MAIN HEAD Heidenreich tools integrate ship tracking with management http://www.heidmar.com DECK HEAD Imagine if there was an online tool which linked ship tracking services over Inmarsat -C with shipmanagement and chartering? Heidenreich Innovations has created one BODY Heidenreich Innovations has produced an innovative online software tool called QFleet, which enables shipping companies to tie in real time fleet tracking services to management of their ship operations. The tool integrates with the Purplefinder ship tracking tool (www.purplefinder.com), operated by London based Pole Star Space Applications, which sends automatic daily position reports over Inmarsat -C. Purplefinder can receive position reports from the GMDSS system, mandatory on all large vessels. This data can then be incorporated into QFleet, and used for various management applications (such as updating charterers about when the vessel will next be available). The software can be configured to enable shipping agents, brokers and bunker suppliers to access any information the shipping company chooses and contribute to the data. The system is made up of various modules; customers can choose which modules they want. It is built up on the Microsoft .NET platform and has encrypted data transfer between the website and the user's computer. The tool is hosted by Heidenreich, not by the customers themselves (which means that Heidenreich can relieve shipping companies from the hassle of installing the software on their own servers). Heidenreich Innovations is a 6 person IT company, which grew out of the shipping company Heidenreich Marine, which controls over 50 large tankers. The group has been a separate company entity since April 2002 (previously the IT division of Heidenreich Marine). SUBHEAD Collaborative working One of the most important benefits of the tool is that it makes it easy for shipping agents, charterers and shipping company offices around the world to work together on the same data. "No one has developed an internet based post fixture platform which allows companies to manage their fleet and at the same time share real-time information with their customers and vendors," comments Fritz Heidenreich, president of Heidenreich Innovations. "The data is entered in where it originates; its not like you put the information in from different faxes sent by different people," he says. "Also, once the shipping company grants a vendor access to the system, they know that all of the information in it is up to date." The tool is an evolution of eFleetWatch, developed in house by Heidenreich Marine, to enable 11 shipowners in the tanker pool managed by the company to access the same information. Mr Heidenreich believes that the tool will prove particularly welcome in the broking community, where brokers fight amongst each other for a few seconds advantage in chasing after a fixture. Having access to real time data about ships will provide the brokers which use it with an advantage. Heidenreich has been trying to launch a tool like this one for a few years, he says, but it did not believe that the internet itself was secure, fast or reliable enough to support it. But the .NET platform makes many more things possible. The tool is very scaleable, Mr Heidenreich believes. "I don't think there's really a limit to how big we can go," he says. "We operate about 50 vessels here with it." "Once you get bigger, there's more customisation that's required, and more requirements that need to be met," he says. "But we can customise individual users or groups of users." Heidenreich Innovations can customise the software to make it look exactly how a shipping company wants it to look. The software doesn't have to be accessed via QFleet.com; the shipping company can access the system through its own website or a completely new internet domain name. SUBHEAD QOps QOps is a tool to manage the operations. The tool tracks vessel's arrival and departure dates, fuel consumptions, bunker inventories, port costs and other information. It notifies the user of any upcoming port calls where agents have not yet been nominated and warns if the ship does not have enough fuel onboard for its proposed itinerary. The tool can have real time ship tracking, integrating directly with the Purplefinder vessel tracking service, which gathers data directly from the vessel from a shipboard system using Inmarsat -C. Shipping companies have the option of giving the agent access to this module, so the agent can enter port logs, port costs and bill of lading details directly. The tool allows the user to keep track of open positions of vessels in the fleet; this information can be designated as public (available for perusal by brokers, charterers, competitor shipping companies) or private. This tool can be used internally by the shipping company chartering department to optimise fleet utilisation. This tool is linked directly to the ship tracking tool; so for example, if the ship is delayed the open position is automatically updated. A performance module allows the user to track fuel consumption performance. A demurrage estimator allows the user to estimate any demurrage that may be associated with a particular voyage. The module will shortly be developed to allow users to submit a request for quote for bunkers to a supplier. SUBHEAD Other modules QEstimate is a tool to make estimations about a voyage. It can estimate the distance the ship will have to travel, and then estimate the fuel consumption and costs. There is a tool to estimate the ship's draft (how far down it floats in the water) after the deadweight is typed in, and estimate the deadweight which will achieve a given draft. QFixture is an online chartering tool. Shipping companies can use this to keep track of market information and send offers to a broker or charterer. This tool integrates to Heidmar's questionaire tool Q88, which enables shipping companies to quickly answer the questions which charterers often ask about the ships. QInvoice can be used to create freight, hire/offhire, demurrage, pumping, deviation and other invoices. It has a system to automatically send out reminders to people who don't pay, and create automatic cover pages. QReport can be used to create voyage reports, with customisable formats, grouping vessels and voyages as requested. The system can easily be developed to integrate with software packages the shipping company might have already, such as accounting and invoicing packages. SUBHEAD Heidenreich Innovations Heidenreich Innovations has just 6 staff, 5 in Connecticut (US) and one in London; it has also worked with a an IT company in India. The group was focussed primarily on the IT operations for Heidenreich's shipping, until about 6 months ago, but then moved to develop products for the maritime industry generally. Heidenreich Innovations now operates independently from Heidenreich Marine, it says; under its privacy policy, all data entered into its software is owned by the shipping company which provides it, and Heidenreich Marine is not allowed to access it. SUBHEAD Q88 The company has already met success with Q88, a tool to help shipping companies automatically fill in the questionnaires which are sent by charterers. This is currently being used to manage charterer form filling for 1150 vessels. The tool works online, with shipping companies filling in the forms by accessing the Q88.com website page from their company offices. Q88 pulls data to answer as many questions as it can from a central database about the ship and shipping company which has already been filled in. However it would be better if these forms could be completed from onboard the vessel itself. This will be a future development. "The ship is really the one that should be filling the information out," comments Mr Heidenreich. "They're sitting onboard the ship; they know how big the ship is; they know the nationality of the crew." "Commonly, these forms are being filled in by hand onboard the ship and faxed back home," he says. "It's a very inefficient way of doing it."