Cyber security on the maritime agenda - Digital Ship

BB IMCO, the InternationalChamber of Shipping (ICS),Intercargo and INTER-

TANKO have announced that theyare together developing standardsand guidelines to address the majorcyber security issues faced by theshipping industry.

The group, collectively called theRound Table of international ship-ping associations (RT), says it hasmade a submission to the IMO on thisissue outlining the steps it believesneed to be taken by the industry toaddress any vulnerabilities in com-puter based systems onboard ships.

“The vulnerabilities can be numer-ous and the threats imminent – thequestion of protection is a complexset of issues and not just about oper-ating a firewall on a ship or installingvirus scanning software on theonboard computers,” the group says.

“All of the major systems on amodern ship are controlled and mon-itored by software; these include themain engine, steering and navigationsystems, and the ballast water andcargo handling equipment.”

The RT has already begun work-ing with industry partners on a num-ber of complementary projects todevelop standards and guidelines toaddress the cyber security issues.

The group’s guidance to ship own-ers and operators includes advice onhow to minimise the risk of a cyber-attack through user access manage-ment, protect onboard systems,develop contingency plans and alsomanage incidents if they do occur.

The RT (through BIMCO) says it isalso already working with CIRM(Comité International Radio-Maritime) on the final phase of devel-

opment of a standard for the mainte-nance and update of programmableelectronic systems.

“The Round Table representingthe global shipping industry is takingcyber security seriously,” says AngusFrew, Secretary General of BIMCO.

“The standards under develop-ment are intended to enable equip-ment manufacturers, service person-nel, yards, owners and operators,

IN THIS ISSUE

June/July 2015

electronics and navigation

software

satcomsIridium ready for NEXT generation – 22

Inmarsat – a new man at the helm – 24Round Table Discussion : HTS and theevolution of maritime satcoms – 29

With panellists including:

Caterpillar moves toacquire ESRG – 49

European Parliament approves CO2reporting regulations – 54The HR challenges of managing aglobal workforce – 58

Cyber security on themaritime agenda

$12.5m e-Navigationproject underway – 62

Maritime IT at Nor-Shipping – 66

VDR – bridging the data gap – 70

As the uptake of digital technology and IP communications continues acrossthe shipping industry, a number of shipping associations have grouped

together to express their concern at the potential vulnerabilities being introduced into the maritime sector to cyber attacks

www.dualog.comON BOARD IP TRAFFIC CONTROL | POWERFUL WEB OPTIMISATION | FULLY AUTOMATED ANTI-VIRUS | SEAMLESS BUSINESS E-MAIL | ZERO ADMIN CREW E-MAIL | CENTRALISED CREW INTERNET QUOTA

The Maritime Communications Experts™

BIMCO, ICS and INTERTANKO have warned that protection against cyber threats is a complex issue

continued on page 2

• CMA SHIPS• Scorpio Ship

Management

• V.Group• Beltship

Management

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www.thalesgroup.comwww.iridium.com

Iridium has added Thales to the roster ofmanufacturing partners for its Certusbroadband service (see also page 22), to bedelivered via the Iridium NEXT network,which Iridium says will deliver dataspeeds eventually as high as 1.4 Mbps to asingle user terminal.

Thales joins previously announcedpartners Cobham SATCOM, RockwellCollins, L-3, and ICG (InternationalCommunications Group). They will beinvolved in the design, manufacture anddistribution of products for Certus, theL-band satellite broadband service thatwill be delivered by the Iridium NEXTconstellation.

"We are excited to welcome Thales as apartner developing solutions for theIridium Certus broadband platform," saidMatt Desch, CEO, Iridium.

"Leading manufacturers such as Thaleswill drive innovation and inspire a greaterdiversity of solutions to the industry. Theproducts based on Iridium Certus broad-band will provide critical and reliable com-munications for people and companiesglobally."

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture ofThales Group and Finmeccanica Group,has been involved in the development of the space segment of Iridium NEXT.It is contracted to build the 81 MainMission Antennas (MMAs) that will bedeployed across the constellation, madeup of 66 LEO operational satellites, six in-orbit spares, and nine ground-backupspacecraft.

Iridium NEXT will fully replaceIridium’s current satellite constellation of66 cross-linked low-Earth orbit (LEO)satellites that cover 100 per cent of theglobe. When deployment is completed,

Iridium says it will support data speeds ashigh as 1.4 megabits per second for a singleuser terminal.

“Iridium Certus broadband is a hugeleap forward for the industry,” said AlanPellegrini, president and CEO, ThalesUSA.

“It will deliver unmatched mobile satel-lite services globally for commercial andgovernment users. We're extremelypleased to expand our relationship withIridium and to have the opportunity todevelop and bring to market new andinnovative solutions for land, maritimeand aeronautic applications allowingThales to leverage its presence in everymarket segment.”

Production is now complete on thequalification dispenser for the IridiumNEXT constellation's initial launch, whichwill be conducted by ISC Kosmotras fromthe Yasny launch site in Russia using aDnepr rocket, with qualification testing on-track for completion in June 2015.

Dispensers are specially-developed

assemblies that hold the satellites to therocket during launch and then manage thetimed separation of each satellite from therocket once successfully in orbit.

Dispenser qualification includes staticload testing, shock testing, separation test-ing, vibration testing and interface testing.Overall, the tests ensure the dispenser willwithstand the launch shock environmentand test separation dynamics, fundamen-tal frequency and structural integrity.

"Completion of the dispenser confirmsrocket readiness—another critical steptoward the launch of our first satellites,"said Scott Smith, chief operating officer,Iridium.

The Iridium NEXT satellite network willconsist of 66 in-orbit satellites and a num-ber of in-orbit spares. The constellation isscheduled to begin launching in 2015 withthe first launch to consist of two satellites.

Seven subsequent launches of ten satel-lites each will be conducted by SpaceX onthe Falcon 9 rocket, with the aim of com-pleting the full network in late 2017.

as well as crew, to ensure their shipboardcomputer-based systems are managedsecurely – and kept up-to-date to protectagainst the ever-growing threat fromexploitation by criminals.”

Affirming voicesThese shipping associations have beenjoined in highlighting the digital threatsfacing the maritime sector by Tor Svensen,CEO of DNV GL, who has warned that thegrowing availability of communicationsand interconnected networks in shippingis creating vulnerabilities that could beexploited by cyber attackers.

Speaking at this year’s CMA(Connecticut Maritime Association) eventin Stamford, Connecticut, Mr Svensenexplained that, while critical network seg-ments onboard vessels were generally keptisolated in the past, this has changed sig-nificantly in recent years.

“Ships and offshore structures are becom-ing more and more interconnected,” he said.

“In theory, all programmable compo-nents may be exposed to cyber threats, beit machinery, navigation or communica-tion systems.”

“This is a weak spot. There are manyways something can go wrong with the

systems or software – be it caused by tech-nical or human error, or cyber criminals.”

The industry has already seen its firstcyber events, with issues surrounding themanipulation of AIS, ECDIS and GPS datawidely spoken about. Mr Svensen alsonoted that, in 2014, more than 50 cybersecurity incidents were detected in theNorwegian energy and oil and gas sector.

He recommends that owners and opera-tors should consider cybersecurity self-assessments, third-party assessments,audits, testing and verification, and sug-gested that such requirements could alsobe implemented in future regulations.

SATCOMS

Digital Ship June/July 2015 page 2

Vol 15 No 8Digital Ship Limited

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THE MARITIME CIO FORUM@ NOR-SHIPPING

Thon Hotel Arena, Lillestrøm3 June 2015

THE MARITIME CIO FORUMROTTERDAM

Hilton Rotterdam29 September 2015

continued from page 1

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Thales will manufacture and distribute products for use with the Certus Broadband service, delivered over Iridium NEXT

Thales named as Iridium Certus partner DS

Satcom Global has opened a newoffice in Perth, Western Australia. Theoffice will handle sales and account man-agement, specialising in maritime, land,M2M (Machine-to-Machine) and hand-held satellite communications.

Inmarsat Maritime has appointedSRH Marine Electronics SA as aFleetBroadband distributor and Fleet XpressValue Added Reseller (VAR). Based inPiraeus, Greece, SRH will bring L-band andKa-band services to the maritime market.

Newtec has appointed KevinMcCarthy to the position of VP of market

development. Prior to joining Newtec, MrMcCarthy spent 15 years at MTN SatelliteCommunications, most recently as thecompany’s chief operations officer.

Kymeta is partnering with e3Systems to develop customised flat panelantenna solutions for superyachts. e3 cus-tomisation services will enable connectivity

across satellites, 4G/LTE and terrestrialbroadband while cruising, or WiFi in port.

Netherlands-based OceanSat hassigned a reseller agreement with bobz, toact as a distributor of the shipznet mobilenetwork service. The maritime global 3Gservice will now be added to OceanSat'sproduct portfolio.

www.satcomglobal.comwww.inmarsat.comwww.srhmar.comwww.newtec.eu

www.kymetacorp.comwww.e3s.comwww.shipz.netwww.oceansat.com

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SATCOMS


www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat has confirmed that its thirdGlobal Xpress (GX) satellite – Inmarsat-5F3 – has safely arrived at the BaikonurCosmodrome in Kazakhstan in anticipa-tion of its launch in early June, while thepreviously launched Inmarsat-5 F2 (I-5 F2),the second satellite in the network, hasnow completed its geostationary orbitaldeployment ahead of commercial serviceintroduction.

According to Inmarsat, the I-5 F2 satel-lite’s two thermal radiator panels havebeen successfully deployed and the pay-load has been powered up. Payload testingis now taking place, coordinated fromInmarsat’s GX gateway site in Nemea,Greece.

“These were the final deployments to beperformed, signalling the last significantmission risk for the I-5 F2 spacecraft,” saidMichele Franci, CTO at Inmarsat.

“Once fully tested, the satellite will bemoved into its final orbital location where itwill become ready for commercial service.

We’re very happy with how the mission hasprogressed and with preparation alreadyunderway for the Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3)launch and mission, we are even closer toturning GX into a truly global service.”

That final I-5 F3 satellite left the BoeingEl Segundo facility in Los Angeles,California, on Wednesday, April 29th, onboard an Antonov AN-124 heavy trans-porter.

This is the third GX satellite which,when combined with I-5 F1 and F2 alreadyin orbit, will allow Inmarsat to offer globalGX coverage.

Inmarsat’s fifth generation satellites –which form the GX network – have allbeen built by Boeing Satellite SystemsInternational in California.

“We are approaching the completion ofour GX constellation and the arrival ofInmarsat-5 F3 at the BaikonurCosmodrome is another significant mile-stone,” said Mr Franci.

“This project represents a major com-mitment by Inmarsat and its successfulcompletion and the start of global com-mercial services later this year will bring tolife the prospect of the Internet ofEverywhere.”

“For the first time, we will be able todeliver seamless, superfast broadbandcommunications across the globe – onland, sea and in the air – from one singleoperator.”

The first Global Xpress satellite –Inmarsat-5 F1 – was launched in December2013 and entered regional commercialservice in July 2014, covering Europe, theMiddle East, Africa and Asia. Inmarsat-5F2, launched 1st February, 2015, will pro-vide Global Xpress services covering theAmericas and the Atlantic Ocean.

Inmarsat says it is planning to com-mence global commercial GX services inthe second half of this year, with the newnetwork complementing rather thanreplacing Inmarsat’s existing fleet of L-band communication satellites.

Each of the three satellites in the initialGX fleet has 89 beams and six steerablespot beams for multi-regional coverage. AGX satellite, with a design life of 15 years,weighs 6,100kg at launch with a wing-span

www.bs-shipmanagement.comwww.wlink.ca

World-Link Communications andBernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM)have announced that World-Link willacquire BSM’s telecommunication servicesbusiness, Telaccount Overseas.

“This agreement will benefit our cus-tomers and crew by unifying communica-tion systems’ capabilities across our fleetand we are pleased to be selling TelaccountOverseas to our long-time partner andservice provider, World-Link” saidNorbert Aschmann, BSM CEO.

The maritime satellite provider willacquire Telaccount Overseas with immedi-ate effect, in a deal that World-Link sayswill strengthen its portfolio.

”We are delighted to announce theacquisition of Telaccount Overseas whichis the culmination of a 20 year old relation-ship with the Bernhard Schulte Group, andwill further strengthen our partnershipwith one of the most prestigious shippingcompanies in the world,” said AsadSalameh, president of World-LinkCommunications.

“Telaccount Overseas is an establishedand highly reputable telecommunicationservices provider to more than 1,000 ves-sels worldwide. We will ensure that thesevessels continue to be served with thehighest level of customer support, in addi-tion to current and future customers ofBSM benefiting further from World-Link’sadvanced technology, systems and servicecapabilities.”

Global Xpress draws closer to global coverage

I-5 F2 was successfully launchedin February

BSM sells Telaccount Overseas to World-Link

wider than a Boeing 737.The potential commercial availability of

Global Xpress in China has also been boost-ed by Inmarsat’s recent announcement thatit has signed four new Value AddedReseller (VAR) agreements with BeijingMarine Communication NavigationCompany (MCN) for the service.

MCN, owned by China TransportTelecommunication & Information Centre(CTTIC), has been working with Inmarsatsince 1979. The agreement sees it nowbecome a Global Xpress Value AddedReseller (GX VAR) in China, covering mar-itime, aviation, enterprise and Chinesegovernment markets.

“From emergency first responders tothose delivering remote education (e-learning) services, Global Xpress will bringthe benefits of seamless, superfast connec-tivity to every region in China, whileensuring that Chinese companies – fromairlines to shipping fleets – can enjoy thesame high capacity service wherever theyare in the world,” said Rupert Pearce, CEOof Inmarsat.

“MCN has been a partner for Inmarsat inChina for many decades and we are delight-ed that this relationship is extending to ourlatest and most powerful satellite communi-cation service; Global Xpress.”

Inmarsat works exclusively through

retail partners in China, providing com-munication services to multinationals suchas Air China, China COSCO and ChinaShipping Container Lines.

“China is one of the biggest markets forInmarsat’s mobile satellite-based voice andbroadband services, delivering doubledigit growth in the last five years,” contin-ued Mr Pearce.

“We are confident that there will be sig-nificant demand for Global Xpress.”

Outside of China, Inmarsat has alsoappointed Applied Satellite TechnologyLtd (AST) as a further VAR for GlobalXpress, serving maritime and enterprise.

The companies have worked togetherfor over twenty years, and Inmarsat saysAST is investing over $100k in networkand traffic management tools to comple-ment the GX services.

“Global Xpress will be the world’s firstglobally available superfast broadbandservice delivered through a single opera-tor,” said Gregory Darling, managingdirector at AST.

“We believe this is a significant step-for-ward in bringing the benefits of high-speed connectivity to existing and newmarkets and are delighted to have extend-ed our strategic relationship with Inmarsatto cover this revolutionary service forenterprise and maritime markets.”

Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat, and Song Zhen, MCN, sign a VAR deal for GX in China

Globalstar Sat-Fi now available in EMEA www.globalstar.com

Globalstar has announced the availabilityof its Sat-Fi system in EMEA, which allowsthe user to connect their existing smart-phones and existing phone numbers tosend and receive communications overGlobalstar’s satellite network.

Using a Sat-Fi satellite hot spot, up toeight individuals can make and receivevoice calls and e-mail using an app thatruns on Wi-Fi enabled devices includingtablets, smartphones and laptops.

SMS capability will also be added soon,the company says.

“Although we live in a connected world,there are still billions of people who work,play and live in remote locations lackingreliable and affordable voice and data com-

munications,” said Gavan Murphy, directorof marketing EMEA, at Globalstar.

“With Sat-Fi, they now have the abilityto use their own device to stay connected.”

Up to eight devices can connectto the Sat-Fi unit

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VSAT solutions

byKeep in touch_

Can I use social media when I’m on board to stay in touch with my friends and family?

+31 (0)183 [email protected]

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:25 Page 5


SATCOMS

THOR7 Ka-band satellite successfully launched

www.telenorsat.com

Telenor Satellite Broadcasting hasannounced the successful launch of itsnew Ka-band satellite, THOR 7, puttingthe company on track to introduce high-throughput services to ships in Europeand the North Atlantic by the end of the year.

THOR 7 was launched on Sunday April26, 2015 at 20:00 UTC, from the GuianaSpace Centre in French Guiana on boardan Ariane 5 launcher. The satellite wassuccessfully injected into geostationarytransfer orbit approximately 28 minutesafter lift-off.

THOR 7, manufactured by SpaceSystems Loral (SSL), features the compa-ny’s first high-throughput satellite (HTS)Ka-band payload, specifically designed forthe mobility VSAT market to provide cov-erage over the North Sea, the NorwegianSea, the Red Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Mediterranean.

"I am delighted to see that THOR 7 hassafely reached geostationary transfer orbitand thank both Arianespace and our man-ufacturing partner SSL for this successfullaunch," said Morten Tengs, CEO, TelenorSatellite Broadcasting.

"From its 1°West location, the THOR 7satellite will provide growth capacity forDTH services across Central and EasternEurope and deliver optimal satellite cover-age across Europe's business shippinglanes for the provision of maritime VSATservices."

THOR 7 will now undergo in-orbit test-ing. Television services are expected tobegin in six weeks, though additional test-ing will take place on the HTS Ka-bandservices before the full commercial serviceis ready, expected to be in Q4, 2015.

MCP to build world’s biggest offshore 4G network www.mcp.com

www.statoil.com

Telenor-owned Maritime CommunicationsPartner (MCP) has been chosen by Statoilto build and operate what the companyclaims will be the world’s largest 4G net-work at sea.

Located on the Norwegian ContinentalShelf (NCS), the network will deliver high-speed connectivity to 34 Statoil rigs, as wellas numerous support vessels.

The contract between Statoil and MCPis for an initial period of six years, with anoption to extend for another four. The firstphase of the project will see 15 rigs, twolight well intervention vessels (LWI), twosubsea inspection and maintenance vessels(IMR) and 50 supply ships covered by thenetwork.

“Mobile operators and technology havethrough time, transformed how businessesoperate,” says MCP’s CEO Frode Støldal.

“A state of the art high speed 4G net-work will facilitate even more innovationand efficiency improvement in the oil andgas industry. This contract is a significantmilestone in our offshore strategy where

we apply an industrial approach, stan-dardised infrastructure and a long-termplan for further expansion.”

MCP already owns 16 base stations onthe NCS that will be upgraded to 4G during2015.The agreement with Statoil covers both

existing and new oilfields operated by theNorwegian multinational, and according toMCP, opens up the possibility of expansioninto the UK Continental Shelf and otherareas of Statoil’s international operation.

“Statoil is the leading operator on the

NCS,” says Mr Støldal. “The agreement is an important contri-

bution in enabling a significant moderni-sation of the mobile network and we arelooking forward to cooperate with thecompany.”

MCP is currently in the process ofexpanding its range of services with theintegration of the MarCom business unitfor commercial maritime satcoms ofTelenor Maritime Radio (TMR), with bothMCP and TMR sharing Telenor as a parentcompany.

MCP says the internal transfer - effectivefrom the start of June - will strengthen itsposition, with the addition of new productsand solutions, better coverage, and growthopportunities in Europe, the US and Asia.

“We are developing our technologyportfolio to address a bigger market in themaritime industry that consumes evermore bandwidth,” said Mr Støldal.

“We are integrating satellite andmobile to ensure the best possible cus-tomer experiences. Additionally, we willbe able to increase efficiency and developthe whole value chain resulting in costefficient solutions.”

Carnival introduces flat fee for on boardsocial media use

www.carnival.comwww.harriscaprock.com

Harris CapRock has revealed that it isworking with Carnival Cruise Line to pro-vide passengers with a flat-rate fee forsocial media usage while on board itscruise ships.

In 2013, Harris CapRock signed a five-year deal with Carnival to supply commu-nications services on board more than 100cruise ships across its nine global cruiseline brands, using a VSAT system thatutilises a hybrid C- and Ku-band network.

Carnival will be offering a range ofinternet options to guests, including a $5per day social media package that willinclude unlimited use of apps such asTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,LinkedIn and Snapchat.

“Technology plays an increasinglyimportant role in today’s world, evenwhile on vacation,” said GabrielaGonzalez, vice president, guest technology

and photo operations, Carnival CruiseLine.

“Introducing these new internet pack-ages offers a strong platform for incorpo-rating additional innovations and ways forutilising technology to further enhance ourguest on-board experience.”

According to Harris CapRock, demandfor bandwidth on board is continuallyincreasing, and the upgrade in internetinfrastructure is essential in the battle toretain both customers and crew.

“This ground-breaking programme istestament to Carnival putting its guestsand team members first,” said RickSimonian, president of maritime, HarrisCapRock.

“The demand for bandwidth continuesto grow and Harris CapRock is focused onproviding it in the most advanced and effi-cient way possible. Working together, wecan ensure that Carnival’s customers enjoythe right level of communications no mat-ter where they are cruising.”

The network will cover 34 oil rigs and all nearby vessels

www.intelsat.com

Intelsat says it has successfully completeda series of tests on the compatibility of itsEpicNG digital payload with existingground equipment platforms.

The EpicNG satellite platform, initiallycomprised of Intelsat 29e, Intelsat 32e andIntelsat 33e, will utilise multiple frequencybands, wide beams, spot beams and fre-quency reuse technology, and will add toIntelsat's existing satellite fleet andIntelsatONE terrestrial network.

The launch of Intelsat 29e was initiallyscheduled for late 2015, but this has nowbeen pushed back to the first quarter of

2016. Intelsat 32e and 33e remain sched-uled for the second half of 2016.

“When we conceptualised the IntelsatEpicNG platform design, we wanted tobuild in technology that would increaseperformance while also solving opera-tional issues within our customers’ net-works,” said Stephen Spengler, deputyCEO at Intelsat.

“This feature of completely flexiblebeam connectivity is an important earlydifferentiator of the Intelsat EpicNG fleet.The digital payload will be instrumental inallowing flexible and efficient use of spec-trum, resulting in a dramatic increase inthe amount of throughput we can deliver

on the satellites.”According to Intelsat, the tests validated

protected tactical waveform (PTW)modem performance on the EpicNG digi-tal payload. PTW is a modem standardthat is being developed by the US AirForce in an effort to better protect govern-ment and commercial satellite communica-tions in multiple frequency bands.

“In addition to efficiency, the technolo-gy also increases our ability to mitigateinterference and purposeful jamming,which is a very important feature for customers, including those with mediaand government applications,” said Mr Spengler.

Intelsat completes Epic tests

THOR7 lifts off from the Guiana Space Centre

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SATCOMS


Spliethoff extends VSAT agreement with Imtech www.imtech.com

www.spliethoff.com

Spliethoff Group has awarded ImtechMarine a three-year contract which will seethe Dutch ship management companyextend its use of Ku-band VSAT viaImtech’s Radio Holland brand.

The companies have a longstandingrelationship, with Radio Holland havingpreviously delivered Ku-band VSAT serv-ices to 27 Spliethoff vessels. The new dealwill see a further 22 vessels connected, andexisting bandwidth increased from256/128Kbps to 300/128Kbps.

“We already had a positive experiencewith Radio Holland for the first series ofvessels,” said Peter Van de Venne, IT direc-tor at Spliethoff.

“After seriously looking at competitiveoffers and considering a second source, wedecided to again grant Radio Holland theproject.”

According to Mr Van de Venne, the pri-mary reason for expanding the bandwidthis crew welfare, with crew receiving a free

data allowance which can be accessed fromtheir cabins.

“The technology helps us to easilyshift user accounts across the fleet, inte-grated with the office planning soft-ware,” he said.

Mr Van de Venne says the new solutionwill also improve communication speedsand business processes, and shore-sideengineers will be able to provide supportvia remote access.

“We don’t have to wait for an e-mailexchange twice a day,” he explains.

“The captain can access informationimmediately - local weather reports, portinformation and cargo details. We are alsoinstalling more applications on board. Thedata is replicated between ship and officevia a specially designed database synchro-nisation, which of course requires datacommunication capacity.”

“Applications that monitor data sensorsfor fuel consumption and engine perform-ance are especially bandwidth hungry.”

The 27 vessels existing on the networkhave already been upgraded to the new

service. The 22 vessels being added underthe new deal will be equipped with a Sailor900 Ku VSAT antenna and below-deck

equipment when in dry dock or in proxim-ity to a service port. Rollout is expected totake approximately two years.

49 Spliethoff vessels are covered by the new deal

Orange VoIP for EMAS offices www.emas.com

www.orange-business.com

Offshore operator EMAS has chosenOrange Business Services to provide acloud-based communications solution thatwill connect 2,000 employees across sevencountries.

EMAS says the project will includeVoIP capability and collaboration servicesthat will improve user experience, as wellas aid productivity and optimise costs.

“As a global operation, it is vital for us

to have a fully-connected and digitally-transformed workspace that enablesmobility for employees and allows them tocollaborate remotely and seamlessly,” saidAlex Ang, General Manager of IT, EMAS.

“Beyond raising user productivity, thescalability of the UCaaS (UnifiedCommunications as a Service) solutionmeans it can evolve with our business andenhances our unified communicationsvision.”

The platform will be rolled out in 17locations across the seven countries.

Orange VoIP will help 17 EMAS locations to collaborate in vessel management

KVH unveils new satellite TV antennawww.kvh.com

KVH has announced the introduction ofthe TracVision TV8, a new antenna systemdesigned to deliver satellite television to

vessels worldwide.According to KVH, the TracVision TV8

is compatible with nearly all Ku-bandservices around the globe, and also sup-ports services such as DIRECTV, DISHNetwork and Bell TV in North America, aswell as TrueVisions, Astro, and Sky TV inthe Asia-Pacific region.

The 81cm (32 inch) diameter system isfully stabilised and comes with an IP-enabled TV-Hub, along with a single coax-ial cable for power, data and video, allow-ing for straightforward installation.

“The TracVision TV8 has the top engi-neering characteristics our antenna sys-tems are known for around the world,”says Martin Kits van Heyningen, CEO atKVH.

“With its advanced tracking andextended coverage area, it is an ideal sys-tem for a superyacht in the Mediterranean,a tanker ship in the Baltic, or any numberof ships on the world’s oceans. Theserugged systems are fully stabilised andstay locked on the satellite even in heavyseas.”

In addition to the release of this TV sys-

tem KVH has also expanded its satellitecommunications mini-VSAT network,with increased capacity added in the Asia-Pacific region and North America to sup-port commercial maritime activities.

In North America, the expansion hasseen new beams added for the PacificNorthwest, as well as for eastern Canadaand the US coast, with the latter more thandoubling network capacity. In Asia-Pacific, KVH says the capacity of a keybeam was increased by 60 per cent.

“The commercial maritime industry isincreasingly reliant on broadband servicesto improve operational efficiency,” saysMr Kits van Heyningen.

“Data and connectivity enable shipowners to accomplish many goals, fromreduced fuel consumption through voyageplanning to increased safety throughupdated training programmes deliveredto crew while they are onboard.”

“We are continually monitoring andimproving the mini-VSAT Broadband net-work to ensure our maritime customershave the critical connectivity they need atall times onboard their vessels.”

www.iridium.com

The International Mobile SatelliteOrganisation (IMSO) has begun the for-mal evaluation process of Iridium as aGlobal Maritime Distress and SafetySystem (GMDSS) provider.

In November 2014, the IMO’s MarineSafety Committee (MSC) agreed that theIMSO should put together a panel of expertsto produce a technical and operationalassessment of Iridium, as it seeks to joinInmarsat as a provider of GMDSS services.

The IMSO has formalised an agree-ment with Iridium to perform the evalua-tion, with the IMSO’s director generalCaptain Esteban Pacha having recentlyreported progress back to the IMO.

The group of experts put together bythe IMSO will examine various aspects ofIridium’s infrastructure, such as earth sta-tions, space segment, mobile terminals,terrestrial networks, GMDSS and searchand rescue communications.

Captain Pacha is then expected todeliver the group’s report at the next ses-sion of the IMO Subcommittee onNavigation, Communications and Searchand Rescue (NCSR-3), which will takeplace in 2016.

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www.intelliantech.comwww.kymetacorp.com

Intellian has announced that Kymeta’s flat-panel satellite antenna technology will beintegrated into Intellian’s next generationof Ku-band maritime satellite terminals.

The terminals will use Kymeta’s elec-tronically beam-steered mTenna satelliteantennas, which are built using metamate-rials. Last year Kymeta successfullydemonstrated bi-directional high-speedinternet connectivity using flat-panel tech-nology in conjunction with a Ka-bandsatellite.

“Intellian is very pleased to be partner-ing with Kymeta to bring to market thenext generation of VSAT technology,” saidEric Sung, president and CEO of IntellianTechnologies.

“Over the past few months of discus-sions we have found Kymeta’s corporateculture and philosophy to be closelyaligned with our own, sharing a keen focuson enabling overall market growth bymaking VSAT technology simple and easyto adopt across all segments.”

In December 2014, Kymeta closed a $20

million financing round that included exist-ing investors Bill Gates and Lux Capital,and in February 2015 it was announcedthat the company would also be supplyingflat-panel Ku-band antenna systems opti-mised for the Intelsat EpicNG platform.

“Intellian is a highly reputable andinnovative developer of terminals for themaritime market,” said Dr Nathan Kundtz,founder, president, and CTO of KymetaCorporation.

“Working together we will createaffordable products for large markets,which are currently un-addressable or areunderpenetrated.”

Intellian’s integration of this new tech-nology comes at the same time as the com-pany has opened its second R&D centre inKorea’s Pangyo Techno Valley near Seoul.

The Pangyo Techno Valley is an indus-trial complex that houses a collection ofhigh-tech companies and R&D projects.According to Intellian, the new location isstrategically closer to the company’srecently expanded Innovation Centre.

“Bringing together functions like mar-keting and sales alongside our R&D teamswill add an important synergy to the busi-ness,” said Mr Sung.

“The move to Panygo will also seeIntellian positioned as part of this dynam-ic, world-class R&D cluster with the abilityto take advantage of the superior infra-structure, manpower training and net-working opportunities that are available.”

“Expansion so far is at almost 400 per-cent of that of the previous Gangnamoffice, and we still have immediate plans torecruit a further 30 plus engineers. Thenew location will further support ourefforts in attracting the world-class R&Dand support staff that we need to grow thebusiness.”

Intellian has also relocated its adminis-trative office from Gangnam to the newfacilities at Pangyo.

SATCOMS


Rock Seven launches new M2M unit www.rock7mobile.com

Rock Seven has announced the launch ofRockBLOCK Mk2, a self-contained unitwith satellite connectivity designed toenable Machine to Machine (M2M) com-munication and Internet of Things (IoT)applications.

RockBLOCK Mk2 can send messages of340 bytes and receive messages of 270bytes using Iridium Short Burst Data(SBD), and comes with a variety of anten-na options. The ‘naked’ version comeswith either an in-built Iridium antenna, oran optional SMA connector for integratingwith external antennas.

Elsewhere, a ‘rugged’ version namedRockBLOCK+ comes encapsulated in awaterproof IP68 housing, and includes a3m lead. Rock Seven claims this version isespecially suitable for maritime application.

The manufacturer says the Mk2 isdesigned to work with any platform with aserial or USB port, including Arduino,Raspberry PI, Intel Edison, as well asWindows, Mac and Linux computers.

The ‘naked’ versions of the hardwareare priced at £159, while the RockBLOCK+will cost £189. Line rental for the units is £8per month with no annual contract, andRock Seven says individual transmissionscan be sent from as little as £0.03.

In related news, Rock Seven andHydrosphere have teamed up on a new sys-tem that monitors data and navigationbuoys, designed to reduce the maintenanceburden and optimise buoy operations.

Buoys already fitted with a VEGA-light unit can be upgraded to ‘smartbuoys’ by the addition of RockFLEET ves-sel tracking and satellite data units.RockFLEET can be attached to the option-al expansion port on VEGA-light units,using the VEGA-light power source and

requiring no additional cabling.This allows buoy location and battery

voltage to be monitored from shore, whichRock Seven says will help to optimise per-formance and reduce the cost of buoymaintenance. Alerts can also be set-up towarn if a buoy has drifted too far off-sta-tion or if its light has failed.

“The system is designed to quickly inte-grate new time and cost saving capabilitiesto data and navigation buoys,” said AndyReid, director at Hydrosphere.

“Considering the low initial investmentand operational costs, buoy owners mayexperience savings quickly after integrat-ing the RockFLEET solution, simply bybeing able to reduce the number of main-tenance visits a buoy needs.”

RockFLEET was introduced by RockSeven in October last year. It uses theIridium network to send Short Burst Datamessages carrying positional and otherinformation on a Pay As You Go basis, andwas designed to include Machine toMachine (M2M) functionality.

RockFLEET buoys can be monitoredfrom shore

Marlink gives support vessel 400 per cent bandwidth boost

www.marlink.comwww.mokster.no

Marlink reports that it recently delivereda temporary download speed increase of400 per cent for the Multi-PurposeSupport Vessel (MPSV), Stril Server,while it carried out operations on a UKwind farm.

The extra bandwidth, provided for theproject between September 2014 untilFebruary 2015, saw the Simon Mokster-owned vessel receiving speeds of 8 Mbpsfor downlink, compared to the usual 2Mbps. Uplink speeds were also increased,rising from 2 Mbps to 4 Mbps.

The ship is part of a 23-strong fleet, con-nected to shore and each other via VSAT.Marlink says the additional bandwidthenabled the Stril Server to operate its owndedicated onboard network, allowing fordocument updates and management from

tablet computers, with a specially installedserver keeping onboard and shoresidedata synchronised.

The existing VSAT equipment abovedeck on the Stril Server was kept in place,but below deck, the higher speeds werefacilitated by upgrading the iDirect X5modem to an iDirect X7.

“Boosting bandwidth on a project basisis becoming more commonplace as techni-cal projects evolve to require more high-end connectivity,” said Lars JørgenAndersen, key account manager atMarlink.

“Simon Mokster already operates anadvanced communications network acrossits fleet, classing each of its vessels as aremote office in its own right, so applyingforward thinking approaches such asshort-term bandwidth boosts on request isa natural step for this modern offshorevessel operator.”

Intellian teams up with Kymeta

Dr Nathan Kundtz, Kymeta president and CTO (left) andEric Sung, Intellian president and CEO

Stril Server had its bandwidth increased from 2Mbps to 8Mbps on demand

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SATCOMS

Airbus DS adds six new partnerswww.airbusdefenceandspace.com

Airbus Defence and Space has expandedits customer support network by addingsix new partners to its Field ServiceAlliance programme in Europe, theMiddle East and Asia.

The new European members includePolaris Electronics in Denmark and OzsayUydu Iletisim in Turkey. In the MiddleEast, Dubai-based Elcome Internationaland Zener Marine both join the partnerprogramme, while in Asia, China‘s AsSeven Seas Marine and Japan‘s KaigaiGijyutsu K.K have also been added to theAlliance.

“We now have 15 Field Service Partnersaround the world,” said Gisle Asbjornsen,director, Field Service Partners, AirbusDefence and Space.

“All are proven experts in maritimeVSAT and can be called in to support ourstandard VSAT services anywhere. A keyelement of the Field Service Allianceapproach is that partners are establishedand well versed in the customs, languagesand ways of working in their region, sothat they are able to offer a fast and effi-cient service to vessels in their local portsor at sea.”

The addition of these new partnerscomes as Airbus Defence and Space report-ed a doubling of its maritime VSAT salesin 2014 compared to the previous year,connecting more than 600 vessels withVSAT communications throughout theperiod.

The company signed a strategic agree-ment with Intelsat in 2014, enabling AirbusDefence and Space to bridge its existingmaritime VSAT services to Intelsat’sEpicNG platform, which is scheduled tobegin launching in early 2016.

Both parties claim that the partnership,which has now reached its conclusion,

helped drive market demand over theyear, with Airbus Defence and Space deliv-ering VSAT to shipping companies includ-ing Stolt, CMA CGM, Scorpio, and DOF.

“Our partnership with Intelsat hasgiven us further flexibility to develop theconnectivity services the maritime marketrequires today, but also for the futurewith the Intelsat EpicNG HTS satellitescoming soon,” said Evert Dudok, head ofcommunications, intelligence and securi-ty (CIS) business line at Airbus Defenceand Space.

“Our mission is to stay close to the cus-tomers and integrate the services theyneed into a single solution. This approachhas resulted in significant sales growthsince our agreement with Intelsat last year,and given the progress and offering deliv-ered to date, we are expecting even moregrowth in the maritime VSAT segment.”

In related news, Airbus Defence andSpace has also released an updated versionof its XChange communications manage-ment platform, which enables crewaccounts to be managed from shore.

XChange version 3.2 allows offlineremote management of tasks such asadding credit and creating new crewaccounts and groups. These changes arethen synchronised with the XChange serv-er on board via the satellite network.

“We’ve noticed a growing requirementin the market to reduce non-role specificadministration burden for senior staff onboard, such as topping up crew credit oradding new accounts,” said Tore MortenOlsen, head of maritime satcoms at AirbusDefence and Space.

“With remote user account manage-ment, the time a Master or other appointedofficer needs to focus on administrating avessel’s crew internet accounts can bereduced, freeing them up to focus on theiroperational tasks.”

Thuraya launches latest satphonewww.thuraya.com

Thuraya has launched its latest satellitephone, the Thuraya XT-PRO, featuring built-in GPS, BeiDou and Glonass capabilities.

The Thuraya XT-PRO has a talk-time ofup to 9 hours, and is jet-water, dust andshock resistant, with a hardened Gorillaglass display.

The phone also has a dedicated SOSbutton with navigation and tracking fea-tures to call for assistance in an emergency.

“The launch of the Thuraya XT-PROreaffirms our leadership position in themobile satellite phone sector. It houses allthree major navigation systems, thelongest talk-time, and the largest displayon the market,” said Samer Halawi, chiefexecutive officer of Thuraya.

“Following the success of the SatSleeveand the XT-LITE, we continue to demon-strate our ability to disrupt the mobilesatellite industry with ground-breakingproducts of the highest quality. The XT-PRO is ideal for our core customer base ofprofessional satellite phone users whocount on us to deliver highly reliable con-nectivity in some of the world's toughestand most remote places.”

The XT-PRO can be used across theThuraya network, with a Thuraya prepaidor postpaid SIM card, or a SIM card fromany of Thuraya's worldwide GSM roamingpartners.

In related news, Inmarsat has refutedreports linking it with a $300m purchase ofThuraya, outlined in an article on the web-site Spacenews.

The report said that Thuraya was look-ing to sell to Inmarsat and was believed tohave lowered its asking price from an ini-tial figure of $600m, though the story sug-gests that even the revised price of $300mmay be too high to entice its potential CityRoad suitors.

