry has donat-ed more than $9 million in navigation soft-ware, services and training to theFoundation.

“This donation is intended to help theAcademy’s training programmes keeppace with the electronic navigation sys-tems throughout the US Navy fleet,” saidJohn DeMaso, vice president and generalmanager, naval and marine systems divi-sion, Sperry Marine.

“It will aid not only midshipmen class-room instruction but will also provide atraining refresher for navigation instruc-tors and faculty. The ICW and VMS soft-ware donated by (Sperry) will permit mid-shipmen to train on the equipment theywill likely encounter as they arrive for ini-tial sea duty assignments as newly com-missioned officers.”

Torfinn Kildal, Kongsberg Maritime CEO and Stig Berge, manager, NTNU, celebrate their sponsorship agreement

and decompression that was typeapproved by Det Norske Veritas in 2003.Thus, ECDIS systems that use DynamicLicensing will operate from SENC-basedC-MAP CM-93/3 format chart data (S-57/3 compliant), as opposed to native S-57 format data.

"Four project ships have been testingthis service now for over a year, and thefeedback has been very positive," saidPaul Elgar, product manager for OEMServices in Jeppesen Marine.

"We believe that each of the ECDIS pro-ducers we work with will implement thisin the coming year. The market hasbecome increasingly familiar with the con-cept, and they like it. Major savings is thedriver for this interest."

For a full list of ECDIS producers thathave implemented Jeppesen's DynamicLicensing, visit www.jeppesen.com/marine and click on the tab 'ECDIS/ECS'.

IBS deal for Sperry

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 1

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www.mcmurdo.co.uk

AMI Australia reports that it placed itslargest ever order for McMurdo's E5Smartfind 406 emergency distress equip-ment ahead of the recent switch off of the121.5 MHz homing frequency for emer-gency beacons.

The switch off of the Cospas-Sarsat 121.5MHz search and rescue system occurred onFebruary 1st, 2009, and McMurdo says thatrecent Australian marine legislation in thesector has served to increase demand foremergency locator equipment.

121.5 MHz radiobeacons were devel-oped in the mid-seventies for installation onaircraft, as Emergency Locator Transmitters(ELTs), but are found on board ship in theform of Emergency Position-IndicatingRadio Beacons (EPIRBs) or as PersonalLocator Beacons (PLBs).

These beacons transmit signals that arerelayed by Cospas-Sarsat low Earth orbitsearch and rescue satellites to the associat-ed ground receiving stations, whichprocess the signals to determine the bea-con location.

The alert, which consists of the comput-ed position of the transmitter, is thenrelayed, via a Mission Control Centre(MCC), to the appropriate Search andRescue Point Of Contact (SPOC) or RescueCoordination Centre (RCC).

Cospas-Sarsat notes that the local cover-age mode has proven very effective in pro-

viding quick alert and location data for thelarge number of existing 121.5 MHz distressbeacons. However, the transmission charac-teristics of these beacons do not permitsatellite on-board processing of the signal,therefore global coverage is not possible.

Furthermore, the system cannot general-ly distinguish between a 121.5 MHz dis-tress beacon transmission and any other121.5 MHz signal. This limitation results ina large number of false alerts in the form ofDoppler locations (which depend on therelative movement between the spacecraftand the beacon to fix position) which donot correspond to distress beacons.

McMurdo and other equipment manu-facturers have joined rescue services inattempts to raise public awareness of theswitch off over the past year, with thehope of avoiding last minute demand foralternative emergency equipment.

They warn that failure to replace anobsolete 121.5Mhz beacon could createsafety and rescue issues, should peopledecide to leave replacing these obsoleteEPIRBs and PLBs to the last minute orchoose to ignore the warnings.

Jim Fraser, AMI’s managing director,notes that: “Demand has been huge andlooks set to continue to increase for theforeseeable future.”

Demand for distress equipment soars ahead of switchover

Distress and safety equipment using the121.5 MHz frequency can now no longer

be detected by Cospas-Sarsat

Sonar system adds network capabilitywww.farsounder.com

FarSounder reports that it has added anew network connection capability to itsrange of 3D Forward Looking Sonars,allowing the equipment to connect direct-ly to the bridge.

The system includes a dedicated pro-cessing server and 'thin client' software tocreate the connection between the bridgenetwork and the FS-3 range of sonars.

Used on commercial and private shipsfor obstacle avoidance and shallow waternavigation, FarSounder FS-3 sonars arecapable of generating a complete 3-dimen-

sional image of the sea floor and in-waterobjects at navigationally significant rangeswith a single ping.

With a 60º to 90º field of view, under-water obstacles and various 'in water' tar-gets such as whales, floating containers orother similar hazards are detected, andshown on a 3-dimensional display.

“Today's modern integrated bridgesystems are more and more LAN based,and this is the next natural step in bring-ing the unique features of the FarSoundersonar to within easy reach of the naviga-tor,” said Ian Bowles, vice president salesand marketing with FarSounder.

For further details on the frequencyswitch over, see ‘�OAA details rescuesto mark frequency change’ page 27.

New software for chart managementwww.charente.co.uk

Lilley & Gillie and DPM have launchedBridgeDirect!, a fully automated onboardchart management system.

BridgeDirect! provides mariners with aweekly transmission of Notices toMariners and tracings to enable onboardcharts to be updated, and integrates withchart management systems to keep shipand shore records synchronised.

Users only receive those updates thattheir vessel requires, keeping transmissioncosts to a minimum. An audit trail recordsthat all corrections are received and applied.

The service is provided on a weeklysubscription basis, paid quarterly inadvance, and is being offered with a freetrial period for assessment. BridgeDirect!is also UKHO and MCA approved.

Glenn Heathcote, managing director ofboth Lilley & Gillie and DPM (UK) said:“Designed in collaboration with a leadingUK oil major and in response to customer-s’ requests, BridgeDirect! is the result oftwo and a half years of research and devel-opment at the company’s North Shields,Tyne and Wear, facilities."

“Although firmly aimed at the SOLASmarket, BridgeDirect! is suitable for anyvessel fitted with an internet connectionand a PC that requires up-to-date naviga-tional information.”

Dave Addy, Lilley & Gillie’s IT manag-er, added: “BridgeDirect! data is deliveredvia compressed e-mails. The software,which is provided free of charge, can beinstalled on any standard PC with a print-er, eliminating the need for costly hard-ware and expensive installation.”

www.transas.com

Transas has secured orders from morethan 50 of the marine pilots in the threeAlaska Pilot Regions for Navi-Sailor 4000Pilot PPU software.

The contracts include the supply of NS4000 Pilot software, Alaska TX-97Electronic Chart coverage and a productsoftware upgrade program.

