Datema making waves in ENC licensing - Uplogix

NN avigational chartd i s t r i b u t o rDatema Delfzijl

has launched a new 'pay-as-you-sail' ENC distribu-tion system that will, forthe first time, allow usersto pay for chart licencesstarting from the time thatthe vessel enters the chartcoverage area, and notfrom the time that the cellis opened for voyageplanning.

Ships carrying the‘ENCTrack’ system willhave all globally availableENCs and relevant permitsinstalled onboard the ves-sel in advance, providedby Primar, with specificENCs only being regis-tered and charged by thenew product when thechart is actually used with-in the coverage area.

Datema has developeda satellite-based trackingsystem for the ENC pack-age, recording the timewhen the vessel enters thechart area and markingwhen the licence should beactivated and charged for.

However, while thisnew approach to ENClicensing would mark a

radical departure fromexisting arrangements forthe use of charts, as itwould completely removethe need for companies topay for charts used forvoyage planning andreduce overall costs, itseems to have createdsome level of disagree-ment within the naviga-tion community.

The United Kingdom

Hydrographic Office(UKHO) has taken issuewith the new service,questioning the validity ofa licensing arrangementthat places “no value” onchart data used for plan-ning purposes.

UKHO has lodged arequest with theInternational Centre forENCs (IC-ENC) for “clari-fication” of whether or not

the provision of charts byPrimar in this way consti-tutes a breach of acceptedinternational agreementsin chart licensing (for moreon the UKHO reaction tothis service, see page 26).

In the meantime,Datema is pressing aheadwith the introduction ofthis new innovation,which Willem Amels,

IN THIS ISSUE

August 2009

electronics and navigation

continued on page 2

software

satcomsGlobalstar completes fundingfor next generation satellitenetwork – 4

Grimaldi and SNCM agreeVSAT installation deals – 8

Globecomm increases maritime marketpresence with Telaurus acquisition – 9First FleetBroadband150 installed in Indonesia – 10

OSM Group agrees multi-vessel deal forKeepUp@Sea software system – 12

Bluewater Ship Management installsprocurement softwareon Ro-Ro fleet – 15

Mobile messaging – keeping shipbrokersnimble in a volatile market – 16

Columbia Shipmanagementagrees fleet-wide chart deal – 22

Rocky seas on the voyage to digitalnavigation – UKHO speaks – 26

A global LRIT system – the story so far – 29

ECDIS back-up – paper or digital? Dr AndyNorris explores the alternatives – 31

Datema making waves in ENC licensing

Datema Delfzijl has launched a new ENC service that could radically alter theway that operators use and pay for their electronic charts – however,

UKHO has taken issue with the system, and has gone to IC-ENC requesting “clarification” of the validity of this licensing set-up

The ENCTrack system will track the vessel and automatically license ENCs as the ship enters the cell area

,

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SATCOMS

Digital Ship August 2009 page 2

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continued from page 1

director with Datema Delfzijl, believeswill help to improve the twin challengesof onboard chart availability and highportfolio costs.

“If you have a navigation system inyour car, have you ever had the situationwhere you have to go somewhere andthat charts aren't in the navigation sys-tem?” he said.

“This is something that will happenonboard a ship quite often. You can haveinvested in an ECDIS system but there canbe all sorts of reasons why the chartsaren't there, and very often it might be foreconomic purposes.”

“For example, take a ship, travelling inbad weather, where there is an accidentonboard and a sailor needs to be taken tothe nearest port. You can have a big prob-lem here if the ship doesn't have thecharts for the port. It might have anECDIS, but no charts, so the second matewill be ordered to get the charts as soon aspossible.”

Mr Amels believes that the process ofmaking a new set of charts available onthe vessel is an unnecessary distraction onthe modern bridge, detracting from thepriority task of situational awareness.

“What needs to be done? The secondmate needs to start up the PC at the backof the bridge with the chart catalogue andfind the proper ENC for this port, then hehas to type an e-mail to the chart distribu-tor,” he told us.

“It will take a few minutes for thelicence files to get there, then he has to goon to the e-mail system again and save thelicence file on a floppy disk, go back to theECDIS and install the floppy disk. Thenhe has to look for the proper base CD andinstall it.”

“We think it takes from 30 minutes toone hour to get the proper chart, and theship cannot go to this port unless it hasthe chart, so there's a big safety problemhere. There's a challenge here – we can dothings better.”

Tracking and licensingDatema believes it can improve on cur-rent chart procurement and licensingprocesses with its ENCTrack service,which has been in testing sinceSeptember 2008 on a trial vessel and hascollected six months worth of track datato see how charges are accrued in a real-life trading scenario.

The system was also trialled on a heavylift vessel, a general cargo vessel ontransatlantic trade, two short sea vesselsand a chemical tanker.

“Once you subscribe to our serviceyou'll get a world folio of charts, for free,”said Mr Amels.

“There is a catch – you need someway to monitor their use. If we knowwhere the vessel is at all times, then wecan also determine what chart it is usingat all times. So we went from there anddeveloped a system based on that, and Ithink it will make the world of naviga-tion a lot clearer.”

“We track the vessel around the world,and based on where the ship is our systemprocesses the historic positions in com-parison to a digital database of ENC cov-erage, and fully automatically shoots offtransactions to the data supplier, which inthis case is Primar. We don't need any

technical changes, our idea is to use thecurrent S63 copyright protection scheme.”

The company has developed its owntracking system that uses the Iridiumsatellite network, while the service canalso make use of data from an installedInmarsat-C system.

“We have our own in-house develop-ment on that, and we have a redundanttracking system,” said Mr Amels.“(Purplefinder) wouldn't work for usbecause the tracking system needs to beso interactive with the business-to-busi-ness structure and service system wehave in our office. We're in much bettercontrol now that we have developed ourown system.”

“We do use Inmarsat-C, which is usedfor LRIT, which will be mandatory thisyear, on a lot of vessels. They will havetheir software and services upgraded to astandard where we can use it as well, theInmarsat-C network is open so we canalso use their hardware to track as well.We're using two tracking systems at themoment, just to make sure that we alwaysknow where the vessel is.”

“We have a web platform that allowsthe shipowner to use the tracking data foroperational purposes if they want it, tomonitor the ENC usage. We get a positionreport every one and a half hours, andthat’s using one network only, using twonetworks we could probably have a posi-tion report every half an hour to an hour.”

The tracking device developed by thecompany is battery-powered and affixedto the vessel using magnets.

“We supply a battery operated trackerdevice, provided as part of the service,”said Mr Amels. “The battery should last intheory for four years, but we will replacethem in two years.”

“It can be fixed onboard by magnet, weship it out by DHL. For one of the trialvessels we shipped out the device on aMonday, and on Thursday we saw thesignal coming in. At the moment I thinkwe have 50 tracker devices dispatched,which have all been reserved.”

“It's compatible with every ECDIS, we

use the tracking system and really wedon't need any particular connections tothe ECDIS itself.”

CostsWith the position of the vessel beingtracked, the licence period of the requiredENC will then automatically begin whenthe system detects that the vessel haspassed into the coverage area of the chart.Licences will initially be purchased for aminimum period, and then automaticallyextended as required.

“Our system optimises the charge, inthe sense that the first time it will orderthe licence for three months, and based onthe frequency they use the chart it canlater on change to six or twelve months,”said Mr Amels.

“We found that it's actually quite a lotcheaper this way than it was before.Shipowners who have ordered all ofEurope, for instance, would be much bet-ter off doing something like this.”

“(How much better off) depends, theleast saving we have seen was 20 per cent,but we have seen a vessel which saved 50per cent as well. We've seen cost savingsdepending on the trading pattern of thevessel of between 20 and 80 per cent.”

Mr Amels notes that differences in sav-ings will be partially dependent upon thetype of trade that the ship is involved in.

“We found out that vessels whichspend more time as worldwide travellingvessels spend a lot less with this system asthey use less approach and harbour scalecharts,” he said.

“In coastal trade they go into a lot ofports, small ports, and for every port theyneed a harbour and an approach scale cell.Our findings are that worldwide tradingvessels are cheaper, they're better off cost-wise than, say, a short sea vessel.”

“You have administrative overheads inthe entire distribution chain, the superin-tendents in the office have to approvewhen a chart is ordered, and that sort ofthing. It's like a mobile phone where youhave to pre-pay if you want to use thecharts, and if the orders change and you

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UKHO is concerned that the new system places no value on passage planning, which it believes is the most important aspect of navigation

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:13 Page 2

want to go somewhere else, tough luck,you've already paid. We should really belooking at post paid ways of distribution,where you pay for the chart when youuse it.”

Datema is hopeful that showing areduction in the cost of operating withENCs will encourage shipowners to thinkmore seriously about adopting the tech-nology without having to betoo concerned about addinghuge extra costs to theiroperational budgets.

“You cannot blame theshipowner for not orderingall possible shelter ports on aspecific voyage, there's aneconomic argument here,”said Mr Amels.

“We get enquiries in ouroffice of guys asking for aworld folio of ENCs. If wegive them on honest answeron the cost they would beput off ECDIS forever Iwould say, it would cost tensof thousands of dollars peryear for a world folio.”

“That's not fair, there's noway that a ship can enter allof the ports in the world in ayear, so 90 per cent of theENCs will go unused any-way. A world folio is notreally possible for ships,especially when we tell themit will cost $20,000 or $30,000,when we tell them that theysay 'well, then we'll wait onECDIS for a while'.”

Mr Amels also thinks thatthe automatic nature of thelicensing system, having awhole world folio alreadyavailable onboard the vessel,will create further benefits interms of safety that shouldact as added encouragementto vessel operators to installECDIS.

“E-Navigation is the buzzword at the moment, andone of the strategic targets ofthat is preventing distractionand overburdening of thenavigator,” he said.

“Having to order charts inan emergency situation, Iwould say that this is over-burdening, the vessel wouldlike to go to the port immedi-ately rather than waiting foran hour for the chart.”

Datema believes that itsservice strikes a reasonablebalance between these twoissues of safety and costreduction, and hopes thatthese kinds of innovationswill help to fuel a rise inECDIS adoption.

“We want to make lifeeasy for the navigator, wewant to prevent distractionand overburden, and whiledoing so we also want toimprove safety at sea,” saidMr Amels.

“But on the other hand wealso have the challenge of

Digital Ship


buy an ECDIS.”If Datema’s projected savings figures

for ENC users do stand up to the scrutinyof further real-life usage, this innovationcould certainly lead to a major shift in theway that electronic charts are licensed andpaid for in the maritime market.

However, this is likely to be heavilydependent on wider agreement being

reached at the Hydrographic Office levelon the issue of having no charge for theuse of ENCs for voyage planning.

The outcome of discussions at IC-ENC,and the response to UKHO’s request for“clarification” of the validity of thismethod, will be key in determining theimpact that this technology may have onelectronic navigation.

maintaining copyrights and ensuringintegrity, there is a distribution networkthat is partly involved in producing ENCsand they should get fairly paid for this.”

“There is a chance to make ECDIS eco-nomically viable. When ECDIS is adopt-ed I see it as a major safety factor, but ifyou have to pay $20,000 or $30,000 for aworld folio of charts you probably won't

DS

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SATCOMS NEWS


www.globalstar.com

Globalstar reports that it has now com-pleted a range of financing agreementsworth approximately $738 million, whichit will use to fully fund its next generationsatellite network.

The total financing combines a $586million credit facility and registered directoffering of convertible debt and warrantsfor $55 million.

The $586 million credit facility is part ofan agreement with Coface, the exportcredit agency acting on behalf of theFrench government, granting credit frombanks such as BNP Paribas, Natixis,Société Générale, Calyon, and CréditIndustriel et Commercial (CIC).

A deposit by Thermo Funding, themajority shareholder of Globalstar, of $60million into a contingent equity account,and $48.6 million for funding of a debtservice reserve account, are also part of the package.

The $738 million financing fully funds

the manufacture, delivery and launch ofthe company’s Globalstar 2.0 second-gen-eration network and ground facilities,plus certain long-lead items connectedwith the accelerated delivery of additionalsecond-generation spare satellites, andprovides Globalstar with working capitalneeded for current and future operations.

“This is a tremendous day forGlobalstar, and I cannot express howpleased I am that the funding is now com-plete,” said Jay Monroe, chairman and for-mer CEO of Globalstar (Mr Monroe wasCEO at the time of the announcement, andhas since been succeeded by Peter Dalton,an existing director).

“With this funding we have theresources needed to deploy a new constel-lation of satellites designed to last beyond2025 and to build the supporting groundinfrastructure that will position us to befirst to market with a host of advanced IP-based mobile satellite services years aheadof our primary competition.”

“The launch of our new constellation,

Globalstar funding for new satellite network completeexpected to be completed in 2010, willpave the way for the return of the highquality and reliability historically provid-ed to Globalstar’s voice and duplex datasubscribers.”

The Globalstar 2.0 next-generation net-work includes a second-generation satel-lite constellation, designed and manufac-tured by Thales Alenia Space, and thecompany’s new ground segment devel-oped by Hughes and Ericsson Federal.

“In a few months we expect to be in theenviable position of taking possession ofthe first of our Globalstar 2.0 next-genera-tion satellites,” said Mr Monroe.

The new network is designed to pro-vide increased data speeds of up to 256kbps in an all-IP configuration.

Products and services supported areexpected to include push to talk and multi-casting, advanced messaging capabilitiessuch as multimedia messaging or MMS,mobile video applications, geo-locationservices, multi-band and multi-mode hand-sets and data devices with GPS integration.

CapRock has added David Bunting toits senior management team as vice presi-dent of global engineering. Mr Buntingwill oversee CapRock’s technology andinfrastructure development, includingmanaging new equipment and servicesolutions, having previously been directorof application engineering for DRSTechnical Services.

Global Satellite USA hasannounced that the new InmarsatFleetBroadband 150 service will now be available from the company, with hardware from both AddValueCommunications and Thrane &Thrane on offer.

Otesat-Maritel has also recently cel-ebrated its European launch of theFleetBroadband 150 system with a demon-stration event in Athens, in associationwith AMMITEC, an Association ofInformation and CommunicationsTechnologies Managers of Greek shippingcompanies.

www.caprock.comwww.globalsatellite.uswww.otesat-maritel.com

www.iridium.com

Iridium has released its financial resultsfor Q1 2009, showing an increase in totalsubscribers of 31.2 per cent year-on-year,to 328,000, but a drop in equipment rev-enues of 34.3 per cent to $20.5 million.

Combined commercial voice and datatraffic in the markets that Iridium serves,including maritime, aviation and landmobile, grew 11.5 per cent for the firstquarter of 2009 compared to the sameperiod in 2008.

This included growth in voice traffic of7.1 per cent and growth in data traffic of23.2 per cent during the quarter, as com-pared to the same quarter in 2008.

Revenue from these commercial servic-es jumped from $29 million to $36.8 mil-lion, a 26.9 per cent increase.

Don Thoma, executive vice president,marketing, Iridium, noted that the mar-itime sector was one of the strongest con-tributors to this traffic growth over thepast year.

“Despite the economy, ships are sailingand Iridium is one of the most cost-effec-tive communications options available tothem,” he said.

“Maritime continues to represent greatopportunity for Iridium, and crew callingremains a bright spot with particularlystrong growth for first quarter 2009 overthe first quarter of last year.”

“Recently introduced products like‘Go-Chat’ pre-paid calling cards for crewusage, coupled with targeted promotions,are helping to drive usage in this impor-tant customer base.”

Matt Desch, Iridium CEO, also com-mented: “Ships are sailing withdecreased loads, but crews still need tocall home and the captain still needs tocommunicate the ship’s business with

the fleet owner.”Despite a drop in equipment revenue

of more than a third compared with thesame period in 2008, suggesting thattake up of new hardware like theIridium OpenPort has not yet caught up with previous services, the companyis confident that the new offering will prove to be a successful addition tothe market.

“Iridium OpenPort has generated posi-tive feedback from the hundreds of unitsthat are now deployed,” said Mr Thoma.