In addition, the report notes that thesale of Thuraya to any company outsidethe UAE would face regulatory hurdles,according to two industry officials referredto in the article.

Digital Ship contacted Inmarsat for com-ment on these reports, and a spokespersonsaid that Inmarsat is not considering a dealfor the Dubai-based satellite operator.Thuraya was also approached, but offeredno comment.

Thuraya currently has two geosynchro-nous L-band satellites in operation - oneserving Europe, the Middle East andAfrica, and the other operating across Asiaand Australia.

Inmarsat is in the process of finalisingits own plans for its next constellation, theI-6 series, with no announcement made yetas to whether this will include replace-ments for its I-4 L-band network, used toprovide FleetBroadband services, or pay-loads in any other frequency band.

The Thuraya XT-PRO

Smart Ports initiative sees Singapore roll out 4G www.mpa.gov.sgwww.m1.com.sg

The Maritime and Port Authority ofSingapore (MPA) has announced several

new initiatives to improve connectivity inthe Port of Singapore, including a new 4Gmobile network built in collaboration withM1 Limited.

The MPA and M1 also signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towork together in promoting this 4G tech-nology to shipping companies operating within Singapore port waters, toincrease connectivity in an effort toimprove operations and crew welfare.Both organisations have also committed toresearch and testing of new technologies toimprove the network in the future.

According to the MPA, coverage willextend up to 15 kilometres from theSingapore coastline. Shared mobile databundles of up to 100GB will be availablevia M1's Corporate Data Pooling Plans,with authorised employees gaining accessthrough 4G dongles or handsets.

"The maritime sector is undergoing sig-nificant transformation with smarter ships,just-in-time logistics and more intelligentports being built,” said Andrew Tan, chiefexecutive, MPA.

“As a global hub port and leadingInternational Maritime Centre, Singaporebelieves that it is well-positioned to leverage on the ongoing revolution in ICT, smart devices and Internet of

Things (IoT).”“We envision a more inter-connected

port with high-speed internet, extensiveuse of data analytics and innovativemobile solutions to enhance our port'soverall competitiveness. This will benefitall users at the Port of Singapore.”

As part of the Smart Ports initiative,the MPA is providing free WiFi to thepublic at its port terminals from 1 Julythis year. The Port Authority has alsodeveloped an app, ‘myMaritime@SG’,which will give users access to maritimeinformation and services such as shiparrivals and departures, port andmarine notices, tidal information, androute planning.

Alongside this app, the MPA has part-nered with the Singapore ShippingAssociation (SSA) to invite proposals forB2B apps in areas such as enhancing mar-itime logistics operations, ship-to-shorecommunications, and remote monitoringof marine operations from shore. The MPAhas set aside S$2 million to co-fund proj-ects under this initiative.MPA has signed an MOU with M1 to promote 4G to

shipping companies calling in Singapore

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:26 Page 12

www.inmarsat.comwww.esa.int

Inmarsat has announced the successfultransition of key L-band voice and dataservices from its I-4 F2 satellite to Alphasat,the telecommunications satellite devel-oped by Inmarsat in partnership with the

European Space Agency (ESA).According to Inmarsat, services includ-

ing FleetBroadband were transferredovernight during a regular maintenancewindow. Both satellites will continue tojointly provide services over the EMEAregion until the remaining two services (L-TAC and IsatData Pro) still carried out bythe I-4 F2 are also transferred to Alphasat.

This is scheduled to happen by the endof Q2 2015, whereupon the I-4 F2 will beflown to a new orbital position to create afourth L-band region, serving the MiddleEast and Asia (MEAS). Commercial servic-es, including FleetBroadband, are due tobegin operation in this new region by theend of 2015.

“Transitioning our EMEA L-band serv-ices to Alphasat enhances Inmarsat’s capa-bilities in this key region: adding addition-al capacity and providing us with a plat-form for new and enhanced services forour maritime, aviation and land cus-tomers,” said Ruy Pinto, group COO atInmarsat.

“Of equal importance, Alphasat allowsus to create a fourth satellite region,addressing the increasing need for ourhighly reliable and secure voice and dataconnectivity in a region where we are see-ing the greatest growth in demand forInmarsat’s services.”

Digital Ship


EMEA FleetBroadband transfers to Alphasat

Alphasat will add additionalL-band capacity in Europe

SES installs Ku-band VSAT on Condor Liberation

www.ses-marine.com

Ships Electronic Services (SES) reportsthat it has won a contract to supply andinstall the communications equipment onCondor Liberation, a new multihull highspeed ferry which will operate betweenPoole and the Channel Islands in the UK.

At 102 metres the new ferry is thelargest multihull in the Condor fleet andbegan operating on the route at the endof March.

SES has implemented a Ku-band VSATsystem, using a Sea Tel 4009 Mk3 VSATsystem by Cobham SATCOM, as well asSAILOR RT6222 VHF equipment.

“We are delighted that our superb newship, Condor Liberation is now operatingon the route between Poole and theIslands,” said Captain Fran Collins, execu-tive director – operations at Condor Ferries.

“She’s undergone a comprehensive cus-tomisation programme, since her arrivalinto the UK last December, including theinstallation of the Sea Tel system.”

“As an experienced operator of highspeed ferries in the English Channel, weare particularly impressed with the func-tionality that the new communicationsequipment provides, helping to ensurethat our Masters have the latest technologyavailable to them.”

Condor Liberation began operating the Poole - Channel Islands route at the end of March

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:26 Page 13


SATCOMS

www.buzzconnect.co.uk

Buzz Marine will supply nine of itsHubbaX4 Go marine broadband devicesto the Fred. Olsen fleet of high speed cata-marans that operate between the CanaryIslands.

The HubbaX4 Go system has a multi-directional MIMO antenna to provide con-nection via 4G, 3G or 2G networks. BuzzMarine claims download speeds can reachup to 80 mbps, and 32 mobile devices canconnect to each unit simultaneously.

“This is a significant installation for usas these vessels operate an important highspeed link between the islands, some of

which are up to 100 minutes passage timetraveling at up to 38 knots,” said SteveSmith, managing director of Buzz Marine.

“Initial results have shown the HubbaX4Go to be highly effective in this environ-ment so we are delighted that the flag shipof the fleet, the Benchijigua Express, willalso now carry our HubbaX4 Go.”

Buzz Marine says it has also developedthe HubbaX4 Duo, which operates using ahybrid of VSAT and GSM networks, auto-matically switching between the two whenin range of cheaper, terrestrial communica-tions. The device also has a dual-SIM facil-ity for vessels operating across internation-al borders and multiple mobile operators.

Manpower Report points to improved internet accesswww.maritimemanpower.com

Preliminary results from the 2015BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report indicatethat internet access at sea is improving,contributing to improved overall welfarefor the commercial maritime workforce.

The Report, published every five yearssince 1990, is based primarily on ques-tionnaires completed by shipping compa-nies and national maritime administra-tions. More than 500 seafarers from over40 countries have responded so far, pro-viding a preliminary snapshot of life at

sea, career prospects, training, and gener-al crew welfare.

When asked about improvements inconditions over the past two years, the twomost popular answers were increasedbasic pay and better internet access. Thetraining gained from life at sea was alsocited as important, with increased regula-tion throughout the industry demandingmore technical and administrative skillsfrom today’s maritime professionals.

“This survey has provided us withinsight into the views of seafarers today,”said Aron Sørensen, chief marine technical

officer at BIMCO.“Understanding the key issues for sea-

farers is especially valuable when attract-ing and recruiting talented young peopleto the shipping industry.”

‘Happy ships’, timely wage paymentsand career promotion opportunities werecited as important factors that influencedwhether seafarers chose to stay with theircurrent employers, with two-thirds ofthose surveyed estimating that it wouldtake them less than three months to secureanother job in the industry if they chose to leave.

Buzz Marine broadband for Canary Islands ferries

HubbaX4 Go can offer speeds up to 80 Mbps

www.nsr.com

NSR's latest Maritime Satcom MarketsReport predicts significant growth in thesector over the next decade, with both HTSand FSS capacity driving annual revenuesas high as $5.2 billion by 2024.

The market research and consultingfirm estimates the current market to beworth almost $2 billion. It predicts that thenext generation of satellites, in combina-tion with the current FSS infrastructure,will see that more than double over thenext ten years.

“Improving markets for merchant mar-itime due to lower fuel prices are anencouraging sign for renewed investmentsover the near future,” said Brad Grady,senior analyst with NSR.

“As the core of the maritime market,commercial maritime vessels – fromtankers to container vessels – are continu-ing to look at new and innovative ways toimprove their remote operations.Everything from advanced route-plan-ning, real-time weather data, and improv-ing crew welfare all depend on a steadyuptick of bandwidth demand.”

“Adding in the opportunity for nar-rowband connectivity, which has evolvedfrom traditional Inmarsat-type voiceapplications into complex networks ofM2M devices bringing ‘big data’ andother value-added services directly toend-users, the maritime markets willremain a key mobility vertical across allaspects of the satellite communicationsvalue-chain.”

NSR expects to see a dramatic rise in the number of vessels equipped with VSAT, and the majority of increased revenues to come from broadband

data usage.“Over the next ten years, an additional

80,000 In-service units across all segmentsof the maritime markets will be broad-band,” continued Mr Grady.

“Broadband connectivity will providemore than 75 per cent of new retail rev-enues over the next ten years. VSAT-basedmaritime In-service Units will consumenearly 150 TPEs (Transponder equivalents- 36 MHz) of FSS C- and FSS Ku-bands,and over 21 Gbps of HTS capacity acrossGEO, LEO, and MEO orbits in C-, Ku-, andKa-bands.”

New report predicts maritime satcom revenues to hit $5.2 billion by 2024

www.rickmers.comwww.dualog.com

Rickmers Group has completed the 100thinstallation of Dualog Connection Suiteacross its fleet, marking the occasion witha recent gathering in Hamburg attendedby Rickmers Group CEO Dr Ignace VanMeenen and Dualog CEO Morten Lind-Olsen.

“When we chose Dualog ConnectionSuite as our tool for managing ship-to-shore data communications, it was astrategic decision made for the future,”said Dr Van Meenen.

“Reliable and secure data communica-tions is about far more than mere commu-nications, it is an essential part of the busi-ness itself.”

“And when you operate more than 100vessels like our company, it’s also a matterof handling one’s own growth in a well-balanced and forward-looking way.”

Rickmers and Dualogmark 100th rollout

Rickmers New Orleans

Content platform from Motive nears launchwww.motivetelevision.co.uk

Motive Television reports that its ContentExpress platform for TV and video ondemand (VOD) is currently undergoingtesting with two ferry lines, ahead of itscommercial launch.

Last year, Motive Television ServicesLimited, a subsidiary of the parent compa-ny, signed a deal with Greek satellite TVprovider Twin Peak. Since 2003, Twin Peakhas provided satellite-based telecom serv-ices and broadcast infrastructure to themaritime industry and currently providesa VOD service for on-board, in-cabin view-ing of film and TV content.

The agreement between the two com-panies will see content delivered to TVsand mobile devices on board via satellitefeed and a single server, with BYODaccess for users. Motive says the servicewill be provided at “significantly lowercosts than other solutions currently on the market for passenger ferries andcruise ship.”

The provider also claims that TwinPeak is in contract discussions with twoGreek ferry companies who togetheroperate sixteen ships carrying over 15,000passengers per day, and that those ferries could generate revenue in excessof €30,000 per month for the company.

In addition, Motive says it is in discus-sions with cruise operators in NorthAmerica to launch its services there overthe summer.

"Launching our first BYOD service com-mercially seven months after undertakingthe development of this new product isquite an achievement,” said Leonard MFertig, Motive’s CEO.

“The international ferry market is huge,and BYOD should find great acceptanceamong passengers on 3-10 hour journeysthroughout Europe and the Americas.Added to that, the growing cruise marketrepresents significant growth opportunityfor Motive."

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:26 Page 14

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www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat has reported the launch of FleetMedia, the entertainment service itannounced last year which will see a vari-ety of content delivered to commercial ves-sels at sea, and available to crew ondemand.

A combination of films and TV will beavailable on board, as well as news andsports content. An initial library will bepre-loaded on to a hard drive, with freshcontent and news updates delivered tovessels via satellite link.

Speaking to Digital Ship when FleetMedia was first announced in April 2014,Inmarsat said that it will be utilising network management tools and tech-niques to control the download andrefresh of data to ensure that normal network efficiency and conditions are not degraded.

Crew will be able to stream the contentto their personal laptops and mobiledevices, with the content all hosted locallyon board the vessel. Inmarsat says that

Fleet Media is currently only available onits XpressLink service, but will soon be available across its wider maritime portfolio.

The content packages will be created byNT Digital Partners, which is a joint ven-ture between content agency Spafax andnon-theatrical distributor Swank MotionPictures. Spafax provides inflight enter-tainment for airlines including BritishAirways and Air Canada.

“This is a revolutionary service forInmarsat and for the maritime sector,” saidRonald Spithout, president of InmarsatMaritime.

“It has been uniquely designed to sup-port the industry in attracting and retain-ing their skilled personnel, as it serves as agame-changing differentiating factor inrecruitment.”

“While life at sea has historically beensocially isolated, this service bridges thatgap allowing seafarers to be more integrat-ed and connected with their lives ashorethan ever before. Fleet Media brings life onland to those living at sea.”


SATCOMS

Fleet Media commercially launched

www.transal.comwww.airbusdefenceandspace.com

Airbus Defence and Space service providerpartner Ozsay Satellite Communicationsreports that it is upgrading connectivity onfive Transal tankers, improving both oper-ational and crew communications.

All five tankers are equipped withPharostar Ku-band VSAT terminals, whichcan be converted for Ka-band use in thefuture. The project will see the addition ofIridium OpenPort (IOP) for backup con-nectivity, with switching between IOP andVSAT managed by the XChange servicedelivery platform.

Transal is also doubling the dataallowance for each ship, rising from 10GBper month to 20GB. Crew will benefit from

a 250MB per month allowance, accessedvia their own devices and managedremotely through XChange. The increaseddata will also support Transal’s PlannedMaintenance System (PMS).

“Pharostar VSAT is a flexible proposi-tion enabling leading service providerslike Ozsay to offer high bandwidth, reli-able and feature-rich VSAT connectivity totheir shipowner customers,” said BarbaraBersani, head of sales Europe South andMiddle East at Airbus Defence and Space.

“Whilst service delivery and availabilityare critical aspects of our offering,Pharostar customers can also benefit froma portfolio of Value Added Services, whichensure users’ service providers can tailortheir delivery to the customer’s exact ves-sel operational and crew welfare needs.”

Transal upgrades satcom package

Marlink adds 4G to North Sea portfolio with Tampnet deal

The low-latency service may suit specific applications

www.marlink.comwww.tampnet.com

Marlink has signed a partner agreementwith Tampnet which will see 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution) services added toits VSAT and MSS (Mobile SatelliteServices) portfolio in the North Sea.

Tampnet’s 4G service is built on a net-work consisting of 2500 km of offshore fibre,providing high-speed connectivity betweenoffshore vessels and shore-based offices.With a round trip delay of between 25-35milliseconds, Marlink says the low latencymakes it suitable for applications such asvideo calling and critical M2M operations.

The core LTE network provides cover-age via base stations located on rigs andother fixed bodies, with Tampnet deliver-ing connectivity to the Norwegian, British

and Danish sectors of the North Sea.Planned roaming agreements will alsoenable vessels to retain their connectivitynear the coast and in port.

“Our partnership with Tampnet willhelp us to meet a significant marketrequirement and is integral to the develop-ment of hybrid, low-latency connectivitysolutions where VSAT, MSS, 4G and Wi-Ficombine to provide a seamless user-expe-rience that offers excellent value due toautomatic, least-cost routing,” said ToreMorten Olsen, head of maritime satcoms atAirbus Defence and Space, Marlink’s par-ent company.

“Furthermore, it is reassuring for us as a service provider that Tampnet’s LTE network is based on the largest fibrebased offshore communication network inthe world.”

SpeedCast teams up with Thurayawww.speedcast.comwww.thuraya.com

SpeedCast reports that it has entered a dis-tributor agreement with Thuraya, gainingaccess to the company’s satellite productsand services.

The Thuraya portfolio that will now beavailable to SpeedCast and its partnersincludes Thuraya SatSleeve, land and mar-itime broadband terminals, and XT satel-lite phones.

“The agreement between Thuraya andSpeedCast will expand our portfolio in the MSS arena,” said Andrew Burdall, VP of strategic business development at SpeedCast.

“The provisioning of mobile satelliteservices, together with our core VSAT

services, allows SpeedCast to be a one-stopshop for our customers. This developmentwill be especially beneficial for our cus-tomers located in the Middle East andAfrican regions, where Thuraya’s networkhas good penetration.”

According to Thuraya, the agreementwill strengthen its maritime presence inparticular, and help support the expansionof its maritime portfolio.

“The new agreement with SpeedCast willenhance our maritime distribution networkand support the roll-out of our new maritimeproducts and services,” said Bilal El Hamoui,chief commercial officer at Thuraya.

“We have seen increasing demand forour mobile satellite services in the coremarkets that SpeedCast serves, such asmaritime, energy and enterprise.”

Panasonic to acquire ITC Globalwww.panasonic.com

www.itcglobal.net

Panasonic has reported that it has enteredinto an agreement to acquire ITC Global, asatcom provider that serves the energy,mining and maritime markets, and whichhas been owned by Boston-based privateequity firm, Riverside Partners, since 2011.

Under the deal, ITC Global will operateas an independent unit of PanasonicAvionics, a subsidiary of Panasonic thatprovides inflight communications andentertainment systems to the aviationmarket. Panasonic Avionics is in theprocess of adding high throughput satel-lite capacity that it says will ‘wrap aroundthe globe’.

ITC Global’s management team andstrategic plan will remain intact, withfounder and CEO Joe Spytek continuing atthe helm. He will report in to Paul Margis,president and CEO of Panasonic Avionics.

“Panasonic’s acquisition of ITC Globalhighlights the natural alignment of cus-tomers across the aviation, energy, mining

and maritime markets, all of whom requiremobile broadband, high reliability, globalcoverage and responsive customer serv-ice,” said Mr Margis.

“ITC Global is a proven leader and weshare a common passion for excellent cus-tomer service. Together, we look forwardto taking satellite communications servicesto a new level of value and performance.”

ITC Global will become ‘ITC Global, APanasonic Company’ when the acquisitionis complete. It will continue to operate inthe energy, mining and maritime markets,with Panasonic Avionics remainingfocused on aviation.

“Panasonic Avionics’ global capabilitiesand leadership in satellite-based commu-nication will enable ITC Global to enhanceour core service offerings to all of our cus-tomers,” said Mr Spytek.

“This combination assures ITC Global’slong-term access to next-generation satel-lite technology resources and strengthensour ability to deliver optimal value andservice to meet our customers' current andfuture mission requirements.”

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:26 Page 16

www.mtnsat.comwww.emc-corp.net

Emerging Markets Communications(EMC) has signed a definitive mergeragreement to acquire VSAT provider MTNCommunications (MTN).

The combined organisation will have acustomer base of 1,600 vessels and morethan 8,000 land-based customer sites,across verticals including maritime, ener-gy, cruise lines and ferries, yachts, non-governmental organisations, telecommu-nications providers, global enterprises andgovernments.

“Our vision is to create the next genera-tion mobility platform offering the mostreliable, secure and cost-effective connec-tivity solutions for people and businesseson-the-move – and in far reaching placeson land and at sea – and the acquisition ofMTN makes this vision a reality,” saidAbel Avellan, founder and CEO of EMC.

EMC’s global infrastructure features52 field support centres, three wholly-owned teleports, and global satellitecapacity available in C-band, Ku-bandand Ka-band.

The agreement is subject to regulatoryreview and other customary conditions,and is expected to close by the secondquarter of 2015. The cost of the acquisitionhas not been disclosed.

News of the acquisition came shortlyafter MTN launched its high-definition livetelevision service at sea, in what it claims isa first for the maritime industry.

MTN-TV HD will only be available via MTN, as the company says the net-work is managed using proprietary tech-nology. The HD service will be launchedwith IMG’s Sport 24 Channel, showingPremier League football, Formula 1,Wimbledon tennis, and US Masters golfacross 2015.

“MTN-TV HD delivers an amazingviewing experience onboard,” saidGraham Douglas, media and communica-tions manager, P&O Cruises and Cunard.

“We can now experience TV at sea likewe can at home. As we transformed thetechnology and ambience in our commonareas, theatres and cabins, we evolvedfrom small to large screens, so our require-ment for HD became paramount.”

According to MTN, the company plansto further improve its TV offering follow-ing the roll-out of its High-ThroughputMulti Spot Beam (MTN HTMS) servicenext year.

One of the first big events to take placeover the new system was the delivery ofthe recent world title boxing fight betweenFloyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiaolive to 30 vessels across the globe, viaMTN-TV HD.

The fight, one of the most eagerly antic-ipated in years, took place on SaturdayMay 2 in Las Vegas. MTN claims it was theonly service provider able to offer the livebroadcast, due to content offered exclu-sively to the cruise industry throughGlobal Eagle Entertainment.

“Our team brought the technologicalwherewithal to quickly deliver this eventto ships around the world,” said BillWitiak, general manager, TV andBroadcast Services, MTN.

“Our sophisticated, proprietary toolsto manage and optimise our network –literally moment-by-moment – and ourability to broadcast with land-like qualityenabled our customers to surprise theirpassengers.”

“This improved their onboard experi-ence and delivered a crew perk – a majorinvestment that paid off. There are justsome events you have to watch live, andthis historic fight was one of them.”

Outside of TV at sea, MTN has alsoreleased figures illustrating the changingway data is consumed on board cruisevessels, with mobile devices increasinglypopular, and volumes of data traffic risingsignificantly.

In 2010, 94 per cent of internet access onboard took place via desktops or laptops,with tablets and smartphones making upjust 6 per cent. By 2014, that breakdown

had been reversed, with 80 per cent ofinternet activity taking place on mobiledevices, and desktops/laptops reduced to20 per cent.

In addition to the changing methodsthat passengers and crew are using toaccess data, the volume of data consumedhas also risen exponentially, with MTNreporting that MB consumption on its serv-ices has increased more than 500 per centover the course of the last two years.

This has been driven by changingusage patterns, but also by an increase in the number of passengers accessingonline services, which has risen by 40 per cent.

Crew use has also been on the rise dur-ing the last two years, with a 50 per centincrease in the number of MB consumedper user, and the number of users up morethan 35 per cent.

MTN has tried to keep pace with thisdemand by launching a hybrid terrestrialbroadband network (TBN) to mix land-based wireless data services near shorewith satellite connectivity, a service whichthe company says is now delivering capacity of up to 588 GB per hour at 29cruise ports.

On this network vessels have exceededspeeds of 50 Mbps downstream at onetime, says MTN, consuming 175-200 GB ofdata per average port visit.

EMC agrees MTN acquisition

Heights™

Networking Platform

Digital Ship


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Following the recent publication of the 4th edition of the Comsys Maritime VSAT Report,Digital Ship spoke to the authors about some of the satcom trends revealed, and why the market has grown in

the last decade

Predictions and trends in maritime VSAT


SATCOMS

TT elecommunications consultancyComsys has been researching themaritime VSAT market since its

nascent days around a decade ago. The 4thedition of its Maritime VSAT Report hasrecently been published, offering aninsight into current trends in the market, aswell as predictions for the future.

Digital Ship spoke to Susan Bull, seniorconsultant at Comsys and one of the archi-tects of the report, about the challengesand opportunities in the maritime market,advances in satellite and antenna technolo-gy, crew welfare, and how maritime VSATactually grew during one of the worstfinancial crises in history.

“It was definitely a hard time in themarket,” says Ms Bull, in reference to theperiod of late 2008 through 2009, whenfinancial markets were on the verge of collapse.

“In fact, the market during those times,the commercial side didn’t actually growthat much. We did see some growth insome of the subsections – oil tankers, gastankers, chemical tankers – those type ofthings. They grew ok, but when you start-ed looking out into the wider freight mar-ket, they just weren’t buying for a lot ofthat period. It was mainly tankers on thecommercial side.”

“What drove it more than anything elsewas the offshore service vessel (OSV) mar-ket. The yachting market also started topick up around that time. The smalleryachts were having a tough time of it, butthe mega rich are still mega rich.”

Early adoption by the yachting andoffshore markets helped VSAT enjoymodest growth in the early days of therecession, despite the global economicdownturn. Most offshore platformsalready had a decent level of broadbandconnectivity, but Ms Bull says it was thegrowth in demand from OSVs that wasthe key driver, as the requirements of offshore operation demanded higher dataspeeds.

“On the oil and gas side, rigs havealways been saturated” she says. “Everyrig has at least one, and probably several,VSATs on it. But the service vessels,increasingly they needed to be connected.That sector of the business has continuedto demand broadband, and L-band justcouldn’t satisfy that high a demand.”

“So what we saw was, initially, the real-ly big OSVs start taking off, the Bourbonsand these type of guys. Then over time itwas the smaller OSVs that started pickingup, and particularly out of the Gulf ofMexico. We were seeing a lot of the small-er providers out there, they’ve been joinedby quite a few others.”

DTS (Data Technology Solutions) is oneexample Ms Bull points to as a smallerprovider that found a niche in the marketby providing OSVs with expensive VSAT

equipment in a cost-effective way for briefperiods of operation.

“They recognised that a lot of theseOSVs needed to have a VSAT when theywent out to do a job, but only for a shortperiod of time. So they designed a reallyeffective and well running skid, so the OSVwould just park up beside them, andthey’d load the skid on with the VSAT andeverything else they needed and off they’dgo,” she says.

“They’d only be out five days in twoweeks, and they’d come back and drop itoff. And so there was a lot more of thatkind of stuff happening, and over time thesmaller OSVs have just picked it up. Nowalong with DTS you’ve got BlueTide, Elite,Datacom, GDS (Global Data Systems),there’s a lot of those little companiesploughing around and they’ve got a fairfew OSVs between them.”

“And they’ve been dragged out to otherregions and other parts of the world. Sothat period of time, really the growth wasnot coming from the wider commercialmarket, which was really feeling the effectsof the downturn.”

Market growth Despite that downturn, in the interveningyears, right up to the present day, the mar-itime VSAT market has gone from strengthto strength.

The Comsys Report states that the cur-rent number of commercial vessels withVSAT is close to 10,000, and the market asa whole has surpassed 20,000 stabilisedsites in service. It sees this number as a tip-ping point for the industry, and that 50,000units is achievable over the next few years,driven by improved services and cheaperequipment.

“In our optimistic forecast, which hasactually been more accurate over the years,we think it could get to 54 or 55,000 by2018,” continues Ms Bull. “If you look at itgoing back, we had 7,000 in 2008, to morethan 20,000 at the end of 2014, so thingshave moved on quite quickly.”

“In the old days, you didn’t really havemuch in the way of choice in terms of yourantenna. If you were going to put a sta-bilised antenna on a boat, your choice waspretty much Sea Tel or Sea Tel.”

“There were some people who usedOrbit, but Orbit had issues a lot of the time.They came out with some innovative stuff,but a lot of customers found the antennasdifficult to work with. They were better atC-band than they were at Ku.”

The dominance of Sea Tel in the marketmeant that prices remained high, as theprovider struggled to keep pace with thedemand for its systems. New playerscoming to the table changed that land-scape, with Intellian in particular causingdisruption in the market, according toMs Bull.

“Ultimately what it came down to was,‘hey, we’ve got to equip this vessel, weneed a Sea Tel’,” she says. “And Sea Teldidn’t have the capacity at the time, or itgot to that point.”

“And I guess it was about 2008, andthere had been some other companies com-ing in, like KNS and others, and thenIntellian popped up, and they really didhave a major effect on the market.”

“One moment you’re looking atbetween $40,000-$60,000 for a Ku-bandVSAT antenna, then within a couple ofyears you had a choice of four or five, andprices really came down significantly. Sotoday if you’re committing to a largequantity of antennas – say 200 a year –you’d be down to around $20,000. It’s asignificant change. Along with that hascome greater levels of reliability, easier to install, all those types of things. So all of that has really helped push the mar-ket along.”

As VSAT has become more pervasive,it has become increasingly relied upon atsea. Alongside operational uses such asweather and chart updates, voyage plan-ning, and efficiency monitoring, crewshave also benefited hugely from the ability to access services like Skype,Facebook and other social media. Weasked Ms Bull how important crew welfare was in VSAT’s development andits continued growth.

“Extremely important,” she says.“There have been various studies by vari-ous organisations over the years. We quoteextensively from a study where they inter-viewed 500-odd crew members about whatwas important for them, and internet con-nectivity has come up time and time againas being absolutely vital. These people geton a boat and they could be out there formonths, and if there’s no connection tofriends, family, children, it’s extremelyhard for them.”

“An example I heard was one of theChinese shipping lines. Around the time ofour first report, a lot of people were sayingthat it (VSAT) just wasn’t going to happenin Asia, that the Asian lines were too cheapand nasty and they didn’t care about thecrew. Apparently this one particularChinese operator, they were saying ‘we geta crew, we go on a voyage, we come back,they never come back on the ship, we justgo and recruit a bunch more people to goon the next one’.”

“Turnover was absolutely massive:around 80 or 90 per cent on each voyage.They were thinking, ‘there’s plenty ofcheap labour, why should we worry’.After a while they suddenly realised thatactually recruiting and training thosecrew was costing them an awful lot ofmoney, when they could’ve been holdingonto the crew if they’d had broadbandconnectivity on the ship, which was a big

part of why the crew was just walkingaway. So they’ve been putting broadbandon vessels since.”

Internet access at sea is an amenity thatseafarers have started to get a taste for,and once that happens it is extremely dif-ficult to then remove that facility. Oncethe genie is out of the bottle, and opera-tions and crew enjoy the benefits, it can’tbe put back in.

“I remember way back when, probablyaround 2003 or 2004, and BP shipping dida trial on I think three or four tankers,maybe as many as nine,” explains Ms Bull.

“At the time they had about 50 vessels.The next thing they know, every singlemember of crew on all the other vesselshad applied for a transfer to the vesselsthat had VSAT on them. When BP saidthey were doing an evaluation, they basi-cally had crew turning around saying ‘welllisten, if we’re not going to have it, we’rejust going to go, we’re going to leave.’ Andso they made the instant decision to justput it on all the tankers, and it’s been thereever since.”

Ms Bull says that, around 2009 or 2010,crew welfare began to decrease in impor-tance as a driver for purchasing VSAT, dueto the trouble in the commercial part of the market.

However, as companies went aheadwith purchasing decisions based on opera-tional efficiencies, the crew still ended upusing most of the bandwidth – and itbecame apparent that if the crew has inter-net, then they stay.

“You might not lose crew instantly, butwhen they get the opportunity to go some-

Growth in VSAT installations and revenuehas been significant in the last five years

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p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:27 Page 19


SATCOMS

where else for an equivalent package andthey get broadband connectivity, well ofcourse they’re going to choose that,” saysMs Bull.

Tech developmentsDespite advances in L-band technology,and the prospect of increased speeds withIridium’s NEXT constellation, Ms Bullbelieves the frequency will becomeincreasingly marginalised as a broadbandoption due to a lack of bandwidth.

Its reliability means that it will alwayshave a place in the market, but on com-mercial vessels its role will more often thannot be as a backup to higher throughputVSAT systems.

“I think L-band, if it’s used sparingly,can be less costly than VSAT, certainly lesscostly to invest in the equipment andinstall,” says Ms Bull.

“If you’ve got a relatively small boat,like a fishing vessel or a small yacht, thenyou’ll go with L-band. But if you’re not inthat league, if that’s not where you’re at,then L-band is ultimately going to be abackup, and it’s going to be marginalisedin that part of the business. “

“That’s not meant to be derogatory inany way to L-band, or the equipment, oranything like that, it’s just the simple factthat you just don’t have the frequency thatyou have in Ku or Ka. It’s only about 10 or20 Mhz total, for all the world’s L-band. Sowhat can you do with that? It’s alwaysgoing to be expensive.”

The development of flat panel antennasis another technology that the ComsysReport addresses. A number of manufac-turers, such as Phasor and Kymeta, havemade big strides with flat antennas inrecent years, and Ms Bull says she believesthe technology has the potential to replacetraditional stabilised antennas at somepoint in the future.

“I think definitely they have the poten-tial for doing that,” she says. “It’s going todepend on quite a lot of things. Many yearsago I was doing some work for Mitsubishi,and they showed me around their technol-ogy museum. In there they had a nice flatplate antenna – electronic, steerable, allthat kind of thing. I said ‘wow, does this

work?’ and they said ‘yeah’. I said ‘what’sit doing in a museum?’ and they said,‘well, it cost $4m to make’.”

“Now we’re not at that stage. Now ifyou’re talking about an equivalent 1 or1.8m antenna, the target price is in theregion of below $10,000. On board a shipit’s going to be slightly different becauserather than just sitting in a particular placeand just pointing to the occasional satellitehere and there, you’ve got a ship movingall the time. So it means it will have to havemultiple panels. Or you’re going to have to have some type of stabilised system to point it generally in the direction of the satellite.”

“Is it going to have a major effect on themaritime market over the next five or tenyears? Yes, absolutely. When these prod-ucts really start hitting the streets – andthey will – yes it will have a major effectand it’s going to make life a lot easier. Youdon’t need a crane to get it onboard, youcan just carry it on. It’s much easier toinstall, much easier to sight, all that type ofstuff, and it will be lower cost. So they’redefinitely going to play a big role.”

While rapid progress has been seenthroughout most parts of the VSAT indus-try, the Comsys Report notes that invest-ment in overarching technological plat-forms tends to come first, with the infra-structure to accommodate it sometimesplaying catch-up. Nonetheless, develop-ments and innovations are underway thatshould bring platform and modem tech-nology in line with the evolution of satel-lites and antennas.

“It’s changing,” says Ms Bull.“Typically 10 or 15 years ago, if you start-ed talking about a link up, it was unusualto get a link much more than 512 Kbps, and2 Mbps was huge.”

“Now all of a sudden, anywherebetween 2 and 10 Mbps is common. Whatthat’s done is suddenly raise the bar on theneed for the modem device to process thatdata, to handle the packets.”

“So there’s been a lot of work on thatside and all the major manufacturers havebeen working on that. We’ve already seensome of them come out. Some need moredevelopment and a little more work, but

it’s getting there. I think there’s a bit ofconcern about where the whole HTS mar-ket is going to play. It’s not an easy marketto get right on the land, let alone at sea. Sothere are a few question marks hangingover that. But generally the technology ismoving on – antennas, modems, satellites– all of those things, it’s happening outthere.”

Market forces The current uncertainty in the oil and gasmarket is also having complex effects onthe maritime VSAT market, Ms Bull says.

On the one hand, the offshore industryis suffering from low oil prices, and plat-forms are being decommissioned. On theother hand, lower fuel costs are helpingthe freight sector, which potentially freesup funds that can be diverted to VSATinvestment.

Factor in depressed day rates for ves-sels, as well as the crew welfare argument,and there are multiple, often conflicting,forces at play. However, the growth in themarket is expected to continue, and theReport states that the outlook for maritimeVSAT is ultimately positive.

“The oil and gas price has always his-torically done this cycle, gone up and gonedown,” says Ms Bull. “It’s just a fact of life.It will come back. It’s just a question ofwhen, and then things will pick up again.”

“There’s definitely a big slowdownthere in the next year or so. But I’m alreadyhearing that parts of the oil and gas marketlook better today.”

“I think a lot of the oil and gas compa-nies are using this time where everythingis not so intense to think about the bestway to go forward: the most cost-effectiveway to move forward, thinking aboutchanging their provider, or changingequipment, or whatever it happens to be.So that’s a positive side of the downturn inthe market.”

The picture for freight vessels is per-haps more complex. An abundance ofships means that the supply of gross ton-nage for tankers, carriers and containers iscurrently outstripping demand, and therelative slowdown in China’s economy hasnot helped.

Lower oil prices have been negatedsomewhat by stricter MARPOL regula-tions governing Emission Control Areas(ECAs), but crew welfare is keeping theVSAT market moving forward, as well aspotential gains from efficiency.

“We know the commercial vessel mar-ket has been having a really tough time,”continues Ms Bull.

“When I’ve spoken to freight compa-nies at the bottom end of the scale in thecommercial market, companies that arestruggling with day rates, they still wantVSAT. They really want it, but it’s a ques-tion of can they get it, can they afford it.And some of them are so up against the wall that they just can’t. It’s as simpleas that.”

“Having said that, look at how the com-mercial market has been penetrated, andhas adopted VSAT, over the last five yearsor so, during one of the worst recessions inshipping history. I think going forward,the business will re-orient itself and themarket will continue to grow. That’s justinevitable.”

One of the primary reasons for thisbelief is just how ingrained VSAT hasbecome in the day-to-day operations of lifeat sea. What was once a luxury is nowbecoming closer to the norm, both for crewretention and more fundamental commer-cial considerations.

“What we’ve seen over the years in somany other verticals, is once VSAT comesalong and brings a service that they other-wise would not have had, it brings a com-petitive advantage,” says Ms Bull. “Thenbefore you know it, if you don’t have it,you don’t have a business. You have nochoice but to do it.”

“Even back in 2008 and 2009 when thedownturn happened, particularly in theyacht/charter business, if you didn’t havebroadband on your yacht, you wouldn’t beable to charter it. No one would charter it.Why would they?”

“If you want to charter that vessel, youhave to put a VSAT on there. End of story.And that is beginning to happen now inthe commercial market. If you don’t havebroadband on your vessel, you are goingto suffer.”

For all the talk of crew welfare and itsundoubted importance, in the end, opera-tional capability is likely to be the strongerdriver. VSAT is now at a point where it cangreatly enhance the function of a vessel,delivering features at sea unheard of just afew short years ago.

If a product or service becomes ubiqui-tous and brings competitive advantage,those without it get left behind. Ms Bullbelieves that the maritime VSAT market iscurrently at that tipping point.

“For example in the OSV market, thecontractors want real-time video,” says Ms Bull.

“They want to understand what is hap-pening at that particular time. So there hasto be real-time video capability on theOSV. And if they don’t have it, chancesare they’re going to find it very hard to geta contract.”

“So of course they’re going to have tohave it. It’s almost like saying ‘this OSVdoesn’t have an engine, it’s much cheap-er to row it or sail it.’ Well guess whatguys, you need an engine. And they needbroadband.”

Stabilised antenna market shares 2013 Operator vessel market shares 2014

DS

p1-21:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:27 Page 20

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SATCOMS


Iridium is gearing up for the first launch later this year in the Iridium NEXT constellation, its $3 billion next generation satellite network which promises to deliver up to 1.4Mbps L-band services on a global basis.