The NS 4000 Pilot software was initial-ly developed in cooperation with the PilotServices of the Swedish MaritimeAuthorities, based on IMO type approvedNavi-Sailor 4000 ECDIS software.

Since the first development with theSMA, the software has undergone contin-uous improvements to meet the require-ments of pilots.

Functionality such as AIS connectivitythrough Bluetooth, a ship’s library, enhancedroute planning, user chart layers, dockingmode, manoeuvring predictor and a voicenote and logbook recording feature are allnow included in the standard software.

The Transas chart updating software,Chart Assistant, is also included in orderto keep the chart databases complete andup to date.

The NS 4000 Pilot PPU system can besupplied as software only for installationon a Pilot’s existing PC hardware, or as acomplete PPU including ruggedised lap-top PC’s, Bluetooth AIS Pilot PortRepeater and a handheld PDA.

PPU orders for Transas

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 3

Chilean Naval vessels.Each of the bridges includes a chart

table and navigational instruments toenable trainees to learn to effectively navi-gate the vessel using both traditional andmodern methods. Hands-on controlsinclude propulsion and steering equip-

ment, and an industrial joystick and track-ball system for course and RPM control.

The facilities also feature a meetingroom where the simulation scenario maybe displayed at the instructor’s request, inorder to carry out pre and post briefings ofeach exercise.

www.transas.com

CERONAV, the biggest maritime trainingcentre in the Black Sea region of Romania,has agreed a deal with Transas to extendits maritime simulator capabilities for thefourth time.

The latest contract includes extensionsof its existing navigational simulator(NTPro) and Engine Room Simulator(ERS), and integration systems to providejoint training functionality for differentgroups of sea specialists, namely bridgeand engine room teams.

Under the terms of the deal Transas hasextended the existing ERS simulator withTanker LCC software modules andequipped it with a new dedicated hard-ware solution called Alarm Light Column.

Two bridges will also be added to thetraining complex, all equipped with thelatest version of navigational simulatorsoftware and hardware.

These medium sized bridges are capa-ble of simulating the complete shipboardbridge operation situation, includingadvanced manoeuvring in restrictedwaterways. All installation works havealready been completed by specialistsfrom Transas Black Sea.

Project leader Evgeny Drumachik com-mented: “Now CERONAV has the poten-tial to conduct a unique course – Bridge

Digital Ship

Digital Ship Ship March 2009 page 25

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CERONAV extends simulator facilities team and engine department personneleducation and training (according to IMOand STCW’95 requirements and recom-mendations).”

“We’re very proud to be able to offerintegrated functionality, consisting ofdirect remote engine control from thebridge, Engine Control Room (ECR) con-trol at the order of the bridge, and anextensive data exchange between simula-tors.”

In other news, Transas reports that ithas also installed an NT-PRO 4000Navigation Simulator at the ChileanNavy’s Naval School.

The installed simulator includes fivenavigation modules allowing the simulta-neous training of up to twenty-five cadetsin navigation and tactical manoeuvres,and in the use of ECDIS and ARPA/Radarsystems, in real time.

An instructor room has also beenincluded in the delivery, whereby fivenavigation bridges may be controlled,supported and viewed using instructionalsoftware tools and a remotely operatedcamera system.

The instructor has a range of interac-tive capabilities available to adjust exer-cise parameters, to check and confirmtrainee actions on equipment that hastechnological components similar tothose likely to be encountered aboard

CERONAV’s equipment will be upgraded to provide improved training for bridge and engine room teams

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 4

www.tidelandsignal.ltd.uk

Tideland Signal has releaseda CD providing an illustrat-ed guide to aids to marinenavigation (AtoN), togetherwith sections on technicalbackground, standards, cer-tification and deployment.

The CD incorporates fiveseparate sections: certification,Tideland data sheets, IALA(the International Associationof Lighthouse Authorities)guidelines and recommenda-tions, range tables, technicalnotes and a video demonstrat-ing Tideland's 55 metre opticlight tunnel.

The IALA section offers apractical explanation for theuse of lanterns, buoys andother aids in the world's twonavigational regions, RegionA and Region B.

The technical notes givemore detailed guidance oneach of the different types ofaid to navigation, includingLED as well as incandescentlights, flasher equipment,buoys and their moorings,radar beacons, remote moni-toring/control and AIS (auto-matic identification systems).



Transas launches LRIT testing systemwww.transas.com

Transas, in co-operation with Skywave,reports that it has built a new dedicatedsystem exclusively for Long RangeIdentification and Tracking (LRIT), based

on the IsatM2M network service. Transas says that it is one of the first

testing ASPs (authorised service provider)to perform conformance tests on theIsatM2M network with the LRIT onboardterminal Skywave 800LRIT.

The Skywave DMR-800LRIT dedicatedhardware unit will be exclusively regis-tered on the new system, allowing onlyLRIT recognised ASPs or LRIT Data CentreManagers appointed by their Flag to regis-ter and control equipment on the system.

IsatM2M is an enhanced operatingmode of Skywave's Inmarsat D+ service,with the DMR-800 series representing thelatest development in the technology.

The new system meets all of theInternational Maritime Organization (IMO)LRIT specifications with respect to data con-tent, data frequency and quality of service.

Absolute Maritime Tracking Services(AMTS), ASP to the Panamaregistry and provider of itsNational Data Centre (NDC),has also said it intends tosupport the SkyWave DMR-800LRIT terminal for use inLRIT.

In other news, Transasreports that has also beenappointed as an LRIT ASPfor Spain, one of 30 govern-mental appointments it cur-rently holds for the testing ofshipborne LRIT equipment.

A guide to navigational aids,from Tideland

Navigation CDfrom Tideland

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 5


NOAA details rescues to mark frequency change

Digital Ship

www.ukho.gov.uk

The United Kingdom HydrographicOffice (UKHO) has reached a licensingagreement with the Japan HydrographicAssociation (JHA) for the distribution ofelectronic navigational charts (ENC)through the Admiralty Vector ChartService (AVCS).

Under the new agreement, customerswill now be able to access individualENCs for the Malacca and SingaporeStraits for periods of six or 12 months.

The UKHO currently has license todistribute ENCs for the area throughAVCS as a group and in managed folios.In combination with other data providedby UKHO's international partnerHydrographic Offices in the region, theMalacca and Singapore Straits ENCs pro-vide full comprehensive coverage of theStraits.

This latest partnership builds on theinitial partnership agreement reached inMarch 2006 which gave the UKHO rightsto distribute Japanese and Malacca and

Singapore Straits ENCs. JHA official datacomprises a significant component ofAVCS coverage in the Far East.