“Iridium OpenPort is a more attrac-tive alternative in terms of hardware,installation and service costs and isextremely timely in the current economicclimate.”

Mr Desch also noted that it was hisbelief that OpenPort would be able toresist competition from Inmarsat’s newFleetBroadband 150 service and wouldprove to be a lower-cost option.

“(FB 150 is) probably about twice asexpensive as OpenPort from a hardwareperspective, and is more expensive on aservice front,” he said.

He also suggested that the contrastingantenna system designs would allow theOpenPort hardware to “probably lastmuch longer” than the FB 150, and have alower through-life cost.

Overall Iridium net income declined41.9 per cent to $9.7 million in the firstquarter of 2009, from $16.7 million in thefirst quarter of 2008, which Iridium sayswas primarily due to increased expensesrelated to Iridium NEXT, its next-genera-tion satellite programme.

The company says that it expects toconclude the competitive selection ofeither Lockheed Martin or Thales AleniaSpace to be the Iridium NEXT prime con-tractor in the next few months.

Iridium Q1 financial results released

Globalstar chairman Jay Monroe, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace chairman & CEO,sign the launch agreement for Globalstar’ssecond-generation satellite constellation.

The financing will also facilitate theintroduction of Globalstar’s next-genera-tion satellite interface chipsets beingdesigned by Hughes Network Systems.

www.singtel.com

Singapore Telecommunications Limited(SingTel) has signed a transponder pur-chase agreement with satellite operatorAsia Broadcast Satellite Limited (ABS) toextend its VSAT coverage capability.

With this agreement, SingTel will own anumber of C-band transponders on the newABS-2 satellite, at a cost of approximatelyS$80 million over the next two years.

The ABS-2 satellite will be launched inlate 2011 or early 2012, and will extendSingTel’s satellite coverage in Africa, the

Middle East and Central Asia. SingTel will market these transponders

under the brand ST-3/ABS-2, with thecompany saying that it expects to use thenew capabilities to meet increasing cus-tomer demand for maritime VSAT.

The move follows an earlier joint ven-ture deal with Chunghwa Telecom inSeptember 2008 to launch the companies'own ST-2 satellite in early 2011.

SingTel says that demand for ST-2 serv-ices has been strong, with more than halfof its capacity signed-up by customersbefore its launch.

SingTel to increase VSAT coverage

Inmarsat completes SkyWave deal

www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat reports that it has completed itspreviously announced investment, distri-bution and new product developmentagreement with SkyWave MobileCommunications of Ottawa, Canada.

Concurrent with this investment,SkyWave has acquired assets relating tothe GlobalWave satellite low data rate(SLDR) products and services business ofTransCore, and entered into a sales distri-bution relationship with TransCore.

Inmarsat has acquired 19 per cent in the pri-vately held SkyWave. In addition, Inmarsatand SkyWave have entered into a direct distri-bution agreement for the supply of satellitecapacity to SkyWave on a global basis.

Perry Melton, Inmarsat's COO, said:"We are delighted to have completed onour investment in SkyWave. We estimatethat the SLDR market is worth $600 mil-lion today in end user revenue and hassignificant growth potential.”

“This investment and partnership withSkyWave fits our strategic commitment topursue opportunities that leverage oursatellite network assets."

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Digital Ship


www.idirect.net

www.uplogix.com

Satcoms technology provider iDirect, a VT Systems company, has announcedan agreement to resell the Uplogix rangeof secure remote manage-ment (SRM) systems forsatellite communications,typically used in VSATinstallations.

iDirect will offer theUplogix SRM devices to themaritime and other markets,co-located with iDirect satel-lite routers, antennas andnetworking equipment suchas switches, firewalls, serversand other routers, to enableremote monitoring and control of satellite and net-work equipment.

The Uplogix devices canbe used to automate routineonsite administration,maintenance and recoverytasks of an onboard VSATsystem, providing cen-tralised IT experts withlocal access to all devices toperform diagnostics andtroubleshooting.

The system uses an out-of-band method toremotely diagnose andautomate restoration of net-work availability without

additional connections."Our partnership with Uplogix is

an important development in iDirect'scommitment to providing a reliable platform to manage IP networks in themost demanding environments," said

Toni Lee Rudnicki, chief marketing officer, iDirect.

"With Uplogix technology now offeredin iDirect's overall product line, our cus-tomers can benefit from a single sourceand full support from iDirect's Technical

Assistance Centre.”“This will allow them to confidently

manage remote locations without worry-ing about network downtime or the time,cost and potential errors associated withmanual onsite IT support."

iDirect and Uplogix in satcom remote management deal

Orbit and Furunoin support agreement

www.orbit-techgroup.com

www.furuno.com

Maritime satcom antennamanufacturer OrbitTechnology Group hassigned an agreement withFuruno to provide supportfor Orbit's AdvancedService Centre (ASC) system in Denmark and Sweden.

The new service centrewill offer service and cus-tomer technical support toOrbit's clients in Sweden,Denmark and the rest ofScandinavia.

"This agreement grew outof our close working tieswith Furuno,” said Orbitpresident and CEO, AviCohen.

“To date, we've shippedscores of OrSat (antenna)systems to Furuno.Furuno’s resulting vote ofconfidence is a proof ofOrbit's continued success inits efforts to expand theASC globally."

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:13 Page 5

SATCOMS NEWS


The French Navy is to invest $4m in OrSat VSAT antennas

www.c2sat.se

Swedish VSAT antenna manufacturerC2SAT has entered into a licence agree-ment with Shanghai based Xinguo IT toproduce its stabilised antenna systemslocally in China.

Xinguo IT will also be responsible formarketing, sales, installation and after-salesservices of C2SAT products in China, Hong-Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Laos and Myanmar.

The agreement, which is initially validfor a period of three years with an optionto extend, gives Xinguo IT exclusivelicence rights in the region provided thatminimum sales volume targets arereached within specified intervals.

“After months of intensive negotiationsthe agreement with Xinguo IT is finally inplace," said Fredrik Nygren, CEO of C2SAT.

"We expect production to be up andrunning in about six months. C2SAT has

Xingou IT in Shanghai has agreed a deal to build C2SAT antennas in China

www.orbit-techgroup.com

Orbit Technology Group has agreed a dealworth more than $4 million to supply its OrSat Ku-band and C-band marinesatellite communication systems to theFrench Navy.

The antennas feature a modularmechanical design that allows for continu-ous zenith-horizon communications.

Orbit notes that GPS and RF packagesare also built-in, so that the antennasrequire no system balancing and are easyto install, operate and maintain.

“Our success in winning this tenderunderscores our technological capabilitiesin the field of satellite communication,"commented Avi Cohen, Orbit presidentand CEO.

The OrSat range of antennas has fulltype approval to operate on the Eutelsat,Intelsat and Anatel satellite networks.

In other news, Orbit has also agreed adeal with BHP Billiton for the provision ofa new tracking system for its offshoreFPSO (Floating Production Storage andOffloading) facilities.

Orbit's stabilised tracking antenna sys-tems are used for point-to-point (PtP) line-of-sight (LOS) communications, for eithervessel-to-shore or vessel-to-vessel applica-tions.

The PtP system is designed as an add-on solution to Orbit’s VSAT system, and

as an add-on for its range of satellite com-munications solutions.

The PtP Stabilised Antenna System isbuilt on a 'plug-and-play' modular archi-tecture, designed to withstand harsh envi-ronmental conditions at sea.

Orbit agrees $4m VSAT antenna dealwith French Navy

Chinese production for C2SAT antennasaccordingly identified a long term partneron the Chinese market which will gener-ate both positive earnings and cash flowfor C2SAT."

In other news, C2SAT also reports thatit has received an order for eight 1.2metre stabilised Ku-band VSAT antennasfrom Thales.

The first antenna will be delivered inthe second half of 2009, with subsequentdeliveries scheduled up until the secondhalf of 2010. Installation and commission-ing will be performed jointly by C2SATand Thales.

“This can be regarded as a commercialbreakthrough for our smaller lightweightantenna model," said Mr Nygren.

"At the same time, this is also the largestindividual order received by C2SAT todate. The order is also a door opener to anew market segment in Europe and accord-ingly an important reference."

Satellite VoIP and GSM compressionsystem launched

www.stratosglobal.com

Stratos reports that it is to provide a cus-tomised crew-communications solution toMISC Berhad's entire fleet of more than100 merchant vessels.

The MISC-branded version of Stratos'AmosConnect Crew system will form partof MISC’s 'We Care' crew-retention pro-gramme, providing crewmembers with new'MISC Crew Comm' cards to enjoy free pri-vate e-mail, low-cost SMS and voice calling.

“This project is the latest chapter in oursuccessful 10-year relationship withStratos,” said Nor Effendi B. Nordin,MISC manager, brand implementation.

“They quickly delivered a private-label,

integrated crew-communications solutionthat is ideally suited to support our crew-retention programme.”

“Our crewmembers are very happywith this flexible, economical new serviceand our ship managers can easily useStratos ChatCard Online to monitor cardpurchasing, usage and reloading.”

Using the system, seafarers only needone prepaid ChatCard to access the vari-ous available modes of communication,and are assigned a vessel-independentpersonal mailbox plus an internationalSMS number that can be used on any shipand on shore.

Receipt of SMS messages and e-mail isfree of charge.

MISC Berhad in crew comms agreement

www.kvh.com

KVH has signed a multi-year agreementwith SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation tolease satellite capacity on the JCSAT-1Band the new Intelsat-15 satellites, with theaim of extending coverage of its mini-VSAT maritime communications system.

These satellites will provide service cov-erage in Asia Pacific waters and in theIndian Ocean, starting late in the third quar-ter of 2009 and early in 2010, respectively.

In addition, the companies say that theyintend to pursue hardware and airtime salesfor the mini-VSAT system in the Asia Pacificmaritime market, with SKY Perfect JSAT

granted exclusive rights for sales to Japanese-flagged and Japanese-owned vessels.

"With the addition of these newregions, our effort to provide affordablemobile Ku-band broadband connectionsworldwide remains on track and a strate-gic priority for the company," said BrentBruun, KVH vice president of sales andbusiness development.

"This expansion will also dramaticallyexpand our ability to support the world'scommercial shipping market. In fact, 13 ofthe world's 20 busiest ports in terms ofcargo tonnage are within the new cover-age areas, offering us significant newhardware and service sales opportunities."

Satellite deal to extend mini-VSAT coverage

www.triagnosys.com

TriaGnoSys has launched a new satellitecommunications compression softwaresystem called VoCeM, which can reducevoice over IP or GSM voice traffic to 6kbps per call.

The company says that the VoCEM sys-tem can also increase the number of simul-taneous calls a satellite link can handle,claiming that the payload usage of anInmarsat or Ku-band connection can beincreased by a factor of between 5 and 10.

“Any one already providing eitherGSM or VoIP services on ships, planes or in remote areas on land knows

how important those services are," said Axel Jahn, managing director of TriaGnoSys.

"What we can do with VoCeM is cutcall costs and increase the number ofsimultaneous calls available. And all ittakes is a simple software upgrade.”

“It is not magic – it is the application ofstate of the art transcoding and compres-sion techniques combined with innovativekilobit transmission technology.”

The VoCeM software has beendesigned to be installed on existing GSM,3G/UMTS and VoIP communicationsservers, so no hardware upgrades areinvolved.

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:13 Page 6

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:14 Page 7

SATCOMS NEWS


Record VSAT growth for Ship Equipwww.shipequip.no

Maritime VSAT provider Ship Equipreports that it signed new fleet contractsfor its SEVSAT broadband system inSingapore, Canada and Germany duringthe month of May.

These new contracts are for the provi-sion of a total of 60 new satellite commu-nications systems, a new monthly high forthe company.

Ship Equip says that this growth has fol-lowed on the back of a year-on-year firstquarter increase in turnover of 50 per cent in2009, noting that it has seen most of its expan-sion coming from the Asia-Pacific region.

The EMEA and Americas regions havealso reported “good figures”, according tocompany statements.

”We see this as proof that our interna-tional strategy is working,” said ShipEquip CEO, Ivar Nesset.

“We anticipated early that presence inkey markets with sales and service staffwould be of great importance to reach our

goals for the international expansion.Judging from these sales figures it seemswe were right.”

“We see that to our customers there isno turning back, this is the future and it isto their benefit.”

Ship Equip signed contracts to install 60 of its SEVSAT communications systemsin a single month

www.marlink.com

Marlink reports that it has signed newmulti-vessel VSAT contracts with Italianshipping company the Grimaldi Groupand French ferry company SNCM.

The Grimaldi agreement includesdelivery and installation of Marlink'sSealink Ku-band services onboard sixGrimaldi passenger vessels operatingthroughout the Mediterranean.

"Our new agreement with Marlink willenable us to provide passengers and crewwith high quality, reliable internet, voiceand GSM services, which is imperative intoday's market," said Giancarlo Coletta,purchasing director, Grimaldi Group.

Marlink says that it is one of just a fewmaritime satellite communicationsproviders to have obtained general autho-risations issued by the Italian Governmentfor use with its Italian customers, permit-ting the enabling of satellite network serv-ices on Italian flagged vessels with a VSATonboard.

SNCM has agreed a new five yearVSAT deal with Marlink, which willinclude installations on eleven of theFrench ferry company's vessels.

The first installation of the SealinkVSAT system will take place onboard theferry MS Jean Nicoli, with subsequentinstallations scheduled for later in theyear.

Delivery will include the creation ofadministrative PSTN telephone lines viaan access point at Marlink’s Eik Teleport,and LAN-LAN internet VPN data servicesbetween the ship and SNCM headquartersin Marseille.

In other news, Marlink has become thelatest VSAT provider to agree a deal toacquire transponder space on the TelstarT11N satellite, to offer Ku-band VSATcoverage in the North Atlantic, and hasalso extended its Caribbean coverage fol-lowing the acquisition of a space segmenton the AMC-21 satellite.

The Telestar 11N is the first satellite toprovide Ku-band coverage of the AtlanticOcean from the Arctic Circle to the equa-tor, using 39 Ku-band transponders.

The AMC-21 satellite offers Ku-bandcoverage along the eastern US coasttowards New England and further west inthe Gulf of Mexico, providing completecoverage through the Panama Canal, andin the Caribbean.

Grimaldi and SNCM to install VSAT

www.speedcast.com

www.globewireless.com

SpeedCast, with partner Eutelsat, hasentered into a strategic distributionagreement with Globe Wireless to enableGlobe to provide Speedcast’s Ku-bandbroadband maritime service.

The broadband service offers Ku-band capacity on approximately 15 satel-lite beams and across multiple teleportsin Asia, Europe and the Americas.

SpeedCast says that it will also sup-

ply a range of applications to help tomanage the broadband connectivityrequirements onboard vessels.

“With over 9,500 vessels served,Globe Wireless is a real force in the mar-itime IT/communications world, verywell positioned to leverage the growthof broadband requirements and I amproud they chose SpeedCast to enhancetheir broadband service offering,” saidPierre-Jean Beylier, CEO of SpeedCast inHong Kong.

“Our unique coverage and our focus

Speedcast and Globe sign Ku-band agreementon applications will give Globe Wirelessa strong value proposition in the marketplace.”

Frank Coles, president and CEO ofGlobe Wireless, added: “The SpeedcastKu service is an excellent addition to the suite of maritime solutions we offerto our customers. Globe Wireless now can offer a maritime Ku-Band solution that covers all major shippinglanes, combined with the Globe i4 com-munications router to provide a trulyglobal solution.”

Giancarlo Coletta, purchasing director, Grimaldi Group and Tore Morten Olsen,CEO, Marlink, celebrate the new Ku-band contract

www.on-waves.com

Icelandic company On-Waves is to use arange of technology from ADC in the pro-vision of its maritime GSM services, withthe new systems to be integrated into theOn-Waves onboard cell phone set-up.

These systems include ADC’sInterReach Office picoBTS, InterReachFusion distributed antenna system (DAS),and UltraWAVE R4S SoftSwitch platform.