Digital Ship spoke to Iridium’s Bryan Hartin and Brian Pemberton about the development of the company’s new services, and what to expect from NEXT

Iridium gears up for NEXT generation

II ridium’s current Low Earth Orbit(LEO) constellation of 66 satellites hasbeen in commercial operation since

the late 1990s, providing coverage acrossthe entire globe, including both poles. TheL-band constellation has six orbital planesspaced 30 degrees apart, with 11 satellitesin each plane, as well as a number of in-orbit spares.

The constellation operates just 476 miles(780 km) from the earth’s surface, and eachsatellite is linked to four others — two inthe same orbital plane and one in eachadjacent plane – creating a mesh networkwith a short transmission time back tousers on land or sea.

After almost 20 years however, thesatellite network is approaching the end ofits service life – and so, since the start of thedecade the company has been workingtowards a new generation of spacecraft.Today, plans are well underway for thisreplacement network, Iridium NEXT,which is expected to begin launchingbefore the end of 2015.

Digital Ship spoke to Iridium’s BryanHartin, executive vice president of salesand marketing, and Brian Pemberton,director of product management, aeronau-tical and marine products, about IridiumNEXT, the Certus Broadband service it willdeliver, and the planning that goes intoreplacing a 66-strong satellite constellation.

“It was conceived probably about fiveor six years ago,” says Mr Hartin.

“Given the current state of the existingnetwork – which has performed extremelywell and continues to perform extremelywell – you obviously have to plan for thenext constellation, and that’s one of thekey components of Iridium NEXT: to get anew constellation that will launch laterthis year.”

“But it’s really more than that. First andforemost, it’s totally backwards compati-ble. So all of the existing products andservices that Iridium and its partners selland market today worldwide across land-mobile, maritime, aviation and M2M, allthose products and services will workseamlessly on Iridium NEXT.”

Satellite technology has evolved rapidlysince Motorola started developing theoriginal Iridium constellation back in 1993,as have the needs of maritime and theother markets that Iridium serves. Iridiumsays it is developing NEXT to better meetthose market needs, delivering more band-width at higher data speeds, and facilitat-ing new services beyond what the currentconstellation can deliver.

“The added capabilities includeincreased speeds,” continues Mr Hartin,“which will allow us to offer new broad-band services which we announced recent-ly – Iridium Certus Broadband – as well asincreased capacity.”

“So the three primary components werethat we needed a new constellation, all theexisting products and services will workseamlessly, and we’ll be able to offer newbroadband services.”

NEXT time Iridium NEXT will be a direct replacementfor the original constellation, retaining theLEO mesh structure currently in operation.In total 81 satellites will be built, including66 LEO operational satellites, six in-orbitspares, and nine ground-backup spacecraft.

Production began in early 2014 at theOrbital Sciences Corporation satellite man-ufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Weasked if the prospect of altering the struc-tural design of the constellation had everbeen explored, and what the launch pro-gramme and early operational capabilitywill look like.

“We’ve always recognised thatIridium’s LEO constellation gives usunique advantages in the marketplace,”says Mr Hartin.

“The ability to offer global pole-to-polecoverage, and then obviously with a LEOconstellation, the ability to offer smallerdevices with great performance. So really Idon’t think there was ever any considera-tion to take a different route.”

“The launches start later this year. We’llinitially launch two satellites, those will goup and get fully evaluated, probably forabout three or four months, to make surethat they’re operating as expected. Then,over the course of 2016 and 2017, there’ll beseven launches of ten satellites each. Theanalogy I use is that it’s similar to a cellularnetwork rolling out. When we get somecritical mass in the latter part of 2016, that’swhen we’ll be able to start offering IridiumCertus Broadband.”

With such a large number of satellitesmaking up the constellation, reaching thatcritical mass of operational capability is atricky business. The logistics and cost ofbuilding a satellite network on this scale isone of the reasons the original Iridiumcompany had to file for Chapter 11 bank-ruptcy in 1999, just nine months after thefirst constellation went into service.

The current incarnation of Iridium,which emerged from the ashes of the pre-vious company, has no doubt learnedsome harsh lessons from its predecessor.

“We’ve got the four launches plannedfor 2016, so toward the end of 2016 we’llhave the two satellites up (from early test-ing) and then four launches of ten. Sotoward the end of 2016, we’ll be able tointroduce those Iridium Certus Broadbandservices,” continues Mr Hartin.

“They’ll be supported by the NEXTsatellites overhead, but also by the prod-ucts and services – and particularly theproducts that we’re developing via ourpartners that we announced over the (firsthalf of the year).”

“They’ll be designing, developing, man-ufacturing and distributing those prod-ucts, and then we’ll also have them sup-ported by our service providers.”

Those manufacturing partners includeThales, Cobham SATCOM, RockwellCollins, L-3 and ICG, companies whichIridium says it selected from a pool of over30 candidates. Initial products from thepartners are expected to appear as soon aslate 2016, following the availability of pro-totype transceivers from Iridium in the sec-ond quarter of 2015.

In conjunction with the more powerfulpayloads on the NEXT satellites, Iridiumbelieves that the equipment developed bythese partners will help deliver signifi-cantly increased performance. The deci-sion to work publicly with external manu-

facturing partners, particularly an anten-na manufacturer such as Cobham SAT-COM, is something of a departure for thecompany given that it delivered theOpenPort and Pilot services with Iridium-branded antennas only.

Iridium has previously acknowledgedthat defective antenna hardware had beendelivered to customers and had causedproblems for a number of users, leading tohundreds of replacement units being issued.

The company has since worked hard to“regain the trust of the market”, as CEOMatt Desch described it, and working withthe list of established technology partnersit has already announced for CertusBroadband can only help in that regard.

How the company will charge for itsnew services is also still under discussion,but with the ability to offer L-band servic-es from the low-data rate range up to1.4Mbps it does have the potential to com-pete in a variety of market sectors.

“We’re working on the pricing strategy.One of the key focuses was getting theVAM (Value Added Manufacturer) part-ners signed, so we’ve got the product part-ners clearly identified,” says Mr Hartin.

“We’re going to be working with ourservice provider partners across all lines ofbusiness. Suffice to say, we’re going to bepretty aggressive when it comes to thebroadband service pricing across the threelines of business.”

“The constellation can support speeds ofup to 1.4Mbps. As we start to introduceIridium Certus Broadband services in the lat-ter part of 2016, we’ll definitely have higherspeeds than what we currently offer today.And then we’ll increasingly offer improvedspeeds as we roll out the network.”

New marketsThe increased capabilities of its forthcom-ing network in comparison to what is capa-ble with its current satellites will potential-ly also open the door to new market oppor-tunities for Iridium.

As well as growth across the company’straditional verticals of maritime, aviationand government, Iridium expects to seeadoption from customers for whom satellitebroadband had previously been out of reach.

“I think the expectation is that yes, thecustomer profile will change a little bit,”explains Brian Pemberton, Iridium’s direc-tor of product management forAeronautical and Marine Products.

“I think we’ll see more and moreextended adoption, of the number of usersand the different vertical markets.”

“But also we’ll see a new category ofuser adopting the broadband services,because the types of terminals that we’relooking to be able to introduce to the mar-ket will be a smaller form factor, muchlower price point, and hence we’re looking

‘When we get some critical mass in thelatter part of 2016, that’s when we’ll be

able to start offering Iridium CertusBroadband’ – Bryan Hartin, Iridium

‘I think we’ll see more and more extendedadoption, of the number of users and

the different vertical markets’ – Brian Pemberton, Iridium

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:52 Page 1

Digital Ship


for increased adoption in new market seg-ments that traditionally have not been ableto afford satellite broadband connectivity.”

Maritime has long been an importanttarget market for Iridium, with itsOpenPort service offering global voice andIP connectivity at speeds up to 134Kbps.Moving on to the next generation Certusservices will enable Iridium to offer awider range of speeds, starting at 88 Kbps,and graduating up to 176, 352, 704 andfinally 1408 Kbps (1.4 Mbps).

The backwards compatibility of Certuswith services such as OpenPort shouldallow Iridium to maintain its current cus-tomer base, while the increased speedsgive it scope to chase market share amongcustomers in the L-band sector that wereout of reach with the OpenPort service.

“Right now I think we recognise thatwith OpenPort, we’ve got a bit of a

foothold in the market, but it’s really moreabout having the distribution channel,”says Mr Pemberton.

“With Certus, we’re looking to havenot just competitive products, but wereally believe that we’ll have – throughpartners like Cobham – superior productsin the marketplace to the existing L-bandproducts, and we would expect to rapidlytake market share in the 2016, 2017, 2018time frames.”

“Right now the maritime segment isexpected to be a major component ofgrowth for Certus Broadband, probablyaccounting for about half the incrementalrevenue, with land-mobile and aviationmaking up the other fifty per cent.”

Bands and bandwidthAccording to Iridium’s descriptions of itsnew services the top-level Certus speed of

1.4 Mbps has the potential to support fea-tures such as HD video, bringing Iridiumand its L-band technology into territorytraditionally reserved for VSAT.

This poses some interesting questions.As L-band speeds start to close the gapwith VSAT, does Iridium expect to comeinto direct competition with VSAT opera-tors, or will its customers more likely con-tinue to view its L-band offering as com-plementary to VSAT services?

“Ultimately they all work off the samecustomer segment, but really what we see is very complementary positioningbetween Iridium Certus and what we seecoming from the HTS (High ThroughputSatellite) community,” says Mr Pemberton.

“I think one of the key elements is wetalk about throughput being in the 500Kb,700Kb or even 1Mb per second range. Thecomplimentary nature of the L-band iseven more critical to the Ku- or Ka-band,because it gives them a more seamlessperformance.”

“Today if you fall off from a Ku- or aKa-band VSAT – whether it’s back to anIridium or an Inmarsat service – it’s a verynotable difference in performance. In thefuture, that difference won’t be so notable,so the idea of these complementary orhybrid solutions can be much more com-mon, especially in maritime.”

Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress service for mar-itime will be a combination of Ka-bandVSAT delivered through the company’sGlobal Xpress platform, alongside L-bandconnectivity via FleetBroadband. With theFleetBroadband traffic to be delivered asan inclusive part of the monthly fee for theKa-band service, there would seem to be

little opportunity for Iridium to gain trac-tion among customers for Inmarsat’sVSAT product.

However, with its higher potential datarates compared to standard L-band offer-ings today, and even most VSAT band-width packages, Iridium believes Certus isstrong enough to be a standalone commu-nications service while also having thepotential to complement VSAT servicesdelivered by the myriad operators beyondInmarsat.

“First of all, we can operate standalonein the L-band environment, like we dotoday, like Inmarsat does today,” says MrHartin.

“We can also be a complement to VSAT.There’s a lot of requirement and need out there for VSAT backup, though weunderstand Inmarsat is going to be offer-ing GX, which is a combined Ka and L-band offering.”

“Iridium Certus can definitely be the L-band compliment to VSAT partners – obvi-ously other than Inmarsat – and we canplay a significant role there. So that versa-tility gives the ability to operate in a stand-alone L-band environment, as well as com-plementary to VSAT.”

If Iridium can successfully deliverits new spacecraft into orbit, and offerbandwidth speeds of more than 1Mbpsvia reliable hardware, on a global basis at a market-pleasing cost, then there is no doubt that it has the potential to be a serious player in the market for mar-itime satcoms.

With 72 satellites to launch in the mean-time, the next couple of years certainlypromise to be eventful ones for Iridium.

The NEXT satellites have been designed to be capable of delivering 1.4Mbps speeds

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SATCOMS

The departure of Frank Coles as the head of Inmarsat Maritime in October 2014 meant the sudden appointmentof former head of the enterprise unit, Ronald Spithout, to the role. Now about half a year into the job, how is the

company changing under his new leadership? Digital Ship spoke to the new man to find out

Inmarsat Maritime – a new man at the helm

22 015 has been something of a transi-tion year at Inmarsat. The companyis in the process of moving away, for

the first time, from the L-band frequencywhich it has used to provide the servicesthat have been the traditional communica-tions backbone of the shipping industry –from Inmarsat-A through to FleetBroad-band today - and on to Ka-band with itsGlobal Xpress constellation.

As well as making this bet on VSAT asthe future of maritime connectivity, thecompany has also had to adjust to having anew man in charge of its maritime businessvertical, the single largest revenue generat-ing sector for the company, with RonaldSpithout taking over as president ofInmarsat Maritime following the suddendeparture of Frank Coles from the role inOctober of 2014.

Mr Spithout was already with the com-pany, heading up the Enterprise businessfor Inmarsat, and he is no stranger to themaritime sector – his experience with ship-ping goes back many years to the Station12 days, which morphed into Xantic andthen Stratos, before Stratos was purchasedby Inmarsat in 2009.

So from that perspective, while hisfocus for the past few years may have been elsewhere, the shipping industry isone that Mr Spithout says he feels comfort-able with.

“It’s not a big transition in the sense thatit’s all new, the industry is so conservativethat many of the people that I met beforeare still there,” he told Digital Ship, in aninterview at the Inmarsat headquarters in London.

“They may be wearing a different cap,but they’re still there. It feels like cominghome almost, I’ve been in the Enterprisebusiness unit for three years and if youlook at how busy it is over there it felt liketwo seconds.”

Defined strategyIn his first few months in the job, one of thetasks that Mr Spithout has been workingon has been condensing the company’sstrategy into a few tightly defined areasthat can be clearly articulated and under-stood, both by internal stakeholders aswell as the wider market. This has led tothe identification of three specific focuspoints for Inmarsat Maritime.

“The first one is the historic market thatInmarsat was in, which is the big, deep-seagoing merchant maritime market, the100,000 vessels that we already know fromway back. Ten years ago those were a dif-ferent 100,000 vessels, but it’s still 100,000vessels. One part of the strategy is to deliver more value to those vessels, withall kinds of new services or a revamp of old services. That’s strategy one,” saidMr Spithout.

“The second one is that there is a marketthat historically Inmarsat was not very

well penetrated into, and that is the smallboat market. These are boats less than300gt, maybe about 25m. If there are100,000 vessels in the merchant marketthere are about 2.5 million vessels in thesmall boat market worldwide.”

“This is a very underpenetrated marketand that market is growing. Our strategy isto really spend effort, time and money tobuild propositions that are fit for that mar-ket. We’re talking cheaper hardware,smaller hardware, low ARPUs, possibili-

ties to suspend services for seasonal users.That market is at least as big as the mer-chant market.”

To elaborate on this point, Mr Spithoutuses some hypothetical market figures todemonstrate how the scale of the differentmarket segments can directly affect thebottom line.

“If you have a merchant market of100,000 vessels and an ARPU of $1,000 permonth, for the sake of calculation, that’s ayearly market of $1.2 billion. If you take 2.5 million small boats with an ARPU of,say, $50, that’s a $1.5 billion market,” he explained.

“In the first market we are penetrated atabout 85 per cent, in the second market weare talking about seven or eight per cent, sothere’s a lot to gain there if we find theright proposition.”

The third pillar of this three-part strategyfor Inmarsat Maritime will focus on diversi-fication of services, away from traditionalvoice and data and integrating with devel-opments in Machine-to-Machine technolo-gies and the Internet of Things.

“Since the end of last year we have beenlooking at what we’re calling the MaritimeEnterprise market, and this MaritimeEnterprise market is a completely new

market that comes on the back of our newsatellite set,” said Mr Spithout.

“It’s not about the satellites themselves,but the satellites coming together with thebig project we started together with Ciscobuilding a kind of middleware between ourcore network and the customer’s environ-ment. We call that the Inmarsat Gateway. Ithas a network layer within our network andhas an onboard device that is part of it.”

“There are a heap of features, but theone you have to remember is that, for the

first time, we will be able to bill trafficbased on the user profile. In the past youbought the terminal and paid for the traf-fic, that was it. In the new set-up it wouldbe possible, if there is an engine manufac-turer who wants to deliver a flat fee moni-toring service on board, for example, whocomes to us and explains what he wants todo and what the traffic will look like, wecan bill the engine manufacturer. So theengine manufacturer is capable of deliver-ing a flat-fee subscription monitoring serv-ice for that vessel.”

Beyond engine data, Mr Spithout alsosees the technology being applied in areaslike electronic chart manufacturers sendingupdates to the ship, or bridge manufactur-ers monitoring what’s happening on board,or just about anyone who has an interest inthe maritime market and can add value bysending data to and from the ship.

“So instead of selling minutes and con-nectivity to the vessel we are actually sell-ing access to the maritime market. Thenthose customers are corporate customers,they are on shore, but it’s a very maritimebusiness,” Mr Spithout explained.

“That part of the market just simplydoesn’t exist, because so far nobody couldcrack the traffic portion, the vessels

wouldn’t pay for it. You can’t go to a ves-sel and say ‘let me sell you an on boardservice pack for the engine’ because theywould have to think about what to pay for the traffic and they wouldn’t know.Now the manufacturer can say that theywill pay for the traffic and charge the shipa flat fee to make sure that the enginestays online.”

“So we have the value play, the volumeplay, and the diversification play. That fitson one page and that will be the strategygoing forward, coming with the new satel-lites and new platform.”

Aside from this programme of strategicstreamlining that Mr Spithout has beeninvolved in since taking over InmarsatMaritime, his first six months in the jobhave also included the introduction ofchanges in business processes in theMaritime organisation to move to a morefunctional approach.

This kind of change was required as aresult of the various acquisitions the com-pany has undertaken in the last few years,most recently Globe Wireless, but alsostretching back to the purchase of ShipEquip and Stratos over the last six years.

“The current maritime organisation isnow a purely functional organisation, so there’s a head of sales, a head of busi-ness development, a head of market strat-egy, a chief technology officer and a headof fulfilment and operations,” MrSpithout explained.

“Each of them has the priority tostreamline their functional processes alongthe whole maritime organisation, regard-less of where the people are and what lega-cy they have. We don’t keep legacy busi-nesses alive, this is the year that they will be absolutely integrated along a func-tional basis.”

“That started in November actually,when I came in. I think people feel more‘Inmarsat’ than they feel the legacy busi-ness today, and I think that’s a good movefor us.”

Each of the five function heads in ques-tion will have to update the existingprocesses within that function, adoptingnew best practices where applicable andabandoning practices unsuitable to thisnew way of working.

“It’s happening in all five functionali-ties,” said Mr Spithout.

“In sales, it’s to streamline the wholeway we do sales funnelling, with one sys-tem and one process. In product manage-ment, take one methodology on how youtake new products and services into themarket. In installation, take one support-ing system that does the supply chain andthe logistics.”

“Business processes, back office sys-tems, portfolio pieces – because we gotpieces of portfolios from all the legacy sitesas well – some of them were value adds inthe past and are not value adds any more.

‘I’m not intending to continue to raise prices, if that’s what you want to hear, but it isdefinitely the trend for Inmarsat to keep on providing more value to the market,

and that’s what we’re doing’ – Ronald Spithout, Inmarsat

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:52 Page 3

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SATCOMS


So we are taking everything and streamlin-ing it into ‘one Inmarsat’. It’s a newInmarsat Maritime built from those parts.”

PricingOne of the more controversial chapters ofthe reign of Mr Spithout’s predecessor,Frank Coles, was the introduction of arange of price rises across the company’sStandard Plan on FleetBroadband as wellas other legacy E&E services, such as theFleet family.

When asked if there were any furtherplans to restructure pricing in 2015, MrSpithout seemed keen to reiterateInmarsat’s recent strategy of trying tomove users to commitment plans ratherthan discuss the future costs of pay-as-you-go services.

“Pricing is an issue if you sell minutesand megabits, pricing is an issue if you areon a metred service on your vessel becausethey pay for every minute and megabyte.The minute you step over to value pack-ages, today in gigabytes but in the futurejust on speed as with a Global Xpress pack-age you will just buy a 1Mbps package andnot worry about the volume, price will notbe the major differentiator,” he told us.

“If you look today at the prices that wehave on FleetBroadband you see that thereis a move from the lower-end metred pack-ages to the higher-end flat-fee packages,and that is a move that we deliberatelytook. This is not only about price rises, inall the packages that we have, the flat feepackages, we put more into the package.”

“In previous years you were payingXYZ for a 2GB plan, now you will get 4GBfor the same money. That’s not a price rise,we doubled the allowance. 6GB planswent to 8GB, and so on. The only place itbecame more expensive was on the bot-tom end metred plans, because eventuallywe think that the world in shipping is bet-ter off if they are on flat fee packages,because as long as a vessel stays onmetered plans, crew will be restricted inwhatever they do.”

Mr Spithout says that this strategyreflects Inmarsat’s commitment to devel-oping services that improve either safety,operational efficiency, or crew welfare,and that he feels a metred plan will not suf-ficiently serve any of those three goals.

Despite this however, a vast number ofInmarsat customers are still on these pack-ages where they prefer to pay-per-use –though Mr Spithout says that he doesn’tthink it’s a majority of customers any longer.

“There’s a big portion that’s on EntryPlans (250MB allowance per month), as wecall it, versus the Standard Plans (pay asyou go after first 20MB). There are still abig number, yes, (on Standard Plans), but Isee a lot of migration,” he told us.

“If I look back over January, 2.5 per centof our installed base moved away from themetered plans to the higher plans, mean-ing they all started to pay more, voluntari-ly. They could have stayed where theywere, but 2.5 per cent in one month movedto the higher plans.”

It could be argued that this strategy istrying to employ both the carrot and thestick approach to market management –the carrot being higher megabyteallowances once the user commits to apackage, and the stick the continual raisingof prices at the low end that mean metred

plans are no longer economically viable forusers beyond a certain threshold.

“I really think that the low end plansdeserve the raise, because I don’t think thatover the last seven years you saw a lot ofprice raising at Inmarsat. But we are alsonow at a time that it’s really time to givecrew access to the normal world – and thatdoesn’t go with a metred plan. So it’s all tocreate more value,” said Mr Spithout.

“I don’t think we are looking to a seriesof price raises, the prices that we have noware doing well. We see a lot of migrationupwards, and we would have seen a lot ofdeactivations if it was true, what you said,if we were really hitting a point where theysaid ‘Inmarsat is too expensive’. We don’tsee that.”

“I’m not intending to continue to raiseprices, if that’s what you want to hear, butit is definitely the trend for Inmarsat tokeep on providing more value to the mar-ket, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Mr Spithout also notes that very lowend users may be better served moving toone of the plans aimed more at the fishingand leisure market rather than its packagesaimed at deep-sea commercial maritime, ifthey are using small numbers ofmegabytes and minutes.

“I didn’t dive into the demographics ofthe vessels, but I can imagine that a lot ofthe smaller vessels are actually on thewrong plan. I can imagine that a lot of thesmaller vessels should actually be on aFleet One plan, which is a small vessel plan,which is much more beneficial,” he said.

“If you only use 30MB or 40MB permonth, what type of operations are youdoing on the vessel? They should dive intothat and see if they are on the right pack-age. We are not yet like a telecom operatorwho is calling you every second month totell you you’re on the wrong plan!”

Global XpressAt the other end of the spectrum from the30MB or 40MB per month customers arethose Inmarsat will be hoping to enticeover to its new Ka-band platform, GlobalXpress (GX).

With the third and final satellite in theconstellation having arrived at the launchsite in Kazhakstan ahead of a scheduled (atthe time of writing) early June launch,Inmarsat says it is on course to have fullglobal commercial service availability onthe high-throughput network before theend of 2015.

In the meantime the company is offer-ing a regional high-throughput product, amixed Ka-band/L-band service calledFleetBroadband Xtra, using coverage fromthe one commercially operational GlobalXpress satellite over the Indian Ocean inKa-band, and L-band on FleetBroadbandeverywhere else.

Coverage from the second satellite inthe network is expected to be added to thisshortly, with the satellite successfully inorbit and currently undergoing tests aheadof commercial service introduction.

“In October (2014) we were still on trackto launch Global Xpress as one big bang atthe time of global coverage. Then we sattogether in November and said ‘well, isthat the right approach?’” said Mr Spithout.

“We were trying to look back at wherethat decision had come from and we relat-ed it back to the FleetBroadband introduc-

tion seven or eight years ago where ship-ping only adopted FleetBroadband afterglobal coverage. But if you think back,what happened at that time is that wedelivered a FleetBroadband terminal andwe took a Sat-B or Fleet off. If you havethat approach then there’s no way some-body would take a FleetBroadband know-ing that there was only one satellite.”

“What we do today is that, with thelaunch of the new constellation, we stepover from a conventional service to a man-aged service. So instead of taking aFleetBroadband off, we are adding aGlobal Xpress terminal and moving to amanaged service where we manage thefailover between the two.”

Mr Spithout believes that, with 50 percent of the world’s vessels already travel-ling under the footprint of the IndianOcean Region GX satellite, there are cus-tomers who will want to take advantage ofKa-band connectivity on those terms.

“That service is alive now, beta testswent absolutely great, so people can haveGlobal Xpress service under one satellite,and relying on FleetBroadband for the restof the world,” he said.

“If you are on a trade from Europe toSouth East Asia you wouldn’t leave theIndian Ocean region at all. In that light thesecond satellite is a non-event, because wewill just add the second satellite to thatservice. Yes, the people in the Americaswill be happy because they will have theservice at that time.”

“The Pacific is only for a very small por-tion of the vessels, the biggest bang is hap-pening now with Global Xpress rolled outin the Indian Ocean region. That’s anamazing deviation from the path that wewere on before the end of last year.”

Inmarsat is expecting revenues from GXto reach $500 million per year by the fifthanniversary of the launch of global service,which would mean the end of 2020 undercurrent plans. How much of this is expect-ed to come from maritime alone is notdefined, Mr Spithout said.

“We haven’t broken it down, whatwe’ve said is that GX will have $500 mil-lion (in revenues per year) by the fifthanniversary of the global launch. That’sglobally,” he explained.

“Today Inmarsat Maritime is roughlyhalf of our business. I don’t know how thatwill be five years from now knowing thatwe having a highly accelerating aviation

and enterprise business that will probablyhave larger growth figures than maritime.But it will give you clue. That’s as far as Ican go because we haven’t done that exer-cise yet in detail.”

Retail vs WholesaleAnother area of change for Inmarsat in2015 has been an apparent softening in its'direct to market' approach over the courseof the last few months.

Without making any official statementson the matter, references by CEO RupertPearce during investor calls about the crit-ical importance of the company’s whole-sale business to its overall strategy, as wellas the adoption of what it called an ‘opentechnology strategy’ at the InmarsatDeveloper Conference in January, maysuggest that the hard push for direct salespreviously seen in the Maritime business isbeing scaled back in favour of a morefriendly, ‘inclusive’ approach.

When asked about this issue, MrSpithout was adamant that he has nointention of competing with Inmarsat part-ners, and was keen to highlight the pointthat the majority of Inmarsat Maritime rev-enues are coming from indirect sales –though this seems to be counting salesthrough Service Providers affiliated withthe former Stratos business unit as beingindirect rather than direct.

“Everyone thinks that with the acquisi-tion of Stratos and Ship Equip and GlobeWireless we would be predominantly aretailer, but that is far from the truth. Ithink it’s 82 per cent that’s indirect, 18 percent direct. If you look back at the old DPs(distribution partners), then it might bedifferent, but if you look at what is directand indirect then it’s 82 per cent indirect,”he told us.

“Stratos had heaps of ServiceProviders, as they called them at that time,and so do all the other DPs. So we are step-ping over to a situation where we willhave partners, and nothing else but part-ners. In the past we had LESOs (land Earthstation operators), DPs and ServiceProviders. The only thing that differenti-ates a partner going forward is the waythey interconnect with Inmarsat.”

“You can interconnect with Inmarsat byinterconnecting straight away into ourback-office systems, or you can intercon-nect with Inmarsat by interconnecting withour gateway systems that came with the

Projected Global Xpress coverage - FleetBroadband Xtra will offer coverage in the Indian Ocean Region (marked in green)

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:52 Page 5

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booth B01-27WWW.NETVISIONCORPORATION.COM COMPLETE CREW MANAGEMENT SOLUTION

In light of the changing face of economy, sustainable growth in the shipping industry requires quality and cost effective ship management. One of the major components of attaining optimised levels of quality and cost effectiveness is to ensure efficient crew management is properly orchestrated at global scale. Crew management implies working in a global environment with locations in many countries and time zones with ever-changing complex set of regula-tions to comply with. Ensuring aggre-gate compliance assumes labour inten-sive processes, not easily scalable.

Moving crew at a global scale is also an extremely time sensitive operation that requires not only real time data but also better cooperation methods between dispersed entities. Traditionally, this happens based on a top down push based communication mechanism but for high scale efficiency, cooperation should be interactive and real time.

Relying on a legacy outdated system becomes a hindrance and cancels the benefit of having offices and resources in different parts of the world and different time zones as cooperation is difficult and slow and hardly any delegation is possible. Also, resource sharing that makes sense on load peaks is almost impossible on legacy systems. High numbers of remote users are unable to work real time or at all on legacy systems. There are always delays in getting data and the reports generat-ed are semi- reliable with transparency blurred at best. Constant technological change often weakens the business value of legacy systems, rendering them as obsolete.

For all these problems and more, a solution that ticks all the boxes is COMPAS, developed and continuously improved by Net Vision.

COMPAS is a state of the art cloud crew management system build to handle the complexity of business for a multi company setup and allow all parties to work interdependent in real time from a simple web browser.

...............................................................................................“Thome Group implemented the COMPAS Crew Management system to achieve a

-

-ment system became increasingly important

cope with constantly increasing headcount

Captain Michael Elwert

Thome Group...............................................................................................

This system offers a holistic approach incorporating modern management principals and best practices and constantly evolves and absorbs, devel-ops and promotes cutting edge concepts and processes.

COMPAS provides 360-degree coverage of the entire human resource function of a commercial vessels operator, incorpo-rating advanced planning and execu-tion tools meant to enhance crew management capacities.

COMPAS features- Personnel Database with extensive data capture capabilities on all dimen-sions and extensive validation.

- Recruitment: From identification of personnel requirements and creating what-if scenarios, to tracking deploy-ment and performance of new hires and generating reports and statistics.

- Compliance Check: Automatic analy-sis of various compliance requirements related to company, flag, owner, vessel type, onboard equipment, STCW, etc.

- Reporting: Inbuilt reports and business intelligence tool, embedded in each of the functional areas of the application and providing immediate insights and situational analysis.

- Visual-aided Planning: Allows planning with inbuilt business logic to help identify best possible replacement for crew onboard and what-if scenarios on compliance with all regulations and requirements. Drag-and-drop tool allows multiple angles like vessel-based or rank-based crew planning.

- Execution Tools: Enhances crew change capacity – embedded travel management, automatic email notifica-tion with attachments, validation of last round of compliance checks, cost control, bulk update of crew records, etc.

The system’s automated payroll provides cost and process efficiencies and allows for fewer errors in account-ing and regulatory compliance. It handles natively multi CBA, multi wage scales, multi currencies, accruals, leave pay calculation, financial system integration, e-banking interface, taxes and statutory compliance.

COMPAS travel planner is regarded as the best travel tool in the industry offer-ing comprehensive travel planning and execution tool that maps all crew move-ment in an integrated application with fantastic reporting and benchmarking capabilities.

COMPAS offers a comprehensive crew training module that ensures smooth management of internal and third party training, long-term planning and forecasting of training needs, reducing training costs by optimizing the mix of classroom-based, vessel based, office based training methods and distance learning programs; It also provide ability to capture all competence related data from all sources, integrating infor-mation from courses, qualifications, certificates, training programs, training recommendations and follow-up, CBTs, assessments and more. It adds SCORM compliant E-learning delivery capabili-ties and manages and measures e-learn-ing consumption.

The onboard module allows a range of functions designed to make the job onboard simpler and more efficient: Master’s cash accounts, Slop chest and bonded stores management, work and rest hours monitoring, variable overtime capture and reporting, automated payroll and payslip genera-tion, victualing, drills management, accident and incident investigation, crew change planning and crew travel.

COMPAS for decision makersManagement dashboard provides decision makers big picture overview on all essential areas with fantastic drill down capabilities allowing accurate pinpointing to lowest level of detail. Its rich reporting capability spans over thousands of clear, real life reports providing valuable information both as status as well as trend, allowing informed decisions to have focus and substance.

...............................................................................................“Wilhelmsen Ship Management entered into an agreement with Net Vision to implement

state-of-the-art tool that allows easy and

Captain Tushar Mohile

Wilhelmsen Ship Management...............................................................................................

COMPAS for execution teamsExecution of plan and daily operation offers unmatched opportunities for efficiency gains. For these to materialise COMPAS embeds countless tools and

automation features to enable maxi-mum output with a minimal effort while helping avoid mistakes and human errors.

COMPAS for crewCOMPAS crew self service module enable seafarers to access their profile while on leave and update relevant new information as well as follow up and contribute on e-appraisals, e-learning, self-assessments, get information on planning, travel, training gap and calen-dar, payroll and payslips.It is always well received by crew and it quickly becomes a precious tool that enhances communication and coopera-tion with crew while reducing dramati-cally number of calls and queries.

Extreme availabilityCreated for cloud before cloud concept came to exist, COMPAS went through stages of technological advancements and ended up becoming a leading solution not just functional but techno-logical as well. On user side Compas works on any operating system (Win-dows, Mac, Linux), on any browser (Chrome, Firefox, Explorer, Safari) as well as any mobile device (IPhone, IPad, Android based smart phones) and more. Having the entire power of the system in your pocket brings incredible efficiency gains and fantastic response times, eliminating dependencies and crushing boundaries.

Proven benefitsAs a general overview, running a system like COMPAS changes the way people work. It enables a system driven cooperation and real time resource sharing that are not possible on legacy systems. Re-engineering efficiencies around new capabilities brought by the system allows not only tremendous efficiency gains but fundamentally changes working relationships from push based towards connected interde-pendency.

...............................................................................................“The day COMPAS went live was a big day

move by Uniteam Marine to streamline

various manual data entry tasks to manning

IT Director

Fleet DirectorUniteam Marine...............................................................................................

Crew Management in Cloud Age

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SATCOMS


purchase of Stratos. In both cases we’retalking about indirect business, and in bothcases I don’t want to compete with them.”

As evidence of this ‘non-compete’ phi-losophy, Mr Spithout points to the fact thatInmarsat has made a conscious decision topreclude itself from the development ofany applications for use with its services,with those applications one of the maindifferentiators for companies competing inselling the same Inmarsat airtime.

“That means that there’s no way that Ican compete with my channel, regardlessof what they were in the past, DPs orService Providers. Because internally I stillhave to provide service to ServiceProviders at a margin as well,” he said.

“If you look at that there’s only one wayto work, and that’s Inmarsat Maritimebeing predominantly a wholesaler. Mypartners won’t trust me if I compete withthem, whether they were a DP in the pastor a Service Provider in the past.”

“The difference between a DP and aService Provider was only given by thefact that they were using I-3 or I-4 servicesin the past, because in the past you couldonly distribute I-3 services if you were aLESO, and LESO’s were carrying ServiceProviders. Inmarsat changed the modeland on the I-4 services you could onlybecome a DP. So there are many partieswho today are a Service Provider and a DP– that has to stop. Going forward they’ll allbe partners, and only the way they inter-connect with us will define what type ofpartner they are. In no other circumstancesam I going to compete with them.”

As a result, Mr Spithout says that hebelieves that Inmarsat’s 18 per cent rev-enue share via direct sales is likely todecline in the future, with little likelihoodof organic growth if competition with thesales channel is avoided.

In such a scenario it would seem thatbusiness logic might suggest that a retailbusiness with no growth prospects, andthe potential to cause worries among part-ners of being a future competitor(unfounded or otherwise), should be sold– allowing Inmarsat to concentrate on itswholesale operations and reinvest the pro-ceeds into that core business.

However, Mr Spithout says that such asale is not on the cards, and that Inmarsatintends to keep selling direct for the timebeing. His hope is that he will be able torebuild trust with the partner communityto the extent that the issue of competitionis no longer seen as any threat.

“Why would we (sell)? It gives us a goodopportunity to liaise with the biggest cus-tomers in the industry, and really feel whattheir needs are and serve them, profitably. Idon’t see the urge to sell,” he told us.

“I’m competing, but on a level playingfield. The partners know that I won’tundercut any of them to get a bigger stakeof the direct market. With the partners it’sabout trust. It will take time for trust todevelop as well, but my people have tomake profit on everything they do. Sothere’s no way I will throw in free hard-ware boxes, for example, there’s no way Iwill start subsidising heavily hardwarethat I won myself.”

“Our partners have to trust that if wego in for a customer that they have a morethan fair chance to win the businessagainst us, especially in the future where

it’s all about value and applications. Idon’t make them and they do, hopefully.I hope that in the future a lot of our part-ners are coming up with certified applica-tions that are creating value on board. Myonly task is to enable that. I won’t writesoftware. Yes, I have an historic iFusionbox (from Globe Wireless), but it’s funda-mentally different to how it was posi-tioned last year.”

Mr Spithout believes that this blendedapproach of direct and indirect sales willcontinue to be the best way for Inmarsat toserve its customers going forward into theGX era.

“If the model is like it is today, 80 or 85per cent indirect, I think it gives us a goodhealthy balance. We keep our connectionwith the market, we keep an eye on whatis needed to be successful in the market,which way it’s going, and then let the part-ners do the rest,” he said.

“The moment I step around them, andcut my prices or cut my margins, or giveaway hardware, then within a millisec-ond you will have a competing situation.So far, since I moved to Maritime, it did-n’t happen. If my people come to me andsay they need a better price because theyare competing with XYZ, I’ll say go away,it’s not happening.”

“That’s the trust we are building,maybe it will take another couple ofmonths, but once you are there you havea good ecosystem.”

Tomorrow’s worldWith the interview drawing to a close, itseems clear from the conversation so farthat Inmarsat is trying to shift focus some-what toward a more partner-focusedapproach, at least in the Maritime part ofthe business – with the repeated referencesto a ‘non-compete’ strategy and the high-lighting of how the majority of revenuesdepend on indirect business, there is a feel-ing that the company wants to be seen tobe drawing attention to the importance itplaces on its partners and resellers.

That is perhaps evidenced by Inmarsat’schoice of person to take over its Maritimebusiness after Mr Coles’ departure. Whilehis predecessor was well known for beingforthright, outspoken and completelyassured in his own beliefs – not always tohis own benefit – Mr Spithout comes acrossas a more genial and softly spoken person-ality, someone who may be more collabo-rative in his decision making and morelikely to extend an olive branch than abaseball bat in the face of conflict.

Perhaps Mr Spithout’s approach to thejob is best illustrated by his answer whenasked if he had any final words to close thediscussion – rather than pointing to cus-tomer growth or revenue numbers, heinstead spoke of his hopes for success inmaking internal changes in the company,and nurturing the team around him.