Speaking on behalf of the UKHO, UKNational Hydrographer Rear Admiral IanMoncrieff said: "This extension to ourexisting bilateral arrangement with JapanHydrographic Association underlines thespirit of co-operation betweenHydrographic Offices in improving ouroffering to seagoers and particularly thecollective commitment throughout theIHO to the aim of global ENC coverage."

"The UKHO will continue to make acontribution to this aim by working withhydrographic offices across the world tomeet the growing demand for safe, com-pliant navigational data, delivered in anoptimal format. Seagoers have a right toexpect this from us."

Shinichi Kikuchi, head of the interna-tional affairs office of the JHA, said: "I amdelighted to announce this latest amend-ment to our current partnership whichwill bring flexible licensing to marinerstransiting through the Straits."

www.noaa.gov

NOAA, the US National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, has report-ed that its search and rescue satellites werekey factors in the rescues of 283 peoplethroughout the United States and its sur-rounding waters in 2008, and remindsthose in the industry that the frequencyused for detection by those satellites haschanged as of February 1st.

NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostation-ary satellites, along with Russia’s Cospasspacecraft, are part of the internationalSearch and Rescue Satellite AidedTracking system, called COSPAS-SARSAT.

This system uses a network of satellitesto quickly detect and locate distress sig-nals from emergency beacons on boardvessels and from personal locator beacons.

When a satellite finds the location of adistress signal, the information is relayed tothe SARSAT Mission Control Centre atNOAA’s Satellite Operations Facility inSuitland, Maryland. From there, it is sent toa Rescue Coordination Centre, operated bythe US Coast Guard for maritime rescues.

“With every rescue made, a tragedy

was avoided,” said Mary E Kicza, assis-tant administrator for NOAA Satellite andInformation Service.

“Each year NOAA satellites show theirversatility by helping us forecast theweather, learn more about our environ-ment and contribute to these life savingrescues.”

Starting on February 1, 2009, NOAAsatellites only receive signals from 406MHz frequency beacons. Older emer-gency beacons, operating on the 121.5 and243 MHz frequencies, will no longer bedetected by SARSAT.

Signals from the 406 MHz beacons canbe detected instantly, are more accurate,and offer global coverage.

“It’s vital that anyone with the old 121.5MHz beacon make the switch to 406 MHzbeacons immediately so their distress sig-nals can be heard,” said Chris O’Connors,programme manager for NOAA SARSAT.

“Plans for this changeover started in 2000 and we want everyone that relies on these devices to have the properequipment.”

Now in its 27th year, COSPAS-SARSAThas been credited with supporting morethan 24,000 rescues worldwide.

www.transpondertech.se

Saab TransponderTech has been awardeda contract to supply a coastal AutomaticIdentification System (AIS) network forthe east coast of the Malaysian peninsula,which will also include the integration ofall AIS systems in the country.

The contract will be completed in col-laboration with Saab’s Malaysian partner,Maicons Technology.

Saab had earlier been contracted to sup-ply the AIS coastal network for the westcoast of the Malaysian peninsula, includ-ing the Straits of Malacca, and in Sarawak.That contract has recently been completedand provides a fully integrated AIS-basedmonitoring and control system with com-plete coverage of the entire Malaysiancoastline, stretching over 1,200 nauticalmiles from east to west.

The Malaysian AIS system is based onSaab’s CoastWatch AIS monitoring andcontrol system, which combines all of thesurveillance stations into an integratednetwork and is already in use in a dozencountries around the world.

“With these extensions and upgrades ofthe system, the maritime authorities ofMalaysia will have a state-of-the-art sys-tem for monitoring and managing thehigh density of vessel traffic transiting thecountry’s coastal waterways, includingthe Straits of Malacca,” said GunnarMangs, vice president, sales and market-ing, Saab TransponderTech.

“The system will give the Malaysiangovernment full centralised access todata from the AIS base stations aroundthe coastline, making an important contribution to national security andmarine safety.”

UKHO agreement with Japan

Saab to provide Malaysian AIS network

Yoshinori Asami, president of the Japan Hydrographic Association, marks the new agreement with UK National Hydrographer Rear Admiral Ian Moncrieff

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 6

www.nautinst.org/publications

The Nautical Institute has launched a newpublication which aims to aid maritimeorganisations through the transition fromnavigating with paper charts to navigatingwith ECDIS.

'From Paper Charts to EDIS – APractical Voyage Plan', by Captain HarryGale FNI, technical manager at TheNautical Institute, was presented at theInternational Maritime Organization’sSub-Committee on Standards of Trainingand Watchkeeping (STW).

The paper includes contributions fromserving seafarers with ECDIS experiencewho give their views on its operation andwho help to contribute to the knowledge ofthe practical operation of all aspects ofshipping through The Nautical Institute’sSea Going Correspondence Group (SGCG).

“The ECDIS concept is a total changefrom using paper charts and the transi-tion from paper charts to electronic chartswill pose a challenge for the industry,particularly for those who have no cur-rent experience of electronic charts,” saidCaptain Gale.

“Important bridge procedures are sig-nificantly affected, and these require care-ful analysis and consideration if ECDISassisted groundings are to be avoided.”

He continued: “Now that IMO hasapproved a timetable for the mandatorycarriage of ECDIS, we can expect papercharts to be phased out on most ships due totheir high purchase and maintenance costs."

The Nautical Institute’s research hasshown that those using electronic chartsconsider the positive aspects of ECDIS aseasier voyage planning, simpler chart cor-rection, continuous monitoring of depthsafety contours and soundings, and readi-ly available information when approach-ing busy ports or navigational areas.

However, they also identified areasmariners should be aware of when navi-gating using ECDIS, such as too muchinformation on the screen being distract-ing, sub menus being very complex, thesize of chart displayed on the screen mon-

itor being very much reduced comparedwith the paper chart, some symbols beingopen to misinterpretation due to unfamil-iarity, and automatic position plottingleading to complacency.

“Electronic charts will reduce the work-load for navigational officers when com-pared to using paper charts,” CaptainGale said. “Voyage planning, route moni-toring and positioning will be performedfaster than with paper charts. Automaticupdating of electronic charts will relieveofficers of the tedious job of correctingcharts and eliminate the risk of errorswhen making these changes."

“The reduction in workload must betaken into account when implementingoperational procedures. Navigating offi-cers must be alert and engaged in theprocess of ECDIS navigation as if they aredistracted or complacent accidents couldhappen.”

“All of this technology will be of very lit-tle benefit in enhancing navigational safetyif the watchkeeping officer is not fullytrained and properly qualified in its use.”


NI’s new publication aims to assistcompanies managing the transition from

paper based charts to ECDIS

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION

www.mcmurdo.co.uk

McMurdo has launched its new FASTFIND Satellite Personal Location Beacon(PLB) range, a compact and waterproof406 MHz emergency location beacon.