On-Waves currently provides mobileservices to more than 50 cruise ships andferries, and says it is planning to potential-ly deploy the ADC solution to hundreds ofother smaller crew vessels, includingtankers and container ships.

ADC’s InterReach Office GSM base sta-tion provides the vessel’s mobile signal,which is carried throughout the ship viathe InterReach Fusion distributed antennasystem (DAS).

The shipboard system uplinks via theVSAT network to a land-based base stationoperated by On-Waves, with the uplinkpowered by the UltraWAVE R4S SoftSwitch.

“Capacity, cost, and quality of servicehave always limited the use of VSAT tele-phones for shipboard communications,but the ADC system allows us to enablemobile telephone use over the VSAT net-work,” said Roch-Alexandre Nominé,CTO at On-Waves.

“With IP-based systems that can bedeployed very quickly and which cost-effectively extend mobile signals through-out our customers’ ships, ADC has openedup significant new markets for our com-munications services.”

On-Waves andADC in maritime

GSM tie-up

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:14 Page 8

Digital Ship


www.iridium.com

www.seamobile.com

Iridium and SeaMobile Europe are team-ing up to supply high-bandwidth satellitecommunications for the UCAR CapOdyssée challenge this summer.

The UCAR Cap Odyssée will involvethree French women – Stéphanie Geyer-Barneix, Alexandra Lux and Flora Manciet– who will set off to sea from Cape BretonIsland, Canada in an attempt to traversethe North Atlantic Ocean on paddle-

boards. They hope to arrive at Capbreton,France two months later.

SeaMobile Europe is installing anIridium OpenPort marine satellite termi-nal and software on the ladies’ supportvessel to provide voice and data connec-tions while at sea, with SeaMobileEurope’s ClipWay software also beinginstalled to enable the crew to transmitvideo files that will be sent via an opti-mised IP protocol.

The three women are competitive pad-dleboarders who have won numerous

European and world championship titles.They hope to average 100 kilometres perday paddling in relays.

“We believe this will be a good show-case for the advanced capabilities ofIridium OpenPort,” said Don Thoma, exec-utive vice president, marketing for Iridium.

“This product meets the demand forhigher-capacity voice and data connec-tions in a small, lightweight, inexpensivepackage. The system’s capabilities havebeen validated through extensive landtesting and sea trials.”

The reliable link for your crewCrew Communications Solutions keep your crew happy by keeping them in touch with their families and friends. These convenient integrated solutions keep costs low, while ensuring morale stays high.

Allows maritime crews to place calls from satellite phones, at no cost to the owner. Now includes ChatCard Data for pre-paid Internet Access.

Lets seafarers receive global and local news and lets them communicate just like they would on shore — voice, email and SMS/text messaging — with a single pre-paid ChatCard.

Crew members can stay in touch with family and friends using their own GSM phones.

Toll Free (North America): 1 800 563 2255

Worldwide: +1 709 748 4226

info@stratosglobal .com

www.stratosglobal .com

Iridium and SeaMobile team up for transatlantic challenge

Globecomm increases maritime presence with Telaurus acquisition

www.globecommsystems.com

Globecomm Systems has stepped up itspresence in the shipping sector with theacquisition of maritime satcom serviceprovider Telaurus Communications, in a$6.5 million cash deal.

The acquisition is to be fundedthrough Globecomm's existing cashposition, with shareholders of Telaurusalso eligible to receive shares ofGlobecomm common stock and war-rants to purchase Globecomm commonstock, subject to an earn-out, based oncertain income milestones which must

be achieved within the next twelvemonths.

One hundred per cent of currentTelaurus annual revenue, approximately$12.4 million, comes from the maritimemarket, with the company employingapproximately 28 staff and providingcommunications to over 1,850 vessels.

The acquisition will build onGlobecomm's other recent purchase ofmaritime broadband services providerMach6, creating a much stronger presencefor the satellite communications companyin the maritime sector.

"Telaurus immediately provides

Globecomm with a significant increasein the company's growing recurring revenue base, adds core expertise in the maritime marketplace and, whenadded to the number of vessels current-ly being served by Mach6, brings thetotal number of vessels being served atany given time by Globecomm toapproximately 2,000," said DavidHershberg, chairman, CEO and presi-dent of Globecomm Systems.

"This acquisition has also significantlyenhanced Globecomm's ability to up-sellbroadband capabilities into the maritimemarketplace."

For more details about thisand other future events, visit

www.thedigitalship.com

Digital Ship SingaporeSuntec Convention & Exhibition Centre

September 22-23, 2009

For sponsorship and exhibiting

opportunities, contact Ria Kontogeorgou,

Digital Ship advertising and

exhibition sales managertel: +44 (0)20 7510 4931

e-mail:[email protected]

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:14 Page 9


SATCOMS

The first commercial installation of the FleetBroadband 150 system has been completed in Indonesia,just days after the system went fully live, and with all installation work completed in 15 minutes.

Digital Ship looks at the growth of FleetBroadband and the continued evolution of the service

II nmarsat has announced the firstinstallation of the FleetBroadband 150(FB150) service onboard the tug

Miclyn Enterprise.The successful installation of the

SAILOR 150 FleetBroadband system wasmanaged by Thrane & Thrane partnerJason Electronics, at the Jalan BrigjenKatamso shipyard in Batam, Indonesia.

This installation was confirmed a littleover a week after Inmarsat confirmed thatthe FB150 service had gone live and waspassing commercial voice and data trafficon the network at the start of July.

Installation aboard Miclyn Enterprise, amultipurpose offshore support vesselowned by Miclyn Express Offshore, wascompleted in just 15 minutes, and the firste-mail sent and telephone call made with-in the hour.

Giving crew access to e-mails at anaffordable rate was a key aspect of thecompany’s decision to go for this satellitecommunications system, explains MiclynOffshore Transport COO, Darren Ang.

“With the recommendation from JasonElectronics, our trusted contractor, wecame to know and understand the advan-tages of using FB150,” he said.

“FleetBroadband will enable our crewonboard to have access to e-mails at fasterspeed and lower cost. This will improveefficiency in communication with ouroffices worldwide."

The company runs its organisational e-mail using AMOSMail, and having accessto a 150kbps all-IP connection through theFB150 is expected to dramatically improvethe performance of this application.

The company will also benefit from theability to simultaneously make or receivevoice calls while running its e-mail appli-cation over FB150. The terminal is expect-ed to be mainly used for communicationbetween the company and the Master ofthe vessel, so having the ability to usemultiple communications methods at thesame time will be of benefit.

The vessel had been using an InmarsatMini-M system as its primary means ofcommunication before adoptingFleetBroadband, and could only be reachedby the Mini-M phone service, as it was gen-erally out of coverage of terrestrial cellularphone services – FB150 will now allow theMiclyn Enterprise to make or take callswithout disrupting e-mail access.

Further installationsAntenna manufacturer Thrane & Thraneis confident that Miclyn’s experience withthe system will lead to further installationson other company vessels in the future.

“The installation on Miclyn Enterpriseis the first of many for Miclyn ExpressOffshore, we will be equipping manymore of their vessels with the SAILOR 150FleetBroadband,” said Jens Ewerling,product line manager for maritime sat-

com, Thrane & Thrane. “The SAILOR 150 FleetBroadband is an

affordable and reliable solution that catersto a wide target market. The service entersthe market at a very mature level, comingfrom the same family as the already well-proven and highly successful SAILOR 250and 500 FleetBroadband products.”

Mr Ewerling also notes that the ease ofinstallation of the lightweight FB150antenna, and the sub-$5,000 list price,remove some of the issues that mightdeter a company from investing in a newsatellite communications system.

“Set up time for all offshore workingvessels owned by Miclyn ExpressOffshore, like any other commercial com-pany, have an impact on the bottom line,so efficiencies of speed and installation areimpressed upon any supplier,” he told us.

“Smaller Inmarsat systems are not achallenge logistically and can always beset up in a matter of one or two hours andrequire no hot work like buildingpedestals, or welding reinforcement.”

FleetBroadband take-upThis installation has followed on fromInmarsat’s recent milestone of havingreached 3,000 commissioned terminals forthe existing members of theFleetBroadband family, FB250 and FB500.

Piers Cunningham, Inmarsat maritimebusiness director, has pointed to the confi-dence that ship operators can have in theservice with more than a decade oflongevity built into the network as a driv-ing force behind this uptake.

“Owners or vessel managers should askthree important questions: How can I beconfident that the operator will have asatellite network in place for the next 5 to 10years? Was the satellite network designedfor carrying broadband data? And howproven is the technology?” he said.

“Our next-generation Inmarsat-4 satel-lite network is fully-funded, successfullylaunched and operational. It will deliverservice well into the 2020s.”

“The I-4s and FB150 were designedspecifically to handle broadband IP data,as well as high-quality voice and SMS.With 3,000 FleetBroadband terminals nowcommissioned, it is our fastest-growingmaritime service.”

Another powerful motivator in tempt-ing firms to switch to broadband has beenthe oft-discussed issue of crew welfare,with internet-enabled ships becoming thefirst choice of seafarers when it comes tochoosing their next employer.

“The future of crew access to communica-tions looks very bright, there are a number ofsoftware and hardware applications that arecontinuing to be developed that are designedto allow cost effective voice, e-mail, SMS andinternet on any vessel capable of running FBand a computer,” said Kyle Hurst, maritimemarketing manager, Inmarsat.

“The systems are designed to ensurethat information is sent in the most effi-cient way and ensure money is not spentunnecessarily and the option of electronicprepaid chat cards that can be refilledremotely providing universal access.”

“The end result of this development isthat there will be an unprecedented levelof communications available with a num-ber of pricing options that allow crew tobe able to talk to family and friends withabsolute freedom.”

As well as providing more options toseafaring crews, from a business perspec-tive Inmarsat sees the future evolution ofvessel connectivity leading to greater inte-gration of vessel and office networks.

“The movement of IT systems onboardvessel merging into corporate networks isa natural and probably inevitable conclu-sion,” said Mr Hurst.

“There is really no technical reason whythe computers onboard vessels at sea cannot be part of a corporate intranet, inherit-ing the security, user environment andusage policies as well as online resources.”

“There are of course some systems thatneed to be implemented to ensure the satel-lite link is used efficiently, however for theremote end-user this would be relativelyseamless. The commonality of systems ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship provides efficien-cy in training, maintenance and security forend-users and IT managers alike.”

Inmarsat has already examined the via-bility of a number of different applica-tions, both maritime and otherwise, overthe satellite link, and says it will continueworking with software systems develop-ers to find new ways to use broadbandconnectivity to improve operations.

“The simple answer is we are interest-ed in testing almost anything that couldbe useful for the maritime industry,” saidMr Hurst.

“I think for the most part anything youcan imagine of doing over FB someone hasdone it or is just about to, the real challengeis refining the systems and applications for

the maritime industry and the end-usersthat are going to be relying on them.”

“Most people in the industry under-stand that it is not just a case of puttingsystems on vessels, the main challenge isensuring that people are appropriatelytrained which guarantees the new systemor application is effective. So I guess I amsaying that online remote training systemswould help everyone’s business.”

Next generation satelliteDespite the fact that the last member of theFleetBroadband family has only just gonelive, Inmarsat is already looking ahead toits next generation of satellite technology,having recently signed a contract withArianespace for the launch of its next gen-eration Alphasat I-XL satellite.

Planned for launch in 2012, the Alphasat I-XL satellite will be carried by an Ariane 5ECA from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe'sspaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The satellite, currently under develop-ment by Astrium, is the first commercialdeployment of the European SpaceAgency's Alphabus platform.

Positioned at 25 degrees East, it willjoin Inmarsat's current constellation of 11geostationary satellites to offer mobilevoice and data communications servicesacross Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Alphasat is planned to provideincreased capacity able to handle morethan 750 channels in the L-band, alreadyused by Inmarsat to provide its currentservices, and is also being designed tooffer higher bandwidth speeds than thosecurrently available.

"Inmarsat has a long-standing relation-ship with Arianespace, stretching back tothe launch of the very first Inmarsat satel-lites," said Eugene Jilg, chief technologyofficer for Inmarsat.

"Alphasat is the result of an innovativeEuropean approach to satellite design anddevelopment, and so it is fitting that we haveappointed Europe's leading launch companyto provide the essential launch services."

First FB150 installed in 15 minutes

The Micyln Enterprise was connected to the internet less than an hour after installation began

DS

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:14 Page 10

One Platform,Global Delivery

Intelsat’s satellite

services offer a

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5732-Digital_Ship-June.indd 1 5/19/2009 7:48:43 PM

p1-11:p1-14.qxd 17/07/2009 11:14 Page 11

SOFTWARE NEWS


port in the Netherlands, and facilitatesmessaging between the port, shippingagents, and traffic management systems.

This messaging communicationsoption is also expected to shortly beextended to pilots, service providers andcustoms working in the area.

“We are proud of the results we havereached so far with the execution of thisproject," said Gaston Suy, project managerPortXcs at Zeeland Seaports.

"[This is] an important step towards theimprovement of the administrativeprocesses of Zeeland Seaports. This processwill continue in the coming period."

New software system operational at Zeeland Seaportwww.hitt.nl

The new Port Management InformationSystem and Port Community System sup-plied by HITT Traffic (and sister companyKlein Systems Group) to Zeeland Seaportshas became operational, according to thecompanies.

The PortXcs system allows for the han-dling of ship and cargo information andthe exchange of data between the variousparties inside and outside the port.

It supports the full administrativeprocess and planning of ships and cargo inthe port of Zeeland, the second largest sea-

www.port-it.nl

Dutch maritime technology companyPort-IT has launched an updated versionof its Maritime Antivirus Service.

Port-IT had been offering its ESETNOD32 Version 3 software for maritimeuse via the Antivirus Service, but haslaunched an improved Version 4 as of thebeginning of July.

Version 4 of the software is available asa small update file and does not require

the sending of additional CDs or largedownloads.

The company says that it featuresimproved detection of virus threats andcan be accessed via a new online man-agement portal, which allows the user tohave full licence and service control insending and re-sending of antivirusupdates.

Port-IT's antivirus system has a currentinstalled base of several hundred vesselsworldwide.

Port-IT updates maritime antivirus system

Panama Maritime University receivessoftware donation

www.abs-ns.com

ABS Nautical Systems reports that it hasdonated its NS5 fleet management soft-ware to the International MaritimeUniversity of Panama.

The donation includes the provision ofthe Maintenance & Repair, Purchasing &Inventory, Crew Management, Quality &Compliance and Replication Managermodules of the NS5 software package.

These modules are intended to bewoven into existing student courses asreal-world examples, giving studentsexposure to the software throughout theireducational programme.

“Our curriculum is designed to preparefuture officers for the practical challengesthey will face throughout their maritimecareers," said Victor Luna, acting presi-dent of the university.

“Our students will now experience firsthand the management programs alreadyin use on thousands of vessels. This is ofgreat value to our students and theirfuture employers."

The current version of the software,NS5.4, offers a number of extended func-tions developed by the company, includingdry docking, on-demand reporting tools,hull inspection maintenance programs andweb-based drawings management.

Victor Luna, Panama Maritime University, and Joe Woods, ABS NS, sign the donationagreement during the ninth annual Panamanian Maritime Conference

courses have become the first manufactur-er navigation and automation systemcourses to receive type approval fromDNV SeaSkill.

Oil major Shell in the UK, a Kongsbergcustomer, has been a prime mover behindthis certification, because of its require-ment to send 650 employees on courseswithin a 13-month period. These crewmembers will be serving on board a groupof LNG vessels that will be operating outof Qatar.

Kongsberg has also expanded itstraining capabilities by introducing anew version of its 'portable classroom'system, based on its K-Chief 500 automa-tion system.

The portable classroom concept wasfirst introduced by Kongsberg during2006, and allows shipping companies tohost training courses at their own premis-es or onboard vessels, reducing the needfor travel.