“The major message is that there’s a new business unit for Maritime,” MrSpithout said.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the peopleworking together in a new way, a legacy-free way, with a very clear market strategyand a whole heap of new services they canleverage.”

“I think you’ll find a lot of enthusiasmaround the maritime team for all these new ideas.” DS

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DD igital Ship's 2015 round table dis-cussion, titled ‘HTS and the evolu-tion of maritime satcoms' and

hosted by Airbus Defence and Space at theNovotel Monte Carlo in Monaco, broughttogether a panel of eight experts withdecades of experience in the field of vesseloperations and the application of technolo-gy in the shipping environment.

The goal of the discussion was to exam-ine some of the current, emerging andplanned future communications technolo-gies on offer to the maritime market, and togather opinions on how the evolution inthe technologies on offer might change theoperational environment in coming years.

Digital Ship posed a number of ques-tions to the panel (identified in the table onthe right), starting with a review of the cur-rent satcom usage among our vessel oper-ators and how that affects their view of thenew generation of emerging technologies.

Digital Ship (DS): To start us off, I’d liketo get an idea of what type of satellitecommunications systems our shippingcompanies here today are using, to learnabout the type of experiences you’ve hadwith these services to date. Kevin, couldwe start with you?

Kevin Sinclair (KS): We’re using VSAT,Ku-band VSAT systems, as the mainstreamcommunications system. We use FBBs(FleetBroadbands) as a backup. That’s pret-ty much the satellite situation we have onboard the fleet, we have about 70 vesselsthat are equipped in this manner.

DS: Is it a standardised set-up, do youhave the same system on each ship?

KS: We’ve rolled out five vessels permonth, on average, for the past year. We’llbe doing this for the next year and proba-bly through to the end of 2016. Yes, it’sfully standardised, and we have simpleinstallation as well on the vessels.

DS: What were you replacing with thisroll-out?

KS: It’s all newbuilds, so we’re notreplacing anything. We had a fleet of 20vessels that still had ‘F’ terminals and wereplaced the F terminals with the combo,the VSAT plus the FBB, as they were doingdrydocks.

So that was 20 vessels, of which we’veprobably sold about 10 so we’re only leftwith 10 legacy vessels, that are now up tostandard. It’s a very young fleet.

DS: So Ku-band VSAT is the system ofchoice for you?

KS: Yes.

DS: Simone, what are your ships using?Simone Gori (SG): For shipmanage-

ment it’s a little bit different from whenyou own the ship as well, so we have quitea lot of variety in terms of products.FleetBroadband of course is one, andVSAT, and L-band with Iridium.

Talking in terms of SeatecCommunications, as part of the V.Groupwe are trying to standardise the solution,but it’s not always easy. What we are try-ing to do is offer consultancy about howthe owner can save money and also satisfytheir expectations.

DS: So what kind of advice to you give interms of the type of satellite communica-tions systems you see as being most effec-tive and most efficient?

SG: Believe it or not, there are still own-ers with Fleet77 and Inmarsat-B systems,even at the end of last year there werethousands of Inmarsat-B systems all overthe world. So we need to be cost effectiveas well, so FleetBroadband may be the firstsolution to go to, but if you look a little bitahead then the VSAT can be the right solu-tion, for sure.

William Biegun (WB): At CMA CGM

we are using a mixture of F systems, likeFleet77, and FleetBroadband and VSAT. Ihave to go back a bit into history to explainwhy we have so many devices on board.

A few years ago we actually had onlyone single Fleet77 on board our vessels, butthat was causing some operational issueswhen the Fleet77 was broken or out oforder. So we had the idea that we shouldintroduce a second system on board.

That was in 2009, and at that time wewere suffering a major crisis in the contain-er shipping market. We could not afford thehigh costs involved with the Fleet77, so wedecided to install FleetBroadband on board

our vessels. We kept the Fleet77 on board asa backup and FleetBroadband became ourprimary system.

It was ok for some time, but then eventu-ally, in mid-2013, we decided to introduceKu-band VSAT on board our vessels, forreasons that I will explain later on. But still,the initial idea was that the VSAT wouldreplace the Fleet77, but unluckily for us,most pedestals for the Fleet77s were in theX-band radar beam, so there was someinterference and we could not replace themat the same location. So we decided to keepthe Fleet77 as a second backup!

The VSAT was installed somewhereelse more appropriate on board. So thatexplains our variety of systems, which insome senses is good because, as we aretrading worldwide, we see that in differentparts of the world we might have differentblocking areas in ports, sometimes it’saffecting the VSAT, sometimes it’s morethe FleetBroadband, so for the time beingwe are quite happy with the three systemson board.

For the newbuild vessels we kept thisstructure where we have three systems onboard – VSAT and two FleetBroadbands.

DS: So that’s the standard fit for you atthe moment?

WB: Yes.Marjolijn van Tiel-Postma (MVP): We

were quite similar, we had Fleet77sbecause it was on ships before everythingelse came out, then we started withIridium OpenPort with the first generationalmost as soon as it came out.

Digital Ship


Digital Ship recently organised a round table discussion session in Monaco, bringing together a panel of four vesseloperators, three communications technology suppliers and one market forecaster to discuss the future development ofsatellite communications in the shipping industry. Amongst a wide range of subjects the debate covered the potential of high throughput satellites, VSAT as ‘a new standard’, and what a shipping company really looks for when choosing a system

HTS and the evolution of maritime satcoms

The panel (clockwise from bottom left): Chris Insall, Intelsat; Marjolijn van Tiel-Postma, Beltship Management; Barbara Bersani, Airbus Defence and Space; William Biegun, CMA SHIPS; Rob O’Dwyer, Digital Ship; Simone Gori, Seatec Communications (V.Group);

Alain Laplace-Toulouse, Marlink; Kevin Sinclair, Scorpio Ship Management; and Wei Li, Euroconsult

Who’s who: The PanelThe panel consisted of (abbreviations in brackets):

(WL) – Wei Li, Senior consultant at Euroconsult, in charge of research reports onmobile satellite communications, mainly in the maritime and aeronautical sectors.

(KS) – Kevin Sinclair, IT applications manager at Scorpio Ship Management,involved with managing satellite communications and network systems for the com-pany (replacing Alasthair Saunders, IT vessel support manager, who was unable toattend the round table).

(ALT) – Alain Laplace-Toulouse, Area sales manager with Marlink, based inAntibes in France and responsible for distribution and service for maritime satellitecommunications products.

(SG)– Simone Gori, General manager at Seatec Communications, part of theV.Group supplying IT, navigation and communications equipment and airtime serv-ices to V.Ships.

(WB) – William Biegun, Head of navigation, communication and vessel IT systemsat CMA SHIPS (Ship Management company of CMA CGM) and responsible forapproximately 100 owned vessels.

(BB) – Barbara Bersani, Head of sales for South Europe, Middle East & Africa atAirbus Defence and Space, managing maritime sales efforts across these regions.

(MVP) – Marjolijn van Tiel-Postma, Purchasing manager at Beltship ManagementLimited in Monaco for the last 10 years, a manager and owner of self-dischargingbulk carriers and gearless bulk carriers.

(CI) – Chris Insall, Senior principal product manager for maritime services atIntelsat, a satellite operator partnering with the majority of maritime VSAT serviceproviders.

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That was enough for where the shipswere sailing, then we got ships from Brazilfor a Brazilian owner, which we built forthem, and they wanted to offer crew inter-net facilities. So we added FleetBroadband,with Iridium as a back-up.

For the ships that went to Africa,because the crew couldn’t go ashore there,we also added VSAT. Not just for that rea-son, but also to be able to remotely monitorparts of the equipment on board because itwas a 24-hour operation.

DS: So you have a mix, a little bit ofeverything?

MVP: Yes.

DS: It’s interesting that with each of ourshipping companies represented heretoday, you are now at the stage where youare all using VSAT to some extent onboard at least some of your ships, some-thing we would probably not have seenjust a few years ago. Maybe our other pan-ellists can tell us a bit about how this isreflected in wider trends across the indus-try? Wei, that’s your area in particular.

Wei Li (WL): I think industry-wide wehave seen very strong growth in VSAT inthe last five years. For now, according toour last report, we see globally speaking14,000 or 15,000 VSATs active globally.Other reports have said figures like 30,000but we are less optimistic than that, we’renot counting that many.

DS: What type of vessels are you includ-ing in that, does it extend to oil rigs andplatforms or just ships?

WL: We’re counting everything in mar-itime and offshore, so including the rigsand support vessels, all of the merchantships and commercial ships, all of thesuperyachts and cruise ships, and govern-ment vessels like the Coast Guard.Counting all of that we came up withsomething like 14,000 to 15,000 VSAT ves-sels active globally, and we see that grow-ing very fast.

Many of these users come from migra-tion from legacy Inmarsat systems, theyare demanding more bandwidth and wantto have more traffic per month, andInmarsat is too expensive to support thiskind of usage so they are moving to VSAT.

In terms of the frequency, most of thesenew VSAT users are in Ku-band, but thereis still some C-band in legacy systems thathave been installed for some time, peopleare not trying to replace them so they arestill being used.

There are some ships that require highquality in their connections and global cov-erage and they may stay with C-band, butwe think that the numbers using C-bandwill stay relatively stable in the next fiveyears, the majority of growth will comefrom Ku-band.

VSAT is growing very fast, but on theother side MSS (mobile satellite services)are growing fast as well. So if we comparethe net addition of VSAT and MSS, inVSAT it increased between 1,500 and 1,800in the last year globally butFleetBroadband increased by more than10,000 in one year. Many of those are com-ing from migration from old systems asthey tried to push people on toFleetBroadband, it doesn’t mean there are10,000 new vessels in the market.

There’s also a big difference betweenregions, we talked to many serviceproviders and ship owners in Europe andthe Middle East and many of their new-builds have VSAT from the very begin-ning, but if we look at Asia or some LatinAmerican countries, many of the new-builds there have FleetBroadband orIridium to begin with. So there are big dif-ferences in the dynamics between regions.

We believe that in the future both MSSand VSAT will keep growing, but in termsof revenue VSAT will show more growth.Right now more than 50 per cent of therevenues in the market are coming fromMSS, but within the next five to ten yearsVSAT will be responsible for more than 50per cent.

In terms of revenue it will be bigger,though in terms of terminals, about 80 percent of the terminals will be MSS, becausethey’ll be on for back-up on VSAT vesselswhile there will be many vessels that stillonly use MSS and no VSAT. Those are thetrends we see for the moment.

WB: When do you foresee the end ofdial-up technology, Fleet77 for instance?

WL: In the next five years. I thinkInmarsat have had plans to terminate someservices but have been late sometimes indoing that, sometimes because peoplehaven’t been willing to migrate, but I thinktheir plan is to stop older generations ofsystems because it’s not efficient in termsof spectrum usage and management.

They’ll want to free up that spectrumfor new generations of systems that aremore efficient and easier to manage. So Ithink that in the next five year’s all of theInmarsat-3 generation except Inmarsat-Cwill be terminated.

DS: There are GMDSS issues to considerin that, with ships using Fleet77 for theirGMDSS for example, politically it won’tbe easy to switch that off.

MVP: It happened with Inmarsat-Dthough, I had to change SSAS equipmenton two ships because the satellite camefalling out of the sky!

SG: It’s interesting, I remember theInmarsat-B and Inmarsat said it was sup-posed to shut down in 2014 – but once theydiscovered that so many terminals werestill out there they decided to postpone.

Alain Laplace-Toulouse (ALT):Concerning Inmarsat-C, it’s a bit differentbecause Inmarsat has a 10-year period togive notice before they close down theservice, as it’s a GMDSS service.

Chris Insall (CI): Some of the safetyproduct agreements are formal, othersinformal. This affects how long a terminalis maintained on a vessel.

ALT: Even if it’s informal, I think they’llkeep to it because they have all of thosevessels fitted with Inmarsat-C.

CI: The industry, as we see, is very care-ful about letting go of equipment whichhas been so useful on a vessel, but in termsof old systems there is the danger that youend up with pricing plans which are notsuitable and that an operator can’t thenaccess all of the advantages of clearing adeck space and putting in new systems.

You’re subject to the whim of youroperator for old systems that have pricingplans that are encouraging you away fromthose systems. It’s a challenge if you don’thave a plan to replace those systems, then

you’re at the mercy of the L-band operator.MVP: I agree with that, the problem

though is that because it’s new technologyit changes all the time. Putting Iridium onboard the ship five years ago, when it wasbrand new and ‘the next big thing’, withina year the same guy that came to sell theIridium comes and tells me I need to put aVSAT antenna on board.

When we were designing the newbuildsfor Brazil five years ago I think I talked toevery single company almost that’s outthere, but it moves so quickly. Sometimesyou just want to hang on to your oldequipment due to the fact that you knowthat it works, even if it’s expensive.

Every time you put a new thing onboard you have all the start-up issues,things don’t work, people need to learnhow to use it, you lose the connection –stuff like that.

So I can understand that people want tohang on to things. But you do run out ofspace, we are considering putting VSAT onthe Brazilian ships because the owner com-plains about the speed of the crew internet,and we don’t know where to put it.

Barbara Bersani (BB): This is interest-ing, we are a supplier of various technolo-gies from MSS up to very high-end cus-tomised VSAT, and what we see in themarket is that ship owners or managerstend to hesitate today because there are somany different technologies, not only fortoday but being announced to be availablein the future. There is a tendency for someto ‘wait and see’.

However, we are at a crossroads at themoment, and we have technologies thatcan evolve with the new advances. So youcan follow a route that will allow you toevolve to follow what will come next, andreduce that fear while taking advantage ofthe best that exists today.

There are many different technologies,it’s like a jungle and it’s not so easy tounderstand the differences between thetechnologies and what is to come.

MVP: I have an IT background so theycan tell me anything really, but becauseI’ve talked to so many companies andstudied everything I have a pretty goodidea. Another problem is space and thesize of the antennas. Compare an Iridiumantenna, which you can basically putunder your arm and carry up the ladder,with a VSAT antenna – with VSAT youneed a crane to put it in place so it’s a dif-ferent proposition.

Our ships in Brazil sail between Braziland China, anchoring in Singapore forbunkering only – where are you going toput it on board? We’d need to hire a float-ing crane in Singapore and that’s going tocost more than the VSAT antenna.

KS: We delayed our VSAT programmeby about two years for the reason thatBarbara mentioned – it’s just a jungle.There were many systems available at thetime, then Global Xpress was announcedso do you wait for it, what do you do?

In the end, two years later than we hadplanned, we actually decided to standardiseeverything and go with VSAT on Ku-band,and have all of our vessels installed withthat technology for a long span of timerather than changing every three years.

We went with that solution and chick-ened out of C-band because of the size ofthe antenna, thinking that that would just

make things more difficult. As Barbara wassaying, at some stage you’ve got to go andstart doing something, if you just keeplooking at the market you’ll never movebecause there are so many changes and somany choices. The best choice is the oneyou make now and go ahead with.

DS: Do any of you have an opinion onwhat a minimum monthly data require-ment would be in 2015 for a modern ship-ping company to operate in competitionwith the best in the business? And a min-imum bandwidth that it would be hard tooperate without?

MVP: There are so many variables, forexample our ships that went to Africa dou-bled in crew, instead of 23 crew all of asudden there were 45 crew. They cannotgo ashore and they work in 12-hour shiftsso they have a lot of time to be on the inter-net. So that creates a huge requirement.

KS: It’s not a question of bandwidth, ofhow much data, it’s about giving yourcrew internet. That’s what you need. If youdon’t have that people will not want to joinyour vessel. Crew retention and welfare isabsolutely paramount at this stage.

We’ve had to introduce a system wherethe crew has to pay for their internet withone of our third party ship managers,because their entire fleet is based on a payper usage internet package.

Introducing vessels with VSAT withfree internet would have been a total disas-ter for them because they realised that ifthey did it the rest of their crew wouldwant to go on those vessels. That really, in2015, is becoming paramount.

DS: So having IP capability and internetaccess is the minimum requirement?

KS: Absolutely, having packet data andfree internet for the crew.

MVP: The big problem with that is howit’s described, providers may say they canimplement a ‘crew internet café’ on theship, but of course it will never be likewalking into a crew internet café on shore.Things the crews do on shore, like talkingon Skype with relatives face to face withvideo, if then they go on board the ship it’sgoing to be different, it has to go from theship into space and back to shore.

With the talk in the industry about crewinternet, they think it’s going to be thesame as on shore. But it can’t be.

SG: If you look at the number of devicesthey are bringing on board too, the have asmartphone, an iPad, so many devices.They expect to have service with these.


SATCOMS

‘Every time you put a new thing on boardyou have all the start-up issues’ - Marjolijn

van Tiel-Postma, Beltship Management

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DS: So managing expectations is a keyissue for you?

SG: Yes, you need to manage theexpectations.

KS: On the vessels we operate we havea crew of 23-25, and it takes very little timefor them to start to understand that theyactually have to talk to each other – ifsomeone wants to do a video chat withtheir family they can’t all do it at the sametime. At some stage there is an under-standing and they get organised.

We’ve gotten very positive feedback onthe systems. Usually when you supply theservice you will not get a letter everymonth congratulating you that it’s great,but the minute you flip a switch andswitch it off it’s a tragedy. You’ll be judgedon your non-performance, not on the factthat you’ve supplied internet for free.

MVP: Can I ask, do your ships offerthem Wi-Fi?

KS: Yes, it’s only Wi-Fi in fact.MVP: For us, we decided against that

because of the fact that then you wouldhave too many people on at the same time.

BB: I think that if you are providinginternet access to the crew it is important tothink about how to manage that access. It’snot only about connectivity at an afford-able cost for the crew and the shippingcompany, it’s really also about how youcontrol it, manage it, give them access, set-ting up private accounts etc.

SG: For some shipowners it’s also amatter of the policy of the shipownersthemselves, whether they allow hotspotsor want it in one area in one room whereeverybody can get access, whether that’swith their own laptops or not, so they aresharing and being together – maintainingthat social aspect.

From the commercial side, I think theowner would probably be quite happy tohave a 250MB package just for commercialtraffic, though now with the ECDIS ifyou’re upgrading charts over the internetinstead of on DVD that might have aneffect. But generally the commercial sidehasn’t had a huge change, the big changesand the big challenge is in crew welfare.

WB: I would agree with that, in the con-tainer ship market having internet access isnot common, it’s not the norm. CMA CGMis one of the leaders in VSAT installation,amongst the top 3, 4, 5 players, but stillthere are a lot of container ships in the mar-ket with no crew internet access.

For pure operational matters, 250MB isenough as a monthly allowance, it’senough to exchange e-mails and replicatesome databases so you can run your vessel.As soon as you put crew welfare on board,in terms of internet access, you need muchmore than that.

At CMA CGM we initially went for a5GB allowance per month, but very rapid-ly we have seen that it was not enough. Onaverage it’s 8GB that the crew are using,and that might be 10GB very soon. So wewill most probably migrate to a 20GB bun-dle. We decided to put a small fee on theinternet access on our vessels, for severalreasons.

One of the main reasons is that we don’thave unlimited bandwidth, so we wantsomehow to have the crew have someresponsibility for bandwidth usage. Assoon as it’s free then you’ve got no limit.Putting a very small fee limits the usage.

DS: So it’s just a matter of having peoplethink before they log on to something,rather than being a revenue stream?

WB: It’s just to remind them that they areusing something that is not free for the com-pany. The price that we charge them is farbelow what we are paying for the system onboard, but it at least limits their usage onboard and also frees up some bandwidthfor the rest of the crew to use too.

With that system we’ve seen that evenwith 25 crew on board we have six or sevenpeople connected at one time, no more thanthat. You don’t have the whole ship tryingto get on the internet at the same time.

SG: Someone needs to be doing somework!

DS: So is crew internet becoming a mini-mum requirement in the industry, aheadof talking about data bundles or band-width speeds? You have to have a systemthat will support this one way or another.

MVP: MLC requirements state that youhave to already give them e-mail access.

DS: But MLC 2006 only talks about giv-ing ‘consideration’ to providing ‘reason-able access’, so it’s very much open tointerpretation.

MVP: You have to give them access toe-mail, which doesn’t have to be free.

DS: Yes, it has to be of a ‘reasonable’ price– but still, in MLC phrases like ‘reason-able’, ‘consideration should be given’ and‘where practicable’ could easily beargued if the shipping company didn’twant to provide it.

MVP: It has become a main focus of sur-veyors, you get Flag surveyors onboardspecifically for MLC. And they’re harsh,I’ve had my battles with surveyors!

DS: I have heard it mentioned that thebiggest effect of having these guidelines,debateable language or otherwise, is thatthey have made crews more aware of thefact that these systems are out there nowand they should be expecting to havethem available. Crews are asking, evenmore so than in the past, ‘where is my e-mail and internet access?’

MVP: I think it’s important these days tokeep your crew, if you have good crew youwant to keep them. Crew turnover is a prob-lem for a lot of companies. So if you want tokeep them, yes, offer free internet and offerfree e-mail services. The only thing wemake them pay for are the phone calls.

SG: Lately I had a meeting with a client

and he said ‘we would like to be a little bitahead of the normal’, providing also con-tent like movies and newspapers and soon, because once they have a valued crewthey want to keep them.

ALT: E-mail is, I think, a minimumrequest that the shipping companies haveto offer to their crew. It’s the shipping com-pany’s own decision, they need to decidehow to manage the crew usage – is thecrew going to pay a minimum fee or havefree e-mail and pay a small amount forinternet usage, or something else?

It’s all up to the shipping company todecide that, and all shipping companiesare different. Tankers are different fromcontainers, and we can see that in our busi-ness as the needs of a tanker fleet are verydifferent from a bulk carrier fleet.

Last year we contracted something like600 VSATs. And most of them are comingwith a special box that enables the ship-ping company to manage the crew needs,they can decide if they can go on the inter-net during this or that period of time, or ifthey’ll only have two or three hours perday of usage.

As Simone said, they have to work somost shipping companies don’t want an‘open bar’, even if they are on fixed feeVSAT people have to be aware that theycan only use a certain volume. That’s all upto the company.

BB: We also have shipping companiesthat finance the VSAT solution throughthe crew, so the crew is paying to haveaccess. It’s all just a question of the policyof the companies.

KS: We limit the time they can spend onsessions, but decided to provide a freeservice, again to promote retention.

DS: Moving on from the crew welfareaspects of communications, and to add tothe ‘jungle’ mentioned earlier, a range ofhigh throughput satellite systems (HTS)from different operators are set to beintroduced in the next few years, in Ka-band and in Ku-band particularly, withregional and global coverage.

How do you see these developmentschanging the maritime satcoms marketand the way people approach their sat-com purchasing decisions? Chris, per-haps we can start with you telling usabout Intelsat’s HTS plans to inform thediscussion a little?

CI: It’s very interesting to hear all of thedifferent comments about the changes inrequirements. Going back a few years to2001, at that time I was running a series ofvery detailed focus group studies inNorway and in Greece, and we were look-ing at the concept of whether internet onships was actually acceptable at all to theshipping industry. To look at the shift towhere we are today, the comments in thisroom and the rate of change in take up, ishugely significant.

We saw in terms of the crew usage take-up, there was a survey done last year withFuturenautics which said that in the nextyear 36 per cent of their respondentsexpected to expand their crew communica-tions capacity significantly. The opera-tional side is equally staggering in itschanges, potentially.

So for us, we have made some very sig-nificant investments: we have a programmeof the first six Epic satellites which runs

from next year to 2019. Each of those satel-lites will have a capacity of between 25 and60 Gbps. We need to take on board all ofthese inputs and plan accordingly.

For us, what is going to change is thatwe’ll certainly see costs per bit coming down- that is only to be expected given theincrease in capacity that not only we are pro-viding but as part of a satellite ecosystemthat is delivering a step change in access.

What we’ll also see is the installationrates continuing to increase, our partnerMarlink here announced a doubling intheir annual rate of VSAT installations to600 for 2014, so as part of that we need toplan our capacity accordingly. Most cer-tainly what we can say is that there will beincreased choice for the ship operator, andthis will be of great benefit and somethingwe are very much in favour of.

Exactly how the market will develop interms of the precise applications used andthe CIR and MIR that vessels will have isvery difficult to predict precisely, but whatyou can see is a very, very strong trend interms of utilisation.

You’ve got analysis like the ComSysreport, which said that a range of serviceproviders had increased their expectationsof monthly usage on ships from 50Gbps to100Gbps, and that change had taken placejust within one year. You could say thatHTS is matching the strength of thoserequirements, and so far it has been verydifficult to underestimate the strength ofthat requirement, that demand.

DS: Wei, this is an area you’re doing a lotof research in, do you want to tell usabout your projections for the next fewyears in terms of capacity and costs perbit for the maritime market?

WL: We see several things. Firstly, asboth you and Chris mentioned, there willbe a very big change in supply. If we countall of the high throughput systems includ-ing Epic and Global Xpress and Telenorand Telesat and so many different systems,I think the available capacity over theoceans will increase 10 times in just thenext two years.

So what does that mean? I think it willmean overcapacity, the demand is growingreally fast but it’s growing gradually. Itwill take time for a lot of shipping compa-nies to decide to install the new applica-tions that will drive this, and it will taketime for the crew to adapt to those newapplications, so it will take time for thedemand to really increase.

Supply is different, once a satellite islaunched supply is doubled or tripled.Historically we see between one and threeyears of a gap between supply anddemand, in year one of the launches we’llhave all of this capacity available and inyear two or three the demand will startcoming up to match that supply.

During this short window we’ll seeovercapacity, and usually overcapacityleads to competition between the differentoperators as their task becomes trying tolock in the customer. They’ll try to lock inmarket share and competition will intensi-fy during this period, everyone will havemore capacity and can offer a much lowerprice per bit.

As the demand grows up towards thesupply and the customers are locked in ontwo-year, three-year or five-year contracts,

‘In the container ship market, havinginternet access is not common, it’s not the

norm’ - William Biegun, CMA SHIPS

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:53 Page 11

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then the focus on the supplier side shiftstowards controlling traffic and number ofvessels so service quality isn’t impacted.After that, we see that both supply anddemand will grow into the future.

One of the key differences from whenyou look at the market today is that bigplayers like Intelsat are now looking atdesigning coverage especially for mobility,it’s different to most of the existing Ku-band capacity that was originally designedfor terrestrial television.

Today you have service providers buy-ing one bit of coverage from an operatorhere and another from there, but now thesatellite operators are seeing maritime andaeronautical as important markets and aredesigning beams over the oceans and sign-ing in service providers years beforelaunch. So as they start to design for mobil-ity big operators will be able to offer glob-al coverage and you won’t need to go tofive different operators.

So we think that satellite operator mar-ket share will change and be less fragment-ed in the future. The market will consoli-date, and if that continues to happenmaybe we’ll move towards a monopoly-type situation like in MSS now whereInmarsat control 80 per cent of the market.I’m not looking at three or five years’ time,but in 10 years’ time? Maybe a big operatorcan control 70 or 80 per cent of maritimemarket share, it’s possible.

DS: In terms of these strategies for Airbusand Marlink – Alain and Barbara, Weihas mentioned changes in competitionand oversupply affecting prices, howdoes that fit with your own strategy forthe next few years?

BB: To follow on from what Wei said ona possible monopoly, I think our strategy isvery clear, we are technology agnostic.

We have signed a major strategic agree-ment with the most important SNOs (satel-lite network operators), we’ve done thatboth on Ku-band with Intelsat Epic andwith SES for our land services in Africa, forexample. We are also the number one inde-pendent Inmarsat distributor. So as such Ithink we are well positioned to be able tooffer a choice.

Wei spoke about locking people in, butthere’s no risk on that for us because alltechnologies are made available.

DS: Do you think price competition willbe a big factor in the next five years?

BB: Price competition is expected, highthroughput satellites are expected indeedto offer more efficient use of the spectrum– so more bits at the same price, or morebandwidth for the same price. This is theexpectation.

The investments we’re making now arein having developed applications that canwork across technologies and across plat-forms, so they can evolve with the newsystems and take advantage of more data,whatever the frequency.

ALT: I think the idea of ‘locking in’ cus-tomers, I don’t think it’s true. It depends onthe service provider, talking about our serv-ices, we supply iDirect technology which isan international, widely spread technology.If a customer doesn’t want our services anylonger they can move to another company,they don’t have to change the modem theyjust change the frequency.

WB: As a ship operator we are just inthe middle of migrating to VSAT Ku-band,and we already can hear all about the newtechnology that’s coming, even better,even quicker. I guess for the operators it’svery important that we get reassured thatthe choices we made initially on the hard-ware we implemented on board our ves-sels is still relevant in the coming years.

I think that’s important, because up tonow, every time we wanted to change tech-nology we had to change hardware. But itseems that with HTS there is the possibilityto keep the same Ku-band hardware.

CI: Yes, I can confirm that with Epic –the system will be backwards compatiblefor existing antenna equipment.

DS: For you William, is that the biggestconsideration when looking at the nextgeneration of satellite systems, the back-ward compatibility? You’re not all thatworried about the changes in capacityand price per bit, and so on?

WB: It’s something we can discuss lateron regarding the price, but changing hard-ware on board the vessel is not that easy.We’ve been through that exercise severaltimes already since 2009. I want a strongmessage that we’ve made a choice that willbe lasting for a few years, that’s important.

DS: So you want to be able to improve on what you have rather than take it outand start again with something new anddifferent?

WB: Yes, that’s right.KS: Every three years is not acceptable,

having a programme where you have to doheavy maintenance installing your anten-nas every three years is a cost. It’s taxingjust in terms of getting the stuff done.Vessels that just come out of the shipyardare way easier, once the vessels are on thewater it’s a completely different story.

WL: How many years do you keep thehardware?

KS: You’d expect to at least go to fiveyears.

MVP: It’s the drydock cycle, five yearsfor most of them. If you can last for twodrydock cycles then even better.

SG: If you look what is happening in themarine business then you realise that it’slike what is already in place for the landcomms. Today there are companies doingthe hardware under a leasing agreement.

Global Xpress and other companies likeKVH, in the future, maybe not yet, they’ll behaving a big competition over content andairtime only, the hardware won’t be free ofcharge but it won’t be a consideration.

DS: So you would prefer a situationwhere you sign a contract and theprovider does everything, like where yousign a mobile phone contract and get aphone, airtime, data and the rest? I sup-pose the installation is an additionalissue, you can’t put a VSAT in your pock-et like a phone!

KS: The difficulty is more to do withthat, the palaver of actually running thelogistics of installing it, upgrading it, doingsomething on board. Whether the vesselstops at a regular base and you’ve pur-chased some stock to have available therein warehouses, or not, the point is that hav-ing to do that every three years is just pol-lution in your general system.

An antenna that would last five to sevenyears where you just need to upgrade themodem, which is much easier than goingnear the above deck equipment, wouldmake us much happier. If we could get theantenna, the modem, and could run sever-al providers with the equipment if you’reunhappy with the provider, that’s the flex-ibility we would like in maritime.

MVP: Do you lease or buy the antennas?KS: We buy them, that’s a financial

decision.WB: We lease them, that’s a choice we

made in 2009 because we were anticipatingthat the technology would evolve a lot. Sofar we’re quite happy with the choice ofleasing. But even though we are leasing,we still have to deal with a lot of logistics.With technology evolving very quickly,implementation of new technologies onboard is a logistics challenge.

DS: So the technology is almost a sideissue for you, it’s the challenge of gettingphysical things on and off the ship?

WB: Yes, and there’s a crew trainingaspect as well that you have to consider. Ifyou’re changing every three years there isalways a different way of working withthat technology so you have to train thecrew to have everybody confident withthe technology.

KS: We started with IP 17 years ago,when I joined the company the first thingwe did was put a Cisco router on the backof an Inmarsat-B terminal.

Today we’re using it in nearly the sameway, the requirement at the time was to beable to take remote control over the sys-tems on board to do maintenance. Therewas no way that a ship was going to runwith computers on board, especially onesbased on Windows, and not have the avail-ability of live maintenance, of having ITmaintenance people logging in to the sys-tems and keeping an eye on them. Thatwas the requirement.

It was possible then, and it’s possiblenow with VSAT and much higher band-widths. Where we haven’t moved very far,apart from with crew internet, we have notmoved towards Cloud and ‘live’ systems,to the extent where the company can be theCloud for the vessels.

We don’t think we have enough band-width, we’ve tried and it’s not really com-fortable to use our intranet from the ves-sels. It works, but it’s not as smooth as we

would like it to be, plus the back-upwouldn’t be of the same quality. So as oftoday we have not made plans to actuallymove on to a Cloud system for the vessels.

We work by replication, we replicatehuge amounts of data with the VSAT. If wehave to send a file of half a gigabyte wedon’t even think twice about it, we just put itup and it’ll be there the next day on board.This is not something we could do 15 yearsago, because of the cost. Now we can do it.

But it’s still like offline replication, inthe background, it’s not ‘live’. This is ournext step.DS: Would something like that then influ-ence your view of the benefit of these HTSsystems that we’ve been promised?

KS: Yes, of course, it would mean thatmaybe our next evolution is going to behaving two VSAT systems, having oneVSAT system backing up the other, maybeC-band and Ku-band.

CI: Or it could be combined, there are alot of good antennas that are comingthrough at the moment that are looking tocombine C-band and Ku-band.

KS: Yes, but if you lose the antenna, youlose everything. If there’s a technical prob-lem with the antenna you have nothing left.

CI: I think L-band will surely be there asa back-up.

KS: That’s the other thing, as you cus-tomise your applications and develop yourapplications to become reliant on band-width, your back-up is going to have to beof the same quality. So in the end youmight have to have a Global Xpress systemand a Ku-band VSAT system. That wouldbe a perfect combination!

You’d have a high throughput back-upto a high throughput system. But the budg-et is not going to be the same, so we needto weigh the advantages. The whole indus-try works on offline replication now, and Idon’t really think it’s ready to just go ‘live’all of a sudden.

DS: I’d like to come back to that point alittle bit later, but to stay with the HTSimpact on choice I’d first like to askMarjolijn about how your purchasingdecisions on satcoms for your ships arebeing influenced by the imminent arrivalof these new systems – how is that affect-ing what you want to do now?

MVP: If you manage ships you are veryreliant on what the owner wants. We haveFleetBroadband on the ships, we havecrew internet. But every time the ships goto Brazil the owners go on board, the shipsare in very small places so coverage is notalways that great, they complain that it’sreally slow when they try to use the sys-tems. Of course the crew then agree withwhat the owner says because they alsowant faster internet than they have.

We have four managers running ourships so we might have another ship therefrom another manager that they’re sayingis much faster, though they won’t tell uswhat they have on board! Well, we knowwhat they have on board and it’s not pos-sible, but that’s what you’re dealing with.

So we think the owners want to go forVSAT, the drydock window opens inDecember for the four new ships so we’llneed to make them an offer. But it’s reallydifficult to decide. As was said already, youresearch and decide on something, but thensomebody says ‘oh, this is coming out soon’.


SATCOMS

‘Price competition is expected, highthroughput satellites are expected indeed

to offer more efficient use of thespectrum’ - Barbara Bersani, Airbus

Defence and Space

continued on page 38

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:54 Page 13

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SATCOMS


The closer you get to the time you actuallyhave to install it the more that will happen.

When there’s new technology out thereusually you’ll want to go for the newest ofthe newest, at least I would, I wouldn’t pickan existing system if they say the new oneis much better, if it’s comparable in price.

DS: Would it delay you and cause you towait, the idea that in maybe two years’time there will be a new fleet of satellites?

MVP: No, it wouldn’t because the factthat the antennas are so big and I have toput them on board during drydock, I don’thave a choice.

DS: So there’s no element of ‘wait andsee’ for you – you need this now, to installat this time, so you need to go ahead.

MVP: It’s the only time the owner willprobably free up the budget for it, and theonly time we can physically put it onboard, during the drydock.

CI: Our plan really is to facilitate thatprocess, by saying that the platform isbackwards compatible. There will be arange of different packages and differentservices provided by our service providers,which will likely change and improve asthe rate of take-up is very impressive, 25per cent per year was reported recently forthe increase of VSAT in the commercial sec-tor every year in maritime.

MVP: One of the words that always getsmentioned is ‘global’, but to me I have toask what that means? For example, youhave ships in Africa in a remote corner andyou take them somewhere else, like thesouthern part of Australia, you have toturn the VSAT off because it won’t work,you have to choose something different.

So for me, everybody talks about ‘glob-al’, but what antenna should we put onboard to have access in the remote cornersof the world? Some of the ships go to nichemarkets, places where there is no infra-structure, so it’s important.

ALT: When you look at the provider youneed to look at the coverage they offer, it’squite easy to ask each of them for the cover-age map. That’s where you see the differ-ence between a global provider and someproviders that offer only regional coverage.

You should be able to go from Brazil toAfrica without any problem, and fromAfrica to Australia, besides maybe somelack of coverage in the Southern Ocean.

BB: Reliability is something that can besaid, but then it also experienced. People

know each other and talk to each other, soyou can present a very nice marketingpitch or something like that, but later whenthe vessels are using it, the shipping indus-try is a small world, so people will talk toeach other.

MVP: Every conference I go to there arealways some companies that are discussedin this way.

SG: For example, we were talking earli-er about giving crew internet access forfree, as a company policy. Maybe you’ll dothat and it doesn’t work because people tryto be on all the time. Then if you charge forit, the demand might go down and it couldwork better, but there will be an expecta-tion of the level of service because they arepaying for it.

BB: Are you using different VSATproviders, or do you group them? I guess itdepends on the owners?

SG: What we are trying to do is, as soonas the vessel comes under management,unless there is a strong contract we willmove it to a V.Group solution, because weknow communications now is taking a bigpiece of the budget for a shipping company.

BB: What is the proportion today ofyour customers that have VSAT?

SG: It’s hard to say, because ships entermanagement and go out and change sys-tems. Most of them right now have aFleetBroadband contract, 30 per cent ofthem have a VSAT system fitted

With old contracts, where data andvoice was included together, it’s hard forthe owner to upgrade because on the newFleetBroadband contract they’ll have topay extra for the voice. Some others decid-ed to go for VSAT because they saw thevalue in it, it depends on the company.

MVP: We choose providers that alsoprovide IT support, we have them installthe whole computer system and they canremotely access it the whole time to moni-tor it. The thing is that we need to lookglobally again, it’s not just related to whereyou can get a connection.

If we’re talking about equipment whichmight be able to evolve into somethingelse, does that mean that people have to goon board the ship? People always showme a nice map of global support in 100 dif-ferent ports where they have serviceincluded, but there’s never a port we go toon that list. Which means that service isextremely expensive.

The one time I got service done on theships with VSAT in Africa I paid about thesame as the price of a VSAT antennabecause it’s a remote location.