FAST FIND weighs 150g, with dimen-sions of 34mm x 47mm x 106mm and canbe used in most remote locations aroundthe world.

It operates on the global COSPASSARSAT 406MHz search and rescue satel-lite communication system, which is sup-ported by international government searchand rescue authorities around the world.

The system is subscription free anddoes not rely on commercial call centres.The FAST FIND must be registered withNOAA (the US National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration) by the userat the time of purchase.

There are two models in the range, theFAST FIND 200 and the FAST FIND 210.The 210 has integral 50-channel GPS foradditional accuracy in location.

All models transmit two signals simul-taneously, one to the subscription freeglobal 406 MHz satellite system and theother (121.5MHz) a homing signaldesigned to speed up the local recoveryresponse process.

Once activated, the beacon's signals willcontinue to transmit for at least 24 hours, ata 5 watt output, and are intended to workin any sea or weather conditions. The sys-tem also includes an SOS LED flash lightfacility which is manually activated.

FAST FIND will operate in tempera-tures down to -20°c and its integral battery has a user storage life of 5 years.The beacons cost approximately $300.00plus tax.

www.transcore.com

A hand-held reader developed byTransCore, in conjunction with DAPTechnologies and CoreStreet, has receivedUS Transportation SecurityAdministration (TSA) authorisation foruse in the security clearance of personnelaccessing US ports under theTransportation Worker IdentificationCredential (TWIC) programme.

The reader has been confirmed by thecompanies as having qualified throughthe TSA’s Initial Capabilities Evaluation(ICE) process, with the included softwaresystem also being the only package thatmeets the Federal Information ProcessingStandard (FIPS) 201-1 for personal identi-ty verification.

Under the US Maritime TransportationSecurity Act (MTSA) of 2002, all individu-als requesting unescorted access to enter asecure area like a port must present a

transportation security card – now called aTWIC card – which includes an individ-ual’s identity, biometric characteristics,and status.

The TWIC programme, administeredby TSA and the US Coast Guard, appliesto over one million merchant mariners,port facility employees, longshoremenand truck drivers, who will require aTWIC credential for unescorted access tosecure areas of maritime facilities and ves-sels regulated by MTSA.

Scott Brosi, TransCore’s vice president,secure facilities, said: “The governmenthas spent a lot of time on the TWIC cards,including their security and deployment.It now needs readers for the 500,000-plusTWIC cards that have been issued to beoperable for security clearance purposes.”

The TransCore TWIC hand-held readerscan provide immediate validation of identi-ty and attributes, and will work even inpower outages or network downtime.

New locator beacons from McMurdo

NI releases ECDIS transition document

McMurdo’s new personal locator beacons are designed for use with the updated globalsatellite search and rescue frequency of 406 MHz

TWIC hand-held reader approved

Final acceptance for Hydrographic Database Project

www.ukho.gov.uk

Project team members EDS, CARIS andLSC Group have announced the finalacceptance by the United KingdomHydrographic Office (UKHO) of theHydrographic Database (HDB) Project.

Through the HDB Project, EDS andCARIS have delivered workflow manage-ment technologies from EDS together withCARIS Bathy DataBASE and CARISHydrographic Production Database(HPD) software to manage and createpaper and electronic charts.

This combined solution will allow mul-tiple chart products to be created andupdated from a centrally managed source.Data is stored in a common database andshared by different types of charts, pro-viding a higher degree of consistency.

“I have been delighted with the posi-tive way the UKHO, EDS, CARIS and LSCproject teams have worked together overseveral years to achieve a significant out-come. I believe that the CARIS HPD prod-uct lies at the heart of this success,” saidSimon Baldwin, UKHO project manager.

Sara Cockburn, manager of the specialprojects group at CARIS, also noted: “Thesuccessful acceptance of the system con-cludes an important development pro-gramme for our team.”

“We are very proud of this outcome andare delighted with the success of the systemas a whole. It allows CARIS to continue todemonstrate its competence and reliabilityas a partner, not only in the delivery of pro-duction-ready solutions, but in the imple-mentation of systems delivered for spe-cialised hydrographic processes.”

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 7

Ship management company Uniteam Marine has been looking to find ways to get the very best out of its new breed oftrainee seafarers, to prepare them for life onboard its fleet of vessels – and has turned to the latest technology for

answers. Thomas Reppenhagen of Uniteam Marine told Digital Ship about the future of training technology

The future of training technology

TT echnology has become a key factorin the modern training programmefor the latest generation of mer-

chant seafarers. Crew complements onboard are being

reduced as far as is possible, while vesselsare moving faster and companies aresqueezing the maximum out of their assetsby pushing turnaround times down to theabsolute minimum.

In this environment, finding time todedicate to the education and professionaldevelopment of those onboard in the earlystages of their careers can be exceedinglydifficult.

Increasing the effectiveness of the train-ing that can be done on shore before theseafarer is thrust headfirst into the opera-tion of the vessel is becoming a key factorin making sure that those onboard are aswell-prepared as possible to face the tasksput in front of them. And currently, thebest way to do that is through the use ofsimulation technology.

Uniteam Marine, based in Cyprus, isone company that has been convinced bythe value that training technology can addin the management of fleet manning levels.

Uniteam is a ship management compa-ny looking after a fleet of around 120ships, mostly belonging to German own-

ers, and focusing on dry-tonnage, mainlycontainer vessels (up to 8400 TEU) andbulk carriers. The company is involved inall aspects of ship management, doingtechnical management to a small extent,but its main focus is in crew management.

Like many in the industry, Uniteam haslooked to Asia as a source of potential sea-farers, and begun an investment pro-gramme in the region that it hopes willbreed a highly competent stream of com-petent and capable mariners, explainsThomas Reppenhagen, fleet personneldirector for Uniteam Marine.

“Our main recruitment source isMyanmar where we operate our ownTraining Facilities at Yangon,” he told us.

“With over 2,000 Myanmar seamenonboard and an active pool of more than3,000 seafarers, Uniteam Marine is thebiggest single employer of Myanmar crew.”

“We’re one of the few companies to havestarted early in Myanmar to recruit seafar-ers, we have our own training facilities anda big administration office there.”

InvestmentWith this commitment to running an exten-sive training programme in Myanmar,Uniteam decided that it would need toinvest in updated technology and systems

to improve the competence and capabilitiesof the seafarers it would produce.

“The governmental training centres inMyanmar are not very highly developedyet, so we recognised that we’d need toinvest as a company ourselves in the coun-try and upgrade the facilities there,” saidMr Reppenhagen.

This included the installation of the lat-est in simulation technology, covering arange of different functions that would berequired for vessel operation.

“We’re providing company-specificsimulator training on the ship simulator,and also on our engine simulator, wherewe can train crews in realistic environ-ments,” Mr Reppenhagen told us.