KGJS tankers to install bearing monitoring systemwww.kongsberg.com

Norwegian shipowner Kristian GerhardJebsen Skipsrederi (KGJS) is to installKongsberg Maritime's Bearing WearMonitoring (BWM) system aboard eight120,000 dwt product tankers presentlyunder construction at Hyundai SamhoHeavy Industries in Mokpo, South Korea.

The BWM system is designed to moni-tor wear down of bearings in large twostroke diesel engines, to provide an alarmif any of the three crank-train bearings(crosshead, crank and main bearings) suf-fer unexpected wear problems duringoperation and enable the crew to carry outpreventative maintenance.

The system will be delivered connectedto the ships' AutoChief C20 automationsystem, via the common network, over therest of this year and in 2010.

In other news, Kongsberg reports thatits K-Bridge and K-Chief 700 training

www.palantir.no

OSM Group has agreed a new deal todeploy the KeepUp@Sea system fromNorwegian company Palantir aboard anumber of its vessels.

The long-term agreement includes theimplementation of KeepUp@Sea on morethan 40 vessels within the OSM Groupfleet of about 430 managed ships.

Delivery will also include additionalservices such as e-mail, Microsoft licences,application support and 24/7 vessel sup-port services.

The KeepUp@Sea system operates as an

IT and communications infrastructuremanagement solution for vessel opera-tions, and can be used in the automatedproduction of servers and clients.

It also provides an automated platformfor the distribution of changes andupgrades to servers and PCs onboard thevessels.

Arvid Dregelid, CEO of Palantir, commented that IT and communicationsare “a vital tool in improving ship oper-ations”, and that the need to constantlymaintain these systems was the majortarget of the frame agreement with OSM Group.

OSM to install KeepUp@Sea system

p12-17:p15-25.qxd 17/07/2009 11:15 Page 1

MINIMUM COST, MAXIMUMCONTROL OF YOUR SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS

INSTANT MESSAGING• Context and presence information

Users can see who is online and available for contactClient software available for PC’s, laptop, mobilephones, Blackberry’s, PDA’s

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

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

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

senders to use standard fax services

RAPIDOMAIL 5.0• See features on the right

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

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

you send has not been received

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

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

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

COMPANY INTRANET• Web based access

File sharingWeb linksActive directory synchronisationData importFTP file transfers

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

• Automatic creation of back up onboard vessel for futurereference

• Easy to update – information can be added or removedinstantly

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

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

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

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

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

Credit Card authorisation

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

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

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

per day• Crew pre-paid data cards

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

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

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

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

records• News and weather reporting service

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full Communications Suite Advanced E-mail Connectivity

AND IP Signature (Singapore) Pte Ltd21 Bukit Batok Crescent • #04-80 WCEGA Tower

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For further information [email protected]

p12-17:p15-25.qxd 17/07/2009 11:15 Page 2

www.satcom-solutions.comMaritime Broadband

For more info contact NSSL Ltdor one of our agents:00-44-1737-648-707 (EUROPE)00-1-954-523-5239 (US)[email protected]

Bardwell ElectronicsMartha’s Vineyard, [email protected]

Ocean Marine ElectronicsManchester, [email protected]

McLaughlin ElectronicsPompano Beach, [email protected]

Yacht ComputingMiami, [email protected]

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Digital Ship


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Marine Software has agreed a deal to sup-ply its fleet procurement system toBluewater Ship Management, which cur-rently manages ten RoRo vessels operat-ing in the Mediterranean, between Italyand Turkey.

The Marine Purchasing System (MPS)module has already been successfullyinstalled onboard nine vessels, along withthe corresponding office based system(OPS) at Bluewater's head office in the UK.

Each of the nine vessels prepares vari-ous types of requisitions, which are then

transmitted to the central OPS system forreview, authorisation and direct purchaseorder placement.

Once ship requisitions have beenprocessed by the Bluewater central pro-curement department, copies of the offi-cial company purchase orders are elec-tronically transmitted back to the vesselsystems.

The procurement system also offers abudgeting tool to keep annual budget fore-casts on track with cumulative spending atthe point of Purchase Order placement.

"In choosing a new purchasing systemour objectives were the following - reduc-

Bluewater Ro-Ro vessels will now connect directly to the onshore purchasing system

lead the way in helping the industryimprove the accuracy of the bunkeringprocess,” said Pat Studdert, president,Buffalo Marine Service.

“Our focus has been and continues tobe delivering bunkers safely, promptly,and professionally without fear of creatinga pollution incident. With the advent ofFuelTrax, our customers can rest assuredthat the delivery process is a model of pre-cision and extraordinarily accurate. Weare excited to be the first in North Americato install such a system.”

Anthony George, CEO of NCS, added:“We are very pleased to announce Buffalo asour first bunker system customer. Their rep-utation as a leading, first-class bunkeringservice couples well with this leading-edgetechnology. FuelTrax will accurately measureany kind of bunker fuel, drastically reducingthe errors associated with the manual meas-urement techniques currently used.”

“Future versions of the system will pro-vide customers with 24 hour, seven day perweek web-based access to their bunkeringevents worldwide. Coupled with a fuelproduct digital signature, both bunkeringagents and vessel owners will have theability to reconcile purchases online oncethe bunker delivery is completed.”

“Our ultimate goal is to revolutionisethe bunkering industry through advancedautomation, accurate Coriolis meteringtechnology, and the internet.”

Buffalo Marine Service installsfuel measurement system

www.fueltrax.com

Buffalo Marine Service of Houston isrolling out a new bunker fuel measure-ment system by Nautical ControlSolutions (NCS) to support customersalong the Texas and Louisiana coasts, thefirst time the technology has been imple-mented in North America.

Part of the FuelTrax Marine FuelManagement system, the technology pro-vides a data acquisition and reporting toolthat will automatically measure bunker fuelas it is pumped from a barge onto a vessel.

FuelTrax provides real-time measure-ment of bunker fuel deliveries of anyproduct type, viscosity, or temperature,and can measure barrels and metric tonsregardless of whether there is air, fuel, orboth in the piping system.

The system uses Coriolis meters thathave no moving parts and so do notrequire regularly scheduled maintenance,which have the ability to measure themass of fluid moving through them.

Once fuel delivery is completed,FuelTrax will produce a hardcopy meterticket for the customer that includes theexact amount of fuel delivered in both vol-ume and mass measurements.

“We have a state-of-the-art commandand control centre, new top-of-the-linetugs, and safety-proven double-hulledbunker barges. It makes sense for us to

ing the amount of paper being filed andretrieved, along with sharing all informa-tion in one central place," said IanBuchanan, managing director ofBluewater Ship Management.

“(We were also interested in ensuring)that the ships were fully aware of what

was happening with regard to their requi-sitions; recording amount spent on main-tenance and spare parts every year andbeing able to break this down to eachmachinery item; and being able to accu-rately value spares held in stock and keep-ing the accountants happy.”

Bluewater Ship Management installs procurement software

www.awtworldwide.com

Applied Weather Technology (AWT) hasupgraded its BonVoyage (BVS) marinevoyage optimisation software to allowships to receive route recommendations ingraphical format, within the BVS on-boardsoftware.

Previously AWT’s route recommenda-tions were available only in text form, but viathe new upgrade ships can receive graphicalrecommendations combining the latest dataabout weather and sea conditions.

This information can then be used tooptimise vessel routing, potentially reduc-ing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

In AWT’s studies comparing fuel usageby ships following recommended routesversus fuel usage follow-ing the Captain’s intend-ed route, individual voy-ages have had fuel sav-ings of up to 8 per cent.

For a ship that con-sumes 100 metric tons(MT) of fuel oil per day, a3 to 4 per cent fuel savingtranslates to a saving of 3to 4 MT per day. If theship spends 200 days atsea and follows optimumroutes, AWT says that itcould save more than$320,000 annually andreduce greenhouse gasses

by over 2,400 MT each year. The software upgrade is available in all

new installations of BVS and for free toexisting BVS customers. It is also availablefor clients of ChartCo’s MetManager glob-al weather service.

“If every ship routed by AWT closelyfollowed our recommended routes, weestimate they could achieve a combinedfuel savings of approximately 450,000metric tons of fuel oil per year,” said SkipVaccarello, president and CEO of AWT.

“At current fuel rates, that translates topotential cost savings of over $180 millionper year and reduction in CO2 emissionsof approximately 1,400,000 metric tonsannually, the equivalent of removing320,000 cars from the road.”

Upgrade for AWT weather software

With the software upgrade users will receive graphicalrecommendations based on the latest data

p12-17:p15-25.qxd 17/07/2009 11:16 Page 4

WW ith the extreme volatility cur-rently shaking up the shippingmarket, mobile information

management is a facility no shipbrokercan afford to be without.

Mobility is the great leveller in anyindustry, enabling the largest firm tobecome nimbler, the smallest firm to bemore responsive and appear bigger than itreally is, and the newly-founded firm toget up and running quickly.

Mobility and 24/7 access to messagesprovides faster reactions to opportunitiesand provides a level of service that simplycannot be produced when depending sole-ly on static, fixed-line technology.

But even such an advantage as mobilitycan create complexity and duplication ifnot managed properly.

The ability to respond quickly, appro-priately and accurately to new informa-tion is the goal of mobility, and the meansby which brokers can sharpen their com-petitive edge – but a lack of attention todetail when attempting mobility will actu-ally slow them down, potentially with dis-astrous consequences.

For example, unsure whether a remotebroker had seen or responded to criticalmessages, an office-based colleague track-ing incoming messages may have dupli-cated effort by also replying to a principal– potentially with conflicting information.

Replicated work is hardly the sign ofimproved efficiency and reflects to themarket an organisation in disarray, leav-ing a poor impression with market peersand potentially damaging hard-won rela-tionships with principals.

SynchronisationAs long as there are two (or more) distinctplaces where information is beingreceived and managed, the consistencyand efficiency of that workflow is compro-mised and a risk of inaccuracy is intro-duced.

Since the whole point of mobility is toensure that travelling and remote workersare better informed and more responsive,anything that detracts from this goal couldbe very costly.

The key to dynamic, clear informationexchange and informed responsivenessis ‘closed-loop mobility’ or ‘closed-loopmessaging’.

With properly synchronised systems,office-based e-mail systems will tallyinstantly with mobile systems, so that it isalways clear which messages have beenread and responded to, saving more valu-able time and ensuring an enhanced serv-ice to the client, providing a seamless con-sistent and efficient work flow anytimeand anywhere.

More than that, a well-managed mobilesolution will enable a comprehensiveaudit trail, providing undisputable detailabout who read and sent what and when.

With closed-loop mobility all messagesare recorded in a secure central databasewhere the messages are fully searchable.This offers protection to the organisation,which may later be asked to refer back todeal negotiations to pinpoint when a deci-sion was agreed.

In a market that is already highly liti-gious, and which is becoming more cau-tious and suspicious all the time, such

traceability could prove priceless – evensaving the business.

Filtering is crucial too. A broker betweenappointments does not have time tobrowse even 50 new emails, let alone thetypical 500, in order to pinpoint three orfour key messages that demand an urgentresponse, so it is vital that mobile brokingsolutions support message tagging.

Here, according to individually set upcriteria on the central system, critical mes-sages can be quickly pushed to the front ofthe queue so that those requiring an imme-diate response on known topics are separat-ed from the remainder, but the broker is stillable to scan the rest of the messages toensure new opportunities are not being lost.

Adding valueIn a market which is intensely competitiveat the best of times, closed-loop mobilitymeans not only closing more deals satis-factorily, but providing the necessaryservices that a principal demands, enhanc-ing the role played by the broker in theprincipal’s working life.

It creates an opportunity for differentdepartments to gain controlled, visibleaccess to key information so that follow-on commercial decisions can be taken, sothat new deals can be progressed andaccounts more promptly settled.

Managed remote access, message audittrails and controlled collaboration pres-

ents a unique and rapid opportunity toadd value to the service provided to theprincipal.

If the broker can appear constantly andconsistently well informed, the client willbe permanently impressed and confidencewill grow – and hopefully their loyaltyand revenues with it.

While shipping rates may be moreslightly stable now than a month ago,these are highly turbulent times and rid-ing the storm relies on being wellinformed, agile and ready.

Without question, mobility is a facilityfew brokers can afford to be without. Butfor a positive impact on business, thatmobile solution must be tightly controlledand carefully set up so that it works forand not against you.

Besides, even if business is currently alittle turbulent, the opportunity forprogress still beckons – staff will havemore time to embrace the new featureswhich will arm them best in anticipationfor the inevitable upturn.

Those tooling up appropriately nowstand to soak up the best of the currentlyavailable business, riding the storm as thetide continually turns and being in thebest possible position for the abundance ofnew business in the market recovery.

Those relying on poorly supervised solu-tions, or no mobile solution at all, risk find-ing themselves tossed up on the shore.

SOFTWARE


Instant access to information is important – but an avalanche of data can hide priority information

DS

Mobile messaging – staying nimble in a volatile market

Modern IT systems create the potential for 24/7 connectivity and instant access to real-time informationwherever you are – information that can be a key asset, especially in shipbroking. However, the benefits

of mobile messaging depend on managing this information in such a way that it does not create extra work, writes Anthony Odegbaro of Strategic Dataworks

Join the online

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Digital Ship network

p12-17:p15-25.qxd 17/07/2009 11:16 Page 5

www.mespas.com

Mespas reports that it hasreleased version 5.12 of itsfleet management softwaresystem, mespas R5.

The new release featuresfour new modules: TMSA II,Form Manager, Noon Reportand Crew Management Light,while the company says thatexisting modules have addi-tionally been enhanced.

An accounting interfacehas also been added to allowshipping companies to inte-grate business data frommespas R5 into the user’sown accounting software.

Mespas says that thisinterface developed as a con-sequence of expressed cus-tomer requirements for aflexible, secure data inter-change between operationsdata stored on different soft-ware packages.

Mespas R5 features an XLMspecification for interactionwith existing accounting sys-tems, which can allow the datainterchange to be integrated, orparameters to be added so thattasks can be scheduled accord-ing to the requirements of theship operator.

“We pride ourselves indeveloping software thattakes into account the realneeds of our users, that is,crew on board as well asoffice users on-shore,” saidDaniel Gsponer, chief tech-nology officer of Mespas.

“All new modules aredeveloped in close collabora-tion with ship owners andaffiliated businesses and ide-ally supplement the currentset of mespas R5 modules.”

Upgrades of the softwaresystem will be free for exist-ing customers.

Mespas releaseslatest software

version

ment ashore far too seldom,” said BASSproduct manager Rajesh Purkar.

“By utilising HR Manager, seafarerscan update their own biographical data,see the details of their next assignment,access training and career plan informa-

tion, upload their CV and professionalresume, and apply for positions online.”

“Giving employees the capability tomanage certain aspects of their personneldata not only provides information accu-racy, it helps create a closer relationshipwith employers and a sense of belonging –translating into higher qualified officerretention and re-joining rates.”

Digital Ship


www.bassnet.no

BASS has released its new BASSnetHR Manager, a web-based software system for crew and payroll management.

The software acts as a central repository forcoordination of information,helping to minimise duplica-tion of data entry and eliminateunnecessary paperwork.

Being web-based it can beaccessed by various stake-holders, allowing manningagents to have access to iden-tical information, or superin-tendents and charterers tomonitor crew nominationsand view records of those

who are actually onboard. In addition, the BASSnet HR Manager

features a ‘self-service’ module, allowingseafarers to review and update their owndata via the internet.

“Seafarers get to meet with manage-

BASS crew management software released

p12-17:p15-25.qxd 17/07/2009 11:16 Page 6

FB250

FB500

JRC’s FleetBroadband power duo.Surf the web along the waves, and much more – reliable, fast and now globally.

The FleetBroadband family is the latest-generation maritime communication solution from

JRC. It is compactly designed, easy to install and puts high-speed connectivity right at your

fingertips – delivered globally using Inmarsat’s highly reliable network.

visit www.jrceurope.com and discover all ins and outs

Coverage restrictions for the extreme polar regions apply.