CI: What we’re hearing now, and thishas been the case increasingly over the lastfive years, from an end-user perspectivehaving a solution-based sale is absolutelyfundamental, covering remote access at alltimes when it’s needed, and requiring alack of on board intervention.

I come back again to the C-band andKu-band switchable systems, three or fouryears ago it wasn’t possible to have auto-mated switching on a single antennabetween those bands, and it was necessaryfor a trained crew member or a chief engi-neer to physically swap out the feed on a2.4m multi-band antenna.

But in the last year there have been sig-nificant developments to improve that and itwill become the case that switching betweenthose bands will be a smooth experience.

BB: There is still the size issue for C-bandwith 2.4m, which is a constraint. I think thisis one of the major constraints on C-band.

MVP: If you go with that solution it’susually partially related to what you wantto do for your crew, which means most ofthe time at the same time you are alsoinstalling a satellite TV antenna, which isjust as big. You should see our ships thatwent to Africa, there are antennas every-where, they had to find specific places likebridge wings to put them.

CI: We will see a greater range of anten-nas available, and with the new satellitesystems being launched it might be possi-ble to see sub-50cm antennas on Ku-band.

DS: Would that make a big difference, forexample for you Marjolijn and whatyou’ve been talking about with your pur-chasing decisions, if it was that much eas-ier to get an antenna on and off? Like youmentioned with the OpenPort which youcan put under your arm.

MVP: Of course. We’ve changed outIridium OpenPort antennas a lot, which isnot so good, we had the second generation.The first generation actually still works tothis day, the second generation kept failing.

But the thing is that you can send it toeven the most remote port in China orBrazil and somebody can carry it on theship and change it out. It’s easy. If VSATantennas would be of a size where thatbecomes easy then it would definitelychange your decision.

BB: I think part of the technological evo-lution will also be in the antennas, todayyou have C/Ku-band, Ku/Ka-band anten-nas, and now it’s just a question of openingthat to other technologies based on thephysics of the different frequencies.

WB: On top of the frequency, whichallows plenty of debate already, there is apoint that is important for us, which is theability of our supplier to actually supportour vessels once the antenna is installed onboard the vessel.

As Marjolijn said, sometimes in remotelocations it can be hard. We’re luckyenough with the container ships to go toports where you usually have service cen-tres, but at the beginning of the VSATmigration one point we took into accountwas the ability to have onboard serviceperformed in a few key ports, becausethere’s nothing worse than a VAST anten-na that cannot be repaired for a month.

DS: So for all this talk about gigabits ofcapacity, cheaper prices per bit and all therest – in the end, it’s more important foryou to have better service and betterantennas, the more practical elements ofthe installation?

WB: Yes, frequency or gigabytes are noteverything, if it doesn’t work then it is notgoing to be very useful.

MVP: Exactly, you can have bandwidthof any number you like, but if it doesn’twork it doesn’t work.

WB: In the maritime market, our con-tainer ships are used to having a lot ofonboard service performed in variousports, for radars for instance, or GMDSS,and the same spirit has to be in placeregarding VSAT as well.

They might not understand that theymight not get the same level of service insmaller ports as when they’re in Hong

Kong or Singapore. Having support in afew key ports is important if you don’tcover all ports, at the very least you need tocover the major ones.

DS: Do you think that’s something thathas been lacking in the maritime industryas a whole to date, proper support forVSAT systems?

WB: Yes. It’s improving quickly, but it’simportant that this step forward happens.

DS: I suppose that’s a matter of the num-ber of terminals in the market, where theeconomics makes more sense.

WB: I guess in the VSAT market before,with the offshore industry for instance,there were crew that were maybe morefamiliar with electronics and so on. It canbe different if you go to the container shipmarket where people may feel less com-fortable with electronics and supportinghardware like this.

SG: This also has to be seen not just interms of crew welfare and internet, exchangeof e-mail for commercial and crew use –there are companies now who want to dothings like take the technical data for analy-sis and to ensure efficient and safe operation.

DS: Kevin, in terms of support and main-tenance of your onboard systems, whatare your experiences there?

KS: A very important thing for us isactually the delivery. Five vessels a monthmeans that whoever is offering these serv-ices has to be there and they have to be onlocation practically full time. The installa-tion has to be faultless, it has to be perfect.We’ve found with VSAT that you reallyhave to have a proper installation or you’regoing to be paying later.

It’s critical, and different from MSSwhere you can turn up with your antenna,bolt it down and you’d probably get awaywith it. With a VSAT there are a few thingsthat you really want to make sure of, downto the connectors. Once it’s done properlywe find that there’s no real issue once wehave our regular maintenance.

In case of unexpected problems weexpect the providers to have service every-where. Now of course if it’s in a remoteplace we end up paying for the intervention,but I don’t think the costs are excessive, it’sabout the ability to have someone there,someone who can take a flight and get therequickly. That’s what we’re expecting.

DS: Do you expect the provider to covereverything or do you do any of the workyourselves, with the crew? Maybe the crewworking with people in the office to man-age the maintenance of the equipment?

KS: If it’s a matter of tightening a boltthat would be handled on board, with theassistance of the provider of course, by thecrew. If it’s something like a power supplythat’s completely gone, if we don’t have aspare then that’s it, we need a spare.

If it’s very easily identified then ourcrew will be ready to do something tobring the system back online quickly. If it’sin reach of a service technician then thetechnician will come on board, change thepower supply or whatever it is, and also dogeneral maintenance as well. This is whatwe’re trying to do, keep the systems main-tained and only fix them ourselves if it’ssomething obvious.

‘We know communications now is taking abig piece of the budget for a shipping

company’ - Simone Gori, SeatecCommunications (V.Group)

Continued from page 34

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Available on subscription, CD or as a download

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Four or five years ago we had some prob-lems with power supplies where most ofthem were changed by the crew, becausethey were failing a lot, so we ended updoing replacements ourselves. It was fasterto have the spare parts shipped and installedas it was pretty much plug and play.

It happens unfortunately, you get a badseries of antennas or something else, thatcan happen to anyone. As the numbers arebecoming bigger for us, with more than 70systems installed now, the teething prob-lems we had five years ago are not reallyreoccurring, which is a good thing.

DS: Okay, to move on from the crew andthe equipment issues we’ve covered sofar, I’d like to turn our attention to thebusiness and operational applicationsthat are being made available by evolvingsatcom technologies. What kind ofchanges might you expect to see as aresult, in terms of the kinds of applica-tions shipping companies are using andthe way those applications will impacthow shipping companies are being run?

Kevin, you mentioned the Cloud earli-er, that’s one of the technologies thatcould become more widespread in mar-itime as communications evolve – whatexactly do you need to make that a reality?

KS: We need the availability of smoothhigh-speed bandwidth, and a back-up thatactually offers the same performance. Itwould be pretty disruptive to fall back onto a back-up that really ruins the entireexperience or makes it impossible toupload large files, or anything else whereyou’d need high bandwidth.

The industry tends to work in an offlinereplication mode, and the data that getscontinuous feeds is low-bandwidth data, itcould be monitoring alerts or things thatwill work perfectly on a slower system.We’re looking at what we can do to haveapplications hosted with the company, andthe company acting as a Cloud for the ves-sels, but it’s difficult.

DS: Would that create significant opera-tional benefits for you, to be able to dothat?

KS: Right now we actually have serverson board, with a high level of redundancy.We have redundant servers with virtualmachines, so if we lose the hardware therewill always be enough hardware to runsomething. We have to actually maintainthat, so we have to set up a system to

maintain it.If we had high bandwidth availability

on board at all times then we may thinkabout hosting the servers on the maininfrastructure within the company, or inthe Cloud or wherever. But the point isthat the vessel would only be a customer, aclient-side system only, with no servers onboard. All services would be on shore.

DS: Is the main benefit of that in havingexpert IT knowledge on shore and keep-ing systems running at their best, with-out needing to have that knowledge onevery ship?

KS: Yes, definitely. Instead of having140 servers across the vessels there mightonly be four within the company to run thesame operation. But again, we would haveto rely on the bandwidth, it would need tobe smooth and it would need to haveredundancy with a similar service.

DS: So effectively a double VSAT system?KS: Yes, something like that. So there

are some calculations to be made to see ifthat’s financially viable.

MVP: The main advantage is that it’slive, because everything now is alwaysbehind until replication is done. Untilsomebody has pushed the button or it hasreached the hours you have set for thereplication to be done, that’s the only timeyou get the information in the office.

What we want is that system to be live,where you change something in the systemin the office and they can immediately seeit on the ship, and vice versa.

WB: I would agree with Kevin, that you

need to design the system on board towork with the weakest satcom system youhave on board. If your primary system failsyou have to run on the back-up, and some-times that’s for a long period of time.

Basically, as long as your back-up isbased on L-band, for instance, it’s unlikelyyou’re going to have things like Cloudservices on board the vessels. I guess we’regoing to have to live with replication ofdata for a long time, even with HTS servic-es on board the ships.

You might have some additional servic-es with HTS, like videos which are prob-lematic for the time being to transfer fromship to shore or shore to ship, but that’ssomething you can live without. If youdon’t have video you’ll be fine but if youare unable to access your operational serv-ices that can be a real problem.

DS: So you believe you would continue todo business the same way as you do noweven with HTS systems on the ships? TheHTS would be used for extras that are notcritical to operations?

WB: Yes, that’s what I foresee for thetime being, unless the back-up systems aredifferent to what they are today.

BB: There are already applications withvideo, like telemedicine, that are runningwith the VSAT of today, without HTS. Thequestion is relative to who you are talkingto. There is never enough bandwidth, butalready today you can use more applica-tions than were possible before. It’s notreally a HTS issue.

DS: Are there any applications that any-one in the panel would like to be runningthat, for the moment, are too expensive orthe systems are not yet fast enough,where HTS might make a difference?

KS: It may just make things easier, youmay be able to offset your IT infrastructureas I was saying earlier, that might disap-pear from the ships and go somewhere else.But you’ll be running similar applications,just relying on the link to shore to do it.

Something we are already doingbetween offices, for example, we haveseven sites across the world and they areall connected by MPLS and have redun-dancy, because the loss of an internet linewould become a real problem.

If we had an MPLS kind of connectionto the vessel, a reliable and redundant link,then we might be doing things that we dobetween sites – some sites have servers,some others don’t and we rely on the link.

BB: The problem is that we are still onsatellite, there will always be, whateveryou do, a difference in latency and thingslike that, compared with on land.

CI: In terms of symmetry, for example,data going up and data going down, we’rehearing a big increase in requirements ofthe sort that Kevin mentioned, data repli-cation in two directions, teleconferencing,telemedicine, which needs a far more evendata flow in both directions.

This is something that we’re going to belooking at in more detail in the next fewmonths with ship operators, specificallylooking at which direction they are movingin terms of how interactive their applica-tions are. But it is the case that generallyrequirements are changing from 10:1 down-load to upload to a much smaller number.

Many of the applications we have talkedabout today require a significant uploadelement, which hasn’t always been avail-able. That’s something that we’re looking atin terms of the architecture of what we’ll beproviding in the new satellite systems.

DS: It sounds to me from what we’vebeen discussing today that amounts ofdata and bandwidth speeds are not reallya priority among our shipping compa-nies. High throughput may be the buzz-word but that’s not where the focus isgoing to lie, it’s having a dependable sys-tem first and foremost.

BB: These companies already haveVSAT, so it may not be the same opinion assomeone who has not moved to VSAT yet.HTS is an evolution, it is not a revolution.It’s different talking about that evolutionfrom a VSAT system you already have onboard, compared with the ‘revolution’, the

bigger change, that it will mean for MSSusers today.

DS: Do you see HTS as a tipping point,that will push the transition in the marketfurther away from MSS and into VSAT?

BB: Already today we see 50 per cent ofthe revenue base is VSAT. It’s becomingthe standard, it’s not the highly complicat-ed system it was 10 years ago for very spe-cialised high-end segments like cruise oroffshore, it is the new technology availablenow to replace what we had before.

CI: It’s available on simpler platformsas well.

BB: Yes, simpler platforms, easier to use,easier to install, easier to support and serv-ice. So it is really becoming a widely adopt-ed technology, not just for high-end users.Almost as a sort of standard now. Thequestion is changing to which provider,which frequency, the coverage, the service,the support, the applications and so on.

WB: If you stick to business require-ments, even getting full usage of the exist-ing Ku-band is already a challenge for us.We have a link in place but if we want totransfer something like engine data toshore, the problem is not the size of thepipe, the problem is how you get theengine data to the satellite system.

So basically we already have in place asystem that we don’t use to its full extent.We are working on getting that businessdata and putting in place systems to trans-fer automatically that data to shore.

The satellite technology is not the prob-lem, it’s not about needing more band-width. It’s about getting the data, say fromthe engine, to the satellite system to get itto shore. We need interfaces for that.

BB: We have some customers that areinto ‘smart ship’ programmes, based onthings like how to save fuel, how to makesure engine maintenance is done at the righttime and not unnecessarily. To do this theyneed an application to be developed.

We are working with the industry inthese things, but in the main we are pro-viding the link and the opportunity andthe means to run those applications. It’s aquestion of developing the right ones andthe ones that bring value and improve theway the vessel is operated.

MVP: It’s also up to the suppliers ofbandwidth and all the equipment thatcomes with it to help with, for example,the compression facilities that are offered,the boxes that people talk about that westick in between the ship’s equipment andthe antenna.

All of these programs, they all havetheir own compression software, like yourplanned maintenance software, replica-tion, engine monitoring, weather, speed –you name it – but there can be so muchstuff automatically going without you real-ly knowing about it until you get the bill atthe end of the month.

BB: That’s true, and that’s why we have adepartment ourselves focused on develop-ing value added services together with hav-ing the VSAT, to help this all work together.

SG: Once you have the VSAT, you havethat link, then it’s a matter of the applica-tions that you want to run, from helpingthe superintendent to evaluate if theengine is working properly, to warning ifsomething is going to go wrong soonbased on the data.

(l-r) Chris Insall of Intelsat, Marjolijn van Tiel-Postma of Beltship Management, Barbara Bersani of Airbus Defence and Space, and William Biegun of CMA SHIPS

assess predictions for the VSAT market

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I think the key for suppliers in thefuture will be content, and applications.

DS: For many of these applications it willalso require the company to build a sys-tem that can collect the data from all ofthe equipment and processes on board.

SG: There are some companies that areworking on it. It should be viewed as along term investment.

WB: It’s not only about designing sys-tems that can output data, it’s about put-ting processes in place within your compa-ny in order to know what you’re going todo with those data. If you manage to getthe engine data from 100 vessels, how doyou compare them? What do you do withthe data? There are a lot of side projectsthat go on top of the communications.

DS: So for you, the satellite element isonly a very small part of building a rangeof processes to improve.

WB: Yes, and I would say that it’s themore advanced part of the project too,things that we’re really just starting on.

MVP: The VSAT enables us to do morethings, that’s absolutely true. But we’remainly talking about communicationbetween a ship and the office, and a lot ofthese things may not need to go to theoffice, things like, for example, our enginedata which goes to the engine manufactur-er. Our bearing monitoring data goes to acompany that looks after that. So it’s notjust the links between one place and theship, it might be a lot of different places.

SG: A few years ago one of the big play-ers in navigation equipment manufactur-ing came out with a bridge remote main-tenance system for new build projects,using the VDR to collect the informationand using communication terminals toprovide the right information on the func-tionality of the bridge equipment.

DS: So the onset of HTS isn’t going tohave a massive impact on those thingsbecause they already exist, the hard partis building processes and changing thecompany itself to be able to work in thatenvironment, and building the interfacesyou need to connect the equipment withthe satcom systems.

MVP: A lot of these things you can’treally do if you still have aFleetBroadband, you would need to be onVSAT or on whatever else is coming.

SG: It’s a process, step by step yourealise that there is a limit on the

FleetBroadband. As we said before, whileyou still might be happy from the commer-cial side with 200MB or 250MB, because ofapplications like these and others you willstart thinking to move up in the end.

CI: We have moved away from the eramaybe, but 10 or more years ago withevery single monitoring application youhad to run through a complex process, forexample downloading an Inmarsat-CDNID (Data Network Identity number).

If we reach a point where broadbandcommunications is just a ubiquitous stan-dard on ships then we would expect a nat-ural evolution to flow, with an expansionof monitoring systems between multiplepoints, point-to-point and not just betweenthe ship and the office.

WL: In the last 20 years the maritimesatellite communications market has large-ly been driven by the satellite companies,because on ships you don’t have the sameconnectivity as on shore so there’s a limiton what you can and cannot do.

Now, with HTS, you might have con-nectivity that is comparable to terrestrialusers, so in the next 10 or 20 years thegrowth will not be driven by the satellitecompanies but by IT companies - compa-nies that understand all of the IT needs ofthe shipping company and provide anintegrated solution, because shipping com-panies do not want to have 50 differentproviders, for engine monitoring, for fuelsaving, and so on. I think there are somebig IT companies that want to invest in thisside of the business.

You can compare it to the smartphone,the smartphone is so successful because ofthe applications, using e-mail, taking pho-tos – you can do everything. If you had thesame hardware you have in the smartphonewithout the applications you’d just be usingit to make calls and sending messages. It’sthe applications behind the connectivitythat will drive the growth in the future.

At Euroconsult we see four main types ofapplications that will drive this. Cloud com-puting will increase efficiency and reducecosts for servers and reduce complexity,that’s one of the big applications for bothbusiness and crew welfare, as you can havemovies and other content in the Cloud.

The second is Big Data, like we were talk-ing about already with collecting enginedata and things like that, there are so manydifferent machines from different providerson one vessel so there’s a need to move realtime data to shore to allow people on shoreto analyse it. It’s not about collection andtransmission, it’s moving on to the softwareelement needed to analyse this data.

I think ship managers don’t want toreceive 2,000 pieces of data per minute,they want to see the result that the engineis doing good or not so good. Maybe somevery big shipping companies like Maerskare investing in their own in-house solu-tions, but for most shipping companiesthey’ll need IT companies to provide thesesolutions, collect and analyse the data andprovide the results.

The third type of application is BringYour Own Device (BYOD), which isalready happening, mostly on the crewside, they want to use their own tablet orsmartphone to access the internet and notthe ship’s computer.

In the future we believe this will happenmore, like in the airline industry, in the

cockpit on business jets pilots are usingtheir own iPad with applications that areeasier to have on iPad than built into thecockpit itself. We think that will happenmore and expand to the operational side ofshipping companies.

The last application type is video. So farwe have been talking a lot about video forcrew entertainment but in the future Ithink there will be video for telemedicine,for repairmen to see parts of the engine, forexample, live videoconferencing, videosurveillance for accidents or pirate attacks– video is important for all of these things.

So these four areas – Big Data, Cloudcomputing, BYOD and video content – arewhat we think will drive HTS in the future.We believe that this won’t just be driven bysatellite companies or shipping companies,but by big IT companies who really knowhow to integrate all of this into one platform.

I think that’s the future, not in the nexttwo or three years as it will take time forthose companies to come into the market,but I think it will happen in five to 10 years.

I think satellite service providers thatwant to stay on the growth side of the mar-ket might need to invest in that, or makesome acquisitions of smaller IT companiesthat can create these types of solutions. Orthey could be purchased by the IT compa-nies themselves, they have the softwaresolutions but not the connectivity part sothey might buy a satellite service providerto have their own pipe.

BB: I share this view completely.Whether it’s an IT company heading it orvice versa, or teaming up in partnership,this I don’t know! But definitely, more andmore it is IT driving the market needs.

DS: So, having looked at all these poten-tial application developments – can I askour shipping companies whether youthink that evolution in satcom systemswill mainly be of benefit to you on thecrew side, or on the operational side, overthe next five to 10 years?

KS: I think the next step we’ll be takingwill be for the business side. The systemswe were using 15 years ago were roundabout the same. VSAT has made a certainnumber of things possible and controlledcosts, and brought a level of connectivity tothe internet that allows our crew to behappy for the moment.

In five years’ time, if we make a movetowards a different kind of connectivitythen we’ll probably get benefits from it inone way or another, but I think it will bedriven by business and not by that necessi-ty to have crew internet.

CI: Would you say that’s a business ben-efit anyway, crew access to the internet?

KS: Yes, it is, but I’m talking about reach-ing the point where it’s not singled out assomething you’re not providing and peoplearen’t happy on board the vessels. That’sgone, and gone years ago. Now the nextstep is to improve things for the business.

If the crew can have access to their ownNetflix or whatever it is in five years’ timetoo, then great, but by then we’ll have adifferent kind of network on board, we’llhave leveraged the connectivity to dosomething different for the business andimprove the business. Whether it’s theinfrastructure or the applications, some-thing will have happened. Definitely.

WB: We were talking about the IT com-panies; I think that the equipment manufac-turers might have a major impact as well,because I don’t believe the IT will be able torun everything on board the vessels.

There are some things in relation toengines, navigation and automation thatIT might not be fully efficient in manag-ing. So I think that might be the thirdparty that might be in the game, theequipment manufacturers.

BB: Or a coordinator of the differentmanufacturers, because there are manydifferent manufacturers so we need to findsolutions that take into consideration thosedifferent companies.

MVP: For the kind of equipment we’relooking at there are not that many manufac-turers, if you look at main engines especially.

WB: That’s true, but it’s so specific thatit can be difficult to get the data, the usefuldata, without specialist knowledge.

DS: I guess you are looking for a web ofconnectivity here, you have the enginemanufacturer and the ECDIS manufac-turer, and everything else, so the numberof interfaces you’ll begin to need to get allof this working starts to multiply.

MVP: It’s related to the age of the ship,if you have a modern ship from the lastfive years then most likely it will have elec-tronic engines and it will be much easier toget the information out and send it, to themanufacturer or whoever you have hiredto look at that information. If you’re talk-ing about the few ships we have that arealmost 30 years’ old – there’s no point.

DS: On the modern ships, would youwant to work with somebody else whowas able to do all of that for you, to pro-vide the whole system and put the sen-sors in place, running the connection tothe satcoms and so on?

‘In the next 10 or 20 years the growth willnot be driven by the satellite companies

but by the IT companies’ – Wei Li,Euroconsult

‘I think the next step we’ll be taking will be for the business side’ - Kevin Sinclair,Scorpio Ship Management (right), with Alain Laplace-Toulouse, Marlink

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MVP: We do that, we have sensors onour main engines and auxiliary engines onthe ships that go to Africa. It was done bya company where all the people used towork for the manufacturer, they designedthe engines so they know them very well.

They then chose a company to put thesensors and control equipment in, andstuff like that, so there would be files auto-matically transferred by the VSAT everynight and they’d look through it in themorning and tell us if we need to adjustthis or that or check something else.

DS: Does that create a major benefit interms of keeping the engines running,and running efficiently?

MVP: It does, because they are running24 hours a day, there’s not a lot of time formaintenance. When you need to do main-tenance you want to make sure it’s theright maintenance you are doing at thattime. They would usually catch thingsahead of time based on the informationthey would get.

DS: Would you like to see that extendedfurther, to other systems?

MVP: If we had the ability to do it onother ships then yes, we would probablydo the same. We’ve already done it withthe navigation equipment and our self-dis-charge gear, and all our bearings are mon-itored for heat. Auxiliary engines, mainengines, you name it – those ships werecompletely wired.

DS: Was that done from the beginning, asnewbuilds?

MVP: No, it was done three years agospecifically before they went to Africa.

DS: So did you notice a big differencewhen comparing the situation before fit-ting the system to afterwards, in relationto uptime and efficiency?

MVP: Well, the things that have hap-pened would have happened anyway, youcouldn’t have stopped them. But we pre-vented some really big breakdowns.Overall the cost of putting this on boardwas lot less than what we saved, I have nodoubt about that.

DS: Are any of the rest of our panellistsdoing similar things, with engine data, orinterfaces with navigation systems, orpredictive maintenance?

KS: Navigation yes, and we do predic-tive maintenance but it remains within thevessel. At the moment the policy is that thevessel is pretty much independent, wedon’t monitor the engine alert systemremotely. The chief engineer is responsiblefor his vessel.

We do inspections and so on, but don’tdo remote tracking of that. It’s probablygoing to change over time, we monitor nav-igation for optimisation with weather rout-ing and so on, so it’s going in that direction.

MVP: It’s still very expensive, for us itwas related to the project we went into. Ifyou have ships that usually discharge onceevery couple of days or even once everytwo weeks, and all of a sudden they dis-charge twice a day, they run a lot slower,So you need to look at things like that. Itbecame a need.

Even if you have a double crew on board– and we had two chief engineers, a captain

and a second master, two chief officers andthree electricians, you name it – because youare running 24 hours a day it’s not like theycan do more maintenance all of a suddenand do better check-ups. They’re working.

It’s expensive to put all the monitoringsystems in place, but it’s related to the proj-ect you’re on. If it was suggested for thevessels that sail between Brazil and China,we’d tell the owner what it’s going to costto see if they’re willing to pay for it, butotherwise there’s really no need.

DS: Does the main cost come in man-hoursof people providing service and analysis,or the hardware and software itself?

MVP: It’s the equipment, it’s installingeverything. Sensors are ‘sensitive’! Andthey’re expensive and you have to changethem quite often.

It’s remote to an extent, our agreementwith remote monitoring companies alsoinclude terms that they have to hold validvisas at all times for Sierra Leone, that theyalways have to have somebody on standbyto fly, if needs be. They have to have allcritical spares in their office ready to carryon board.

Things like that make it expensive, but it’sworth your while if your downtime is moreexpensive than the cost of those contracts.

WB: With regard to remote monitoring,we already have some navigation monitor-ing that is performed for the vessels, and thenext challenge will be on the fuel consump-tion and engine monitoring. We are in theprocess right now of putting the proper sen-sors in place on board to achieve that.

DS: Is that a difficult process, to get thesesystems organised so that you can benefitfrom them later?

WB: Yes, it’s quite a challenge. If you need,for instance, to retrofit your flowmetersbecause the ones on board aren’t the correctones, then it can be a challenging job, beforeyou even start to send any data to shore.

DS: Are you doing a lot of this yourselvesor working with partners? Does thechanging fuel price have any impact onyour work in this area?

WB: We are working with the differentmanufacturers, but the project is handledinternally. With the fuel price, you neverknow how it’s going to evolve so you haveto put your projects in place. Anything youcan gain on fuel is a benefit.

KS: It’s still a cost anyway, it’s neverlow enough.

DS: Of course, I’m just wondering if thechanging oil price would shift William’spriorities towards other projects, but itseems like the work has already beenunderway for some time anyway.

WB: Yes, it has.

DS: Maybe we can have a look towardsthe future now – in 10 years’ time, whatyou think will be the most widely usedcommunications system in the commer-cial deep-sea shipping industry? Chris,you’re rolling out new services over thenext few years, have you planned that fardown the line?

CI: Actually, in some senses we arealready there in that future terms of Ku-band VSAT, I would say that Ku-andVSAT is going to be the predominant plat-form in 10 years’ time.

The analysis that has been made in theindustry recently has shown that Ku-band,in terms of the investment and all the activ-ity, is the dominant area for data delivered.That is coming from a broad perspectivethat our company has, we’re not just basedin one band, we have operations and fil-ings in all the key bands above L-band.

We have obviously made a major com-mitment and investment in these six Epicsatellites up until 2019, and each of thosesatellites will deliver up to 10 times thecapacity of the previous generation.

So that is our focus, and it is the platformof preference from the perspective of satel-lite operators. If access was available to Ku-band then it would be that platform that anoperator would naturally choose. We havethe benefit of backwards compatibility,which we spoke about earlier, which can becritical, and we have the benefit of signifi-cant infrastructure already in place.

One thing that will stay consistent is therequirement for a back-up, time has bornethis out to date, and experience will con-tinue to show that back-up capability, theability to access assets that can take over inthe event of a failure, is key. In terms of thedelivered performance which operatorsare telling us they need, the new designsare bearing that out. So I would say, quitedefinitely, Ku-band VSAT.

BB: We do all of the systems and willcontinue to do all of them. There are differ-ences and it’s depending on the needs ofthe customer. We’ll continue to work inpartnership with the major SNOs (satellitenetwork operators) that are developingwhat is needed for our customers.

But what we see is that everyone in 10

years will be running on VSAT, and maybeeventually on a mixed solution with land-based solutions being used from time totime. So a mix of broadband technologies,with hybrids of other carriers like 3G and4G, WiMAX and others.

CI: I would agree that there’s going tobe a range of other complementary solu-tions, it’s never going to be a single bandfor everyone.

DS: Will antenna technology have a verybig impact on this? If we have smaller,cheaper and easier to install antennas thatcan work in multiple bands, wouldn’tthat have a big impact?

CI: We announced recently someinvestments in antenna technologies toimprove performance, and improve theaccessibility. We spoke earlier about theissues people have in terms of reliabilityand access to ships, and these are all keyissues that we’re considering now in termsof the antenna platform development.

BB: It’s also important to have antennasthat are easy to install. Whatever makes iteasier is also an evolution in the technology.

MVP: It helps, but for us it’s reallyimportant what comes afterwards, it’safter-sales service. For example, one of theproblems is that, when you want to buysomething you get to meet sales peoplequite often before you make a final deci-sion. You get a lot of promises. Then after-wards you have to deal with the after-salesservice people, and it’s often completelydifferent.

I can talk until I’m blue in the face to thesales people about the fact that we wantthis and that, because the ships go to SierraLeone and will stay there for three years,it’s difficult to get access to them etc. Wehear lots of promises, but to then get some-one on the phone and the first question is‘where is the ship?’ – well, it’s still in SierraLeone, like it was last month and themonth before and last year. That’s theproblem I get with after-sales people.

Very often you get very nice stories onthe sales side and a lot of promises, butthey’re not always fulfilled by the serviceafterwards.

KS: You have to work with yourprovider to make them understand whatyou expect. If something goes wrong youhave to work with them, usually to explainagain what you expected, but to solve ittogether. If you call and they ask youwhere the vessel is – they should knowwhere the vessel is.

MVP: It’s difficult to get to a point whereit works smoothly. We’re working withsomebody now and we’re quite happy withthem as we have the same people dealingwith the ships all the time, and that’s good,because the ships also know that they cancontact this person in this office, or that per-son in the Singapore office if we’re there. Itcreates a good relationship.

But when this was all starting to hap-pen, new stuff was coming out and thefocus was very much on the sales of theproduct, and not everything that had tohappen afterwards. Maybe it’s becauseeverything grew so fast and the sales peo-ple were selling the next generation whilethe previous one was being installed.

So the system we’ll be using in 10 yearsis one that’s reliable – both for the systemitself and the people that deliver it.

Despite being in a region famous for its superyachts, the Digital Ship 2015 Round Tablein Monaco focused on the slightly less glamourous topic of satcoms for the

commercial shipping market

DS

p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:55 Page 21

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p22-43:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 16:55 Page 22

www.napa.fi

NAPA has announced the launch ofNAPA Safety Solutions, a software pack-age that aims to increase passenger safetythrough a combination of data monitoring,analysis and prediction.

The product is designed to work both asa proactive tool for increasing safety onboard passenger vessels, and to aid deci-sion-making during the initial hours ofemergency situations.

NAPA Safety Solutions includes func-tions for planning, logging, monitoringand analysing stability and safety data,using a simple “traffic light” vulnerabilitysystem based on key indicators such aswatertight door status, navigational statusand stability condition.

However, the software provider saysthat the system’s ‘true value’ is in provid-ing critical information and predictiveanalysis in the first minutes and hours ofan emergency. Once flooding is detected,

an alarm is sounded, and the systembegins analysing data and making predic-tions on when the vessel will overturn orsink, and at which point the vessel’s listwill render the lifeboats inoperable.

NAPA says this information willempower Masters to make better decisionsregarding passenger safety, and has thepotential to save lives.

“Safety in the shipping industry hasimproved significantly in recent years andyet news media provides regular remindersthat we could be doing better,” said JuhaHeikinheimo, president of NAPA.

“NAPA was working on the EuropeanUnion’s FLOODSTAND project, to createalgorithms and highly accurate flooding pre-diction models, when the Costa Concordiaincident occurred. Understanding thepower of data and analysis to transformour understanding and ensure informeddecision-making, we re-doubled ourefforts to create a comprehensive safetysolution for passenger vessels.”

SOFTWARE

Evergreen Line installs ClassNK-NAPA GREEN

www.evergreen.com.twwww.classnk.com

www.napa.fi

Container carrier Evergreen Line hasbegun the installation of ClassNK-NAPAGREEN software for planning, monitoringand optimising its chartered containerfleet.

The solution, developed jointly byClassNK and Finnish software providerNAPA, enables shore-based managementteams to monitor, record and analyse datafrom chartered vessels in real time, and is designed to increase efficiency acrossfleet operations.

“We extend our wholehearted thanksto Evergreen for choosing ClassNK-NAPA GREEN and also to our partnerClassNK in working to deliver this best-in-class operational efficiency solution,”said Juha Heikinheimo, president ofNAPA Group.

“Installation of our solution aboard the vessels will also offer Evergreen eco-efficiency optimisation through trim opti-misation and speed and voyage routingfeatures, which are expected to reducefuel consumption between 4-6 per cent intrials.”

“This allows accurate benchmarkingand KPI calculation based on ClassNK-NAPA GREEN’s unique DynamicPerformance Model, which - in separatesea trials made public by NAPA andClassNK in 2014 - was proven to estimatea vessel's performance with an accuracy of99.6 per cent.”

According to Mr Heikinheimo, the ves-sels on which ClassNK-NAPA GREEN isbeing rolled out will be chartered ratherthan Evergreen-owned, something whichhe believes reflects the trend of charterersdemanding greater accuracy and datatransparency from their operators, as well

as increased operational efficiency.“We see the growing level of data trans-

fer between charter parties as very posi-tive,” he said.

“We look forward to working furtherwith Evergreen to ensure they get the bestfuel efficiency, modern business intelli-gence and all of the genuinely unique ben-efits of ClassNK-NAPA GREEN.”

In related news, NAPA has alsoannounced the latest release of itsStatutory Compliance solution, with newintegrated functionality from ClassNKManager designed to improve ship designand speed up the classification approvalprocess.

NAPA Release 2015.1 includes featuresfrom ClassNK Manager that enable thecalculation of hydrostatics, stability andlongitudinal strength for vessels by auto-matically applying the relevant IMO rulesand regulations.

The latest version of the tool also incor-porates purpose-built reports to supportcreation of stability booklets and loadingmanuals from ClassNK Manager. NAPAclaims that because the application uses its3D product model, workflow input is min-imised and no training is needed to use thesoftware.

“The incorporation of this new applica-tion into the NAPA Statutory Compliancetool will significantly broaden its scope;producing a system that can be used intu-itively by anyone, capable of handling allrelevant rules and regulations, and deliverthem for approval by any class society,”said Jan Furustam, product manager,Naval Architecture, NAPA.

“It was developed in close cooperationwith yards, which has helped us to shapethe design to deliver usable, instantly com-prehensible outputs for naval architects.We are proud that the application isalready in daily use at these yards.”

(l-r) Noboru Ueda from ClassNK, Mong-Jye Lee from Evergreen Marine Corp, and Juha Heikinheimo from NAPA Group at the signing ceremony


Emergency management from NAPA

Aage Hempel and Singapore-basedAMI Maritime have both becomeaccredited service partners of BMTSMART.

FREQUENTIS has appointedNorbert Haslacher to its board, taking overresponsibility for Sales & Marketing. MrHaslacher was previously general manag-er for Austria & Eastern Europe with CSC(Computer Sciences Corporation).

ClassNK has opened a new surveyoffice in Cadiz, Spain. It joins an existingnetwork of five survey offices throughoutSpain in Bilbao, Algeciras, Barcelona,Ferrol, and Las Palmas.

The American Bureau ofShipping (ABS) has appointedHoward Fireman as senior vice presidentand chief technology officer. Mr Firemanholds a BSE and MSE in NavalArchitecture and Marine Engineering fromthe University of Michigan and has aMaster's degree in Technical Managementfrom Johns Hopkins University. He joined

ABS in 2013 following a 35-year careerwith the US Navy.

DNV GL has opened a newSingapore Service Centre (SSC).Approximately 1,500 DNV GL classed ves-sels are managed from Singapore and theorganisation already has its DATE (DirectAccess to Technical Experts) helpdesklocated there.

DA-Desk has joined shipping associa-tion BIMCO as an associate member.“We are very excited about joining anorganisation whose mission is to promotefair business practices, free trade and accessto markets,” said Hans-ChristianMordhorst, managing director at DA-Desk.

André van der Zwaan has been namedmanaging director of MatchBackSystems’ European headquarters locat-ed in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Mrvan der Zwaan is tasked with opening theEuropean office and leading sales of thecompany’s Software as a Service (SaaS)application.

www.aagehempel.comwww.amimaritime.comwww.bmtsmart.comwww.frequentis.comwww.classnk.com

www.dnvgl.comwww.da-desk.comwww.bimco.orgwww.eagle.orgwww.matchbacksystems.com

NAPA’s software includes a ‘traffic light’ warning system

p44-58:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 19:58 Page 1

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SOFTWARE

INTERSCHALT and SENER agree Chinese ship design software deals www.interschalt.com

www.sener.es

INTERSCHALT and SENER have bothsigned new deals to supply their shipdesign software packages to companiesworking in the Chinese shipbuildingindustry.

INTERSCHALT has signed a coopera-tion agreement with the Shanghai ShipResearch and Design Institute (SDARI) forthe provision of its MACS3 loading soft-ware, used in the design of container ships,bulk carriers and tankers.

INTERSCHALT says that its MACS3system holds around 65 per cent market

share of the approximately 6,000 containerships currently in existence worldwide,and that this cooperation agreement withSDARI should help to expand its reach toinclude bulk carriers and tankers.

In addition to common BELCO contain-er ship modules, INTERSCHALT will alsoprovide ship type-specific loading mod-ules for bulk carriers and tankers to SDARIfollowing the agreement.

"We are looking forward to workingwith INTERSCHALT to provide the mar-ket with a powerful loading software solu-tion, which will promote efficient shipoperations," said SDARI President HuJintao.

"SDARI ships are already developed inline with leading industry designs. Inorder to remain competitive at a timewhen cost efficiency is of the utmostimportance, we hope that the introductionof MACS3 loading computers to SDARIships will allow us to showcase the superi-or efficiency of our designs."

INTERSCHALT says that the coopera-tion agreement also represents an opportu-nity to improve and further develop itsown contacts with Chinese shipyards.

"Over the last decade, China hasbecome the world's top shipbuildingnation. We see SDARI's decision to opt forour loading computer as clear recognitionof our consistent approach to ensuring thatour product portfolio always meets theneeds of the market," said INTERSCHALTCEO Robert Gärtner.

SENER meanwhile reports that theWuhan Ship Development and DesignInstitute (WSDDI) in China is extending itsuse of the company’s FORAN shipbuild-ing and design software.