“Most of our trainers come from withinthe fleet, we’ve had captains and chiefengineers who’ve worked with our com-pany before who went for additionalinstructor courses and who are now pro-viding training for our seafarers in ourown training centre.”

The training centre features a part-taskEngine Room Simulator, where routineprocedures and engine room watch keep-ing scenarios can be created for training,with options to create more than 100 dif-ferent kinds of faults which need to beidentified and followed with correctiveaction by the students.

“We have been working together with asoftware development company fromIndia called ARI on our part-task engineroom simulator, and they have developedall of the software for us,” said MrReppenhagen.

“Whenever we get some input from ourtechnical superintendents visiting theships, if they see there are some deficien-cies and additional training needs thesecan be addressed in the simulator.”

ECDIS (electronic chart display infor-mation system) simulators are alsoinstalled at the facility, ahead of themandatory carriage requirement for the

technology starting from 2012.“We have several ECDIS simulators,

nine of them altogether, which we can runeither individually or in combined train-ing sessions where you have individualships competing against each other,” saidMr Reppenhagen.

“At the same time the ECDIS trainingcentre can also be used as an ARPA (auto-matic radar plotting aid) training centre.”

“The latest addition to our training cen-tre is a crane simulator where you can trainthe operators in handling hatch covers,shifting pontoons, heavy lift cargos, any-thing that has to do with crane operation.”

In addition to the simulator technologythat Uniteam has invested in, the compa-ny has also improved the facilities avail-able for language training, through the useof computer based training.

“An important part of our training inYangon is English training, as we all knowshipping is international and the languagespoken onboard is usually English,” saidMr Reppenhagen.

“We are working together withMarlin’s on this, providing English train-ing mainly on CBT with tests of spokenEnglish compulsory for all seamen before


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Digital Ship

Uniteam has invested in a range of company specific simulators to train its pool of seafarers at its Myanmar facility

Virtual Reality training is one of the newtechnologies that Uniteam is looking at

to prepare its future seafarers in the best way possible

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 8

they join the company. We conduct about2,000 tests per year in the training centre.”

Technology evolutionMr Reppenhagen and Uniteam have beenpleased with the developments at theMyanmar training facility so far, and havesome exciting plans for further improve-ments in the future.

“We plan to expand our training facili-ties further, and we’d especially like toinvest further in simulators,” he said.

“The next addition to our training cen-

tre will be a 360° full mission ship simula-tor, and we will have three part task navi-gation simulator cabins.”

“We will add additional ARPA, ECDISand GMDSS simulators and would like toinvest in a full mission engine room simu-lator as well. We will upgrade our safetytraining by the addition of fire fightingfacilities, and will add an electronics lab.”

Mr Reppenhagen has also beenexploring the potential of next-genera-tion technologies and how they might beapplied to seafarer training.

“Something we are looking at in themid-term future is training in VirtualReality,” he told us.

“It’s a bit futuristic, but this is some-thing we are looking at. There’s a compa-ny based in Austria that has started devel-oping things like that.”

In the system that Mr Reppenhagen hasbeen examining, the trainee stands on topof a platform and wears a head mounteddisplay, which enables him to perceive thevirtual world visually and acoustically.

Using a 3D joystick and a tracking sys-tem, the Virtual Reality simulator is able todetect the position and orientation of thehead and hand, allowing the trainee tomove around freely, for example througha virtual engine room, and then to exam-ine or pick up objects and operate virtualinstruments.

“He can move his head or maybe walkand the system will realise what he’sdoing, the computer will process it andwill give him the appropriate picture tooperate valves or escape from a dangeroussituation,” said Mr Reppenhagen.

“Such a technique can be useful for apre-joining familiarisation (e.g. escaperoutes, easy orientation in a new environ-ment), and so on.”

The system would be completely cus-tomisable, so as to represent the actualreality of the particular ship where thecompany would like the seafarer to havetheir training.

“You can create a virtual environment,a virtual reality, and have people moving

through it, moving through rooms andfinding escape ways and even handlingequipment,” said Mr Reppenhagen.

“It’s a quite interesting idea, wethought, and we will pursue it further.”

EvaluationHaving invested heavily in training tech-nology for its pool of seafarers, Uniteamhas also looked at ways of applying ITsystems to its crew evaluation set-up, tomake sure that training is applied in theright way for the right people, and thatthe organisation has a complete set ofinformation about the performance of itsmariners.

“I still remember when I was at sea,people had to fill in paper forms saying‘the guy’s good’ or ‘the guy’s bad’ andthese were sent quarterly to the office,”said Mr Reppenhagen.

“The secretary would read it, hopeful-ly, and then re-type it into the computerand then the superintendent would hope-fully look into it before he re-employs theguy, and find out what the problem is.”

“We have automated this a little bit,currently in our system the fitness reportsare sent in electronic format.”

This electronic format specifies a num-ber of pieces of information about thecrew member in question that must bekept in the company database, to monitorand measure changes in performance andlevels of competence over time.

Uniteam’s software systems can usethis information to keep track of where a



More than 100 different faults can be programmed into the engine room simulator,testing trainees on a wide range of tasks

p22-40:p26-32.qxd 18/02/2009 11:59 Page 9

particular crew member might benefitfrom training in a particular field, orwhether any other course of action shouldbe suggested.

“We have a certain form where themasters, chief officers, or chief engineersenter the data of each seafarer onboard,and we collect the information,” said MrReppenhagen.

“We have eleven pre-defined categories where theseafarer has to be evaluated.There is a shipboard estima-tion on the overall perform-ance of the seaman, you cangive a recommendation forre-employment or promo-tion. Confirmation must alsobe made that deficiencies thathave been noted have beendiscussed with the seafarer.”

“There is a section whereyou can add any additionalremarks, from the directsupervisor or master of theship, and you can writedown specific training needswhich have been identified.”

While this system hasautomated the evaluationprocess to some extent, MrReppenhagen is keen to seethis developed even furtherin the future, including inte-gration with the communica-tions system to make thetransmission of informationeven easier.

“In the future we plan tohave this processing substan-tially automated, meaningthat it won’t have to be sentby mail on a CD or disk butthe information will go auto-matically from the ship to theoffice and automatically gointo the central crewing data-base,” he said.

“The master or the depart-ment head will get an auto-matic reminder that thequarter is over and they haveto submit these reports, andhe will be provided with theform to complete.”

“There will be automaticidentification of every seafar-er, every seafarer in our com-pany has a personal numberand this form will automati-cally identify the seafarerand put them into the rightplace in the crewing data-base. Transmission will bedone automatically, once allof the forms are completed.”