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:18 Page 1

Digital Ship

Digital Ship Ship August 2009 page 19

Lilley & Gillie has constructed adedicated maritime testing facility on theoutskirts of Birmingham, UK. As well astaking new products to prototype stage,the new Technical Centre can undertakeequipment proving tests to ensure that allproducts meet or exceed the provisions ofEN 60945, a European standard for marinenavigational and radio communicationequipment and systems.

The NDCC Almirante Saboia, the mostrecent addition to the Brazilian Navy,has been returned to the fleet following an extensive, refit, reactivation and train-ing programme after an extended lay-up,and a number of upgrades to its naviga-tion and communication equipment. Thework was performed by James FisherMarine Services Ltd at the A&PFalmouth shipyard.

ChartCo has added theSingapore Flag StateRegulations to itsRegsManager product. Theregulations have full equiva-lence to the paper productand can be accessed on-lineand via CD-ROM. The serv-ice provides the user accessto local maritime legislationand the Singapore Maritimeand Port Authority’s notices.

Sperry Marine hasintroduced its newVoyageMaster III family ofmarine voyage datarecorders (VDR), featuring amore compact data acquisi-tion unit and a removable16GB USB flash drive. Thesystem’s 'save' functionallows users to save up to 12hours of recorded data onthe flash drive, which can beviewed using built-in play-back software.

Absolute MaritimeTracking Services(AMTS) reports that it isnow offering Long-RangeIdentification and Tracking(LRIT) through theIridium satellite network.AMTS is a joint venture of

Absolute Software and PC Holdings, andoperates the national data centre and actsas the LRIT Application Service Providerfor Panama, the world’s largest merchantmaritime registry.

Fulcrum Maritime Systems isalso offering LRIT services through theIridium satellite network, as operator

www.charente.co.ukwww.james-fisher.co.ukwww.chartco.comwww.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.comwww.absolutesw.comwww.fulcrum-maritime.comwww.iridium.comwww.l-3com.comwww.polestarglobal.comwww.kongsberg.comwww.kelvinhughes.com

of LRIT national data centres and as theLRIT Application Service Provider (ASP)for several major maritime flag states,including the Bahamas and Japan. 46 flagstates have appointed Fulcrum as theauthorised testing authority to typeapprove shipboard LRIT devices forships under their registry.

L-3 Marine & Power SystemsGroup has appointed Klaus Lorenz asvice-president of its European opera-tions. Formerly president of SAMElectronics, which was acquired by L-3 in 2006, Mr Lorenz has worked in the marine industry for over 35 years,having also held senior managementposts with ABB.

Pole Star has launched the MAT3, anenhancement to its Marine Asset Tracker(MAT) system comprising a SkyWave

Stale Finsrud, Kelvin Hughes, celebrates reaching SharpEye’s one hundredthinstallation with Kathe Gulbrandsen, purchaser at V Ships

DMR800 transceiver and integral powerpack in a self-contained unit. The unit canbe linked to the web-based MAT service,providing automatic tracking and report-ing at fixed six hourly intervals.

Kongsberg Maritime reports thatits 100th deep-water multibeam EchoSounder system has been ordered and willbe delivered in November 2009 to the U.S.Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO-CEANO). The delivery is part of theMultibeam Sonar System upgrade pro-gram for the U.S. Navy T-AGS 60 classsurvey vessels.

V. Ships Norway has ordered theone hundredth SharpEye radar unit to beproduced by Kelvin Hughes for fittingon-board the Nordic Saturn, a Suezmaxcrude oil carrier owned by NordicAmerican Tanker Shipping Ltd.

You trust your crew, depend on your gear and as an experienced mariner you have

confidence in yourself. But from experience you know that you can’t rely on the weather.

The sea can be your best friend, but bad weather can turn it out to be your worst enemy.

e vessel and the crew it is important that the navigator plans

o account the best weather forecast data available.

rNav may be the best solution for you, as it is for an

umber of seafarers around the globe.

For more information contact:Jeppesen Norway AS, Tel:+ 47 51 46 47 00E-mail: [email protected] - www.c-map.no

jeppesen.com

If you can’t rely on the weather...

t in Weather Services from Jeppesen Marine

tegrated solution that proposes a safe route

on detailed charts and weather forecast data

dedicated forecast by setting your own alarms

y compressed data files for quick downloading

ys up-to-date with charts and latest weather

downloading and browsing of weather data

sel a

n to

her

g nu

r mppemai

int

sed

p d

ghly

way

sy d

Hong Ong, a designer at Lilley & Gillie’s Technical Centre,tests new maritime technologies at the new facility

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:18 Page 2

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS


www.l-3.com

www.stxengine.co.kr

L-3 Offshore has signed a teaming agree-ment with STX Engine, a subsidiary ofSouth Korea’s STX Group, to collaboratein the provision of a number of electronicand mechanical systems.

Under the terms of the deal the twoorganisations will partner in the market-ing and supply of integrated power, elec-tric propulsion, dynamic positioning andautomation systems for the Korean off-shore market, as well as other STX Groupconcerns.

STX Engine also intends to market off-shore plant engines and electro-mechani-

cal systems as complete package assem-blies, anticipating increased co-operationwith STX Europe, particularly in Norway.

The companies said that the agreement,recently signed in Seoul by Dong-HakChung, president and CEO of STX Engineand Klaus Lorenz, vice-presidentEuropean Operations of L-3’s Marine &Power Systems Group, is expected to con-solidate L-3 Offshore’s access to local mar-kets for ship building and operatingequipment.

It will also enable STX Engine todesign, produce and supply electronicand electrical systems for offshore plants,in addition to providing full testing sup-port services.

www.pcmaritime.co.uk

PC Maritime says that it has started devel-opment on new training programmes forships' crews in the use of ECDIS, in light ofthe upcoming mandatory carriagerequirements for the technology.

The phased implementation schedulefor ECDIS runs from 2012 to 2018 for anumber of different vessel types, and thecompany says it is exploring ways inwhich it can provide more convenient,cost-effective ways of carrying outrequired ECDIS training.

“One solution now under developmentis a CBT (Computer Based Training) pro-gram," said Anne Edmonds, PC Maritimemarketing director.

"We began this last year but because ofthe imminent changes that were due tocome into effect on 1 January 2009, wedecided to put the project on hold. Now

though, with type approval having beensecured for our latest version ofNavmaster ECDIS, we are pressing onwith finalising and releasing a CBT pro-gram that will be consistent with the lateststandards."

The system under development isbeing designed to provide training in alloperational aspects of ECDIS, and consistsof demonstrations with voiceovers, exer-cises and tests.

It will be offered for use on ship orashore, for initial and refresher training,and will also be available online using thePC Maritime Learning ManagementSystem (LMS).

The online system will deliver the sametraining content as the regular CBT, givinginterviewees and off duty officers theopportunity to prepare for assessment orrefresh their knowledge wherever theyhave access to the internet.

www.transas.com

Transas, with its distributor Marix K. K.Of Japan, reports that it has secured a con-tract to supply 54 Electronic Chart Displayand Information System (ECDIS) toNippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line).

All of the systems are intended for installation aboard bulk carriers,with deployment already underway and scheduled to be completed during2009.

All vessels will be equipped with thelatest type-approved Transas Navi-Sailor4000 ECDIS.

A spokesperson from NYK comment-ed: “The biggest factor in our choice ofTransas Navi-Sailor as electronic naviga-tion system for our fleet of over 50 bulkcarriers were its cost performance, userfriendly design and a high level of confi-dence in Transas’ global service networkfor maintenance reliability.”

In other news, Transas has also success-fully completed the installation of a newVTMS at the port of Cochin, India, incooperation with local Indian companyElcome Marine Services.

The Cochin port VTMS Control Centreincludes X-band radar with 12 ft antenna,Navtex receiver, Inmarsat C Earth station,three VHF stations, redundant VTMS sys-tem server, redundant VTS database serv-er, three dual display operator worksta-tions and four dual display remote opera-tor stations.

A remote site, in Puthuvypeen,includes a coastal radar with a 19-footantenna, redundant radar processor, AISbase station, CCTV camera system andmeteorological station.

All information is provided at the administrative building via threeoperators, with four other stations provided to representatives of CochinPort management.

www.transpondertech.se

Saab TransponderTech has been awardeda contract from the Romanian NavalAuthority to upgrade and expand thecountry’s Automatic Identification System(AIS) network along the Black Sea Coast.

Under the contract, Saab will deliver,install and commission four new AIS basestations, integrated with the Vessel TrafficManagement and Information System(VTMIS) in the Romanian NavalAuthority headquarters in Constanta.

The system will exchange AIS data andbe integrated with the existing Romanian

River Information System (RORIS), whichwas previously supplied by Saab.

“The new AIS base stations will pro-vide improved AIS coverage along theimportant Black Sea coastline, and willprovide increased maritime domainawareness and improved coastal surveil-lance for Romanian authorities,” saidGunnar Mangs, vice president, sales andmarketing, Saab TransponderTech.

Saab TransponderTech says that it hasinstalled more than 1,500 AIS base stationsin some 50 countries worldwide, and hasrecently passed the milestone of installing15,000 shipboard AIS transponders.

L-3 and STX partnership deal

The partnership agreement was signed in Seoul by Dong-Hak Chung, STX Engine, and Klaus Lorenz, L-3

COM DEV launches satellite AIS subsidiarywww.exactEarth.com

COM DEV International has established asubsidiary company, exactEarth, for thepurpose of offering space-basedAutomatic Identification System (AIS-S)data services to maritime authoritiesaround the world, following the success-ful completion of one year's operation of atest satellite carrying the service.

The exactEarth company will launchthree AIS microsatellites, which are cur-rently under construction in Canada andEurope, and begin providing its exactAISservice within the year.

The company says that it is currentlydeploying the global infrastructurerequired to support the planned satellites,including multiple Earth stations, a securedata centre, an operations centre and pro-

cessing, analysis, archiving and distribu-tion software.

These capabilities are expected to be inplace to support the exactAIS servicelaunch in 2010.

The system requires no changes toexisting on-board vessel equipment orprocedures, and will provide customerswith both standard and custom interfacesto their existing AIS displays.

Reception of AIS signals for terrestrial-based receivers is limited to approximate-ly 50 nautical miles due to the curvature ofthe Earth, an issue that does not occurwith the satellite-based technology.

The exactAIS system works throughthe use of the company's newly developed'de-colliding' technology, used to distin-guish between the mass of transmissionsreceived simultaneously from Class A AIS

transponders on the many thousands ofships that may be within a satellite’s 5,000kilometre field of view at any given time.

COM DEV says that it has alreadyinvested and committed over CDN$30million towards this venture, and has asupporting contract from the CanadianGovernment to build an advanced demon-stration microsatellite called M3MSat(Maritime Monitoring and MessagingMicrosatellite).

This demonstration satellite will incor-porate a second generation AIS payloadand a Low Data Rate (LDR) payload formaritime applications, and is expected tobe launched in 2011.

“We have spent five years developing,testing and validating an advanced AIS-Stechnology that we believe outperformsany other known system," said Peter

Mabson, president of exactEarth. "In the coming months we will begin

to roll out our space-based AIS servicecapability, and will continue our discus-sions with potential customers and regu-latory authorities around the world onhow this new advanced capability canhelp meet their needs in the areas ofsearch and rescue, environmental moni-toring, vessel traffic management andmaritime security.”

“The exactEarth team of partners that isbuilding this system already spans theglobe and we expect to add new partnersin the coming months.”

An expanded feature on the exactEarthspace-based AIS system will appear in theSeptember issue of Digital Ship

ECDIS training systems under development

Romania to install Saab AIS

ECDIS for NYK bulk carriers

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:18 Page 3

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 4

www.jeppesen.com

Jeppesen Marine reports that it has signedtwo new licence agreements with theCanadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) tocollaborate on a range of electronic navi-gational data products, and has alsoreached a deal with Chile to make newMarine Pilotage Charts (MPC) for proce-dural passage plans in surroundingwaters available.

The first Canadian deal is a CHS Value-Added Reseller (VAR) agreement autho-rising Jeppesen Marine to integrate CHSproducts and updates into its own prod-ucts for the marine industry.

The second agreement makes JeppesenMarine an authorised dealer of officialCanadian Hydrographic Service DigitalCharts, including CHS ElectronicNavigational Charts (ENCs) and BSBraster charts, and also allows Jeppesen toissue CHS ENCs in type-approved SENCformat.

“Jeppesen Marine’s products are popu-lar in the Canadian marketplace,” said DrSavithri Narayanan, CHS DominionHydrographer.

“And, as long as distributors can docu-ment to us that their SENC distributionformat is type-approved, they will also beable to distribute our official charts asSENCs.”

The agreement is one of only a handfulof value-added reseller agreements theCanadian Hydrographic Service hassigned with manufacturers, allowing themto use CHS products and data in their ownvalue-added products.

Jeppesen Marine notes that it hasalready signed similar ENC distributionagreements with hydrographic offices inIndia, China, most of Europe, the UnitedStates and many other countries.

The company also says that any cus-tomers who currently purchase CHS chartsvia the Primar RENC (Regional ENC cen-tre) will continue to be able to do so.

Hilton Cowie, business operations –high seas division, Jeppesen Marine,commented: “Thanks to this direct agree-ment with a leading ENC provider,Jeppesen Marine will be able to providenavigators with high-quality CHS digitalcharts and updates in an efficient anduser-friendly manner.”



www.transas.com

Transas has released the latest version ofits navigational simulator NTPRO 5000,with new features for specialised trainingapplications.

Transas says that the changes in thesimulator system have come about as aresult of combining user feedback withimprovements in the available technology.

The radar in particular has seen a wide-ranging overhaul, with a new radar pic-ture generation algorithm included thatcan evaluate the geometry of objects, theirrelative position, the reflection capabilityof materials, 3D waves, antenna three-

dimensional motion and earth curvature. A number of different environmental

effects have also been enhanced, with shad-ed areas, loss of targets in heavy sea, radarpicture change depending on ship’s rollingand pitching, echo-signals of differentrange depending on geometry, and reflec-tion capability of a shore line all improved,with the aim of making the simulator expe-rience as realistic as possible.

The Seagull 5000 visualisation systemhas been incorporated into the simulator,allowing the instructor to control wind-generated and swell components inde-pendently, while chart plotting and rout-ing capabilities have additionally been

Transas launches updated simulator

Canadian and Chilean chart deals for Jeppesen

Jeppesen will produce Marine PilotageCharts for Chilean waters

“Our customers will now be able to takefull advantage of the quickness and ease ofour type-approved SENC distribution for-mat, when they operate in Canadianwaters.”

The agreement with Chile has comeabout as the result of joint cooperationbetween Jeppesen Marine, TheHydrographic and Oceanographic Serviceof the Chilean Navy (SHOA), TheMaritime Authority of the Chilean Navyand The Chilean Channels AuthorisedPilot Association, with the charts to bemarketed to port and channel pilots andcommercial mariners.

MPCs are the first new service to mar-ket since SHOA and Jeppesen Marinesigned a derivation agreement in late 2008for the use of Chilean data in the compa-ny’s products.

The new charts use a format derivedfrom Jeppesen’s terminal procedurecharts, which have been used in the avia-tion industry for 75 years.

Jeppesen says that its MPCs aggregateboth operational and navigation informa-tion traditionally found in a variety ofsources to provide a basis for capturingand retaining valuable knowledge fromexperienced masters and making it avail-able to all bridge teams.

“SHOA is a respected leader in thehydrographic community and a welcomelaunch partner for this new service,” saidMichael Bergmann, director of maritimeindustry safety-affairs-services forJeppesen Marine.

“In addition, MPCs for Chilean watersprovide both Chilean pilots and vessel oper-ators greater safety and navigation tools.”

improved upon in the latest version of thetechnology.

In other news, Transas and local agentKASI (Malaysia) have successfully com-pleted installation and commissioning of aVTMS for the Port of Sapangar Bay, Sabah,East Malaysia.

The installed VTMS covers both thePort of Kota Kinabalu (Sabah State, Borneoisland, East Malaysia) and Sapangar BayContainer Port.