The extended licences include FORANpackages for Hull Structure, Machinery &Outfitting, Electrical, Drafting,Import/Export JT, FORAN-PLM Link andFORAN-FEM Link.

According to SENER, WSDDI is one ofthe most influential design offices in China,with more than 50 years of experiencedesigning a variety of marine vessels. It firstimplemented FORAN five years ago.(l-r) Wang Jun and Hu Jintao, SDARI, with Robert Gärtner, INTERSCHALT

Adonis upgrades CrewStation Bill module

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Adonis has released an upgraded versionof its Crew Station Bill module, which itsays will simplify the creation and modifi-cation of muster lists, enhancing crewsafety and compliance.

Part of Adonis Personnel Manager(APM), the Crew Station Bill module isused for safety planning on muster sta-tions throughout a vessel. It displays safe-ty levels, instructions and duties, allowingusers to select from different report for-mats, which Adonis says can be cus-tomised to individual requirements.

"Onboard safety is the most importantconcern for cruise and ferry companies -indeed, for all offshore vessels and mar-itime organisations," said Erick Meijer,product director of Adonis AS.

"The upgraded Crew Station Bill mod-ule was originally developed for use onCrystal Cruises' high-end luxury ships,and was further refined when adapted forthe diversified fleet of DFDS, one ofNorthern Europe's largest transporters.”

“Working with these two very differ-ent, market-leading organisations hasenabled us to bring to market a safetymodule that can be tailored to the needs ofany vessel, regardless of size, with hun-dreds of crew and many muster stations tomanage."

p44-58:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 19:58 Page 3

Digital Ship


ClassNK launches EEDI ship speedcalculation software

www.classnk.com

ClassNK has released its new PrimeShip-GREEN/ProSTA software system, used toanalyse and calculate a ship’s speed trialresults for Energy Efficiency Design Index(EEDI) calculation in compliance with thelatest IMO Guidelines from 1 May 2015.

PrimeShip-GREEN/ProSTA aims toassist shipyards, shipowners, and thegreater maritime industry in adoption ofthe new harmonised ISO 15016:2015 inter-national standard for analysing and calcu-lating a ship’s speed in calm sea conditions,set to be adopted at this month’s MEPC68.

MARPOL AnnexVI states one parameterto calculate EEDI as the ship’s speed in calmsea conditions based on the speed trial

results. ISO 15016:2015, published on 1 April2015, is an attempt to harmonise the twomethods for calculating this figure that arefound in IMO’s Guidelines on survey andcertification of the EEDI (ISO 15016:2002 andthe International Towing Tank ConferenceRecommended Procedures).

ClassNK’s new software enables shipdesigners to calculate a ship’s speed incompliance with the new ISO15016:2015standard, and as a result can help toreduce the workload required for EEDIcalculation, the class society says.

As a non-profit organisation, ClassNKsays it will be offering this software com-pletely free of charge to all applicants.Further details are available on the organi-sation’s website.

The software includes new IMO Guidelines from May 1, 2015

Setel remote monitoring comes to Cisco platform www.setel-group.com

www.cisco.com

Setel Hellas reports that its SeeMBox-Vsolution for remote performance monitor-ing has been successfully integrated withCisco technology.

SeeMBox-V, which enables analysis of

onbard equipment from shore-basedoffices, is now available via the Cisco 2911and 2951 operating system and machinearchitecture.

Setel says the integration with Ciscowill help to significantly reduce total costof ownership for maritime users, as well asadding increased flexibility and reliability.

www.krs.co.kr/eng

Classification society Korean Register hasreleased the latest version of its KR-CONsoftware, enabling users to add their ownnotes, memos and bookmarks to IMOcodes and conventions.

The 13th edition of the software will contain the most up-to-date IMO regulations, including amendments adopt-ed at the 93rd MSC (Maritime SafetyCommittee) and the 67th MEPC (MaritimeEnvironment Protection Committee).Users will now also have the ability to per-sonalise the database with comments and

information, and by using bookmarks totag and retrieve particular documents.

“We’ve transformed the 13th version ofKR-CON into a ‘writable convention data-base’,” said Dr B S Park, chairman andCEO of Korean Register

“Listening to the requirements of ourcustomers, we’ve identified the weakness-es inherent in electronic document data-bases and introduced two new writablefacilities to overcome this. I am confidentthat this latest version of KR-CON willhelp our users gain a more comprehensiveunderstanding of IMO conventions andtheir specific application.”

New features added to KR-CON software

p44-58:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 19:58 Page 4


SOFTWARE

www.itramper.com

iTramper has officially released its DryBulk Voyage Estimation software system,featuring what it calls ‘steaming sensitivi-ty’ to estimate the effect of various differ-ent vessel speeds on voyage profitability.

The software works by the user select-ing a vessel and entering data like bunkerprice and cargo fixture, for which a list ofestimated costs and revenues will then becalculated.

All speed options for the vessel are dis-played, so the user can then select the best-fit speed option for maximum gain or min-

imum loss at the given freight rate andbunker price, incorporating parameterslike ETA or RTA.

The system also includes a free distanceapplication covering 350 dry bulk portsworldwide, and no login data or internetconnection are required, allowing calcula-tions to be performed offline.

The iTramper Dry Bulk VoyageEstimation software package is available aseither a Personal Edition, paid for bydevice, or as an Enterprise Edition, whichrequires client/server software licences andsetup of server hardware. The EnterpriseEdition will be available from Q4 2015.

Dry Bulk Voyage Estimation softwarelaunched by iTramper

www.eagle.org

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) chair-man and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki saysthat the maritime industry must embrace anew generation of technical leadershipmoving forward, focusing on three maintenets that will shape the future of shipping.

Speaking at the CMA Shipping confer-ence in Stamford, Connecticut, MrWiernicki highlighted techno-economicthinking, 'big data', and convergencethinking as three key areas of focus fortechnical leadership.

Techno-economic thinking refers to

analysis that combines technical and com-mercial knowledge to inform decision-mak-ing. The rapid pace of technology adoption,and the corresponding regulatory require-ments that go along with it, make techno-economic thinking an essential tool movingforward, according to Mr Wiernicki.

"The new generation of technical leader-ship will be based on techno-economicthinking,” he said.

“It will be about how we take the collective technical information to makethe right overall business decision.Technical innovation must be on par withcommercial acumen, and decisions need to

be based equally on both commercial andtechnical risks. The Chief TechnologyOfficer and Chief Financial Officer mustwork even more collaboratively."

Central to adopting a techno-economicapproach is harnessing the power of bigdata, with classification societies such asABS taking on a data-driven approach inan effort to increase efficiencies across themaritime industry.

“Big data will be the catalyst that tiestogether regulations of the future, technol-ogy advancements and Class of thefuture,” continues Mr Wiernicki.

“Big data will enable regulators, owners

and class to provide enhanced decision-making, insightful discoveries and processoptimisation that foster a safer and moreefficient industry."

According to Mr Wiernicki, the new gen-eration of leaders in the shipping industrywill be forced to think differently in a bigdata environment, combining informationfrom multiple different sources.

“They will need to embrace a conver-gence mind-set and not only consider tech-nical feasibility from an engineering per-spective, but also weigh both commercialviability and social desirability of theworld we live in,” he said.

‘Technical leadership’ vital for maritime, says ABS chairmanThe software estimates the effects of different speeds on voyage profitability

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UK-based Marine Software reports thatPorts of Auckland has selected theMPMWin Marine Planned Maintenancesystem for its range of harbour towagevessels.

Ports of Auckland has four tug boats

that carry out approximately 95 per centof all towage in Auckland Harbour. Theplanned maintenance of these vesselswill be managed and centrally controlledfrom the office OPM system on shore.

Awanuia, a fuel tanker vessel ownedby a subsidiary of Ports of Auckland, will use the onboard MPM version of the software.

Ports of Auckland selects Marine Software

Ports of Auckland has selected the MPMWin Marine Planned Maintenance system for its range of harbour towage vessels.

p44-58:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 19:58 Page 5


Digital Ship

www.eniram.fiwww.containershipsgroup.com

Eniram reports that fellow Finnish compa-ny Containerships will be deploying theformer’s energy management technologyto help optimise vessel performance andreduce fuel consumption.

Containerships is a short sea end-to-end operator with a 14-strong fleet acrossthe North and Baltic Seas as well as theMediterranean. The deal will see Eniram’sPlatform, Trim and Speed softwaredeployed across the Containerships fleet,and represents the first use of Eniram’snew solid state attitude sensors, which itclaims deliver increased accuracy andreliability.

“We are very pleased to be workingwith Eniram and look forward to a prolif-ic, long-lasting relationship,” said FredericLeca, COO at Containerships.

“Our constant focus on reducing our emissions via improved consump-tion is very much in line with our com-pany environmental strategy (LNG vessels, LNG trucks and extensive use of intermodality). Furthermore, we seean excellent fit between two leadingNordic companies who can share differ-ent experiences: short seas shipping andEniram fuel consumption reductionexpertise.”

Containershipsselects Eniramhttps://marine.cat.com

www.esrgtech.com

Caterpillar Marine has completed theacquisition of ESRG Technologies Group, avessel monitoring and data analytics com-pany focusing on the marine industry.

The acquisition includes ESRG’s soft-ware package for the remote monitoringand diagnostics of more than 65 onboardsystems, currently used in the monitoringof thousands of assets on vessels operatingaround the world.

Following the deal ESRG will become apart of Caterpillar Marine, which operateswithin the Marine and Petroleum PowerDivision of Caterpillar Inc. ESRG softwaresolutions will be rebranded as Caterpillarand sold and supported through the glob-al Cat dealer network.

The company says that these new tech-nologies will operate in alignment with itsbroader Cat Connect monitoring initiatives.

“As a result of the ESRG acquisition,Caterpillar Marine is evolving beyondengine-focused monitoring to providemonitoring and diagnostic solutions for anentire vessel,” said Nigel Parkinson,Caterpillar Marine managing director.

“Our customers are asking for solutionsto drive down operating costs and maintainleading-edge uptime. Together withESRG’s experience, Caterpillar Marine isprepared to offer solutions to our customerstoday to help them achieve this goal.”

“This acquisition enables CaterpillarMarine to move closer towards our strate-gic vision of serving our marine customersas a complete systems solutions provider.”

Using ESRG’s systems, Caterpillar willnow be able to make vessel productivityand equipment recommendations utilisingaggregated data and automated analyticssupported by account-specific fleet advi-sors, on vessels operating with Cat equip-ment or with any other competitive powersolutions.

“Marine customers have been asking forthis technology for the past few years ascommunication costs have declined and BigData is becoming more commonplace.However, managing data and establishinganalytical driven rules are not the core com-petency of most operators today,” said LeslieBell-Friedel, Caterpillar Marine AssetIntelligence business development manager.

“Our role as Caterpillar Marine is to

introduce a full suite of analytics solutionsto our customers which are tailored to theirindividual pain points. Some customerswill want to focus on increasing the relia-bility of machinery operations, while oth-ers will be focused on optimising vesselproductivity, ensuring safety, and/oroperating more sustainably.”

“This technology not only monitorsrunning conditions, but it leverages analyt-ics to understand the interrelations of dif-ferent variables on the overall system andincorporates historical data to predictfuture failure modes. Regardless of theindividual challenges, Caterpillar Marineis now able to offer a full suite of analyticssolutions to help our customers achievetheir objectives.”

Headquartered in Virginia, USA, ESRGhas provided data analysis and remotemonitoring technology for the marine andnaval sectors since its inception in 2000.

Caterpillar buys ESRG

ESRG software will now be rebranded as Caterpillar

p44-58:p1-14.qxd 14/05/2015 19:59 Page 6

www.spectec.net

Maritime software company SpecTec isthis summer planning celebrations to markits 30 years in existence, having first com-menced operations on January 14, 1985.

Over the course of those three decadesthe company has changed hands morethan once, having been bought by Station12 in 2000 and merged with KPNBroadband and Telstra Satellite System toform Xantic.

This proved to be a short lived arrange-ment, with the SpecTec part of the Xanticbusiness eventually being sold back to agroup of investors including the formermanagement of the company in 2005.

In 2012 the company was purchasedonce again, by the Volaris Group, aCanadian company, under whose owner-ship it continues today.

SpecTec CEO Giampiero Soncini startedwith the company in July 1986, some 18months after the birth of the AMOS soft-ware package which still today isSpecTec’s flagship product, having himselfbeen one of the early adopters of the sys-tem while working on the NATO Researchvessel Alliance.

“There aren’t many IT companies in theworld which have been operating continu-ously for 30 years. Companies much biggerand more powerful than us have come andgone, yet little mighty SpecTec continuesto go along, and well too,” he told us.

“Changing ownership is always diffi-cult, like when you marry, moving fromthe authority of your parents to yourwife! Of course (being acquired byVolaris) was not easy, but was it good for SpecTec? Absolutely – we are finan-cially stronger, better organised, with a better operating structure.”

“It has cost some staff I would havenever wanted to see going, but at the sametime, it has rejuvenated our managementline. This is always difficult at the begin-ning but always good in the medium term,and this is exactly what is happening.”

In almost 30 years with the company,Mr Soncini has seen the use of technologyin shipping revolutionise the way that peo-ple do business. He believes that the intel-ligent application of software to maritimebusiness has made the difference betweenthe shipping companies who have sur-vived the economic crises of the last sevenyears, and those who did not.

“Check the list of all the companies,which went belly-up. None had AMOS ora system like AMOS on board; and if theydid, they had some obscure system,bought cheaply to pretend to have some-thing,” he says.

“In the last seven years, some compa-nies went bankrupt or had plenty of diffi-culties, while others instead grew. This isbecause a proper software system allowsyou total control of where the money goes.When you have such control, you can saveintelligently, and keep the boats, literally,afloat. If you lack control, you have waste,pilferage, and losses.”

In the future Mr Soncini expects IT topermeate even further into shipping oper-ations and for integration of systems, withmachine-to-machine communication, tocompletely revolutionise how the mar-itime industry is run.

“All IT systems on board, Automation,AIS, ERP solutions, ECDIS,Documentation, will be integrated. I thinkthat ships, especially liners, will go downto a maximum of five people on board.These people will have to rely on completecommand and control of all active func-

tions on the ships, with quick and readyaccess to Documentation, Situation, andData,” he told us.

“Remember, it is only Data which mat-ters, it is with information that you managethe ship, the software is only a means toread and store data. So in the future shipswill adopt telemetry, and systems likeAMOS will store and forward data to thetechnical office ashore, where it’ll be mon-itored and analysed.”

“If the world’s economy will continue toexpand, ships will become more and morelike airplanes, going from A to B andreturning in a seemingly endless stream.Those who will adapt to the new technolo-gies and change will win the battle inbetween. Darwin, after all, was right: it isnot the stronger that survives but the onethat better adapts to a changing situation.”

Mr Soncini believes that this will alsorequire shipping companies to re-evaluatethe way they value IT services and recog-nise how important they are to continuedoperation and growth in the future.

“Building software is like buildingships. It is a complex task, requiring expe-rienced and expert people, and you pay forwhat you get. And you can get small soft-ware or big software, like with ships,” hesays.

“Building software for the shippingworld is extremely complex, and the factthat in the last 30 years so many IT compa-nies, even good ones, have gone belly-up isa testimony to that. Our software is expen-sive to make, and it needs the price recog-nition for the value it brings to the ship-ping companies. If a shipowner does notagree, I suggest that he buys Angry Birdsto manage his fleet.”

At 61 years of age and having been withSpecTec throughout its 30 year history, MrSoncini says that he aims to continue withthe company well into the future, and

hopes to keep spreading the word aboutthe importance of IT in driving improve-ment in the maritime sector.

“I used to say that shipping is not a job,it is a disease. Once you get it, it is hard tocure. Shipping has been my job, and Iwould like to see the world recognising itfor what it is, a difficult job bringing food,energy and prosperity to the whole world.And with it, I’d like to see IT in shippingrecognised for what it really is – a vital toolto properly manage a fleet, “ he says.

“Of course, all things must pass, and sowill I in SpecTec. Maybe then I will go intoteaching, every year I hold some lectures atthe Massachusetts Maritime University, afantastic institution, and I really like it.”

“Or I will go digging somewhere forarchaeological artefacts while listening tomusic and playing guitar! After all, I amonly 61 years young, which means that Ihave at least another 19 years of good workahead of me…..”

SOFTWARE

New vessel recycling app from GMS www.gmsinc.net

Global Marketing Systems (GMS) haslaunched a new mobile application thataims to provide market intelligence forthe ship recycling industry.

The app, which is targeted at shipown-ers and brokers, provides information onvessel prices at selected recycling destina-tions, as well as a confidential valuationservice and tidal information. GMSWeekly, the company’s industry newslet-ter, will also be delivered via the app.

“We are delighted to launch this brandnew concept into the marketplace,” saysDr Anil Sharma, founder and CEO ofGMS.

“Since establishing GMS, we haveworked to modernise and promote theship recycling industry, challenging oldcustoms and looking for new ways to dobusiness.”

“With exclusive local representation inall five of the major recycling markets ofthe world we have remained close toshipowners, to brokers and to ship recy-clers, ensuring a continuing and uniqueinsight into both the needs of our cus-tomers and into developments within

their markets.”The application is available on both

Android and Apple devices.

SpecTec celebrates 30 years

www.carbonwarroom.com

A new survey has revealed the increasinguse of energy efficiency data by bankswhen considering whether or not tofinance the building and retrofits of vessels.

The survey was conducted by CarbonWar Room, a non-profit organisationestablished by Richard Branson. It foundthat financial institutions such as HSHNordbank and KfW IPEX-Bank are usingefficiency data when assessing risk andreturn, with inefficient vessels now repre-senting a higher-risk investment.

Energy efficiency data is also beingused in credit-approval processes for ves-sel purchases, loan assessments for retrofitprojects, and re-sell or scrapping decisions,with banks citing efficiency as a key indi-cator for a vessel’s profitability.

“As a consequence of the correlation ofenergy efficiency and loan risk, we haveanalysed our shipping portfolio based on

the methodology of the Energy EfficiencyDesign Index (EEDI) and implementeddesign efficiency criteria in our creditapproval process,” said Carsten Wiebers,global head of Maritime Industries, KfWIPEX-Bank.

“In view of the beneficial risk profileand environmental benefits, we favoureco-ships over ships with poorer energyefficiency… More energy efficient vesselshave an enhanced marketability as well asa higher revenue potential for the shipowner and thus a more favourable riskprofile for financiers.”

According to the survey, banks are see-ing the development of a two-tier marketin commercial shipping, comprising high-and low-efficiency vessels. Although eco-efficient vessels have a higher cost at newbuild stage, they are more likely to bechartered, maintain asset value over time,and have a longer lifespan, and thus pres-ent a lower investment risk for financialinstitutions.

Bank survey says energy efficiency agrowing factor in ship financing

GMS’s new app

‘Building software is like building ships. Itis a complex task requiring experiencedand expert people, and you pay for whatyou get’ – Giampiero Soncini, SpecTec


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SOFTWARE


www.abb.comwww.aida.de

ABB reports that it has agreed deals withEstonian shipping company Tallink Gruppand German-based cruise operator AIDAto supply energy management and othermonitoring systems.

AIDA has selected its EMMA energymonitoring and management system foruse across the company’s 10 vessels, with aview to reducing energy costs and emis-sions across the entire fleet.

The SEEMP-compliant (ship energyefficiency management plan) EMMA advi-sory suite will cover seven key areas:propulsion power, propulsion efficiency,vessel trim, hotel and auxiliary power, aircondition power per person, specific fueloil consumption of the main diesel genera-tors and total fuel consumption.

Measurement data onboard will be col-lated in a cloud-based application forbenchmarking, providing shore-side visi-bility over fleet-wide energy consumption.According to ABB, the installation ofEMMA will support AIDA in the SEEMPprocess, a mandatory measure since 2013that is designed to improve energy-effi-ciency.

“At AIDA we’ve realised that in orderto achieve maximum efficiency, we mustapproach energy management onboardclinically and scientifically,” said JensLassen, senior vice president MarineOperations at AIDA Cruises.

“This is why we installed ABB’sEMMA. The biggest benefit of having suchan advanced energy management system

onboard is that mathematically analysedkey performance indicators are at your fin-gertips, not only raw data.”

Estonian shipping company TallinkGrupp meanwhile will outfit its new LNG-powered passenger ferry with a range ofABB solutions, including energy manage-ment and remote diagnostics.

The ferry will be built at Meyer Turkushipyard in Finland and operate betweenTallinn and Helsinki, a route that carriedapproximately 7.4 million passengers in2013. The planned capacity of the vessel is2,800 passengers.

Alongside plant and propulsion sys-tems, ABB will be providing its energymanagement solution EMMA, which itclaims will increase the ferry’s efficiencyand help reduce operating costs. UsingLNG, the ship will also be compliant withthe Emission Control Areas (ECA) regula-

tions that cover the Baltic Sea. “Meyer Turku is one of Europe’s lead-

ing shipyards and we are happy to contin-ue working with them on this advancednewbuild for Tallink Grupp,” says HeikkiSoljama, managing director for ABB’smarine and ports business.

“Electrical propulsion is a naturalchoice for modern LNG-powered ferriesthat require efficient and reliable solutionsthat increase the vessel’s flexibility. With afull delivery of power and propulsionsolutions, an energy management systemand service support, ABB can help TallinkGrupp optimise the operational efficiencyof this new generation LNG ferry.”

ABB will also provide engineering, proj-ect management and commissioning serv-ices including remote diagnostics and crewtraining. The vessel is due to be deliveredin early 2017.

Tallink and AIDA select ABB energy monitoring

Tallink will use ABB systems on its new LNG-powered ferry

Helm CONNECTfor Magnolia Fleet

www.helmoperations.comwww.magnoliafleet.com

Helm Operations, a subsidiary of ClassNK,has announced that it will be supplying itsHelm CONNECT preventative mainte-nance solution to Magnolia Fleet.

The barge transportation companyoperates 11 push boats in and around thewaterways of New Orleans and LakeCharles, specialising in oil and petrochem-icals. It will use Helm CONNECT to man-age maintenance and compliance.

“We switched over to Helm because itis the most user friendly vessel operationssoftware program I have come across,”said John Stewart of Magnolia Fleet.

“And I think we have demoed or usedin combination all of them. My idea is ifsomeone like myself, who is pretty goodwith Excel spreadsheets, has problemswith other competitors’ software, how theheck is a deckhand, tankerman, or wheelman going to figure it out?”

“The answer is they are not and theyare not going to use it. It's got to work andbe simple and easy for these guys to use.We also chose Helm because they seem tohave the best support.”

Ron deBruyne, CEO and Founder ofHelm Operations, also claimed thatCONNECT’s ease-of-use was a key com-ponent in the deal with Magnolia.

“We develop Helm CONNECT likeApple develops software,” Mr deBruynesaid.

“If users can’t figure it out when we testit, we redesign it until they can.”

Free certificate notification service from C-Alarm www.c-alarm.com

Danish company C-Alarm has announcedthat its digital notification service willnow be available free of charge, allowingmariners to set up reminders ahead of the expiration of certificates and otherdocumentation.

Users can scan and upload documents,entering the relevant expiry dates into anonline database. The web-based platformthen delivers notifications via e-mail andSMS, based on the information the userhas entered.

While the service can be used to estab-lish any type of reminder, it is aimed inparticular at the commercial maritimeindustry, and addressing the issues associ-ated with lapsed certificates, licences, pass-ports and health documentation.

“When we decided to develop this sys-tem, the motivation behind it was not real-ly to create a business, but more related tosolve the problem that many sailors facewith expiring certificates,” says JesperSvegaard, C-Alarm’s founder.

“Thus, we have decided to offer the serv-ice free. If the system proves its worth andthe users are happy with the service, we willconsider a micro payment, but in that casethe payment will be a very small amountthat should be no problem for anyone.”

Users can create an unlimited number

of certificates, with up to two remindersfor each notification. Documents uploadedto the platform are encrypted for security,and users can share those documents withemployers or relevant authorities via e-mail. There is also the capability to redactpersonal details such as social securitynumbers before sharing documents.

“It happens quite often that people forgetto renew a certificate, and this can have dra-matic consequences, or they have to squeezethe re-certification into the calendar withshort notice,” continues Mr Svegaard.

“This allows long term planning for re-certification, and another benefit is that incase you forget to bring a certificate or youlose it, then you can just find a PC withinternet connection, log in, click downloadand you are able to show a scanned copy.”

New apps from Lloyd’s Register and UK P&I Club www.lr.org

www.ukpandi.com

Lloyd’s Register (LR) and the UK P&I Clubhave launched three new checklist appsdealing with fire safety, marine pollution,and port state controls.

According to LR, the apps enable ships’crews and managers to view legislativeand regulatory requirements, save check-lists, tick off completed activities, as wellas add notes and images and send com-pleted checklists via email.

Marine Fire Safety and MarinePollution Protection highlight common

compliance failures in their respectiveareas, while the Port State Control appidentifies the main causes of ship deten-tion to reduce the risk of ships being heldin ports and harbours.

“The seafarers of today were calling outfor a paperless solution that was portableand interactive,” said Robert Brindle, LR’slead specialist on Port State Control.

“These apps allow us to update userswhen new legislation comes into force,helping to ensure they’re in compliancewith the latest regulations.”

The apps are available on both iOS andAndroid.

‘We have decided to offer the service free’– Jesper Svegaard, C-Alarm

LR’s new apps deal with fire, pollution and port state controls

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Delivering success, together Success is infectious. In the three years since its launch, NAVTOR’s ENC service has become a true mar et lea er, ith over of the Nor e ian eet subscribin to a ro uct that is sim le to use, u ate an mana e. e are e icate to rovi in innovative solutions that rovi e clear user bene ts, as emonstrate by our ty e a rove ay As ou Sail’ service the mar et’s rst.

y or in ith our customers e can meet their in ivi ual nee s an constantly re ne our uni ue e navi ation solutions re ucin navi ator or loa , enhancin safety, an increasin ef ciency for shi mana ers, o ners an o erators orl i e.

e or to ether to ma e every voya e better. hy not et on boar at .navtor.com


Digital Ship

www.liquidr.com

Liquid Robotics, manufacturer of theWave Glider ocean robot, has announced apartner technology programme that ithopes will accelerate innovation inunmanned ocean systems.

The Open Oceans Partner Programmewill build upon the technology developedfor Wave Glider, offering partners a suiteof open integration and developmenttools, web services, APIs, training andservices, as well as access to the first OpenLinux, JAVA based operating environmentand a scalable IP backplane designed forunmanned maritime systems.

According to Liquid Robotics, the pro-gramme will enable sensor, software andintegration partners to use the WaveGlider’s open platform to develop mar-itime solutions not possible with currentapproaches, while at the same time gener-ating new revenue opportunities for theirbusiness.

“We are at the forefront of a technologyrevolution for the ocean,” said Gary Gysin,president and CEO of Liquid Robotics.

“At Liquid Robotics we’re bringing theopen systems, rapid innovation model ofSilicon Valley to a maritime world of spe-cial purpose systems. Working with ourpartners, we will create entirely new solu-tions for defence, commercial and scientif-ic customers by opening up access to theworld of maritime systems.”

As well as working alongside

Schlumberger and Boeing Defense, Spaceand Security, Liquid Robotics has also beencollaborating with UK-based Ultra USSI onnew unmanned surface vessel detectionsystems to combat illegal poaching andsmuggling along the world’s coastlines.

“The combination of the LiquidRobotics Wave Glider and UltraElectronics USSI’s acoustic sensor technol-ogy offers innovative new ways to extendthe maritime surveillance and securitycapabilities of government and commer-

cial organisations worldwide,” said JoePeters, president of Ultra Electronics USSI.

“The Wave Glider’s open systems plat-form simplifies and provides a greaterrange of design approaches to apply technology to solving specific customerproblems.”

Other Open Oceans Partners includeEMS (Spain), OceanTech (South Korea),Sea Technology Services (South Africa),BioSonics, Inc. (US), Fastwave (Australia)and UVS (Australia).

Partner technology programme for unmanned ocean systems

The Open Oceans Partner Programme will build upon the technology developed for Wave Glider

www.essdocs.com

Paperless trade provider essDOCS reportsthat the first ever CargoDocs BankPayment Obligation Plus (BPO+) transac-tion has taken place, facilitating an ironore shipment from Australia to China.

CargoDocs BPO+ is an essDOCS solutiondesigned to streamline processes aroundtrade operations and finance. According toessDOCS, it combines BPO with an onlineapplication plus data sourced from originaleDocs such as electronic bills of lading(eB/Ls) and commercial invoices.

The trade involved global resources com-pany BHP Billiton as the seller, Westpac asthe recipient bank, ANZ as the obligor bankand agri major Cargill as the buyer.essDOCS says it marks the first use of a bankpayment obligation where data flowedthrough all four corners with zero data re-entry, and the first use of BPO by Westpac.

“This is a major milestone for the use ofelectronic documents in trade finance,”said Ashley Skaanild, head of tradefinance & chemicals, essDOCS.

“We set out to accelerate and automateBPO with a scalable, easy to use, secureplatform, to enable corporates and theirbanks to adopt BPO as a trade financeinstrument with minimum effort. By com-bining BPO with our eDocs platform, ourcustomers have in this transaction demon-strated the true potential of BPO+.”

CargoDocs completesfirst BPO+ transaction

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www.enginei.co.ukwww.royston.co.uk

Royston Diesel Power has launched a newversion of its Enginei fuel managementsystem, increasing the range of fuel, engineand voyage data used for onboard andshore-side analysis and optimisation.

The latest iteration of Enginei includesan expanded onboard flowmeter and sen-sor system. Royston says this enables real-time data measurement beyond the typicalRPM, GPS and fuel inputs, with informa-tion on torque, weather and trim sensorscollected by the new system.

According to Royston, the increasedscope of data inputs will enable more accu-

rate fuel analysis calculations, more cus-tomised reporting formats, and enhancedfleet management.

“Access to reliable fuel consumptiondata is taking on even greater importancefor a wide range of fleet managementissues, not only for fuel efficiency but to assess emissions compliance, planengine maintenance and assess vesselsuitability for different operations,” saidLawrence Brown, managing director ofRoyston Limited.

“Our original Enginei fuel managementsystem has been successfully used in awide range of vessel types around theworld. We have now used this experienceto develop an advanced and expanded sys-tem that reflects the industry’s increasingreliance on reliable fuel monitoring,reporting and verification systems.”

Fuel consumption of individualengines can now be measured, as well asfuel burn data for different operationalmodes and different captains. Data cap-tured onboard is available on the bridgeand in the engine room via touchscreenmonitors, as well as onshore through anonline portal and web dashboard.

“We have used our specialist dieselengine technology experience to developan advanced fuel monitoring system thatmeets the needs of both onboard engineersand the onshore monitors responsible formuch broader fleet management deci-sions,” said Mr Brown.

SOFTWARE


www.shipserv.com

Maritime e-marketplace ShipServ is pre-dicting that the total amount spent on itsplatform in 2015 will top $3 billion, up 20per cent on figures from 2014.

Last year ShipServ saw 4.2 millionsearches for marine products and services,resulting in 2.6 million RFQs (Request ForQuotation) and $2.5 billion of trade via itse-procurement portal. According toShipServ, the growth reflects the changingnature of procurement in commercial mar-itime, with companies seeking cost andoperational efficiencies.

“The fact that ShipServ has experiencedexceptional growth at a time when themaritime and offshore sectors are facingthe ongoing pressure of economic uncer-tainty, a fragile market recovery and tightoperating margins, is evidence of thevalue of the e-marketplace,” said PaulØstergaard, CEO and founder ofShipServ.

“ShipServ has been able to connecthundreds of shipowners, managers andyards, representing over 9,000 ships, rigsand vessels, with tens of thousands of sup-pliers, in order to facilitate billions of dol-lars of business.”

Mr Østergaard believes the growth willcontinue throughout 2015, with the valueof trade conducted on the ShipServ plat-form breaking through the $3 billionmark, fuelled by the adoption of digitaltechnologies in the maritime sector.

“We expect 2015 to be another excitingyear as the adoption of e-procurement con-tinues to widen and accelerate across theshipping and offshore industries,” he said.

“These sectors are seeing a rapid rise inthe use of digital technologies, both at seaand onshore, and the rise of the e-market-place is a fundamental part of this.”

Spend on ShipServpredicted to hit$3bn in 2015

Paul Østergaard, ShipServ

The European Parliament has approveddraft EU rules requiring ship owners usingEU ports to monitor and report CO2 emis-sions each year.

The new rules will apply from 2018 toships over 5,000 gross tons, regardless ofthe country in which they are registered,with the aim of cutting their greenhousegas emissions.

The new monitoring and reporting crite-ria will now be put to a vote in a forthcom-ing Council of Ministers meeting in orderto come into force on 1 July 2015, with theregulations having already been informallyagreed with the Council, the EU says.

The text of the Regulation establishes anEU-wide system for monitoring, reportingand verification (MRV) of greenhouse gasemissions from shipping, in order to gatherbetter information about ship efficiencyand emissions and to encourage a reduc-tion in emissions and fuel consumption.

“Maritime transport does not comeunder any greenhouse-gas emissionsreduction measures,” said José InácioFaria, who drafted the second reading rec-ommendation approved by the EuropeanParliament.

“What we are looking at today is a firststep to reduce emissions. If nothing isdone, shipping emissions will go up byabout 50 per cent by 2030.”

“This legislation is applicable to all shipsusing European ports, and will be anopportunity to influence negotiations with-in the International Maritime Organisation(IMO). We need to make sure that coopera-tion with our international partners is kept

to, and make sure these steps give rise to anambitious international agreement.”

The MRV requirements will apply toCO2 emissions arising from voyages to,from and between EU ports. All ships over5,000 gross tons will be covered, with asmall number of exceptions.

Ship efficiency, measured in relation tothe amount of cargo carried, will have tobe reported for all categories of ships, withdetailed specific rules to be introduced foreach ship category.

Where an owner’s report on ship emis-sions meets the requirements, an inde-pendent verifier will be required to delivera document certifying compliance. Shipswill have to carry these documents onboard and will be subject to inspection byEU member states, who will also establishpenalties for infringements.

This move by the EU was met with dis-may by some in the maritime industry,with the International Chamber ofShipping (ICS), BIMCO and Intercargojointly issuing a statement expressing theirdissatisfaction with the results of the vote,preferring a global IMO solution instead ofa regional EU measure.

“Today’s vote was expected, beingbased on the political agreement reachedbetween the EU institutions at the end oflast year. However, the shipping industryis still disappointed by the Parliament’sconfirmation of the EU decision to pre-empt the current International MaritimeOrganization (IMO) negotiations on aglobal data collection system on shipping’sCO2 emissions by adopting a unilateral,

regional Regulation on the Monitoring,Reporting and Verification of individualship emissions – which will also apply tonon-EU flag ships trading to Europe – inadvance of IMO completing its work,” thestatement says.

“Until now, with the industry’s sup-port, the IMO negotiations have been pro-gressing well. But there is a danger that theEU initiative will be seen by non-EUnations as an attempt to present them witha fait accompli. The EU Regulationincludes controversial elements, such asthe publication of commercially sensitivedata on individual ships, an idea whichhad previously been rejected by the major-ity of IMO governments during a meetingof the Marine Environment ProtectionCommittee in October 2014.”

“At the IMO, negotiations on additionalmeasures to help reduce CO2 continue atthe MEPC...It will be vital for EU MemberStates to explain how the new EURegulation can be implemented in a waywhich is fully compatible with whatevermight be agreed by IMO for global appli-cation, in the interests of avoiding theunhelpful complication of a separateregional regime.”

The group of shipping associations alsonotes that unilateral action already takenby the maritime industry has had a positiveeffect on emissions trends, with the latestIMO Green House Gas Study, published in2014, showing that international shippinghad reduced its total CO2 emissions bymore than 10 per cent between 2007 and2012, despite an increase in maritime trade.

European Parliament approves CO2 reporting regulations

New fuel management system from Royston

The new software includes an expanded onboard flowmeter and sensor system

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Voyage Data Recorder

www.jrceurope.com

Developed and designed with our standard attention to details for performance, reliability and long term competitive cost of ownership

Operational touch display

Fixed capsuleFloat free capsule

Microphone

Recording control unit

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Fuel switchover programme from Videotelwww.videotel.com

Videotel has launched a new training pro-gramme to guide seafarers on fuelchangeover processes in light of recentlyintroduced regulations governingEmission Control Areas (ECAs).

Titled “The Practical Management andSwitching of Marine Fuels”, Videotel saysthe programme has been developed in partdue to concerns from the U.S. Coast Guardabout an increasing number of machineryspace fuel leakages when vessels are

switching to low sulphur fuel.“It is critical that crews are aware of

best practice when switching heavymarine fuel oil to low sulphur fuel becausewithout proper training, serious opera-tional problems can occur impairing aship’s performance or even, in a worst casescenario, damaging a ship’s main or auxil-iary engines, ” said Nigel Cleave, VideotelCEO.

The programme is available on DVD,Video on Demand (VOD), and e-LearningComputer Based Training (CBT).

www.smit.comwww.helmoperations.com

Helm Operations reports that SAAMSMIT Towage Brazil has selected its HelmMarine Operations software for the man-agement of billing and dispatch.

SMIT operates in eight ports and termi-nals in Brazil, providing assistance toincoming and outgoing seagoing vessels,including ro-ro ships, oil and chemicaltankers, container ships, reefers andmixed cargo ships.

Helm, a subsidiary of ClassNK, hasbeen working with SMIT in Canada forthe past nine years. According to SMIT,the long-standing relationship was a fac-tor when seeking a partner for theBrazilian market.

“We chose Helm because with theexpansion of SAAM SMIT Towage inBrazil we needed a confident, 100 per centreliable and professional dispatch systemto accompany us in our growth,” saidRobert Martijn Smits, commercial manag-er of SMIT Brazil.

“Our group already uses Helm inanother part of the world with positivefeedback and together with the profes-sional explanations and demonstrationsreceived we think with Helm we havefound this partner to do so.”

SOFTWARE


www.dnvgl.com

DNV GL has launched a hull and propellerperformance analytics module, designedto give a more accurate picture on theimpact that fouling is having on vessel per-formance and fuel efficiency.

The module is part of ECO Insight,DNV GL’s fleet performance managementservice that was announced at SMM inSeptember 2014. It is based on computa-tional fluid dynamics (CFD) methods tocorrect for changing operational condi-tions, and DNV GL claims it producesmore accurate results than ‘existingapproximate or experimental methods’.

According to the classification society,experts have suggested that the global fleetcould be sailing with 30 per cent addition-

al resistance due to fouling, resulting inhigher fuel consumption.