The ultimate goal of thefully-integrated evaluationsystem Mr Reppenhagen hasenvisioned would be to haveall of the data availablethrough an online portal, andaccessible by all companystakeholders that need to keeptrack of crew performance.

“The final stage will be tohave a fully integrated web-based solution, so, for exam-ple, a superintendent from aclient who has visited a ship

will have access to the database and canenter his own remarks on the performanceof a particular crew member into the sys-tem, so that we have fast access to suchinformation,” he said.

“The information can also be statistical-ly evaluated, if I want to see how manychief officers we have in the fleet whohave received a recommendation for pro-

motion to master, then the system can giveyou a list of guys who have performedwell at the click of a button.”

“You can choose a seafarer and quicklysee all of the vessels he has served on, theranks, the periods of evaluation, and hismarks in the eleven categories andwhether they are improving or deteriorat-ing over that time.”

With these and other exciting ideasabout the application of technology to sea-farer training in the pipeline, Uniteam’strainee’s in Myanmar can look forward topartaking in some interesting pro-grammes over the coming years.

If they prove successful perhaps VirtualReality will become the new trend in mar-itime training simulation.


Digital Ship

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Digital Ship

AA s we all know, despite constantadvances over the last fewdecades, technology cannot run a

vessel by itself. Whether that is a desirableend goal or not is a topic that can be debat-ed, but for the foreseeable future technolo-gy will continue to be a tool that will aidcrews and companies in safely and effi-ciently bringing a ship from port A to portB rather than an overarching control sys-tem of its own.

The human factor is therefore a keycomponent aboard the Digital Ship, a fac-tor that is often overlooked to a greatextent as companies decide on what sys-tems they need to run their vessels.

So does this make humans the strong orthe weak link in a Digital Ship? Dr NikosFrydas, director of studies at KCL Groupin Greece, suggests that the answer to thisquestion will depend on how the compa-ny organises itself and its technologies,and the attitude of the IT users.

“Technology onboard changes the way

the ship operates, and can create new rolesonboard,” he told us.

“It helps to do things faster, but whenwe operate faster it easier to make a mis-take, like driving a car very fast. We takeless time to get from point to point but therisk of an accident increases.”

“Also, the faster we go the more skilledand competent we must be. The driver of the very fast car has to be a better driv-er. So the Digital Ship also demandsimproved crew selection, more and bettertraining, a wider knowledge spectrum,better managerial skills and a safety culture.”

Improved telecommunications hasbeen the driver for many global techno-logical advances in recent years, withinternet, e-mail and mobile phones revolutionising the way that companiesdo business.

Telecoms has also been the mainenabling technology when it comes to shipping and IT, connecting

people onboard with the rest of the organisation and shoreside systems aswell as providing a flow of data used toimprove efficiency.

However, the remote nature of seago-ing vessels has meant that maritime IT is a more complex version of its shore-based cousin.

“Today we have great demand forbandwidth, so only high frequencies canbe used to reach the ship, and the onlyway to do this is to use a satellite high inthe sky,” said Dr Frydas. “The problemwith satellites is that they are expensive,expensive to manufacture, expensive tolaunch, and consequently they offerglobal bandwidth but at a very muchhigher cost.”

“Nevertheless, telecommunications hasmanaged to offer much better servicesaboard the ship, with telephony and con-necting to the internet, though the volumehas to be restricted because of the cost.Ships can also connect to the company

Human error is a variable that often proves almost impossible to remove from the maritime safety formula. How can technology and vessel crews work together to maximise safety?

Dr Nikos Frydas, of the KCL Group, told us about the human factor aboard the Digital Ship

The human factor and the Digital Ship

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intranet, though again this is costly.”“IT systems are similar on ship to on

shore, but you have to be cautious aboutthe use of bandwidth, and this can betricky because application developerstoday don’t have those bandwidth consid-erations in mind. For shipping, IT applica-tions have to be very economical withbandwidth.”

HazardousTelecommunications in the maritime sec-tor carry the double burden of being bothcritical to the safety and the sanity ofthose on board – as the famous quote bySamuel Johnson goes, “being in a ship isbeing in a jail, with the chance of beingdrowned.”

Satellite communications allow crew

members to somewhat lessen the solitudeof their confinement onboard through theavailability of voice calls, e-mail and evenGSM connectivity in the modern era, how-ever safety is still an overriding concernwhen it comes to putting humans andtechnology together.

“We have to take special care withonboard mission critical systems, as there

are, to an extent, unknown hazardsonboard – ‘unknown’ compared to whatwe know about shore-based systems,”said Dr Frydas.

“Vessel operation is based on a com-plex mix of human and machine control.Vessel control is disturbed by the physicalenvironment, the human operator’s indi-vidual characteristics, and interaction with

other humans, to mentionjust a few.”

Dr Frydas describes theonboard working environ-ment as an interconnectedsystem, with a main ‘loop’of connections that controlsthe ship – involving the ves-sel and the information dis-plays, and the operatorfunctioning through hissenses, perception, analysis,decisions and controlactions.

“In this loop we see hard-ware, like the equipment, wesee software, the applica-tions and procedures, we seethe environment on the ship,and we see the human him-self and the other humansonboard, interconnected andcooperating to affect opera-tion,” he said.

“We have to link all ofthese factors together, like apuzzle, in what is called theSHEL model (Software,Hardware, Environment andLiveware, or people). Thesehave to closely linked togeth-er somehow. Together theyneed to follow a purpose,which is to complete the ves-sel’s mission.”

“In most incidents thathave been reported thedisharmony among some ofthese SHEL elements hasbeen the cause of the inci-dents. It could be lack ofcommunication or leader-ship skills, lack of technicalskills, disrespect or misinter-pretation of regulations, orvery difficult environmentalconditions.”

Dr Frydas believes thatshipping companies need topay more attention to theconstruction of this overallman and machine system,and that the choice of tech-nology should suit the crewsonboard, rather than theother way round.

“When it comes tohumans and technology wehave two options – either wecomplement the humanswith adapted technologicaldevices, or technologydecides what is left for thehumans to adapt to,” he said.

“I believe the first optionis the right one. Humansmust be in control. We’regood at executing tasks in avariety of ways, learningfrom experience, inventingnew strategies for problem



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solving, being flexible, seeing alternativesand analysing. We can compare options,be creative and show foresight.”

“However, we are also unpredictable,and even the best of us can make the worstmistakes sometimes. And these mistakessometimes end up in accidents.”

To make up for some of our humanshortcomings we can use technology tosupplement our own skills, to performduties where humans are not so effective.However, the technology is still unable tooperate completely independent ofhumans, and so the human factor muststill be considered.

“Technology is good at being accurate,doing repetitive tasks and not being

fatigued or bored, we can use deviceswhen the environment is very risky, andthey are very strong when they need tobe,” said Dr Frydas.