The project includes a GEM radar with19 foot antenna, a Radio Direction Finderfor traffic monitoring and control; voicecommunication systems, a shore based AIStransponder and CCTV.

Columbia agreesfleetwide

ChartCo deal www.chartco.com

Columbia Shipmanagement has agreed adeal with ChartCo for the provision ofChartManager services for its entire fleetof 140 vessels.

The agreement includes update servic-es for digital Notices to Mariners and chartcorrections, with data delivered viaChartCo's own broadcast service andChartCo Select, an internet and e-mailbased delivery system.

The software provided allows vesselsto manage their corrections onboard, andincludes a full catalogue of products,updated weekly, to allow the ships tomanage and update their own systems.The deal also includes full implementa-tion, installation and support services.

"We see effective management of chartcorrections as a major enhancement tovessel safety and as a result it is very highon our agenda," said Leonid Zalenski,marine manager at ColumbiaShipmanagement in Cyprus.

"ChartCo provide us with the reliableand timely delivery of correction datameaning that our vessels are always able tomaintain chart integrity, [and the] softwarealso provides a full audit trail of correctionsmeeting the requirements of port state con-trol and other inspecting authorities.”

“Furthermore, all weekly correctiondata is delivered to the vessels for an all-inclusive price, so there are no airtimecosts to worry about. Implementation hasalready commenced and will continueover the coming weeks."

Chris Wilson, ChartCo sales manager,also commented: “ChartCo is an excellentfit for the diverse requirements of a largefleet, such as [Columbia's], as services canbe delivered in different ways accordingto the communications equipment avail-able on-board each vessel.”

“[The system] provides automaticreception of the weekly Notice to Marinersand chart corrections issued by the UKHydrographic Office, [and] most CSMvessels will also take advantage ofChartCo’s Broadcast Service, whichallows them instant access to large vol-umes of weekly chart correction data at noadditional charge.”

Columbia’s 140 vessels will be installedwith the chart system

Transas’ latest simulator features a number of enhancements to improve realism in the displays

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 5

www.flir.com

The Voyager II thermal imaging camerafrom FLIR Systems has received finalAmerican Bureau of Shipping (ABS) typeapproval, and is now is pre-approved foruse on a variety of ABS classed ships.

The Voyager II is a ther-mal imaging camera that hasbeen developed for maritimenight vision applications,


Digital Ship

capable of operating in total darkness. Itcan be used for night-time navigation, aswell as for shipboard security, man-over-board searches, anti-piracy and other mar-itime applications.

Thermal imaging cameras produceimages of invisible infrared or ‘heat’ radi-

Thermal imaging camera type approved ation. Based on temperature differencesbetween objects, thermal imaging canstill produce an image in the absence ofany light.

The Voyager II system contains twothermal imaging cameras and one daylightcamera, and can be connected to a radar. Ifthe radar detects an object, the cameras willautomatically turn in that direction to iden-

tify the blip on the radar screen.FLIR says that the Voyager II can detect

a small 2.3 by 2.3 metre vessel at almost 6kilometres.

The company notes that the ABSapproval will also be recognised by other‘notified bodies’, such as Lloyds Registeror DNV, under international reciprocityagreements.

The camera can detect smallvessels from 6km

Consiliumagrees display

dealwww.consilium.se

www.hatteland-display.com

Consilium has agreed a deal with Hatteland Displayfor the supply of a range of products that will be usedin Consilium's navigationsystems.

The long-term agreementwas ironed-out during therecent Nor-Shipping exhibi-tion in Oslo, Norway.

The deal includesHatteland's new 23 inch dis-play with LED backlight, inaddition to its 19 inch MMD(Maritime Multi Display), 27inch widescreen display, andthe recently launched panelcomputer 19 inch MMC(Maritime Multi Computer).

"When safety matters,product quality is a guidingcriteria for selecting our part-ners," said JohanKoskenniemi, managingdirector of ConsiliumProduction.

Trond K. Johannessen,president and CEO ofHatteland Display, also com-mented: "We are very happyand enthusiastic about thisopportunity to cooperateclosely with Consilium, ahighly respected andesteemed company in themaritime industry."

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 6

www.mol.co.jp

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has announced plansto move the MOL Technology ResearchCentre from its current site in Nishikojiya,Ota Ward, Tokyo, to Aso Ward in

Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. The Micom City site that will house the

new centre is being developed byKawasaki City to attract research anddevelopment institutes, to fuel future eco-nomic growth.

The MOL Technology Research Centre isinvolved in a number of vessel efficiencyprojects, such as analysing vessel fuel oilsand lubricants, developing a fuel oil pre-treatment device, research and developmenton CO2 reduction, and other R&D efforts to

improve storage and transport technologies,such as advanced reefer containers.

The company says that the new centrewill be an environmentally-friendlyresearch facility using energy-savingtechnologies to reduce its external power

consumption. This will include solar

energy, natural lighting, andice thermal storage systems,which use electricity tomake ice at night, whendemand for power is low,and then later melt the icefor air conditioning.

Construction of the MOLTechnology Research Centreis scheduled to be completedin February 2010.



MOL to move Technology Research Centre to Kawasaki

Canadian ENCsnow availableunder Flexible

Licensingwww.ukho.gov.uk

The United KingdomHydrographic Office(UKHO) has signed a revi-sion to its agreement withthe Canadian HydrographicService (CHS) to include itsofficial Electronic NavigationCharts (ENCs) within theAdmiralty Vector ChartService (AVCS) FlexibleLicensing Service.

The revision also extendsto SENC distribution, andincludes a total of 737Canadian ENCs in 47 folios(three transit, five regionaland 39 port) now availableunder Flexible Licensing.Previously, these folios couldonly be purchased for a peri-od of 12 months.

Under the new agreement,UKHO says that it will offerdiscounts to shipping compa-nies who only need the ENCsfor a shorter period of time.The discounts are 20 per centfor nine months use, 40 percent for six months and 64 percent for three months.

“This builds on our estab-lished relationship with theCHS, whose ENCs we havebeen distributing for severalyears,” said AVCS productmanager Jason Scholey.

“All Canadian ENCs arenow available on AVCSFlexible Licensing, whichallows users to accuratelymatch the ENCs that theyhold to their operational pat-terns. This approach lowersthe overall cost of ownershipby ensuring that ENCs arenot paid for when they areno longer required.”

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 7

www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com

Naval Reserve Officer Training Candidate(NROTC) students at college campuses inSan Diego, US, have become the first peo-ple to use a new navigation training pack-age by Sperry Marine.

The computerised learning DVD sys-tem contains 16 interactive courseware(ICW) training lessons on the use andoperation of Sperry Marine’s VoyageManagement System (VMS) ship naviga-tion software.

The system will be used in the naviga-


Digital Ship

tion training curriculum for NROTC stu-dents at the University of San Diego andother San Diego college campuses.

The e-Learning courseware was createdby Sperry Marine’s team of navigationinstructors and courseware developers,and is used to complement traditionalVMS lessons taught in the company’straining and simulator facilities in the US,as well as shipboard instructor-providedtraining.

“We are pleased to be the firstNROTC programme in the country tomake use of this excellent instructional

tool for preparing our future officersfor their careers in the naval service,”said Capt Mark Woolley, commandingofficer of the five San Diego-areaNROTC units.

Jeff Holloway, Sperry Marine, alsocommented: "This ICW has been recentlyincorporated as a navigation trainingdelivery method at the US NavalAcademy. The eLearning courseware willgive the NROTC students an opportunityto become familiar with the standard elec-tronic navigation system used throughoutthe US Navy."

The new display can connect withup to ten different systems

Naval students first to use Sperry e-Learning system

Garmin releasesVHF marine radios

www.garmin.com

Garmin International has launched its newVHF 300 marine radio, including featureslike multi-station support, a black box con-figuration, and additional options like anintegrated dual-band AIS (automatic iden-tification system) receiver.

The VHF 300 has 25 watts of transmitpower and has both NMEA 2000 andNMEA 0183 connectivity, with a black box which can be mounted anywhere out-of-sight.

The VHF 300 also features NOAAweather alerts, Class D Digital SelectiveCalling (DSC) capability, and PositionTracking, which allows a mariner to locateother ships.

The radio is equipped with a two-way30-watt hailer compatibility for communi-cation with other vessels, with the userable to replay up to 90 seconds of the lastincoming voice transmission at the touchof a button.

The AIS version of the radio, VHF 300AIS, combines all of the features men-tioned above with four built-in receivers:one dedicated for VHF communications,one for Class D DSC transmissions, andtwo dedicated AIS receivers.

The VHF 300 AIS receives both Class Aand Class B signals simultaneously.

www.sam-electronics.de

A new type-approved Navigation DataDisplay (NDD) system for selective pres-entation of individually arranged con-ning-type data has been introduced bySAM Electronics.

The system has been designed for usein remote locations such as ship bridgewings or ceilings and is an optional exten-sion to the NACOS 5 series of integratednavigation command configurations.

The system is based on a panel-type PCwith TFT (thin film transistor) displayfunctions, and is remote-controllable

direct from NACOS assembly radars. Upto ten systems can be operated, with mainnavigation and engine control presenta-tion data being selectable for arrangementin six collective sections.

Data available for selective presenta-tion typically includes that for Gyro andrate-of-turn, speed, rudder performance,depth, relative and true wind speeds, andpropeller shaft RPM rates.

The system has already been commis-sioned by Cunard’s 90,000-gt QueenVictoria cruiseliner as an extension to itspresent NACOS 65-5 navigation com-mand assembly.

SAM releases navigation display system

www.fugro.com

Fugro Seastar has announced the intro-duction of its MarineSTAR ManoeuvringSystem for marine vessels, which com-bines information from different sensorsto provide accuracy in the range of tens ofcentimetres.

The system utilises differential naviga-tion antennas located in the bow and sternof the ship to calculate full ship vectordata, which is then delivered on displayswhich can be located in the wheelhouseand on the ship’s bridge wings.

The system can also be installed

embedded within a ship’s IntegratedBridge System, to be integrated with otheravailable navigational data, and can pro-vide an alternative to conventional navi-gation aids such as gyro compass and rateof turn indicator.

As well as heading, the system displaysand outputs speed over the ground inboth the fore and aft and athwartshipsdirections.

Following successful engineering seatrials on Fugro’s own survey vessel, theFugro Mercator, the system has beeninstalled onboard a passenger cruise shipfor trials.

In addition to installation on cruiseships, Fugro says that it is expected thatMarineSTAR will be suitable for otherlarge ships such as crude oil tankers, largebulk carriers, container ships and car car-riers to assist navigation and berthing inconfined waters.

“With MarineSTAR the ship is effec-tively navigated independently at both the bow and stern of the vessel, thistogether with the long baseline betweenthe two antennas enables us to calculateship movement very accurately,”explained Mark Howells, designer of theMarineSTAR system.

Additional system functions still underdevelopment include quay distance meas-urement for berthing assistance and foreand aft trim measurement to aid in bunkerfuel optimisation.

Vessel manoeuvring technologyfrom Fugro www.teledyne-tss.com

Teledyne TSS has completed the deliveryof a set of eight of its SG Brown Meridiangyrocompasses to the Turkish CoastGuard, making a total of 22 now supplied.

The Meridian Standard Gyrocompassesare for the Integrated Navigation SystemProject of the Turkish Coastguard, and arebeing installed aboard the Turkish CoastGuard's older Patrol boats.

The delivery includes the Gyro unitand a full fit of modern repeater units foreach of the 22 vessels. TSS agent Ratelmakwill be commissioning the systems on

board each vessel, and offering full techni-cal and operational training to all crewsand technicians.

The Meridian gyro employs a dynami-cally tuned gyrosphere, which reducesmaintenance requirements and costs. Thegyrosphere gives the compass a settle timeof 45 minutes and the ability to followrates of turn as rapid as 200 degrees per second.

The company says that the systemoffers a large array of digital or analogueoutputs plus a number of digital set-upand test modes that are activated via thecontrol unit.

Teledyne completes Turkish Coast Guard contract

The system allows for decimetre accuracyin vessel manoeuvring

www.veripos.com

Veripos is to provide medium to long-term GNSS positioning products and serv-ices for four Indian DP vessel operators,for use in their respective domestic andinternational offshore operations.

Among the companies is GreatshipIndia, which has commissioned Veripos’Standard positioning service and LID3-G1 hardware on the DP vesselsGreatship Amrita, Greatship Anjali,Greatship Dhriti, Greatship Disha, andGreatship Diya, with a further four ves-sels to be supplied with similar facilitieslater this year.

The company is currently also engagedin a new-build programme involving fur-

ther additions to its DP fleet between nowand 2011.

Great Offshore has fitted Veripos’LID3-G1 integrated receivers for receptionof its Standard GNSS augmentation serv-ices on two DP vessels, FFSV Malaviya 25and FFSV Malaviya 27.

Varun Shipping Co is another of thecompanies that has committed to identi-cal equipment and services, which arenow operational aboard DP anchor han-dling tugs AHTS Subhadra and AHTSSuchandra.

Additionally, Veripos has also beenawarded a three-year contract to provideLD2-G2 equipment and its Standard serv-ices for TAG Offshore’s new anchor han-dling tug ship, TAG 4.

Indian operators in positioning technology deal

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 8

UKHO is building toward a ‘digital future’ with the release of its new e-Navigator product – however, disagreements overhow digital data should reach the market have emerged, as the Hydrographic Office has taken issue with an innovative

Primar-backed ENC licensing service from Datema. Digital Ship spoke to UKHO CEO, Mike Robinson

Rocky seas on the voyage to digital navigation

TT he UKHO has launched its newAdmiralty e-Navigator solution, aservice which it says should help

to make navigation and fleet managementsimpler and safer. The service will bemade available to the market free ofcharge in late 2009.

The e-Navigator system presents a sin-gle real-time view of a wide range of mar-itime information to the mariner at a sin-gle workstation, as well as allowing shorebased managers and their suppliers tohave access to the same information.

This includes paper and digital chartholdings, tide, weather and other relateddata, while the system also provides for real-time ordering and delivery ofrelated products, so the vessel can get thenavigation information it needs as quick-ly as possible.

UKHO chief executive officer MikeRobinson says he is excited about thepotential of the service, which he believeswill help to streamline ship navigation bymaking access to the relevant data asstraightforward as possible.

“Admiralty e-Navigator is essentially aback of bridge planning station with anintegrated digital catalogue, both dealingwith paper and digital products from our-selves and our partners for all of themariner's navigational needs,” he told us.

“It also forms the basis of the planningstation for route planning and voyageplanning. Within the planning stationyou will have everything you need toplan your voyage, to buy your naviga-tional products, to manage the productson board.”

“You've got this back of bridge piece ofsoftware, it communicates with a very bigdatabase sitting in Taunton (UKHO's headoffice), and the distributor can access thedatabase. The fleet manager can see exact-ly what is on each one of their vessels,what it's been updated to, what the vesselsare ordering.”

The management of this orderingprocess on the shore side can include thecreation of credit limits, to prevent vesselsordering without any form of control, andthe inclusion of provisions where a trans-action has to be approved by the shippingcompany before it comes through.

IntegrationThe system is completely web-based, withthe back of bridge application communi-cating and synchronising with the data-base on shore via the onboard satellitecommunications.

“Whatever the vessel has in terms of itscomms, we can work with slower systemsor the fastest broadband systems,” saidMr Robinson.

“It basically allows seamless end to endtransactions from the vessel, the shippingcompany, to others. We're going to make

Admiralty products and our partners' prod-ucts very easy to buy update and manage.”

“The infrastructure, the buying, thebasic passage planning, all of these thingsthat other people charge quite a lot ofmoney for at the moment, we believe weshould do, because our product is the datapart, ENCs, the chart publications, and soon. We're providing this infrastructure asa way of dealing with this in a very easyway. The benefit (to us) comes from thesale of our products through the channel.”

A further extension of this idea is thatUKHO is planning to make the platformas open as possible, and hopes to encour-age other navigation systems manufactur-ers to allow their technology to integratewith the e-Navigator set-up.