The new performance module analysesthe gap between the theoretical and meas-ured power demand of a vessel, after cor-recting for influences like speed, draft,trim, weather and other operating condi-tions. This data can then be used to informdecision-making as to when and howdefouling should take place.

“We use data that shipping companiesare already collecting,” said Dr TorstenBüssow, DNV GL’s head of fleet perform-ance management.

“Our CFD capabilities, which we alsouse in our lines optimisation, retrofit andtrim assistant services, allow us to veryaccurately normalise vessel specific powerdemand under each reported condition.”

DNV GL adds hull performance module

Fouling could be adding 30 per cent resistance to the global fleet

Singapore MPA signs R&D agreement with A*STAR www.mpa.gov.sg

www.a-star.edu.sg

The Maritime and Port Authority ofSingapore (MPA) has signed a memoran-dum of understanding (MOU) with theSingapore Agency for Science,Technology and Research (A*STAR),which will see the organisations collabo-rate on the development of maritimetechnologies.

The five year MOU will have a numberof focus areas, including satellite, terrestri-al, and wireless communication, and newrobotic capabilities to support the marineindustry. Other fields that will be exploredare modelling, simulation and visualisa-tion technologies, as well as research intomarine sustainability, renewable energy,and emissions reduction.

“This MOU is a further extension of ourstrong partnership with A*STAR in thearea of maritime R&D, with a focus on newtechnologies and systems that will enhancethe competitive edge of our port and itsoperations given the increasingly complexdemands and challenges,” said AndrewTan, chief executive of MPA.

“The MOU covers the latest communi-cations systems and technology such as TVWhite Space, unmanned and autonomousplatforms, simulation and modelling capa-

bilities, as well as development in environ-ment technologies.”

The agreement builds on MPA's priorcollaborations with A*STAR research insti-

tutes over the past decade, including proj-ects on speaker verification over VHFchannels, and previous work on environ-mental sustainability.

The agreement was signed during the Singapore Maritime Technology Conference

SAAM SMIT Brazilsigns with Helm

New service app from Imtech www.imtech.com

Imtech Marine has announced the launchof RHServiceNow, a new application fromits Radio Holland service and nav/combrand.

The app will enable owners and opera-tors to findtheir nearestImtech orRadio Hollandservice loca-tion using amobile device,with over 300service centresc o n t a i n e dwithin theapp.

Accordingto Imtech,mariners willalso be able to

use the app to send service requests direct-ly to the relevant location, allowing shore-side preparations to take place in advanceof a vessel’s arrival for maintenance.

The app is free to download, and avail-able for Android, Apple and Windowsdevices.

Imtech Marine’s new app will help you find a support centre

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Digital Ship

www.portvision.com

PortVision reports that it has added arange of new features to its TerminalSmartdock and berth management software,used by oil companies and marine facili-ties to gain an overview of port visits andterminal operations.

TerminalSmart includes dock manage-ment, scheduling, reporting and analysis,along with PortVision’s AIS-based vesseltracking service. According to theHouston-based provider, the latest ver-sion features an improved user interface,drag-and-drop scheduling and improvedhandling of dock calls.

Other additions include automaticdemurrage analysis and advanced “vesselfit” warnings if a vessel or cargo is notcompatible with a selected dock. There arealso tools for generating customisable let-ters of protest and executing pre-arrivalnotifications, as well as new capabilitiesfor reporting, charting, and dashboards.

http://globallastlearning.com

A new online learning portal to developskills in ballast water management (BWM)has been launched by the GEF-UNDP-IMOGloBallast Partnerships Programme andthe Global Industry Alliance (GIA).

The online tools, including a free e-learning course on the Operational Aspectsof Ballast Water Management, have beendeveloped by the GloBallast project, withfinancial support from the GIA to assistwith the wider implementation of theInternational Convention for the Controland Management of Ships' Ballast Water

and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention).The e-learning course is based on the

GloBallast Advanced Training Course onOperational Aspects of BWM, developedwith financial support from the GIA andthe IMO Integrated Technical CooperationProgramme (ITCP), and is aimed at allstakeholders who will have to deal withoperational aspects of ballast water man-agement, such as Port State ControlOfficers (PSCOs), but also seafarers and allcrew on board a ship.

The course contains four modules;Introduction, Operational Aspects, Surveyand Certification, and Compliance

Monitoring and Enforcement (CME). Ineach module, the user will explore the issuein the context of the objective of the module,build on their existing knowledge of BWMand finally engage in hypothetical scenariosto put this new knowledge into practice.

The learning portal is accessible free ofcharge, with access to an online ResourceLibrary and to the e-learning course. Freewebinars related to BWM will be hostedwithin the portal in the near future, thegroup says.

The e-learning course can also be down-loaded for free from the portal so the usercould use it offline at a later stage.

Online tools launched for Ballast Water Management

www.windward.eu

Maritime data and analytics companyWindward has announced that it hasreceived a strategic investment of $10.8million, led by Horizons Ventures, to helpfund construction of what Windward calls“the largest, most comprehensive maritimedata and analytics platform in history.”

Windward's intelligence solution,MARINT, is already in use by security andlaw enforcement agencies in variouscountries, who use the data to pre-emp-tively identify threats before they reachtheir shores.

This new funding by Horizons Ventures,Aleph and other financial investors willenable Windward to expand its deep learn-ing capabilities via its Windward Mind dataplatform and to operationalise FORESEA,its finance solution.

Currently, FORESEA is in beta testingas the first significant vertical extension ofthe Windward Mind platform, with theaim of providing traders, investors andanalysts with access to huge amounts ofunstructured data.

"The Windward Mind, the world's firstmaritime data platform, brings cross-verti-cal and industry visibility into ship activi-

ty worldwide that is critical given the eco-nomics at stake," said Ami Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Windward.

"We are honoured to have HorizonsVentures join our journey. Horizons has aunique perspective as a seasoned investorin some of the world's most disruptive techcompanies; their involvement will provideus with many valuable opportunities forinnovating this analogue world."

In addition to funding support,Windward will be adding advisors to itsboards, with a member of Horizons joiningWindward's Board of Directors.

Additional investors include TomGlocer, the former CEO of ThomsonReuters, and Ret. Lieutenant General GabiAshkenazi, the former IDF Chief of Staffand former CEO of the Israeli Ministry ofDefense. Both are joining Windward'sAdvisory Board, while Danielle Ullner hasalso joined Windward as Chief OperatingOfficer.

"Ship activity across the oceans fuels theglobal economy but is one of the last ana-logue arenas. The Windward team is revo-lutionising this archaic system and bring-ing visibility to this critically importantdomain, advancing the global ecosystem,"said Jason Wong of Horizons Ventures.

$10.8m in funding for maritime data platform

www.awtworldwide.comwww.veson.com

AWT has announced that it is partneringwith Veson Nautical to use common for-mats for reporting systems in an effort tosimplify data integration and removeduplication of work.

Under the new offering, captains will beable to send a single at-sea report to both theonshore operator and AWT via Veslink,Veson’s data entry portal. AWT says thiswill prevent needless duplication of report-ing, saving time and streamlining workflow.

“I can truly say that our collaborationwith Veson is based on the demands ofmany of our important clients who wouldlike to see closer integration of AWT andVeson services,” said Haydn Jones, CEOof AWT.

“The immediate goal is for AWT’s useof Veslink formatted ship reports that willhelp to reduce the load on ships’ mastersfor preparing multiple similar dailyreports. In today’s world of ever deeperand closer operational integration of shipand shore-based management, this is astep in the right direction.”

AWT teams up with VesonNautical on reporting

www.intergraph.com

Intergraph Process, Power & Marine, partof Hexagon, has acquired OhnmTechA/S, a Norwegian provider of shipdesign software.

OhmTech’s Visual Vessel Design isused for the calculation and design ofpressure vessels, shell and tube heatexchangers and boilers. Intergraph saysVisual Vessel Design will complement itsown PV Elite solution for vessel and heatexchanger design, and the acquisitionwill help the company expand marketshare in Europe.

“This acquisition ensures the continuedadoption and development of OhmTechtechnology within the Intergraph familyof solutions, so we are excited about themany opportunities it brings,” saidGerhard Sallinger, president of IntergraphProcess, Power & Marine.

“We are especially pleased to announcethat OhmTech’s technical and develop-ment staff will bring their experience andtalents to Intergraph to support the con-tinued development of advanced integrat-ed plant design and engineering analysissolutions for our global markets.”

Intergraph acquiresNorway’s OhmTech A/S

www.aveva.com

AVEVA has announced that its AVEVAMarine and AVEVA Bocad shipbuildingsoftware will be deployed in over 20Korean universities and schools.

The academic institutions involved inthe initiative include Seoul NationalUniversity, Korea Advanced Institute ofScience and Technology (KAIST), PohangUniversity of Science and Technology, andPusan National University.

“We welcome AVEVA’s support tobring critical job skills to our students,”said Professor TaeWan Kim, SeoulNational University.

“By working closely and training theprofessors and teachers on the software,AVEVA is enabling the university to givethe students the best experience of indus-try-leading design software. AVEVA istruly inspiring the next generation ofKorean ship designers.”

Students will be able to use the products

in classes such as computer aided shipdesign, with up to 50 simultaneous usersallowed at each institution.

“At AVEVA we believe that we have acommitment to industry and the nurturingof new talent,” said SangWook Ham, vicepresident and head of EPC and marine

sales, NEA, AVEVA.“These educational establishments have

excellent reputations for their dedicationto producing highly qualified talent for theshipbuilding industry in Korea and we areproud to be associated with such highquality institutions.”

AVEVA software for Korean universities

20 schools in Korea will receive the software

Ami Daniel, Windward CEO

New features added toPortVision platform

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SOFTWARE


With a culturally diverse workforce, spread across multiple locations and with a high rate of turnover, managing HR in the maritime industry is a serious challenge – but technology can help in making

these processes run as efficiently as possible, writes Per Ove Kviteberg, Adonis AS

The HR challenges of a global workforce

AA ship is a floating, self-contained‘world’ made up of a diverse mul-ticultural workforce.

The HR challenges on a single vessel areon a par with those of a multi-national cor-poration; in fact, one could argue the chal-lenges are even steeper at sea – particular-ly when you consider that the workforcedoesn't go home at night.

Crewmembers work long hours, 7 daysa week, are confined for months at a timeto small cabins, and might be assigned var-ious roommates who often hail from dif-ferent parts of the world.

Beyond work-related activities,the company also needs to coordi-nate personnel activities, such assports, parties, and special events,managing crew and staff berthingallocation, as well as a host of mis-cellaneous smaller tasks, such asoverseeing movie rentals and dis-tributing cabin keys.

Additionally, the company's HRdepartment must make sure theirmultinational staff are workingcooperatively, grievances areaddressed, employees are motivat-ed, attentive and safety-minded,payroll is adroitly handled, and,not least, that all processes areproperly documented and are incompliance.

Maritime organisations in gen-eral have highly specialised HRneeds – from recruitment to crewing,to managing a multinational work-force, to simply making sure thatoffices on land and at sea are in sync.

Both the range of nationalities and eth-nicities, and the range of roles and respon-sibilities on board, can create challenges.There's the also the problem of highturnover, as the workforce is continuallybeing rotated.

The following provides a brief overviewof some of these challenges, and how tech-nology may be able to help.

Modernising processesWhile it may be hard to believe, many mar-itime organisations still use spreadsheets,outmoded desktop software or non-adap-tive enterprise systems to manage their HRand payroll processes.

Such ‘legacy’ systems and processesadd unnecessary complexity and redun-dancy as, typically, employee data isstored in not one, but several databases.Moreover, the various modules to carryout the different HR functions are in differ-ent silos, as is payroll.

In such scenarios, office-based systemsand ship-based systems do not ‘talk’ to eachother, adding another layer of inefficiency.

Any vessel with a large, heterogeneousworkforce – be that a cruise vessel or acommercial ship – requires an efficient,flexible HR/payroll platform that can be

tailored to each environment.Such a system should have a single

point of data entry for everything to dowith recruiting, onboarding and managingcrew, connected both on ship and shore fortasks from rotation planning to cabin allo-cation, and having integrated payroll andtime and attendance – all consolidated on acentral platform.

As an example of how this could work,we can look at Windstar Cruises, whichoperates a fleet of small cruise ships thattravels to 50 nations, calling at 150 ports

throughout Europe, the South Pacific, theCaribbean, and Central America.

To improve their staff managementWindstar coordinated their HR and pay-roll processes on a single platform thatintegrated time and attendance, cen-tralised the crew database, and significant-ly improved coordination between theirvessels and at their main office in Seattle.

The CIO's main goal in selecting a soft-ware platform was to help make eachWindstar voyage a "flawless experience."

Moving away from the cruise industry,another example is Schmidt Ocean Institute(SOI), a non-profit organisation doing oceanresearch and exploration, and using tech-nology for open sharing of information.

SOI provides its collaborators with freeaccess to the R/V Falkor and her on-boardresearch facilities, in exchange for a commit-ment to openly share and communicate theoutcomes of research collected on board.

Previously, SOI used spreadsheets toenter and update crew profiles, records androtations; now the Institute has automatedcrew rotation and payroll for the R/V Falkor,and integrated a shore-side hosted version oftheir HR system with the server aboard theR/V Falkor, so data is synchronised.

This is particularly critical as the R/VFalkor has no home port – it is always in

motion, with crews rotating from differentlocations.

Best practicesFor maritime organisations, a ‘best prac-tices’ approach in selecting a HR and pay-roll solution can help in picking a suitableapplication, and there are various func-tions that are key to implementing an effi-cient system.

The software should have the ability toconsolidate HR, payroll, time and atten-dance using a central database, and the

scalability to allow an unlimitednumber of ships and persons to beentered into the system. Thiswould include the ability to handlecurrent and future complexity,integrate with web services andother systems within the compa-ny's firewall.

Inclusion of a comprehensivevessel register is important, withall required technical and opera-tional information on each vesselin the company's fleet, enabling theselection of crew on the basis oftheir experience with vessel types,engine types, radio types, etc.

Centralisation of the manage-ment of crew rotations and majorcrewing processes, such as visaapplications, work permits andcompliance with maritimerequirements (offshore certifi-cates, valid medical certificates,etc.), should also be considered,and it should be administered

from a single platform.Users should be able to store and

retrieve details on competence, activities,sea service, personal details, family, med-ical and all the other relevant data groups,with everyone benefitting from improvedcoordination between an organisation'svessels and main office.

Such a solution would allow new per-sons, sailing details, embarkation / disem-barkation dates, payroll details, etc. to beentered on board, and offer the ability totransmit this data automatically, via satel-lite, to shore-based personnel systems,enabling maritime organisations to main-tain a single, completely up to date databaseon their global organisation, at all times.This could also feature alerts that automat-ically notify users on the upcoming expiryof any person's certificates, passports, visasor medical vaccinations.

A time-and-attendance module can pro-vide maritime organisations with the mostefficient way to track time and attendanceof crew members, capture overtime forpayroll, and stay in compliance with regu-lations pertaining to work and rest hours.

This should include a notification serv-ice to inform department heads, team lead-ers, and management about such events aswork and rest hour violations, overtime

hours exceeded, and any other user-defin-able event.

The platform ought to additionallyinclude and communicate safety routinessuch as the crew station drill and on-boarddrills, as well as integrating training andtravel scheduling, and further connectingto travel expense reporting that allows per-sonnel to register their expenses for reim-bursement through payroll.

HR for efficiencyThe ability to seamlessly coordinate allthese activities on a single platform, main-tain global synchronisation of databetween ships and offices, while more effi-ciently recruiting, training and managingmultinational crews, are ‘back end’processes that can have a significantimpact on ship operations.

Take, as another example, LindbladExpeditions, an expedition travel companythat works in partnership with NationalGeographic to provide educational marineexpedition programmes that allow gueststo interact with scientists, naturalists andresearchers while discovering naturalenvironments, above and below the sea.

Their vessels are crewed by multi-national teams with highly specialised skillsets, which posed a number of difficultchallenges, from assuring efficient crewrotations to compliance with a broad rangeof maritime requirements.

Lindblad implemented a system thatcoordinated HR and payroll processesbetween their ships and offices, automat-ing crew planning processes for theirmultinational maritime workforce whileallowing them to more effectively recruittalent from around the world based ontheir experience and qualifications.

Ultimately, the implementation wasn'tjust about streamlining processes andimproving backend operations, but provedto be far more strategic in helping makeeach cruise a memorable adventure forevery passenger.

Depending on the particular line ofbusiness a shipping company is in, itsoperational aims will vary. But whetheryou're operating a cruise line or a fleet ofoil tankers, exceptional leadership and anexceptional staff are the key factors indetermining whether or not you're able toachieve your core business goals.

This is precisely why a robust and flexi-ble solution for managing HR and payrollprocesses – crewing, recruitment, training,time and attendance, compliance, etc. – is sofundamental to a company’s success.

About the authorPer Ove Kviteberg is salesdirector at Adonis AS, a�orway-based provider ofHR/payroll software forthe maritime industry

DS

Software can help to manage the demands of organising a constantly changing, culturally diverse workforce

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION Digital ShipOcean Signal acquired by

ACR Electronics parent companywww.oceansignal.comwww.ACRARTEX.com

Ocean Signal, a supplier of marine com-munication and safety equipment, hasannounced it has been acquired by DrewMarine, and will henceforth operate as aunit of ACR Electronics.

The companies say that the financialterms of the acquisition will not bereleased.

“This is an exciting time for OceanSignal and ACR. This combination willallow Ocean Signal to expand its capabili-ties and together we will redefine safetyand survival technology in order to savemore lives around the world – which is theobjective we are all working towards,”said Ocean Signal managing director, AlanWrigley.

Founded in 2008, Ocean Signal recentlylaunched new rescueME MOB1 andrescueME EDF1 Electronic Distress Flaresystems, to add to its portfolio ofrescueME and SafeSea products.

The combined ACR and Ocean Signalbrands now offer a range of EmergencyPosition Indicating Radio Beacons,Personal Locator Beacons, Search andRescue Transponders, AIS Man OverboardBeacons, VHF radios, Searchlights, rescuestrobe lights, pyrotechnics and safetyaccessories.

“Ocean Signal has pioneered a numberof innovations in marine safety,” saidGerry Angeli, president of ACRElectronics.

“Their ability to create a strong brand ina short period of time is a testament to

their product design, quality and under-standing of the market. Like ACR, OceanSignal is known for reliable products thatperform in the worst conditions the firsttime, every time and we are excited to addthem to our team.”

Ocean Signal will continue to operate asusual from its UK base in Margate, withAlan Wrigley continuing as managingdirector.

Ocean Signal's Alan Wrigley (left) andMichael Wilkerson, ACR Electronics

www.eagle.orgwww.koshipa.or.kr

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)and the Korea Offshore & ShipbuildingAssociation (KOSHIPA) have entered intoa Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)to develop and deliver an offshore trainingcurriculum.

The range of courses will cover drillingand production, as well as offshore engi-neering concepts. According to ABS, train-ing will be hands-on, with a view to devel-oping practical skills and improving off-shore safety.

"For more than 50 years, ABS has beencommitted to working alongside thebuilders in Korea to promote mutually ben-eficial services to foster knowledge transferand safe operations," said ABS chairman

and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki."This MOU is a sign of our continuing

commitment to work with all stakeholdersin this consortium to provide practicaltraining solutions to meet today's mostpressing challenges."

ABS has had a presence in Korea since1961, when it opened its first Korean office inBusan. Since then, it has cultivated a rela-tionship with KOSHIPA, whose membersinclude some of the most prominent namesin Korean shipbuilding, such as Dae Sun,Daewoo, Hyundai, Samsung and Sungdong.

"This MOU with ABS will strengthenlearning for Korea's premier shipbuildingcompanies through structured on-the-jobtraining and coaching to promote individ-ual competencies in offshore," said DrYoung-Ju Suh, executive vice president atKOSHIPA.

ABS and KOSHIPA sign MOU for offshore training

www.wartsila.comwww.vtt.fi

Wärtsilä and VTT, the Technical ResearchCentre of Finland, are teaming up as partof a new technology research programmeaimed at developing propulsion productsfor arctic conditions.

The ArTEco (Arctic ThrusterEcosystem) project will take place between2015 and 2017, and will involve a total often industrial and academic partners fromFinland and other countries.

According to Wärtsilä, the primaryfocus will be on creating an Extreme ValueThruster as a platform for demonstratingquantum leaps in thruster technologies.

The project, which has a budget of €7.5million, will culminate in the creation of a

large-scale prototype, which will be usedto demonstrate and validate the technolo-gy developed over the three-year researchperiod.

"The challenge to create increasinglyreliable and competitive solutions is ongo-ing,” says Arto Lehtinen, vice president,propulsion, Wärtsilä Ship Power.

“Wärtsilä has a duty to its customers toensure that its R&D activities are supportedby the best tools, technologies and partnersso as to develop the best solutions. The cre-ation of this project consortium will help usmaintain our position as an innovator andtechnology leader within the marine sector.”

Assessment and validation of thepropulsion technology will take place atthe Wärtsilä Propulsion Test Centre inTuusula, Finland.

Wärtsilä partners with VTT on propulsion R&D

www.pcmaritime.com

PC Maritime and its Estonian trading part-ner Marine Technics have won a contractto supply Navmaster ECDIS to 28Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company(ACSC) vessels.

Navmaster ECDIS has already been inuse on thirteen ACSC vessels over the past three years, paving the way for thisnew contract.

The initial deliveries under the deal willfeature single ECDIS with 24 inch displays,with an option to extend to dual ECDIS, as

well as Jeppesen Primar charts and updat-ing services.

The systems will be installed and sup-ported locally by Marine Technics’ officein Baku.

“We are very pleased with this order,particularly because it is based on the cus-tomer’s experience of using NavmasterECDIS,” said Anne Edmonds, marketingdirector, PC Maritime.

“Marine Technics has provided goodsupport to ACSC as well as negotiating thenew order, and their expertise has beencrucial to winning the contract.”

ECDIS for 28 ACSC ships

www.silverstream-tech.comwww.ncl.com

Silverstream Technologies has announcedthe first commercial installation of thecompany’s air-lubrication system, to bedeployed on the Norwegian Cruise Linevessel Norwegian Bliss.

The technology uses a carpet of microbubbles to reduce friction between a ves-sel’s hull and the surrounding water, withthe aim of improving performance, bring-ing down fuel bills, and cutting emissions.

Earlier this year, Silverstream and Shellreported that they had successfully trialledthe air-lubrication system, claiming itcould deliver fuel-efficiency savings of upto 5 per cent.

“Despite the recent decline in fuelprices, new sulphur regulations inEmission Control Areas still mean signifi-cantly increased fuel bills for the cruiseindustry,” said Christer Karlsson, seniorvice president of newbuild, NorwegianCruise Line.

“In conjunction with the importance ofconstantly improving sustainability, it istherefore critical that we look at viable

opportunities that improve operationaland environmental efficiencies, drivingdown fuel bills and reducing emissions.The Silverstream System is an example ofsuch a clean technology that can genuinelymake a difference.”

The Norwegian Bliss is scheduled fordelivery in spring 2017 from the MeyerWerft shipyard in Germany, andNorwegian Cruise Line has the option ofoutfitting two further vessels with thetechnology.

“It is a landmark moment for the compa-ny to secure a significant order from a lead-ing cruise operator, which will be installedand delivered by one of the world’s mostrespected ship yards for technology andinnovation,” said Noah Silberschmidt, CEOof Silverstream Technologies.

“Not only does this highlight theSilverstream System and air lubrication asan applied and sustainable clean technolo-gy, it also demonstrates the industry’s cul-ture and desire to improve their opera-tional and environmental efficiencies as ameans of reducing emissions, fuel costs,and improving the sustainability of theiroperations.”

Silverstream air lubrication for Norwegian Cruise Line

www.maerskline.comwww.transas.com

Transas has been awarded a contract tooutfit the Maersk Line fleet with ECDIS,rolling out across more than 100 containervessels.

The deal will see Transas’ Navi-SailorECDIS 4000 implemented in dual configu-ration, as well as a back-up station for eachvessel, which will facilitate paperless navi-gation. Installations are scheduled to startin the summer of 2015.

In October, Transas announced that itsECDIS would be installed across the

Maersk Tankers fleet, including both newbuilds and retrofits.

“We are extremely happy to intensifyour cooperation with Maersk even fur-ther and thus proving to be a right part-ner providing the most advanced ECDISsolutions,” said Jens Pfeiffer, TransasMarine’s navigation business divisiondirector.

“This does not only require a state ofthe art ECDIS itself, but also excellent engi-neering skills, comprehensive data servic-es and after-sales support which are allcritical issues when it comes to ECDISimplementation.”

Maersk Line selects Transas

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION


www.wartsila.com

Wärtsilä has signed a five-year TechnicalManagement Agreement with GolarManagement Oslo for delivery of remotemonitoring services to Golar LNG.

The service agreement includesremote monitoring of engines, mainte-nance planning, advisory services, andguaranteed availability of personnel aswell as spare parts.

The deal also includes a condition-based maintenance (CBM) system to opti-mise the performance of the installedequipment and allow Wärtsilä's special-ists to monitor and analyse variousparameters, enabling the engine manufac-turer to plan and perform the mainte-

nance activities needed to maximise theengines' lifecycle.

"One of Golar LNG's strategic assets is our operational excellence. We want to maintain the highest standards for safety and reliability. This closercooperation with Wärtsilä helps us toavoid unnecessary downtime and to keep our fleet in top condition at alltimes," said Per Rolid, fleet manager atGolar LNG.

Golar LNG operates a fleet of 13 vessels engaged in both LNG transporta-tion and midstream floating solutions. Its LNG carriers and Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU's) are all equipped with Wärtsilä engines, 52 in total.

Remote monitoring and maintenance for Golar LNG

Global Navigation Solutions(GNS) has announced that Australia’sChart & Map Shop is now part of its distribution network. According toGNS, the agreement will facilitate same-day delivery of charts and publica-tions to Fremantle and Western Australia,with next-day delivery for all otherAustralian ports.

Electronics provider Actisense haspromoted Leslie Keets to chief operatingofficer. Formerly the operations managerat the company, Ms Keets has been work-ing at Actisense since 2007.

German provider PRONAUTAShas expanded into North America with anew office in Charlottesville, Virginia. Thecompany’s main service station in the US islocated in Houston, Texas.

The United KingdomHydrographic Office (UKHO), theprimary charting authority for Vanuatu,has issued new editions of two Vanuatu

ENC cells in response to the Cyclone Pamdisaster. The cells are GB501638 (NorthernVanuatu - Espiritu Santo - Luganville) andGB501494 (Port Vila).

Three VSTEP NAUTIS dynamic posi-tioning simulators have been officially cer-tified and accredited by the NauticalInstitute and DNV-GL. Accreditationof the class A and B DP Simulators tookplace in Rotterdam, Shanghai andSingapore.

YDDO Maritime & ConsultingCo. (YDDO) has been appointed byDanelec Marine as a distributor inTurkey. YDDO will provide sales, installa-tion and service of Danelec VDRs, S-VDRsand ECDIS in Turkish ports and shipyards,and will conduct VDR annual performancetests. The company will also establish aCertified Service Centre for DanelecMarine with stock of products and spares.

Danelec Marine’s DM100 S-VDRhas also received type approval from

German certification authority BSH. “TheBSH type approval will make it easier forshipmanagers of all flag states to upgradeolder S-VDRs to the solid, safe and simpleDanelec S-VDR solution,” said HansOttosen, CEO of Danelec Marine.

Northrop Grumman's SperryMarine business unit has selectedMarine Electricals Limited (MEL) asits sales and service representative for theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE). Under theagreement, MEL will offer Sperry Marine'sproducts, systems and services to cus-tomers in the UAE and surroundingregion. MEL has been the sales and serviceprovider for Sperry Marine in India since2010 and has been active in the MiddleEast for 15 years.

Imtech Marine andGeneralmarine SRL, based inGenova, Italy, have signed a global salesand service agreement wherebyGeneralmarine will represent ImtechMarine in offering its portfolio of NavCom

hardware solutions and service packagesunder the Radio Holland brand to Italianship owners.

Imtech Marine has also beenawarded a three-year DNV GL globalcertification renewal for the Inspectionand Testing of Radio Communicationequipment, Automatic IdentificationSystems and testing & inspection ofVoyage Data Recorders (VDR), the firstservice supplier to achieve fully globalcertification in surveying from DNV GLsince the two classification societiesmerged in September 2013.

www.globalnavigationsolutions.comwww.actisense.comwww.ukho.gov.ukwww.pro-nautas.comwww.danelec-marine.comwww.vstepsimulation.comwww.sperrymarine.comwww.imtech.com

New ECDIS from Simrad www.navico.com

Navico-owned Simrad has announced thelaunch of its E5024 ECDIS system, a newtype-approved ECDIS targeted at the com-mercial marine sector.

The E5024 has a 24-inch, full-HD 16:9widescreen, as well as a wireless trackballcontroller and an on-screen keyboard. Theuser interface includes quick-access tilesand drag-and-drop functionality, designedto simplify route planning and waypoint

manipulation. Radar, AIS and ARPA can be overlaid

on the display, with the ECDIS offeringcompatibility with Simrad’s own Argusradar system. It is designed for NAVTORENCs including UKHO (for AVCS),Primar, IC-ENC, and NOAA.

According to Simrad, the E5024 alsosupports third-party charts, with S-57 andS-63 import and the option to choosebetween S-52 and INT1 chart presentation.AIO (Admiralty Information Overlay) is

also supported, and instal-lation can be configured foreither single or dual-stationoperation.

Using an Ethernet con-nection, an independentsecondary station can beinstalled alongside theE5024, displaying perform-ance modules includingradar, echosounders,sonar, and imaging, as wellas third-party accessories.

New high-speed simulator for Dutch Navy www.marin.nl

www.cruden.comwww.tree-c.nl

A consortium including the MarineResearch Institute Netherlands (MARIN)and the Dutch Ministry of Defence isdeveloping a new Fast Small ShipSimulator (FSSS) for the training of crewsworking on high-speed boats.

The FSSS is being developed for use bythe Royal Dutch Naval Defence School andthe Royal Dutch Navy’s Surface AssaultTraining Group. Fast small ships are usedby armed forces to provide a rapidresponse to everything from illegal immi-gration and drug smuggling, to fisheriesprotection and piracy.

Key technology suppliers in the consor-tium include Cruden, a manufacturer ofmotion-based driving and racing simula-tors, and Tree C Technology, which pro-vides real-time simulators for the offshoreand remote handling industry.

According to Cruden, real-life training

can be both costly and hazardous, withhigh fuel costs and accelerations of up to9G. It says the simulator will reduce wearand tear on operational vessels, ease theburden on instructors, and facilitate train-ing in all weather conditions.

Cruden also claims the FSSS project isthe first in the world to integrateadvanced manoeuvre and seagoing simulation technology, with motion cueing algorithms and visualisation ofboth the marine environment and ‘at sea’conditions.

“We are delighted to be part of this con-sortium and to be transferring simulationtechnology and know-how from the auto-motive and motorsport industries to themarine sector,” said Cruden CEO, Maartenvan Donselaar.

“A hydrodynamics-focused simulator,using detailed modelling and motion cue-ing techniques as well as professionalimage generation, is the next frontier forrealistic and accurate training in fast boathandling, safety and navigation.”

The E5024 ECDIS

Adveto ECDIS for Viking Line www.adveto.com

www.vikingline.com

Swedish provider Adveto has announcedthat it will supply its ECDIS to VikingLine, a Finnish shipping company thatoperates a fleet of ferries in Scandinaviaand the Baltics.

Adveto will supply ECDIS-4000 devicesto four Viking Line vessels. According toKent Sylvén, managing director of Adveto,the company operates predominantly inthe confined archipelagos betweenSweden and Finland, which poses uniquenavigational challenges.

“We are proud to have Viking Line as a customer as they are very demanding,”he says.

“They have also a number of big passen-ger ferries and an ambitious safety pro-

gramme. Viking Line also is very concernedregarding fuel-saving and has shown inter-est in our new ETAMAN option.”

The Adveto solution was chosen after athorough investigation of the ECDIS mar-ket, according to Viking, and includes arange of features that align with the ferryoperator’s needs.

“ECDIS-4000 from Adveto has featureslike multi routes, advanced predictors, thealternative night presentation and down-load of PRIMAR charts and chart updatesover internet directly into the ECDIS,” saysBörje Jansson, technical superintendent atViking Line.

“Another important factor is that wefound the ECDIS to be easy to use. All thismakes the Adveto ECDIS an ideal systemfor us. The ECDIS from Adveto suits ourneeds and fits into our operation.”

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In quiet surroundings, with a view toWestern Norway's picturesque fjords, asmall group of experts have the world attheir fingertips. The substantial task of PRIMAR is to cooperate with a multitude ofhydrographic offices to collect hydrograph-ical data from around the world. The datais quality checked, before reliable, autho-rised and official charts are distributed toall players in the maritime field to ensuresafe and hassle-free navigation at sea.

PRIMAR’s core aim is to make up-to-dateofficial charts available to everyonethrough innovative solutions that bestserve the end-users. This is achieved notonly through close cooperation withhydrographic offices, but through theinnovative technological collaborationwith their global distributor network.

FREEDOM TO CHOOSEFor successful operations at sea it is vitalfor all involved parties to see the samereality. PRIMAR’s database of charts withworldwide coverage is available through a number of user-friendly distributor solutions to seafarers and all players inthe maritime community on a variety ofplatforms 24/7. Some of the innovativesolutions are briefly described below.

PRIMAR UpdateTracker(PUT)

The PRIMAR Update Tracker is a web basedENC update overview which enables you to view and track changes made since thelast ENC update.

PUT increases the user’s ENC updatefamiliarization, allowing him to stepthrough the updates and changes in hisactive chart folio. Such a visualization ofthe ENC update will contribute to improvethe user´s situational awareness eitherfor navigation or planning purpose. Theuser may also find it useful if he wishes tobecome more familiar with the waters hefrequently operates in.

FunctionalitiesBy using the PUT the user can see thechanges in the ENC content from an earlier state. - Easy access - Web based - Allows the timeline selection and

comparison of the ENC content. - ENC update information displayed in

both text and graphic format on the chart.

VIEW CHANGES IN BOTHTEXT AND SYMBOL FORMAT ON THE CHART.

Who can use the PRIMAR UpdateTracker?PUT is available to distributors and userswith a valid PRIMAR ENC subscription. PRIMAR distributors will also be able toimplement PUT in their B2B interface.

How much does it cost?The user needs only to be identified witha valid ENC subscription registered withPRIMAR. There is no extra cost for PUT.

How do I access it?Via the PRIMAR Portal. Contact PRIMAR for more information.

Web Chart Service

Say you are a desk worker responsible forthe activities of a ship thousands of milesaway. By accessing PRIMAR’s Web ChartService, the ENC images you view on yourcomputer screen are identical to the datathe captain sees on the ship’s navigationinstruments. When the service is integra-ted with other technical features installedon most vessels nowadays, such as theAutomatic Identification System (AIS), youcan monitor the vessel’s progress andweather conditions in that exact area.Working with up-to-date authorised chartsduring an operation, whether at the planning stage in an office or on-board the vessel, is the lifeline to safety andsuccess.

ONE-STOP-SHOPPRIMAR is a one-stop-shop for operatingsafely at sea. The security of using autho-rised official charts together with type-approved navigation systems helps pre-vent accidents and protects the maritimeenvironment. Its benefits are undis-putable across all sectors of the maritimeindustry from fisheries to oil and seismicoperations, leisure cruising, commercialshipping and search and rescue missions.PRIMAR’s innovative and flexible solu-tions, tailored in close collaboration withtheir global network of distributors, giveall players in the maritime field the free-dom to choose the ENC platforms bestsuited for their needs.

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE

www.primar.org

Seeing the same picture is seeing the big picture

• Non-profit organisation operated by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service in close cooperation with the Electronic Chart Centre (ECC)

• Operates the world’s first Regional ENC Coordinating Centre (RENC)

• Global provider of consistent and reliable electronic navigational charts (ENC).

• All ENCs meet IMO’s SOLAS chart and carriage requirements.

• World-wide ENC database

• Global distributor network

• Provides ENCs to navies, marine pilots, coast guard, search and rescue, port control services, commercial shipping etc.

FACTS:

PRIMAR contributes to the Maritime Safety Circle as all actors in need of chart data haveaccess to the same charting information

Non-profit e-chart provider PRIMAR is the starting point for safe navigation at sea. Through flexibleand innovative distribution platforms PRIMAR supplies the international maritime community

with official Electronic Navigational Charts.

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www.dma.dk

The EU has approved a DKK 85 million(approximately $12.5 million) Danish-ledmaritime innovation project, intended toenhance safety of navigation and increaseefficiency at sea.

Thirty-two partners from 12 differentEU countries, including thirteen Danishorganisations, will be involved in theEfficienSea2 project, launched on 1 May,with a focus on innovation and furtherdevelopment of services to assist in theefficient running of maritime vessels.

The Danish Maritime Authority is tolead the project, and will work on thedevelopment of a ‘Maritime Cloud’ toenhance the exchange of information inand around the maritime sector.

The project is also expected to develop a

range of new digital services within theareas of navigation and automatic shipemission reporting and monitoring, as wellas new communication channels at sea.

The communications aspect of the proj-ect will examine intelligent use of the mostinexpensive communication channel avail-able and the development of an entirelynew communication channel referred to asVDES (VHF Data Exchange System).

The EU has granted funding of DKK73.5 million (approximately $11 million)towards the total project budget, with theaim of moving e-Navigation past the pro-totype stage to full scale implementation inthe Baltic Sea and Arctic waters.

"There's no doubt that this project isground-breaking and holds a high poten-tial for innovation. This will pave the wayto, and fast track to, the introduction and

use of modern communication, naviga-tion and administrative systems that bet-ter match the companies' requirements for

efficiency and increased safety as well asimproved usability," said the EU, in astatement.

Geomaris releases eNavigation Kernel SDKwww.geomaris.com

German software company Geomaris hasannounced the release of its eNavigationKernel SDK.

The Kernel SDK allows software appli-cations like ECS, ECDIS, Port and CoastalSurveillance systems and Voyage Planningstations to display nautical charts. Customoverlays can also be used to display addi-

tional information layers for eNavigationtasks.

"The innovation of the product is theconsequent utilisation of graphics hard-ware resources that is unprecedented inthe GIS sector," said founder and CEOAxel Frank.

"The outstanding rendering perform-ance offers new possibilities like smoothzooming and 4k screens."


www.sevencs.com

SevenCs has announced the launch of anew version of its ORCA Master ECS(electronic chart system) product series.