“But technical devices are designed and

constructed by humans, with specifica-tions given by humans. They are subject towear and aging and their maintenancemust be decided and done by humans.Their performance is supervised byhumans. So again, the human factor comesinto play.”

Dr Frydas is also wary that the intro-duction of technology must not beallowed to narrow the mariner’s task orerode the mariner’s need to involve hisown human capacities, or he believes thatthe probability of human error willincrease.

“We function better when most of ourcapacities are needed, we become alert,”he said.

“Skill, attention and alertness is whatwe need. Skill is affected by education andtraining, and aptitude and experience.Attention is affected by motivation, workload and distractions. There are a numberof things that affect alertness, stress, restfatigue, health, and so on.”

“When we want to improve human

performance we have to see what we cando about the factors that affect it.”

Human errorRecognising and dealing with the exis-tence of human error should be a funda-mental requirement when designing atechnology based system to be usedonboard ship, said Dr Frydas.

“Human error is when a human can notrise to the demands of the environment,”he told us.

“According to the statistics puttogether by those who pay when acci-dents occur (i.e. insurance statistics),human error is behind 50 to 80 per centof accidents.”

“US Coast Guard statistics also findthat human error has a very high per-centage involvement in accidents. All of the statistics point to a significantnumber of accidents being caused byhuman error.”

Dealing with this problem involves anunderstanding of why people make mis-

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Digital Ship

USCG studies, among others, have cited the human factor as the number one cause of vessel accidents

“When it comes to humans and technology we have two options – either we complement the humans with adapted technological devices,

or technology decides what is left for the humans to adapt to”- Dr Nikos Frydas, KCL Group

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takes, and whether or not these mistakescan be corrected or avoided.

“We have to contemplate why this hap-pens, why people who are very welltrained, who are experienced, who havesound judgement, still make mistakessometimes,” said Dr Frydas.

“I believe that this happens becausepeople are not properly selected for theirparticular jobs, and don’t always do avery good job. If I’m not good for that jobmaybe I’d be good for another job.”

“There are also people who tend to actunsafely, it’s in their character. They maybe good for the commercial department,but not good for steering a vessel. Peoplemaking these mistakes might lack skills –not technical skills, but other types ofskills like leadership skills or teamwork orcommunication or attitude.”

Dr Frydas also notes that mistakescome in many different forms, such asintentional or unintentional mistakes.

An intentional mistake would comewhere a crew member intended to per-form a particular action, which then con-tributed to an accident, possibly throughunexpected consequences. An uninten-tional mistake would be where the crewmember did not mean to perform anaction in the way that they did perform it.

“If it’s unintentional it may just be a slipor a lapse, where you forget to do some-thing you have done before,” said DrFrydas. “If it is intentional it could be amistake or a violation.”

“In the first two cases we have skill-based failures, and time can correct these,accelerated by training. The mistakes areknowledge mistakes, so weneed training and education tofill the gap in knowledge.”

“A violation is an attitudeproblem, here you need proper selection of the indi-vidual using, perhaps, psy-chometric tests, and work-shops that aim to alter the cul-ture or behaviour.”

Improving theinterface

Dr Frydas has some sugges-tions as to how the human-machine interface onboard thevessel might be improved.

“Onboard technology must

be sound and appropriate, must leavehumans in control, and must not isolatethe operator from the environment,” hetold us. “The operator must have a feelingof the environment in order to avoidbecoming complacent.”

“Technology must be seen as a risk-reducing measure, not only as a manningreducing opportunity, in order to be cost-effective. New technology creates hazardswhich must be identified, risks whichmust be analysed, and reduction measureswhich must be adopted.”

Dealing with the hazards created by the mixture of humans and machines must also involve contingency plans forwhen this system breaks down, whetherthe cause is on the human or the techno-logical side.

“When we have a ship which is digi-talised, which is based on technology, theship is, in effect, being supported by com-puters,” said Dr Frydas.

“This creates a delicate situationbecause computers depend on very deli-cate things like disks, chips, CPUs and soon, and can also be affected by bugs andviruses. And, of course, they need power.

The more the ship relies on this type oftechnology, the easier it is to end up witha problem if we don’t take care.”

“Technical hazards may become lessprobable with timely backups and propermaintenance, as well as IT training ofonboard personnel and careful selection ofITC providers.”

Dealing with the potential failure of thehumans onboard ship may prove a littletrickier and harder to pinpoint than deal-ing with the technical counterpart.

“There are hazards on the human side

where we have the possibility of technicaldevice misuse, or a refusal to use newtechnology because they don’t like it or it’sbeing imposed on them,” said Dr Frydas.

“There can be overloading and stress,with too many screens to watch, or anover-reliance on technology and technolo-gy-induced complacency.”

“Human hazards may become lessprobable with adequate ‘hands-on’ train-ing, education, proper manning levels (notnecessarily the minimum), and timely andappropriate change management.”

In support of the idea of technology-induced complacency Dr Frydas cites the

case of the grounding of the Panamanianpassenger ship Royal Majesty in 1995,where the investigation revealed that the‘probable cause of grounding was over-reliance on the automated features of theintegrated bridge system’.

“That was an accident which involvedGPS and other navigation equipment whichwas not connected properly with the satel-lite, so the display was false,” he said.

“The crew were just following the dis-play, they were not looking outside orcross checking with other navigation

equipment. They were over-reliant onthese information displays.”

This, Dr Frydas says, is the key point –making sure that the technology becomesan aid rather than a crutch, enhancing thehuman experience rather than taking over.

“The introduction of digital technolo-gies offers speed and convenience, but itdemands better training,” he said.

“It generates risks which must beassessed and addressed, and it demandsproper change management.”

Management of these changes is thekey to effective integration of the humanand the Digital Ship.


Digital Ship

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Technological aids to navigation have undoubtedly improved the safety of life at sea, and help to provideincreased situational awareness on modern bridges. However, to rely on this technology users must also be

aware of the potential for inaccuracies and the frequency of positional errors. Dr Andy Norris explainssome of the potential faults in modern navigation systems

Faulty navigation systems

TThese articles almost always concen-trate on the benefits of modern andevolving electronic navigational

equipment and systems. Unfortunately, attention is constantly

being drawn by seafarers to unreliable orfaulty installations, many of which remainan ongoing problem. To such seafarers theprospect of even greater reliance on elec-tronics is unwelcome.

That is not to say most ships have majorproblems. The vast majority have equip-ment that performs adequately well,matching expectations and current navi-gational practice.

Few of the complaints concern com-plete failures of equipment. Some yearsago this used to be a major problem butcurrent electronic design practices andcomponent reliability have helped greatlyto ensure that modern equipment onlyrarely fails completely.