“Anybody can build modules andseamlessly interface them with the e-Navigator, for example weather routing,optimisation, things like that,” said Mr Robinson.

“Most of the systems that are out thereand are under development we knowabout and are already actively workingwith, so that when we launch and roll-outthe main systems out there will already beintegrated. The idea is that we want everyone of our 100+ distributors providing thisto shipping companies to get the best take-up of the system.”

“It's a huge investment, but at a timewhen (ECDIS) mandation is now certain,shipping companies have to start thistransition, and one thing we hear all thetime is 'we want a one stop shop, wewant it like paper where we can just go toone place and get what we need'. That'swhy we're not constraining it to justAdmiralty products, our distributors willbe able to put IMO publications in,charts, paper charts.”

The development of the system hascome about through close collaborationwith maritime software provider Maris,whose technology forms the backbone ofe-Navigator.

“The easiest way of describing it is thatthe actual back of bridge application isbased on the Maris MDS system, to theextent that when we launch this Maris willwithdraw MDS from the market,” saidMr Robinson.

“What we've done is, MDS caters forabout 80 per cent of what we wanted back ofbridge, and we're working with Maris, andhave been for several months now, to devel-op Admiralty e-Navigator. Part of it is theMDS application, but we're going to provideAdmiralty e-Navigator free of charge, toanybody, through our distributors.”

Digital futurePilot testing of the e-Navigator systembegan in July, in partnership with threedistributors and a number of shippingcompanies with a small number of vessels.

“The system is very flexible, you couldhave a distributor that will use it initiallypurely to order paper products workingwith the shipping company, but withnothing working back of bridge, right theway through to a shipping companyallowing its vessels, in paper and digital,to order and update seamlessly through tous and back,” said Mr Robinson.

“You can also have every conceivablecombination in between. So what we’retrying to do is pick a range of distributorsand shipping companies and vessels thatwill use the system in a way that will testall of these different combinations.”

It is possible that having this kind ofoption for paper chart users could be seenas facilitating those who are putting off theswitch to electronic charts, by providingelectronic speed of updating for non-elec-tronic charts, making it easier to postponethe inevitable switch to ECDIS.

Mr Robinson does not believe this is thecase however, and hopes that integratingthe paper and digital worlds in this waywill help to smooth the path between thetwo rather than keeping paper as the moreattractive alternative.

“We always look at these systems asbeing supportive of digital (navigation),and the future is digital,” he told us. “Butby far more paper charts are used in theworld today than digital charts. So if we’rereally going to get shipping companies toadopt this way of working, which is muchmore efficient for them, it’s also got to sup-port paper.”

“Therefore, even if a shipping companyhas no digital products, e-Navigator stillmakes sense because they can order paperproducts directly through the distributorto us, the distributor’s interface to us is

better, the management of the folios onboard can be done, and the shipping com-pany knows what folios are onboard.”

“They may have Admiralty e-Navigator with simple paper chart updat-ing, and that’s all they may run.Alternatively they may be ordering end-to-end ENCs, updates and so on.”

ECDISThe e-Navigator system is part of anincreasing movement on the part of theUKHO to work towards improving inte-gration in onboard navigation systems.The upcoming mandatory ECDIS require-ment is helping to drive this, with thetechnology having the potential to act as afocal point for navigation information onthe bridge.

In this regard, UKHO has already beenworking with ECDIS manufacturers onways of improving the transmission ofchart data to the ship and into the ECDIS,where it can be used for navigation, hav-ing last year announced two new agree-ments with Transas and Kelvin Hughes.

These deals have included new distri-bution methods for ENCs, whereby anECDIS would be delivered already loadedwith a worldwide portfolio of ENCs,which could then be opened and licensedas required.

“The deal with Transas, in one sense,wasn't a deal with Transas, we've pro-duced a new type of distribution agree-ment, an OEM solution provider agree-ment, that's really aimed at ECDIS manu-facturers that want their own data sup-ply,” said Mr Robinson.

“Transas had already had their TX97unofficial charts and moved into supply-ing official ENCs. What we're basicallyproviding is a complete data set for themto be able to build their own system andfolios. It's their product, we’re just basical-ly powering it with our data. That is opento any OEM to work with us.”

“The second thing we're doing withOEMs is the Kelvin Hughes arrangement,which is also implicit in the Transas agree-ment, which is ‘pre-fill’. So the concept isvery simple, when ECDIS manufacturersship their ECDIS, ship it with AVCS(Admiralty Vector Chart Service) pre-loaded. We signed a deal with KelvinHughes and with Transas, but there arequite a number of other OEMs that we arein discussion with.”

Mr Robinson notes that the advances inENC coverage in the last few years havemade the benefits of such an arrangementgreater than ever before.

“ECDIS that were built ten years ago, ifyou remember what PCs were like tenyears ago, that's what the technology islike on a lot of vessels,” he said.

“It was fine when there were a fewhundred ENCs around, but we're now up


ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION

‘We always look at these systems as beingsupportive of digital navigation, and thefuture is digital’ – Mike Robinson, UKHO

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 9

to 9,780 ENCs, which will be up to 10,000very soon. Loading 10,000 ENCs into anECDIS is not a good experience for themariner.”

“What’s built up has been very slowover the last ten, twelve or fifteen years,companies fitted the best ECDIS that wasthere at the time. What we’ve now got isreally a mish-mash, as we get to manda-tion and go through manda-tion I think there will bequite a lot of consolidation,and that will make thesetypes of integrated servicesmuch easier to provide.”

UKHO is also looking atways that it can assist inimproving general industrycompetence in the use ofelectronic navigation tech-nology ahead of the IMO car-riage requirement deadlines.

“We've developed sometraining on the use of ENCsto complement the IMOmandatory ECDIS course,where we see there's a gap inthe market,” said MrRobinson.

“Our training is verymuch aimed at how to navi-gate using ENCs as opposedto how to deal with anECDIS. We are working withthe OEMs to get the widestpossible training formariners.”

“We believe there is train-ing that is required for safenavigation that goes beyondthe IMO syllabus. I'm sure atsome point we'll talk to theIMO about whether theywant to adopt some of thisinto the syllabus. What'simportant is that we havegood, trained mariners,because if they're welltrained and using ENCs on agood ECDIS, then that is thesafest form of navigation.”

Licensing issuesWhile all of these develop-ments may add up to aninevitable digital future, theform that that digital futurewill take, at least in the shortterm, is causing some dis-agreement among those atthe front line of the electron-ic navigation industry.

Dynamic licensing hasbeen one of the major inno-vations in charting that hashelped to separate ENCsfrom their paper counter-parts, with companies able topay for charts on three, six,nine or twelve monthlicences depending on theirrequirements.

Mr Robinson believes thatthis type of arrangement, asoffered by suppliers likeJeppesen Marine in conjunc-tion with Primar and theNorwegian HydrographicService, has been a usefuladdition to the market, but

notes that the benefits may not be quite asfar reaching as they first appear.

“Dynamic licensing, like the Jeppesensolution, is quite a nice concept and we arevery supportive of anybody that's tryingto innovate in terms of pricing,” he toldus. “We ourselves have been workingwith other Hydrographic Offices to bemore flexible in terms of how data is avail-

able. The whole six-month, nine-monthidea is a message we are continuously try-ing to sell to people.”

“Dynamic licensing is interesting, it'sflexible licensing which is something wehave within AVCS, that's there today. Thedifference with Jeppesen dynamic licens-ing is that you can set it so you only buythe licence an hour or so before you're

going to navigate into that area.”“Conceptually, we believe that there is

a problem with that, because to be compli-ant you have to plan your voyage on thedata you're going to use, though I thinkthat in their literature they do make thatclear. That then removes the real differen-tiator that dynamic licensing has.”

Mr Robinson also suggests that the idea


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of dynamic licensing does not addresssome of the fundamental issues behind acompany’s reluctance to take up electron-ic charts.

“This has always been my argument,are these things trying to solve the prob-lem or are they just addressing the symp-toms?” he said.

“Even the extent of three month, sixmonth, nine month, twelve month licens-ing, we don’t have that in paper. We don’thave it in paper because the price ofworldwide charts for a big shipping com-pany is at a level where, even if they usethe chart or not, they will carry it becauseit makes sense.”

“We’ve never had to go down the routeof ‘if you buy this paper you get this dis-count’ or ‘can we buy only for sixmonths?’, it’s never been an issue.”

Mr Robinson believes that the focusshould be on driving down the price ofENCs, rather than finding ways to useexpensive ENCs more cheaply.

“The ‘symptom’ is that ENCs boughton the same basis are too expensive, soyou try and reduce the licence period andtry and do all these things, but to me that’saddressing the symptom,” he said.

“The problem is that we’ve got to getthe global price of ENCs at a level whereshipping companies will buy ENCs, andwill buy them in a worldwide portfolio ora folio covering most of the routes they’regoing to be going on, so it’s not a case ofneeding to, on the fly, buy an extra cell –because they’ll have it anyway.”

“What we’re trying to do is address theproblem, which is why we continuouslywork with Hydrographic Offices aroundthe world to get the price of ENCs lowerfor the mariner.”

DatemaDutch chart agent Datema has gone a stepfurther with the dynamic licensing idea byrecently releasing a new ENC service thateliminates the need to pay for chart datawhile planning passage, and instead hav-ing the licence begin when the ship passesover the chart area (see article on page 1).

Mr Robinson, and the UKHO itself, hashowever taken issue with the release ofthis Datema system, and is questioningthe validity of such an arrangement underinternational Hydrographic Office agree-ments.

“Datema's is very different, because theconcept of it puts no value on the databeing used for planning – you've got thedata, you've got the permit, you can openthe data and look at it and plan your route,and only pay if the vessel tracks over thedata,” said Mr Robinson.

“I have a bit of a conceptual problemwith that, because I believe that 70 per centof navigation is in planning, and thereforenot having any value associated with theplanning gives me a bit of a conceptualproblem.”

“I love the concept that you can pro-vide something more flexible to shippingcompanies, but the actual implementa-tion of it at the moment, as the UKHO I

actually have an issue with it.”In this instance Datema has agreed a

deal with Primar for the supply of ENCsunder this ‘pay after planning’ model, andUKHO is questioning whether this kind ofdeal is contrary to the internationallyagreed rules regarding electronic chartsupply.

“The supplier of data to Datema isPrimar, and Primar receive data from theirown countries which they're a RENC for,but also IC-ENC, which the UK operatesand I'm a member of,” said Mr Robinson.

“IC-ENC's position is very clear, wealso support innovative pricing providingit meets the licensing terms that we haveagreed as a set of 25 countries. The UK hasformally asked IC-ENC to look at whetherthe arrangement that Primar have madewith Datema is in line with the pricingterms that are set by those countries.”

“I think, from our understanding ofwhat they are doing, there is sufficientconcern that we have asked IC-ENC toclarify with Primar what these pricingterms are. If a pricing mechanism has beenagreed which places no value on the datafor planning purposes, that the cell can beopened and viewed, then that would, onthe face of it, not appear to be in line withthe pricing rules that IC-ENC sets.”

“From my position as the UKHO, I placea value on our data irrespective of whethera vessel tracks over it. The concept of novalue, then you go over it and pay fully,probably needs to be adjusted to get thebuy in of a country like the UKHO.”

Mr Robinson admits that the release ofthe Datema service came as a bit of a sur-prise, with the new licensing model notdiscussed with the Hydrographic commu-nity, as far as UKHO is aware, before itwas publicly released.

“I can say, as a member and operator ofIC-ENC, and with us having our regularmeeting of the 25 countries (at the begin-ning of June) in Monaco, that there hasbeen no request made to IC-ENC for theircountries data to be used in a pricingmechanism that does not put any value onthe use of the data for planning purposes,”he told us.

“This is really a 'fixed + variable' pric-ing mechanism, where the fixed is zero,it's all variable. I'm sure that there is a pric-ing structure where there is a value placedon having access to the data, to look at it,to plan around, and then a variableamount to actually use that data to executeyour voyage.”

“The IC-ENC terms under which theysupply to VARs, of which Primar or the Norwegian Hydrographic Service isone, are very clear, so we have just asked for clarification as to whether thisdoes fall within the pricing mechanisms.In terms of where this ends up, I can’tcomment at the moment, but we wantinnovation, we want to come up withthings that the customer wants. We’ll seewhat happens.”

It seems that the road to the digital nav-igation future may not be quite as smoothas the industry might have hoped. DS

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 11

LL ong Range Identification andTracking, or LRIT, has been a pop-ular topic for maritime authorities

over the past few years, with discussionand debate eventually leading IMO tointroduce a requirement whereby vesselswould have to transmit their location toofficial bodies on a continuous basis.

Sounds simple – however, the detailssurrounding the introduction of the LRITprogramme have been less clear-cut.

The questions of who will gather thisdata, and how it will be transmitted andused, have not always been well understoodacross the industry, while vessel operatorshave obviously been keen to ensure thatthey are not left to foot the bill for satellitecommunications with regulatory bodies.

With the programme now finally on-line, after some initial delays to IMO’soriginal January 1st 2009 start date, LRITrequirements in the maritime industryneed to be widely understood by all typesof shipping companies.

The LRIT system became operational onJuly 1st 2009, following an intensive periodof activity during the transitional periodwhich ended on June 30th. The first period-ic position LRIT message between two LRITData Centres was sent on the first day ofoperation, at 00:01:34 on July 1st.

So, what exactly is involved in IMO’sLRIT programme, and how does it affectyou?

Safety and securityThe stated aim of LRIT is to enhance

security for government authorities, byproviding ship identity and current loca-tion information in sufficient time for agovernment to evaluate the security riskposed by a ship off its coast and torespond, if necessary, to reduce the risk.

It aims to provide a global system forthe identification and tracking of shipsthat extends the monitoring of shipsbeyond those areas covered by existingAIS (Automatic Identification Systems)and short-range coastal networks.

An active and accurate LRIT systemalso has potential maritime safety benefits,where accurate information on the loca-tion of the ship in distress, as well as shipsin the vicinity that could lend assistance,could save valuable response time to affecta timely rescue and perhaps minimise pol-lution along a coastline.

As a primarily safety- and security-basedinitiative the system falls within the remit ofthe International Maritime Organisation(IMO), which, as an international body, cancreate and enforce standards in reporting tocreate a workable system.

And so it was that on 19 May 2006, theIMO adopted resolutions MSC 202 (81)and MSC 211 (81) of the Marine SafetyCommittee stating amendments to theInternational Convention of Safety of LifeAt Sea, 1974 (SOLAS), and introduced the

IMO’s global LRIT information system, after an initial delay on its January 1st 2009 start date, has now come into effect, requiring mandatory data transmission from certain classes of ships.

Are you in compliance? Digital Ship looks at the evolution of LRIT

LRIT – the story so far


Digital Ship

establishment of the LRIT system.This system created a mandatory

requirement for all passenger ships, highspeed craft, mobile offshore drilling unitsand cargo ships of over 300 gross tonnes,specifying that Flag States should ensureas a minimum that four position messagesper ship per day (every 6 hours) are sent,stored, and are available for those entitledto access LRIT information.

As of July 1st all of the above classes ofvessels are expected to be compliant in thetransmission of LRIT information.

That information can be accessed byFlag States demanding information on thelocation of their vessels; Coastal Statesrequesting information on ships up to 1,000Nm from their coasts, irrespective of theirflag; Port States requesting information onthose ships that have declared to have oneof their ports as destination, irrespective offlag (on receipt of the Notice of Arrival);and Search and Rescue authorities.

Of course, this is easier said than done– creating a global network of live vesseldata accessible by multiple bodies simul-taneously meant that a brand new datainfrastructure needed to be created.

DataThe IMO has appointed the InternationalMobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO) asLRIT Coordinator to manage parts of thisoverall system, essentially consisting ofshipborne LRIT information transmittingequipment connected to an LRIT DataCentre, which is in turn part of anInternational LRIT Data Exchange.