The company says that the new ORCA Master G2 has been optimised for touchscreen usability, but still sup-ports input via keyboard and trackball.The software was also developed to meet

the latest standards for ECDIS typeapproval.

Loading and updating charts can beperformed with a single tap on thescreen, without having to shut down thenavigation mode.

The new product can be provided assoftware only, or in a package togetherwith IEC compliant hardware and typeapproval for OEM customers.

SevenCs launches ORCA Master G2

$12.5m Danish-led e-Navigation project gets underway

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www.navico.com

Navico’s Commercial Marine Division haslaunched its Simrad HALO PulseCompression Radar, a solid-state, open-array radar system with pulse compres-sion technology for non-SOLAS applica-tions aboard commercial vessels.

HALO radar detects close targets from6 metres as well as long range targets up to72 nautical miles. The radar features BeamSharpening for improved target separationcontrol, and a Dual Range mode for moni-toring of two distance ranges simultane-ously with independent displays, controls,and MARPA target tracking.

10-target MARPA tracking is availablewith an optional heading sensor, or 20 tar-gets in total in Dual Range operation, withclosest point of approach (CPA) and timeto closest point of approach (TCPA) dis-played for each target.

The unit’s solid-state transceiver doesnot include a magnetron, which Navicosays should lead to improved endurance

with no motor brushes to wear out andreplace. The radar is designed to operate inwinds up to 70 knots, and is tested to meetIEC environmental, vibration and opera-tional standards.

“With the launch of the new Halo radarinto the commercial market we have intro-duced reliable solid-state technology at afraction of the cost of existing commercialsolid state radar currently available on the market,” said Jose Herrero, MDCommercial Marine Division.

“By introducing the new radar, eventhe smallest fleets can take advantage ofthe comprehensive features available,with a perfect mix of near and distantrange, reliability and resolution withoutthe associated warm-up time, power con-sumption, costly maintenance or harmfulemissions.”

HALO radar is compatible with SimradNSS evo2 and NSO evo2 multifunctiondisplay systems, and connects via Ethernetwith a bulkhead-mounted interface boxbelow deck.

Simrad’s new HALO radar

Navico introduces new solid-state radar

DMA will work on the development of a Maritime Cloud during the project

ServicesStakeholders

Contextual

Geolocated

Information

Navigation Paperwork Communication

Messages Registration Reporting

VTS Customs

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p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 4

© 2015 Raytheon Company. All rights reserved.“Customer Success Is Our Mission” is a registered trademark of Raytheon Company.

Raytheon-Anschuetz.comTel: +49 431 3019 0 [email protected]

A NEW

RADARTO LEAD THE WAY

With its fl exible network infrastructure and optimized

lifetime cost, the NAUTOSCAN NX radar transceiver stands out as

the latest in the long line of Raytheon Anschütz navigation technology.

NAVIGATION RADAR

Digital Ship

Transas teams up with Carnival for new training centre

www.transas.comwww.carnivalcorp.com

Transas has signed a multi-million eurodeal with Carnival Corporation to providesimulators for the cruise operator’s newCentre for Simulator and MaritimeTraining (CSMART) facility in theNetherlands.

The current CSMART training complex,situated just outside Amsterdam inAlmere, has been in operation since 2009.Carnival’s new facility will be three timeslarger, with capacity to provide annualtraining for 6,500 deck and engineeringofficers.

Transas will deliver navigational andengine room simulators in various config-urations, ranging from classroom stationsup to part-task and full mission simula-tors. The project will see the use of Nvidiagrid computers, which Transas claims willsave 70 per cent of power consumptionand will enhance the management of thesystem and its redundancy.

Simulation will consist of 12 cruise shipmodels, with 60 sailing areas specific forCarnival operations, as well as three newcruise ship engine models with differentpropulsion systems, including virtualreplicas of ship automation systems.

“At Carnival Corporation, our numberone priority is the safety and comfort of thenearly 11 million guests who sail with usevery year,” said Captain Hans

Hederstrom, managing director ofCSMART.

“For us, providing the world's besttraining to our deck and engineering offi-cers is essential in helping us meet thatpriority. For that reason, we recruit thebest and most passionate instructors inthe maritime industry – and we haveformed important partnerships with com-panies such as Transas, one of the world'smost respected leaders in providing inno-vative and reliable software and hard-ware technology solutions for our indus-try and others.”

The new CSMART facility is scheduledto open in the summer of 2016.

The new facility will help to train up to6,500 students per year

Imtech maintenance for Ahrenkiel Steamship fleet

www.imtech.comwww.ahrenkiel-steamship.com

Radio Holland, part of Imtech Marine,has agreed a long-term deal withAhrenkiel Steamship for the maintenanceof the Hamburg-based ship owner’s fleetof container vessels and bulk carriers.

The five year agreement will see RadioHolland providing preventative mainte-nance for navigation and communicationsystems across almost 60 vessels, as wellas service coordination, planned servicecalls and statutory required inspections.

“Economic and reliable maintenance iscrucial,” says Peter Axien, responsible forcontract management at Radio HollandGermany.

“Ahrenkiel Steamship was very keento have all its maintenance needs for navigation and communication equip-ment handled by one service supplier.With nearly 100 Imtech Marine/RadioHolland offices in the world, there isalways going to be a Radio Holland rep-resentative close to Ahrenkiel Steamshipsvessels, wherever they are. We are onduty 24/7.”


GNSS augmentation from Fugrowww.fugro.com

Fugro has announced the launch of G2+, aGNSS augmentation service based on GPSand GLONASS that is designed to providehigh levels of positional accuracy for off-shore operators.

The Dutch multinational uses referencestations around the world to monitor thecode and carrier-phase signals transmittedby the US’s GPS and Russia’s GLONASSsatellites. These observations are thenprocessed centrally using proprietaryalgorithms to generate corrections which

augment the standard GNSS signals.Fugro says the service allows for highly

accurate positioning in real-time, withapplications across offshore construction,survey services, vessel monitoring andstructural monitoring. It also claims G2+enables the real-time correction of tidalchanges, which impact the accuracy ofseabed mapping.

G2+ is an upgrade of Fugro’s G2 serv-ice, operational since 2009. In February,Fugro announced the launch of G4, a satel-lite correction service for enhancing off-shore positioning that will take advantageof all four GNSS technologies.

p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 5



www.danelec-marine.comwww.maerskline.com

Danelec Marine has announced thatMaersk Line is to retrofit 100 of its vesselswith Danelec DM100 Voyage DataRecorders (VDRs) and Simplified VoyageData Recorders (S-VDRs).

Launched last year, the DM100 VDR andS-VDR incorporate the company’s SoftWareAdvanced Protection (SWAP) technologyfor shipboard service, and VDRConnect,which enables selective remote downloadof VDR datasets from shoreside offices.

“The fleet retrofit programme will takeadvantage of our newly developed con-version kits, which we designed to facili-tate replacement of older models of VDRsand S-VDRs,” said Hans Ottosen, CEO ofDanelec Marine.

“Some of these older products are 10 ormore years old and are nearing the end oftheir service life. With the Danelec solid,safe and simple solution, Maersk isupgrading its ships to the latest state-of-the-art VDR technology meeting the newIMO standard.”

The conversion kits, launched byDanelec in March, include a range ofadapter plates with pre-drilled bolt holes,as well as serial, digital and analogueinterfaces for older VDR brands. Danelecsays this will facilitate the straightforwardreplacement of bridge data units, micro-phones, memory capsules and other com-ponents, while reusing all existing inter-faces, cabling and adapters.

Mr Ottosen said that work has alreadybegun on the retrofit operation, with theproject expected to be completed in 2016.

Danelec retrofit for Maersk Line fleet

ISO upgrade forgyro compass

www.raytheon-anschuetz.com

German manufacturer RaytheonAnschütz has announced an upgrade of itsStandard 22 Gyro Compass System, in linewith new test standards from theInternational Organisation forStandardisation (ISO).

The new standards require gyro com-passes to be compliant with bridge alertmanagement systems. To achieve this,Raytheon Anschütz has made changes toalarm functionality, the sensor, the opera-tor unit and the heading distribution.

A new gyro operator unit has also beenintroduced, based on the NautosteerAdvanced Steering operator and alarmunit hardware. It features a colour TFTdisplay for heading information and alertpresentation, as well as serial interfaces foralert communication with a central alertmanagement system.

“Raytheon Anschütz is focused onincreased safety in navigation,” said JanLütt, director for commercial business atRaytheon Anschütz.

“With these product revisions, the nav-igator gets access to a new level of alarmhandling, reducing stress in critical situa-tions. We have achieved type approvalearly this year, as one of the first gyrocompass makers.”

“With these enhancements, theAnschütz Standard 22 offers a clear indi-cation of status information and con-tributes to an optimised and intelligentpresentation of alerts.”

Kongsberg simulators for Mexican academywww.km.kongsberg.com

www.fidena.gob.mx

Kongsberg Maritime has been selected byFideicomiso de Formación y Capacitaciónpara el Personal de la Marina MercanteNacional (FIDENA) in Mexico to provide anumber of offshore and dynamic position-ing (DP) simulators.

FIDENA is the educational institutionin charge of managing, organising anddeveloping the formal education of allseafarers in Mexico. The offshore simula-tors will be installed at the MarineEducation Centre in Ciudad del Carmen,

Campeche, and will be used to train per-sonnel operating in the Gulf of Mexicoand elsewhere.

The installation includes Class B and Cdynamic positioning simulators, as well asKongsberg’s K-Sim Offshore Simulatorwith forward and aft bridges for trainingon ship handling and manoeuvring,anchor handling and DP Class B.

The K-Sim is also equipped with bridgeconsoles to accommodate different vesseltypes, in addition to hydrodynamic shipmodels and area databases covering navi-gable waters in key offshore operatingareas.

“FIDENA’s selection of KongsbergMaritime simulators is an importantendorsement of our technology,” saidFabio Florez, Kongsberg MaritimeSimulation’s area sales manager.

“Kongsberg Maritime has a strong mar-ket presence in the global offshore indus-try, with installed equipment on more than17,000 vessels worldwide. This accumulat-ed expertise provides us with a tremen-dous pool of knowledge that has beeneffectively transferred to our simulatorsystems, ensuring they provide highlyrealistic, accurate depictions of offshoreand maritime operations.”

Sperry Marine agrees 80-ship upgradedeal with Maersk Line

www.sperrymarine.com

Northrop Grumman Corporation's SperryMarine business unit has been selected toupgrade the radar and ECDIS systems onmore than 80 Maersk Line vessels over thecourse of the next two years.

The upgrade will replace all previousradar and ECDIS systems on these vesselsand will be carried out in Asia and Europe,from 2015 through 2017.

Upgrades will include the SperryMarine VisionMaster FT family of prod-

ucts and navigation systems such as gyro-compasses, autopilots and speed logs.

"This contract extends the on-goingbusiness relationship that we have withMaersk Line," said Jeanne Usher, manag-ing director, Northrop Grumman SperryMarine.

"The upgrade programme will ensurethat the vessels are equipped with a broadarray of advanced navigation systemswhich will significantly improve situation-al awareness in addition to providing safenavigation for the crew."

80 Maersk Line ships will be fitted withthe Sperry Marine equipment

www.globalnavigationsolutions.com

Global Navigation Solutions (GNS) isintroducing a new way to purchaseElectronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) thatit says will simplify the process and pro-vide better value for ship operators.

The GNS Bundle service allows cus-tomers to purchase a pre-agreed annualbundle of ENC permits for an individualvessel, with top-ups available if required.The permits have no geographic restric-tions, and can be carried over to the fol-lowing year if unused.

Ship operators pay a fixed cost for thebundle, spread over 12 instalments or paidin a single fee. They also receive freeaccess to Voyager software to manageroute planning, ENC inventories, permitsand updates, as well as the AdmiraltyInformation Overlay.

GNS claims that because only one orderis raised and a single invoice is processed,the administrative burden of ENC man-agement will be reduced.

“We see this as a logical developmentfor the way ENCs are used,” said HayleyJopson, head of marketing at GNS.

“GNS Bundles can now be purchasedon a similar basis to the way mobile phoneusage is now bought. It couldn’t be simpler.”

The service has already signed its firstcustomer, with V.Ships’ VLCC tankerOverseas Mulan now using the system.

New ENC bundles from GNS

Port data integration from Transaswww.transas.com

www.portinfo.co.uk

Transas has partnered with ShippingGuides Ltd to incorporate port data into itsNavi-Planner 4000 voyage planning solu-tion.

A database of over 9,000 ports, har-bours, terminals and marine facilitiesaround the world will be available toTransas customers, with information dis-played on a chart panel or in tabular for-mat. Basic port data is available for free,with detailed information provided at afixed annual rate.

The data provided includes pre-arrival

details, berth and cargo specific port facili-ties, port security information, contactdetails for over 24,000 port serviceproviders, as well as general detailsincluding local information and shore-based facilities.

Port data can be ordered and updateddirectly through Navi-Planner. Transassays there are over 70 port information cat-egories which are designed to assist inplanning port calls, as well as a range ofport entry requirements.

The port information is the result ofresearch by Shipping Guides, which is inregular contact with key port authoritiesand agents, according to Transas.

Gothenburg introduces new ‘oil-spill’ robotwww.portofgothenburg.com

The Port of Gothenburg reports that a newrobot is now part of its emergencyresponse in the event of an oil spill, signif-icantly reducing the time it takes to deploythe booms used for containment.

If a spill should occur, a button is pressedthat activates a ‘torpedo-like’ unmannedcraft. The GPS-guided robot then tows a400m long boom across the port. The plasticboom sits half a metre below the surface,and 20cm above it, containing the spillagewithin the port where it can be dealt with.

"The robot tows the boom from one pierto another,” said Dan-Erik Andersson,head of operations at the Energy Port inGothenburg.

“It could be said that it forms a large

bag in which the oil is collected. It hasalready been in operation once for testingand the results were good."

The SEK 3.5 million (£270,000) boom,developed by the Port alongsideGothenburg-based SP Marine over thepast five years, takes 10 minutes to deploy,compared to half an hour when the boomsare towed by boat. According to the Port ofGothenburg, similar robots are used inMalmö and are being developed inStenungsund, but the technology is uniqueto Sweden.

"It has taken a long time to adapt therobot to the conditions in the Göta Älvriver and at the Energy Port and that iswhy it feels particularly gratifying nowthat development has been completed,"said Mr Andersson.

p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 6

The future is now

navitab.com

NaviTab

Visit us at Norshipping, Stand B02-20

We’ve found a new direction for the future of nautical publications.

A unique new concept that replaces your onboard NP library.

p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 7



Alphatron Marine/JRCJRC and Alphatron Marine will be exhibit-ing a fully integrated one-man bridge atNor-Shipping 2015, with three 46-inch dis-plays, designed for offshore and patrolvessels.

The bridge combines radar, ECDIS, con-ning, alarm monitoring and DP data, withall information simultaneously accessiblefrom a captain’s chair and all instrumentsand operating panels within arm’s reach.

Also on show will be 19 and 26-inchvariants of the companies’ Multi FunctionDisplay (MFD). The MFD can be used asbasic radar, ECDIS, conning or any combi-nation of these.

Other products will include a new VDRand the new Alphaline MF range of instru-ments, available with 5-inch, 6.5-inch and8.4-inch screen sizes. Visit Alphatron Marine and JRC at standB03-06.

BASSBASS Software will be exhibiting its range of modular software solutions basedon the Microsoft .NET platform at thisyear's exhibition, including Maintenance,Procurement, Projects, HR Management,Document Management, SafetyManagement, and Financials.

The company will also be introducing its latest offerings, BASSnet SaaS (BASSnet Software as a Service) and theBASSnet Mobile Approval application, atthe exhibition.

BASSnet SaaS can support a range ofbackground tasks such as ship-shore datareplication, alert generation, handling ofgateway functions, installation of updates,version upgrades and data housekeeping.

The BASSnet Mobile Approval applica-tion meanwhile facilitates daily approvalprocesses. Approvals can be made for anypurchase order and invoice from a mobilephone while the user is on the move. Visit BASS Software at stand B03-24.

Data ModulAt this year's Nor-Shipping in Oslo, DataModul will be showcasing its range ofmarine monitors and Panel PCs, using in-house developed components.

These include ARM and x86 carrier

board designs, which can be integratedwith the new Data Modul Panel PC range,in sizes from 7 to 26 inches and featuringfourth generation Intel Core processorsand Intel 8 series chip sets.

Data Modul‘s own PCAP multi touchunit will be on display, as well as its new42-inch ECDIS compliant Large ScreenDisplay, which is optionally available witha shock and vibration resilience assembly.Visit Data Modul in the German Pavilionat stand C01-01a.

DualogDualog, an airtime-independent provider ofmaritime communications services, willexhibit its range of solutions for ship-shoredata communications at Nor-Shipping 2015.

This will include the company’s dash-board, part of Dualog Connection SuiteCore, which features 24/7 support,remote configuration, and access to theDualog.net portal.

Business services including MapView,Business Mail, File Transfer, and E-mailArchive, as well as crew services likeCrew Mail and Crew Surf, will also bedisplayed, as well as security and controlservices including Dualog’s Web4Sea,Network Control, Quota Managementand AntiVirus programs. Visit Dualog at stand B05-24.

exactEarthexactEarth is a data services companyoffering location-based maritime vesselinformation to government authorities andcommercial organisations around the world. At Nor-Shipping the company will be exhibiting its geo-basedinformation for maritime operational

applications, including Vessel Monitoring,Security and Surveillance, EnvironmentalProtection, and Search and Rescue.

exactEarth offers its Satellite AIS dataservice, exactAIS, through a variety ofproducts, including exactEarth ShipView,a map based-platform that allows theuser to view and analyse ship positionsand associated vessel information.

exactEarth also offers a global recordof Satellite AIS vessel movements datingback to July 2010, with its exactAISArchive.Visit exactEarth at stand B01-41.

FLIR SystemsFLIR’s thermal imaging technology will beon show at Nor-Shipping – its new M400stabilised multi-sensor thermal camera,and handheld Ocean Scout thermal cam-era, offering the ability to see clearly intotal darkness and in bad weather.

FLIR's systems and components areused for a wide variety of thermal imag-ing, situational awareness, and securityapplications, including airborne andground-based surveillance, conditionmonitoring, navigation, research anddevelopment, search and rescue, trans-portation safety, border and maritimepatrol, environmental monitoring, andthreat detection.Visit FLIR Systems at stand B01-11.

At Nor-Shipping 2015 the FraunhoferCenter for Maritime Logistics andServices CML from Hamburg will show-case its projects to develop and optimiseprocesses and systems for the shippingand port industries.

Projects take place within practically-oriented research projects, in the fields ofShip Management, Maritime InformationManagement, Route Optimisation, Ship-Shore Connectivity and Sea TrafficManagement, the company says.

At the exhibition new decision supporttools for crew planning as well as its latestdevelopments in e-Navigation will bepresented.Visit Fraunhofer Center for MaritimeLogistics and Services at stand A1-48.

Imtech MarineImtech Marine will present its RadioHolland Nav/Com solutions and ship toshore communications systems at Nor-Shipping 2015.

Imtech Marine re-introduced the RadioHolland brand last year, and the compa-ny’s MSS and VSAT services for maritimeoperations and crew welfare needs will beshowcased at the event, through its air-time, hardware, installation and world-wide support offerings.

The company, headquartered in

Rotterdam, has approximately 100 globalmaritime offices, and operates as a systemintegrator of tailor-made, sustainable tech-nology solutions covering the whole ship.Visit Imtech Marine at stand B02-36.

IntellianIntellian will be showcasing its recentlyunveiled 65cm and 1m VSAT terminals,approved for use with the forthcomingInmarsat Global Xpress service, at thisyear’s Nor-Shipping exhibition.

This is the first time the GX technologywill be on show, the company says, offer-ing an opportunity for ship owners andoperators to see the terminals up close.

The GX60 and GX100 are fully integrat-ed satellite terminals, installed with anintegrated GX modem and One TouchCommissioning. The system is providedpre-configured, and Intellian’s Aptus soft-ware can be used for remote managementand control of the antenna via a direct Wi-Fi connection.Visit Intellian at stand A1-11.

Kongsberg MaritimeAt Nor-Shipping 2015 KongsbergMaritime will exhibit a new navigationproduct family tailored for the SOLASmarket, which is to be delivered through aCommercial off the Shelf (COTS) deliverymodel.

Kongsberg Maritime will also launchthe next generation of its flagshipIntegrated Bridge System, K-Bridge. Theupgraded system aims to provide a highlevel of integration, to allow for flexibleoperation on board.

New products from KongsbergMaritime’s vessel automation portfoliowill also be introduced, including a newCOTS steering system aimed at vessels thatdon’t require fully integrated manoeu-vring solutions. In addition, a new line ofelectronic logbooks covering EngineLogbook, Deck Logbook, Oil Record Book1, Radio Logbook and Garbage Logbookwill be launched at the event.Visit Kongsberg Maritime at stand C03-24.

KVHAt Nor-Shipping 2015, KVH will present itsfour-part maritime connectivity solution.

This includes: onboard hardware,

The Nor-Shipping exhibition in Oslo, Norway, is one of the most eagerly awaited events in the calendar for technologycompanies in the maritime industry, with new innovations in IT regularly introduced to the market at this biennial event.

Digital Ship asked some of the technology providers exhibiting at this year’s show what they have to offer to visitors to Nor-Shipping

Maritime IT at Nor-Shipping - Preview

See the one-man bridge at stand B03-06

Entertainment at sea, at stand B04-16

Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics

and Services

p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 8

Plan & Pay (Direct Licensing)

Dynamic Licensing

OpenENC (PAYS)

Jeppesen FlatFee

1

2

NEW

3

Get Jeppesen official ENCs

http://e1.no/6jff

ENCs – You do have a choice

Meet us at NOR-SHIPPING – booth B05-25

p59-72:p15-25.qxd 14/05/2015 20:32 Page 9



Europe’s meeting point for the cruise industry

Cruise & River Cruise Convention

Wednesday 9to Friday 11

September 2015Hamburg, Germany

Meet decision-makers Join industry experts Expand your network

Unique around the world:Seatrade Europe and Hamburg Cruise Days will come together for a joint cruise week in 2015

Keep up-to-date and receive regular information about Seatrade Europe: seatrade-europe.com/news

In partnership withOrganised by

specifically the TracPhone V-IP seriessatellite communications antenna systemsand Integrated CommBox Modem for net-work management; connectivity, via themini-VSAT Broadband service; contentdelivered through KVH’s MOVIElink,TVlink, NEWSlink and SPORTSlink servic-es; and content delivery using the IP-MobileCast system.

At the show there will be live demos ofIP-MobileCast, which uses multicastingtechnology to deliver commerciallylicensed content to subscribing vessels viathe mini-VSAT Broadband network.

Visitors to Nor-Shipping can also learnmore about KVH’s partners for IP-MobileCast operations content, includingVideotel (now a KVH company) for mar-itime training, AWT for weather data, andJeppesen and Transas for electronic chartsand ECDIS.Visit KVH at stand B04-16.

MarlinkLow latency connectivity for North Seausers is in the spotlight for Marlink at Nor-Shipping as it plans to introduce servicesmade possible through its collaborationwith offshore communications providerTampnet.

Marlink will also highlight its movetowards supporting on board and officebased IT requirements through its partner-ship with Palantir during Nor-Shipping.The pair officially joined forces in 2014 andare today supporting shipowners to oper-ate and maintain on board networks with amanaged IT service that monitors all hard-

ware and software on board a vessel andacross a fleet, allowing IT staff on shore todetect and address issues remotely.

In addition, Marlink says it will drive thelaunch of a new, independent online VSATknowledge resource during Nor-Shipping,which is designed to support ship ownersto make informed decisions when upgrad-ing on board communications. Visit Marlink at stand B02-14.

MespasSoftware provider Mespas will showcaseits range of solutions at this year’s Nor-Shipping exhibition.

The company says its software systemscan be used to assist in performing mainte-nance tasks when required, ensuring theavailability of critical parts and consum-ables as required and planning futureinvestments, with its integrated procure-ment, budgeting and accounting processes.

Additionally its applications allow formonitoring of KPIs, for comparison withindustry benchmarks and as a driver foroptimisation of processes.

Mespas is also offering suppliers in theshipping industry a Supplier BusinessSolutions package, to assist in starting tooffer services online.Visit Mespas at stand B01-29.

NautiskChart agent Nautisk, an official distributorfor the worldwide hydrographic offices ofthe UK, US, Norway, Sweden andDenmark, will showcase its digital productportfolio including Neptune, PAYS and

PAYS+ at Nor-Shipping.Also launching at Nor-Shipping is

NaviTab, Nautisk's new concept to replacea vessel’s onboard NavigationalPublication library. NaviTab takes hun-dreds of maritime publications anduploads them onto a hand-held device,suitable for use on shore and on the bridge.

It includes a search engine to automati-cally locate the latest available publicationsin the user's holdings, and license the latesteditions as and when they are available,meaning that whatever route a vessel issailing and wherever it is in the world, itwill always be compliant and its publica-tion holdings up to date. Visit Nautisk at stand B02-20.

Net Vision Net Vision, a provider of human capitalsoftware solutions, will showcase its COM-PAS Crew Management System at Nor-Shipping, a multi-company cloud-basedmanpower management system.

COMPAS can be used to automate andintegrate various crew management func-

tions, integrating critical information tochart and analyse crewing requirementsand forecast potential problems.

The system offers real time access acrossall regions, and has been built and tested towork on any platform and any device. Visit Net Vision at stand B01-27.

PROMATECHMaritime software company PROMATE-CH will showcase its range of applicationsand intelligent integration services at thisyear’s Nor-Shipping exhibition.

PROMATECH provides software solu-tions for the shipping and shipbuildingIndustry, R&D Consultancy andEngineering Services, and during thisyear’s event the company will exhibit itstwo latest maritime software products,Shipmanager.com and VPARS.

Shipmanager.com is a cloud-based shipmanagement system that allows the user toperform a variety of ship managementtasks via remote control from one system,while VPARS (Voyage PerformanceAnalysis Reporting System) can be used byvessel charterers to monitor and analysethe performance of chartered vessels interms of operational time and fuel con-sumption over the course of a voyage.

PROMATECH will also be providingdetails on its latest R&D projects to visitorsat the show.Visit PROMATECH at stand T01-10b.

PyxisatPyxisat, a provider of service and supporton maritime stabilised satellite systems,

Electronic publications at stand B02-20

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will be exhibiting at Nor-Shipping 2015.The company is based in Bergen,

Norway, with partners in Europe, USAand Asia, covering TV and VSAT systems.It specialises particularly in CobhamSatcom products (Sea Tel & Sailor - VSATand TVRO systems).Visit Pyxisat at stand B05-38.

Raytheon AnschützAt Nor-Shipping 2015 German navigationsystem supplier Raytheon Anschütz,together with its Norwegian distributorSyberg AS, will exhibit a new generation ofRadar Transceivers and IntegratedNavigation Systems.

Raytheon Anschütz will demonstrate itsNautoScan NX network radar transceiversfor the first time in Scandinavia, offeringraw video distribution without any ana-logue losses, with high-fidelity radar dataprocessing through to the individual end-user applications on the bridge. As part ofthe complete system redesign, Raytheonsays that critical parts such as the drive unithave been optimised to provide mainte-nance-free operation and an extended life.

The new radar transceivers integratewith a new Synapsis NX system architec-

ture, which the company says is theworld’s first Integrated Navigation Systembuilt in accordance with IMO’s INSPerformance and Test Standards.

Raytheon Anschütz and Syberg willalso exhibit the Horizon MF gyro compassat the exhibition.Visit Raytheon Anschütz at stand B03-14.

SAM Electronics/MSISAM Electronics and associate MSI compa-nies will feature their ranges of automa-tion, navigation, propulsion and associat-ed support facilities at their stand at Nor-Shipping this year.

Key exhibits include a scalable NACOSPlatinum integrated navigation and con-trol system using a common network andstandardised sensors. The is being shownin conjunction with a new Platinum DPand control system developed by US-based Dynamic Positioning & ControlSystems, in collaboration with SAM andLyngsø Marine.

Other main exhibits include a Valmarinemulti-functional Valmatic Platinumautomation assembly with distributedhardware for centralised control and man-agement of all main equipment functions.

Also featured will be SAM’s energy anddrive capabilities, including shaft genera-tors and diesel-electric propulsion systemswith power ratings of between 2MW and28MW. Lighting equipment and smart sen-sor measurement systems from APSS ofItaly will also be showcased.Visit SAM Electronics/MSI at standCO1-30F.

ShakespeareShakespeare will introduce its portfolio ofcommercial radio antennas to the Europeanshipping and offshore sector as it exhibitsfor the first time at Nor-Shipping.

With Europe a key growth market for thecompany, Nor-Shipping has been set as thevenue for the launch of three new commer-cial antennas suitable for use on large vesselsin harsh marine environments. The antennaswill be added to the company’s current SSB,VHF, Cellular, Wi-Fi and AIS antenna port-folio for commercial use within its Classic,Galaxy and PHASE III product lines.

Shakespeare has production facilitiesin Asia, Europe and North America, andserves both civil and military customersglobally.Visit Shakespeare at stand A1-65.

Tero MarineTero Marine will exhibit at this year’s Nor-Shipping and showcase the latest versionof its TM Master software suite.

The company’s representatives willdemonstrate recent updates to the coremodules of the fleet management system,including TM Maintenance, TM

Procurement, TM Quality & Environmentand TM Human Resources.

The company says that it has madesome major additions in the last year,adding Forecasting, Document manage-ment, Incidents, Voyage E-log, Failurereporting and Audit features to the soft-ware package.Visit Tero Marine at stand A1-10.

TransasAt Nor-Shipping 2015 Transas Marine willintroduce its T-Bridge integrated bridgesolution which brings together disparatesystems into a single bridge environment.

Transas Augmented Reality technologywill be showcased, which combines sensorinput from the forward looking sonar,chart data or position and route data withlive video, so the navigator sees a pictureof their real surroundings combined withall relevant information on one screen.

A wheelhouse automation systembased on the Transas Touch Interface willalso be on show, providing access to auto-mated information and allowing for thecontrol of an interactive Transas Navi-Conning system, which can be customisedto the bridge configuration.

To complement these technologies,Transas has developed an iPad applica-tion which is directly linked to the navi-gation system and offers access to naviga-tional information related to the vessel,such as position data, AIS targets, speed,course, water depth and a host of otherinformation.Visit Transas at stand B02-24.

Digital Ship


New radars at stand B03-14 DS

FOR OPTIMUM ENERGY EFFICIENCY.NO

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As the range of technology used on board modern vessels continues to increase, finding ways of collecting andanalysing data produced at sea to improve operations is growing in importance. Perhaps the VDR can be

the bridge in this data gap between ship and shore, writes Hans Ottosen, Danelec Marine

VDR - bridging the data gap

TT he transportation industry isundergoing a technology transfor-mation with the deployment of

telematics solutions that provide real-timeaccess to data from mobile platforms. To alarge extent, this revolution has been driv-en by the proliferation of high-speed wire-less connectivity, making it easy and cost-effective to transmit data to and from vehi-cles on the move.

The maritime industry has been slowerto embrace telematics technology. That’slargely because ships on the high seas arebeyond the reach of high-speed wirelesslinks. Marine satellite networks are limitedin bandwidth, and air time is expensive.

Thus, the starting point for a ship telem-atics solution is bridging the data gap. Thismeans providing ship operating compa-nies access to good source data from theirvessels in as near as possible to real-time ata reasonable cost.

That’s not an easy task. Gathering andprocessing data from multiple shipboardsensors and systems can be complex andexpensive. It involves running cablesand/or setting up Wi-Fi connections withdevices installed all over the ship. Some ofthem may be virtually inaccessible. Manymay be 10 or more years old.

While the marine electronics communi-ty is starting to standardise on NMEA seri-al data formats, many legacy devices mayhave their own proprietary output formatsand different types of I/O ports. That canmean lots of custom interfaces and externaldata conditioning devices.

Outputs from all these sources must befed into a data acquisition unit and com-puter, which sorts through the data, storesit and converts it into a format that can betransmitted through satellite channels tothe shore offices.

There are a growing number of specialistmarine data analytics companies withsophisticated capabilities for optimising shipperformance and efficiency, but these com-panies do not typically have the expertise toinstall these sorts of complicated shipboardsystems. Moreover, they do not have theworldwide service network in place to serv-ice the hardware at ports around the globe.

Ideally, they would prefer to receive thedata and do what they do best – analyseand recommend measures to increase theship’s performance, reduce operating costsand improve efficiency – and have some-one else look after the shipboard hardwareand software.

Fortunately, there is a solution at handin the form of the ship’s Voyage DataRecorder (VDR). If properly designedwith selective remote access functionality,the VDR can become the centrepiece of aship data collection network.

Why VDR?The tragic sinking of the M/V Estonia withthe loss of over 800 lives in 1994 triggered

a movement within the maritime industryfor mandatory fitting of ‘black box’ deviceson ships – similar to the flight data andvoice recorders on commercial aircraft.

Accordingly, the International MaritimeOrganization (IMO) adopted ResolutionA.861 (20) in May 1999 establishing a VDRcarriage requirement and deadlines forinstallation. The IMO rules were amendedin 2005 to permit older ships built beforeJuly 1, 2002 to be equipped with a simpli-fied VDR (S-VDR) instead of a full VDR.

In 2012 the IMO adopted a new VDRspecification establishing additionalrequirements: a float-free capsule as wellas a fixed capsule, 48 hours protected datastorage in both capsules, 30 days unpro-tected memory in the VDR, at least twotracks for bridge audio, imagesfrom two radars and ECDIS, anddata from the AIS.

This new IMO standard cameinto force July 1, 2014. Since thatdate all new VDR installations mustcomply with the new standard.

Currently, all passenger shipsand cargo ships over 3,000 grosstons built after July 1, 2002 must befitted with a type-approved VDR.Cargo ships over 3,000 gross tonsconstructed before July 1, 2002,may meet the carriage requirementwith an S-VDR.

While the primary mission of theVDR is to record data for accidentinvestigation, there is a strong case to bemade for giving it a secondary role as thedata hub for a shipboard telematics sys-tem, for the following reasons.1. The VDR is ubiquitous. Every shipover 3,000 gross tons built since 2002 isrequired to have an operational type-approved VDR on board, and it’s a veryefficient data collection device alreadygathering and storing much valuable dataaboard the ship.2. The VDR is underutilised. The designfunction of a VDR is to gather importantsafety information from certain designatedonboard systems. This data is stored untilneeded for an accident or incident investi-gation (48 hours in the capsules, 30 days inthe VDR).

Some of this data – position, speed andheading, depth, rudder order and response,engine order and response, wind speed anddirection and main alarms – if made avail-able in near real-time could also have com-mercial value to help optimise ship efficien-cy and performance when combined withkey performance indicators from othersources. There is no reason a VDR cannot bedesigned and programmed to accept datafrom other non-mandatory sources. 3. The VDR is a low-cost, low-risk solu-tion. Using the VDR as a central data col-lection point and clearing house wouldgreatly reduce the cost of installing andmaintaining a dedicated data network

with data cables and/or Wi-Fi connectionswith numerous items of equipmentthroughout the ship.

Significantly, the major VDR manufac-turers also have a worldwide service capa-bility to conduct the mandatory annualperformance tests and service the systemsat ports around the globe.

So what are the barriers to implement-ing a VDR-based ship telematics solution?

To make this work in an efficient man-ner, the shore office must be able to requestspecific data sets and set the frequency ofautomatic downloads of each data set.Unfortunately, while legacy VDRs mayhave a playback or data streaming func-tion, this is typically an all-or-nothingproposition. They were not designed to

support selective transmission of data setson demand.

Most ships have limited satellite band-width capacity. With the new IMO stan-dard, the amount of data flowing into theVDR is massive, primarily because of theadditional audio and video outputs beingrecorded. This makes it impractical andprohibitively expensive to dump the fullVDR data memory from ship to shore viasatellite at frequent intervals.

To be sure, the next generation of mar-itime satellites will provide a substantialincrease in bandwidth, but the great major-ity of ships will be using legacy InmarsatFleetBroadband services for a number ofyears. Thus, the VDR must be able to trans-mit smaller blocks of data without doing afull data dump.

The logical solution is a capabilitydesigned into the VDR to allow ‘push-through’ and ‘pull-through’ of data setsfrom ship to shore, perhaps taking advan-tage of Cloud-based internet connectivity,where the ship operations team ashore canquery the VDR at any time requesting datafrom specific sensors, or to set up a sched-ule of downloads from each sensor.

For instance, when open-ocean steam-ing, they might specify reports every fourhours, or even once a day for the noonreport. When the depth sounder showsshallower water readings or the ECDIS

shows the ship entering restricted waters,the system could be configured to increasethe reporting interval automatically.

PossibilitiesThere are a number of short-term andlong-term possibilities for this capability.

Enhanced Safety – The Oil CompaniesInternational Marine Forum (OCIMF) hascalled for proactive use of VDRs toenhance safety at sea. OCIMF believes thatthe VDR can be a useful tool for detectingunsafe practices, analysing incidents andcorrecting navigational mistakes.

Using data from the VDR, the ship man-ager can set up remedial crew training, cor-rect poor practices and create event-drivenroles for parameters such as depth beneath

the keel at speed, traffic separationscheme adherence or voyage planswith automatic warnings for devia-tions detected.

Monitoring and Performance –Remote access to the VDR can pro-vide a portal for remote configura-tion and the review of data for themandatory VDR annual perform-ance test, or for troubleshooting aproblem with VDR before the serv-ice personnel board the vessel. Itcan also provide an immediatewarning if any of the devices send-ing data to the VDR, such as GPS,gyrocompass, speed log or depthsounder, should malfunction.

Ship’s Performance Optimisation –Connections with other systems not man-dated by the IMO VDR standard, such asfuel meters, main engines, generators,emission monitors and auxiliary machin-ery, could allow the VDR to become thedata collection centre in a ship-wide ITdata network, serving as a clearing housefor data from all the ship’s systems andsensors and making it available for selec-tive ship-to-shore download in an econom-ical way, to enhance fuel efficiency andvoyage optimisation.

In summary, a modern state-of-the-art VDR designed to support selectiveremote access could bridge the data gapand help make ship telematics a reality,using existing shipboard sensors, cablesand interfaces, without a massive capitalinvestment in a bespoke shipboard datanetwork.

About the AuthorHans Ottosen is CEO ofDanelec Marine. Head-quartered in Denmark,Danelec Marine is a sup-plier of ECDIS and VDR,and also offers a web-based remote access serv-

ice called VDRConnect, that providesselective transmission of data from theVDR via satellite

DS

Selectively transmitting data from the VDR could provide a valuable source of information to shipping companies.

Photo: Hervé Cozanet, CC 3.0

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