Today’s problems can be more insidi-ous, as they can result in the incorrect dis-play of vital information and inconsisten-cies in operation. The user may have to beparticularly alert even to realise that thereis a problem.

The majority of persistent problemsgenerally come from three areas: equip-ment software design, system integrationand antenna installation.

Not surprisingly, with each generationof equipment software and integrationaspects become increasingly more com-plex. Simplification in the future is unlike-ly because the requirements are effectivelyled by the ever increasing demands ofpublic opinion on safety and the protec-tion of the environment.

It means that higher complexity in theseareas must be matched by more effectivedesign and support methodologies.

The inappropriate installation of anten-nas for shipborne systems can result instrange problems. Little care or expertknowledge is apparent on a surprisingnumber of installations, with the resultingproblems often being attributed to failuresin software or an integration issue.

All this means that equipment manufac-turers, ship builders, installers and serviceengineers continuously need to evolvetheir practices to ensure that the seafarerremains supported. Ship operators mustinsist on high standards of continued oper-ation for navigational equipment.

Equipment software andintegration

The effective design of equipment is clear-ly of fundamental importance. It is notpossible to test equipment for all possiblecircumstances of use, and so the designmethodology must be robust and built-inerror ‘trapping’ should check for inputs

and conditions that may confuse theequipment.

Unfortunately, type approval is notguaranteed to unearth all potential prob-lems. In particular, it cannot identifyissues arising from unsuitable integrationor antenna placement.

Many software and hardware settingshave to be configured by installation engi-neers. Have they been properly trained inthis, particularly when integrating equip-ment from a variety of manufacturers?

When problems occur, are service engi-neers sufficiently trained to rapidly diag-nose failures in such complex integratedenvironments? Also, do they have the right

tools at their disposal to be able to trackdown the causes of reported problems?

A recent real example was the case of arelatively new ship where there were inex-plicable alarms emanating from the highlyintegrated navigational equipment.

The fundamental reason behind thesealarms was unclear to the bridge staff. Itwas difficult even to determine how toacknowledge and effectively silence them.Many of the alarms were repeated on dif-ferent equipment but some could only beacknowledged at the prime source, whichwas not always obvious.

Service engineers can be flummoxedwhen confronted by these types of prob-lems, especially if they only occur at sea,apparently randomly. Is it a design fault,an equipment failure or an integrationproblem? In the meantime, the bridgeteam have no choice but to live with it.

There have been many reports of prob-lems with ECDIS installations. A goodproportion of these are associated withpoor training or familiarisation by usersbut others indicate strange faults or evendesign errors.

For instance, a system that takes eighthours to deal with the weekly updates isunacceptable but on some ships this is theapparent reality and service engineers donot seem able to resolve the problem.

Some ECDIS are prone to ‘crashing’,needing to be restarted, which can takemany valuable minutes, perhaps in a peri-od critical for navigation. Faith is soon lost

with such systems. It is certainly notacceptable in 2009 for a safety related sys-tem to experience frequent failures, how-ever temporary.

Antenna positioningIntermittent position irregularities comeup surprisingly often. The inaccurate posi-tion is used and displayed on various sys-tems and so, not surprisingly, consider-ably affects the navigation process.

AIS problems, especially when targetsare being displayed on radar and ECDIS,are not uncommon. It can be expected thatthe same problems exist on MKD-only sys-tems but perhaps they remain unnoticed.

Both position and AIS errors can com-monly be associated with poor antennainstallation. A service engineer may missthis or be reluctant to advise repositioningbecause it may require substantial andtherefore expensive work and, in the worstcase, may not actually solve the problem.

If a GPS antenna is mounted in a posi-tion where it does not have a clear view ofthe sky it is likely to suffer from two sepa-rate problems. The first is that the optimalsatellites to accurately determine positionmay be directly obscured by the ship’ssuperstructure.

This will increase the likelihood and size of a positional error because of the rise in HDOP (Horizontal DilutionOf Precision).

However, modern GPS receivers aremuch more sensitive than their predeces-sors and are therefore likely to be able tolock onto some obscured satellites becausethey can detect the signal reflected from apart of the ship’s superstructure or othernearby reflecting object.

Since position is estimated from theeffective path lengths between the satel-lites and the ship, these extra ‘hops’ intro-duce positional errors.

If the ship changes course the error effectswill alter, as different satellite becomesobscured, and the reported position willjump, perhaps in excess of 50 metres.

Many intermittent AIS problems arereported as the equipment suddenly los-ing all targets or that many targets areonly giving their MMSI and not theirname. Both these effects can be due toantenna installation problems.

If the signal quality is poor going intothe RF input of the AIS unit then all targetscan be lost, or it will be difficult to reliably

receive relatively infrequently broadcastdata from other ships, such as their name.

An AIS antenna needs a reasonablyclear view of all directions around the shipto acquire a strong signal but is also sus-ceptible to picking up interference fromother RF sources on the ship, includingthrough the use of an inadequately shield-ed cable.

Oil terminalsRapid resolution of navigation equip-ment problems is particularly important.However, ships visiting oil terminalspose a nightmare for service engineers asthere are prohibitions on radar, AIS andother RF transmitting systems operatingwithin them.

Therefore, if an engineer performs arepair on such systems it cannot always beeffectively tested.

Some terminals permit transmittingsystems to be turned on for a brief period,for testing purposes only, after loading ordischarging activities have been complet-ed. Others totally prohibit any testingunder transmitting conditions.

This means that service engineers haveeither a very short time to confirm the cor-rect operation of a failed unit or just haveto try their luck that it will work at sea.

There are therefore reports of vesselsleaving oil terminals with inadequatelyrepaired equipment – and this cycle can berepeated over a long period.

Is it really true that an AIS transmitting onlow power at 2.5 watts is a threat? (ISGOTTregulations specify 1 watt maximum). Hasthis risk ever been compared with the dan-gers of using an inadequately tested ship’ssystem after a repair at a terminal?

A radar operating at 25 kW peak poweris perhaps a more significant case but haseven this threat been positively and scien-tifically identified?

To effect real change in reliability andserviceability a major change in standardsis required. This is probably best effectedas part of IMO’s e-navigation programme.It would certainly aid the acceptance of e-navigation if real improvements in relia-bility can be properly demonstrated.

In addition, e-navigation could con-ceivably encourage the increased use ofremote diagnostics, which would assistservice engineers to achieve a rapid andeffective repair – even if problems remainin oil terminals.

Dr Andy �orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industryfor a number of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-technavigation companies but now he is working on broader issues within thenavigational world, providing both technical and business consultancy tothe industry, governmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]

Problems with AIS are unfortunately notuncommon (Photo: Ulf Larsen)

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Congratulations, Inmarsat! - Digital Ship

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