The transmitting equipment should becapable of transmitting the LRIT informa-tion using a communication system whichprovides coverage in all areas where the

ship operates.In many cases this would be an

Inmarsat-C system already installed forGMDSS compliance, though other LRITequipment using satellite networks withglobal coverage, such as Iridium, can alsobe used.

Having a system that could run overexisting installed equipment was seen as apriority in the introduction of the LRITsystem, to eliminate the need for most ves-sel operators to bear the cost of installingnew units onboard.

On the other end of this data connec-tion is the LRIT Data Centre.

The EU LRIT DC is the biggest datacentre of the whole international LRIT sys-tem, established in October 2007 by the EUCouncil of Ministers.

It entered into production following suc-cessful developmental testing on June 1st2009, ahead of IMO’s July deadline and fol-lowing 18 months of developmental work.

This Data Centre tracks around 10,000ships, which generate a minimum of40,000 position reports per day, and is acombined effort of the European FlagStates, managed by the EuropeanCommission through EMSA (EuropeanMaritime Safety Agency).

At present, there are 32 EU MemberStates, EFTA countries and OverseasTerritories participating in the EU LRITDC (with this number expected to increasewith other countries joining in the future),meaning that this Data Centre covers anestimated 20 to 25 per cent of the worldfleet subject to LRIT.

Delays Challenges involved in the creation of thisand other Data Centres were cited as the

main reason behind the postponement ofthe LRIT deadline from January 2009 toJuly 2009, with the technical developmentof the system proving to be more complexthan expected and many ContractingGovernments not able to meet the deadline.

The integration of Data Centres into theinternational production environment isstill on going.

A number of LRIT Data Centres werealready integrated into the original LRITproduction environment at the end of 2008(such as the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada,Republic of Korea, Marshall Islands andUnited States).

In addition, during 2009, a total ofeight Data Centres have been integratedinto the LRIT system and a further 16Centres are in the process of finalisingdevelopmental testing, and are expectedto be integrated shortly.

In total, these Data Centres representmore than 80 per cent of the world’s regis-tered fleet.

IMSO is heavily involved in the integra-tion process, and says it is working with afurther 41 Data Centres which are expectedto be integrated by the end of 2009, leadingto a total of 55 Centres overall.

At the end of 2009, IMSO will start toaudit those centres integrated at the end of2008 on a phased basis, in line with theirintegration during 2008.

IMSO has so far signed five LRITServices Agreements with the DataCentres of Chile, India, Panama andTurkey, as well as the EU LRIT DC(through EMSA), with further agreementscurrently under negotiation.

Each Data Centre is to be charged£8,500 for interim authorisation in 2009,according to IMSO rules, and the audit fee

IMO’s LRIT infrastructure should see data from different areas collected together in one International LRIT Data Exchange,and accessible by all contracting governments

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 12



for the seven Data Centres that are liablefor 2009 audits should be charged at thesame amount.

All Data Centres which are part of theLRIT System will thus be charged at thesame level for 2009.

The Data Centres all form part of thewider International LRIT system, with allparticipating States sharing a commoninterface to the International LRIT DataExchange (IDE).

Information is circulated among partic-ipants through a system of National,Regional, Co-operative and InternationalLRIT Data Centres, using where neces-sary, the LRIT International DataExchange (see diagram, left).

Each Administration should provide alist of the ships entitled to fly its flag andrequired to transmit LRIT information tothe LRIT Data Centre it has selected, togeth-er with other relevant details, and shouldupdate these lists when changes occur.

This interlinking of LRIT Data Centresmakes it possible for users to requestinformation on ships flying the flag ofother countries, and, depending on thetype of user, allows them to consult theposition of any ship that is in the vicinityof its coastline or that is bound for one ofits ports.

In the case of the EU LRIT DC thisincludes access to a web user interface toconsult position reports and request spe-cific positions of ships. This interface alsoallows the ships to be viewed graphically,where users can follow a particular ship orlist of ships.

CostsThe issue of who would carry the costs inthe running of this system was a majorpart of the discussions when the establish-ment of the LRIT system was first mooted.

Asking ship owners to pay for the costsof transmitting their own location toauthorities would have understandablyled to uproar in the maritime community,and designing the system to run on exist-ing equipment in most cases has beenhelpful in avoiding potential problems inthis regard.

As it stands currently, the programmehas been set up to allow internationalLRIT Data Centres to be able to chargeother Data Centres for sharing vesselinformation, with charges in this regard tobe regulated by IMSO.

IMSO has created a Model FinancialContract for these Data Centres to use(whether national, regional, cooperativeor international data centres, or betweencommercial entities), which includes pro-visions for Data Centres to issue invoicesfor information exchanged on a monthlybasis (or any other time period agreedbetween the parties).

This does not include Search andRescue services establishing or participat-ing in a data centre, who shall still be enti-tled to receive LRIT information in rela-tion to the search and rescue of ships indistress at sea free of charge.

Price lists for LRIT information will bepublished on the IDE in real time, withbillable items including Periodic changerates, Polls, Position reports, and Archive

information (which includes most recentposition).

As the largest Data Centre, the EU LRITDC has put in place its own invoicing andbilling system for the invoicing of costsassociated with the use of the system andrequesting of LRIT reports, which alsoenables the clearance of payments withother data centres worldwide.

This system is operated by dedicatedstaff, who are responsible for the invoicingand financial management of the EU LRITprogramme.

Future developmentsWhile the LRIT programme is still in itsvery first days, the potential further devel-opment of the system is already beingexamined, with the authorities beginningto look at additional ways in which thisvast collection of data could be used toimprove conditions in the maritimedomain.

The idea of integrating space-based AISinformation (see page 20 for one suchexample of this technology) to enhance theglobal vessel location picture is one possi-ble area of improvement, which wouldremove the requirement for vessels totransmit their own information via satel-lite.

Further integration with safety systemsis also a key area, with EMSA in particularlooking at how it might leverage LRITinformation to assist in rescue operations.

The EU LRIT DC will be linked to theSafeSeaNet system, an electronic reportingand information system for vessel traffic

in the European Union.LRIT data will be used to complement

SafeSeaNet's AIS data, combining bothshort and long range information. Data onships, their cargo, and other aspects con-tained in EMSA's databases will bepooled.

EMSA has also set up a MaritimeSupport Services (MSS) helpdesk for EUMember States which supports both LRITand SafeSeaNet.

This MSS helpdesk aims to be the focalpoint for providing Search and Rescuedata to assist Member States while alsofacilitating the exchange of informationwith other LRIT data centres worldwide.

The MSS will operate around the clockfrom the second half of 2009, and hopes toalso integrate other maritime applicationsin the future such as CleanSeaNet (pollu-tion monitoring) and THETIS (shipinspections).

EMSA’s ultimate aim is to have allEMSA applications hosted on a commonplatform in-house, with the MSS acting as a'one-stop-shop' for support to ParticipatingStates for all maritime applications.

This would have to be done through anintegrated system that provides a compre-hensive image of vessel traffic in theEuropean Union.

That future may still be some way off,but the first steps have now been takenwith the introduction of the LRIT regula-tions on July 1st. Despite the delays, if thisexchange of information can improve safe-ty and speed up rescue operations, it willprove well worth the effort. DS

More is Better

Fugro Seastar AS: World Leaders in High Performance Positioning for DP Systems.

Fugro Seastar AS, Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 21 50 14 00 Fax: +47 21 50 14 01 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.fugroseastar.no

Access to multiple lines of position, derived from a mix of satellites, means that any satellite with an inconsistent measurement can be treated as an ‘outlier’ and ignored.

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 13


Digital Ship

TT he recent IMO Maritime SafetyCommittee meeting has confirmedtimescales for the compulsory car-

riage of ECDIS.The shipping industry clearly needs to

start making plans for its introduction,which is phased over a number of years from2012. The main issues to consider are whento undertake the change, what equipment tobuy – including what back-up system to use– and what user training is required.

The purchasing decision on the primaryECDIS is little different to that which needsto be applied for any major navigationalunit, such as radar. It has to meet IMO per-formance standards and be acceptable tothe ship owner in terms of price, detailedfeatures, serviceability and reliability.

However, before being able to make anyprogress on through-life costing of ECDIS,companies must understand the variousoptions that are possible for ECDIS back-up, which is a compulsory item.

IMO states that the purpose of the back-up system ‘is to ensure that safe naviga-tion is not compromised in the event ofECDIS failure’. It emphasises that it mustallow a timely transfer during critical nav-igation situations.

In effect, back-up possibilities can becategorised into three major groups – theuse of paper charts, a second ECDIS and aunit with restricted ECDIS functionality.

For all back-up solutions it is essentialthat the explicit requirements of IMO andits detailed interpretation by the Flag Stateare followed.

Paper chartsTo many, the use of paper charts for back-up initially seems an attractive solution.OOWs are highly familiar with their use,the procurement route is well known andpaper products don’t suffer from electron-ic failures.

Unfortunately there are considerableoperational problems in using paper

charts as a back-up to ECDIS. It is necessary to have a full set of cor-

rected paper charts for the planned voy-age with the route plan and alternativesplotted. This route must be painstakinglytransferred from the ECDIS, considerablycomplicating and lengthening the timetaken for the planning process.

Also, the time consuming task of apply-ing corrections to paper charts still has tobe carried out.

During the voyage the appropriatepaper chart must be displayed on the charttable with own ship’s position plotted atsuitable intervals. This is to ensure that itcan be immediately available for naviga-tion if the primary system fails.

Perhaps unexpectedly, this potentialsolution also has a high ongoing cost that isnot borne by electronic back-up solutions.

This is because the costs of a paperchart service on a ship not fitted withECDIS will apply equally to a ship usingpaper charts just as a back-up; the costs ofthe primary ECDIS, ENC base charts andENC updates will directly add to these.

Conversely, an electronic back-up hasan immediate and significant ongoing costbenefit simply because the regular ENClicence fee allows use on up to five sepa-rate systems on the ship.

In broad terms the cost of permits forENCs and their updates is equal to that ofusing paper charts with a correction service.

Electronic back-upThe use of a second ECDIS as the back-upsystem has a number of operationaladvantages.

Perhaps ideally it should be an identicalunit to the primary ECDIS, because it sig-nificantly eases training issues and alsosimplifies servicing and software updating.It also generally eases the transfer betweenunits of planned routes, Mariners’ Notes,manual updates and other items.

With two ECDIS on board it allows two

members of the bridge team easy access toall ECDIS functions, permitting, forinstance, route planning on one while theother is being used for route monitoring.

A significant portion of the price build-up of an ECDIS is to cover its softwaredevelopment and maintenance. Thismeans that the supplier may consideroffering a very financially attractive dealfor a back-up ECDIS, if the alternative isjust the purchase of a single unit per ship.

The third back-up option of using a unitwith restricted ECDIS functionality has notbeen explored in great detail to date butcould perhaps become a viable option.

IMO has issued requirements that haveto be met by ECDIS back-up systems anda standalone unit could be offered bysome manufacturers for this purpose.

For instance, it is possible that someFlag States would approve as a back-upthe use of a non-ECDIS electronic chartsystem (ECS) using ENC data providing itmet all IMO back-up requirements.

This may be particularly financiallyadvantageous if a suitable ECS is alreadyfitted to the vessel.

For a new build or if the radars arebeing concurrently replaced a possibleback-up is a chart radar designed to alsomeet the requirements of an ECDIS back-up. This is perhaps really only viable on aship that has two or more radars fittedsince use of a chart radar for charting func-tions in the event of ECDIS failure willcompromise its use as a radar.

All electronic?It may be a step too far to totally rely on anelectronic back-up system and there doesseem to be a case for having a set of emer-gency paper charts, at least until moreexperience with electronic backup solu-tions has been obtained.

It would seem to be sensible to have anappropriate set of small scale charts cover-ing the voyage, although there are cur-rently no recommendations in this area. Itis arguable that these need not be correct-ed to the latest edition but perhaps pro-cured annually.

They would only be put on the charttable if the primary ECDIS had failed. Atsuch a failure the route would be plotted,ideally by an officer not on watch, and acomparison made with critical compo-nents along the planned route with the up-to-date ENCs being used on the electronicback-up system.

Own ship’s position should then beplotted at appropriate intervals, just as ifpaper charts were being used as the statu-tory back-up.

In the unlikely event that the electronic

back-up system also fails the ship will thenremain navigable, although under ‘emer-gency’ conditions. Coastal authorities andthe Flag State would immediately beinformed of the situation and advice sought.

In such a situation, difficult segments ofthe route needing large scale fully updat-ed charts would not be attempted withoutexternal support.

It is clear that international discussionon this topic would be very useful sincecarrying such a set of charts would allayfears of many current OOWs contemplat-ing a fully electronic system.

Training Training must consist of a generic courseon ECDIS and appropriate familiarisationon specific equipment before its use. Thegeneric courses will undoubtedly be basedon an example of specific equipment buttypical differences in operation of avail-able equipment should be discussed.

Perhaps unfortunately, the existingIMO course does not explicitly differenti-ate between generic and familiarisationtraining, although this does not preventtraining colleges concentrating on a moregeneric approach.

Some consider that the problems offamiliarisation training have been overstat-ed by many people, who perhaps considerthat it should be a two day specific coursefor all new equipment encountered.

However, there is an opinion thatonboard computer based training can beused to enable a user already experienced inECDIS and having attended a good genericcourse to readily understand the ‘knobology’of a particular ECDIS in just an hour or two.

A generic course to enable this shouldprobably be of 5 days duration. Manyexisting ECDIS courses are currentlyrather less.

The essential nature of training, itscosts and consequential issues make it animportant part of shipping companies’plans when transitioning to ECDIS.

By taking back-up and training proper-ly into account it will help the decisions onhow and when to implement ECDIS, withthe IMO compulsory carriage dates just tobe ‘end-stops’ on the process.

Difficulties in transferring personnelbetween ECDIS and non-ECDIS ships mayencourage shipping companies to go withrather earlier fleet-wide fits than thatrequired by IMO.

Problems can arise whenever an OOWhas a long period of just using paper orelectronic charts and then has to transfer.These issues were discussed in my articlein the January/February 2009 issue ofDigital Ship.

IMO has agreed on a timetable for mandatory carriage requirements for ECDIS, but all vessels will still need to carryback-up systems in case of failure – back-up systems which have not been prescribed and will be down to the individual

choice of the shipping company. Dr Andy Norris examines the pros and cons of paper versus digital back-up

ECDIS back-up – paper or digital?

DS

Dr Andy �orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industry for anumber of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-tech navigationcompanies but now he is working on broader issues within the navigationalworld, providing both technical and business consultancy to the industry, gov-ernmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]

ECDIS Carriage Requirements� Passenger ships of 500 gross tonnage

and upwards constructed on or after 1 July 2012;

� Tankers of 3,000 gross tonnage and upwards constructed on or after 1 July 2012;

� Cargo ships, other than tankers, of 10,000 gross tonnage and upwards constructed on or after 1 July 2013;

� Cargo ships, other than tankers, of 3,000 gross tonnage and upwards but less than 10,000 gross tonnage constructed on or after 1 July 2014;

� Passenger ships of 500 gross tonnage and upwards constructed before 1 July 2012, not later than the first survey on or after 1 July 2014;

� Tankers of 3,000 gross tonnage and upwards constructed before 1 July

2012, not later than the first survey on or after 1 July 2015;

� Cargo ships, other than tankers, of 50,000 gross tonnage and upwards constructed before 1 July 2013, not later than the first survey on or after 1 July 2016;

� Cargo ships, other than tankers, of 20,000 gross tonnage and upwards but less than 50,000 gross tonnage constructed before 1 July 2013, not later than the first survey on or after 1 July 2017;

� Cargo ships, other than tankers, of 10,000 gross tonnage and upwards but less than 20,000 gross tonnage constructed before 1 July 2013, not later than the first survey on or after 1 July 2018.

p18-32:p26-32.qxd 17/07/2009 12:19 Page 14

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Datema making waves in ENC licensing - Uplogix