Put Dimitris, panelis and Paul ostergaard on this list SUBHEAD Unitor offers global services Unitor, which operates probably the largest global network of ship suppliers, is aiming to provide more global ship supply services, looking after a ship in all of its port calls and making more out of each port call. The company made 177,000 deliveries last year to 15,000 vessels, accounting for about half of the world SOLAS fleet. Since much of Unitor's costs are taking up in physically getting to the vessels, the more value it can make out of each individual port call the better. It is signing fixed price contracts with shipping companies, agreeing to service safety equipment, including fire and medical equipment, on the vessel over a specific period of time. It already has safety fleet service agreements with 400 ships, agreeing to service all the shipboard safety equipment. This service is approved by class societies DNV and Lloyds Register. "A vessel as a lot of different safety equipment that has a lot of due dates for inspectors and certifications," says Unitor chairman Jens Ulltveit-Moe. "We offer a fleet agreement - we go on the vessel and find out what equipment they have onboard and offer a planned service with a fixed price." "It's a challenge for the shipowner to have lots of different makes of equipment - they need different companies to service them," he says. "Having well organised systems around the running of a ship becomes a business opportunity in itself." Unitor hopes to be able to enter into fixed price contracts with shipping companies to manage and supply all of the shipboard consumables, covering all of the vessel's port calls. The company has identified that shipping is currently going through something of a structural change, with small shipping companies with 3-5 ships disappearing, being replaced by larger companies. "You need at least 30 ships to keep up with the quality requirements," says Mr Ulltveit-Moe. Larger companies prefer to do business with other larger companies, which means an international ship supply network not individual ship suppliers in every port company uses. SUBHEAD New products It recently launched a range of Unitor-branded portable gas detection instruments, as well as a range of Unitor branded refrigerants. The company has a growing spare parts business with multibrand spares centres located in Houston, Rotterdam, Singapore and Piraeus. The company has recently established a new tank cleaning chemicals service, maintaining high stock levels of all tank cleaning products at 6 strategic tank cleaning ports, and stocks of these products greatly increased in a further 10 ports. It is stocking tank cleaners for a full range of different cargoes including heavy and light mineral oils, petrochemicals and solvents, fats and wax. It also has a new range of shipboard vacuum cleaners. A possible interesting future growth market is systems to remove bugs from ballast water. "So far, no-one has developed a solution which is good enough," says Mr Ulltveit-Moe. "Ships have to exchange water in deep sea." SUBHEAD IT Unitor's in-house IT system, PortLink, is, the company, believes the most sophisticated solution in the ship supplies industry. It has invested NOK 140m (about $__m) in the system since 1998. "It seems you have to do an upgrade every year or two," says Mr Ulltveit-Moe. "I do somewhat despair about that." The PortLink system covers the whole of Unitor's business; authorised staff can immediately find out about any transaction anywhere in the world. Information about orders can also be passed onto customers to help them with their planning. When it comes to doing e-commerce with ships and shipping companies, Unitor's attitude is interesting. In 2000 it set up its own e-commerce system, e4marine (since renamed Martranserv), which some described as a hedge against the possible success of the e-purchasing dot coms, and also to make it easier for Unitor to integrate with other systems and suppliers. However online purchasing tools make it very easy for a shipping company to do business with a broad network of shipping suppliers, bargain with all the individual suppliers in a specific port and bring down the rate. Electronic procurement does not necessarily act in Unitor's interest; it would much prefer that shipping companies decided to give Unitor a large chunk of their total business rather than compete for individual deliveries. "E-business gives the ship a wonderful bargaining tool," says Mr Ulltveit-Moe. Unitor is happy to integrate its computer systems with shipping companies to facilitate electronic procurement (indeed there are about 516 vessels currently using Martranserv). However it accepts that the biggest cost of electronic purchasing is all the computer systems integration, the area where ShipServ can provide the most value because each shipping company and supplier only needs to be integrated to a computer system once. "People have seen what they have to invest to become e-commerce enabled", comments Mr Ulltveit-Moe. "The internet has not revolutionised our business." SUBHEAD Cutting costs The main activity Unitor has been engaged in over the past few years is cutting costs, mainly to combat uncomfortable exchange rate fluctuations. "If we had the same costs of a few years ago we would be out of business," says Mr Ulltveit-Moe. Unitor has been hard hit in recent years by currency fluctuations. It buys most of its supplies from the local currency of the region and bills its customers in US dollars, and the US dollar has been weakening against most currencies. Meanwhile Norwegian Kroner, which it uses in its annual reports, is strengthening, so its profits and revenues look weaker. Unitor has switched some suppliers from Europe to the Far East, to combat the strengthening Euro. "We have thought about invoicing shipowners in the same currency we buy in, but that is not well received. This is very much a dollar based industry," comments Mr Ulltveit-Moe. SUBHEAD Business breakdown The ship supply business, current annual turnover USD 231m, is made up of 32 per cent marine chemicals, 19 per cent safety equipment, 15 per cent refrigeration, 23 per cent maintenance and repair, and some miscellaneous and chemicals supply to other industry. There is a further USD 74m business supplying to shipyards, mainly safety equipment. Seagull establishes competence evaluation system http://www.seagull.no Maritime training company Seagull has launched a competence evaluation system, a software tool shipping companies can use to check out seafarer's training before they hire them. The tool has contains a database of several thousand questions related to Part A of IMO's STCW 95 code, divided into 100 different subject groups. Under the STCW test, it will randomly choose 55 to 90 questions; the user can select the level (management, operational, support) and vessel type (dry cargo, tanker, gas tanker, passenger, chemical tanker). The software can give detailed tests on specific subjects such as cargo handling, navigation, engineering, radio communication and English language. It can conduct legislation tests, covering the maritime legislation knowledge required for vessels under Norwegian and UK maritime authorities. Also companies can put together their own tests and conduct the same test in several different locations. Different reports can be produced, including a test certificate, a wrong answer summary, and a summary of all tests conducted by one candidate or all tests conducted in one location. The software is available for annual licenses or indefinite use; it will be revised approximately every 18 months. SUBHEAD The company Seagull claims to be the leading provider of computer based training in the maritime industry, with its software onboard 2,400 vessels; a very rapid increase from just 300 vessels in 1999. Currently it has 56,000 CD-ROM software licenses active. However the company believes it still has plenty of room to expand further. All 40,000 ISM certified vessels have a requirement to conduct some kind of continuous shipboard safety training - Seagull only supplies training to 10 per cent of this market through supplies to ships or the training centres the seafarers use. A year ago the company acquired MGI of Vancouver, a computer based training company set up by Teekay Shipping, and renamed it Seagull Inc. Seagull is currently producing web-enabled versions of all of its software. This means that they can do the same training in their homes or offices running off the internet as they can at sea running off a CD-ROM. Shipping companies can keep records of the training that the seafarers have completed, whether it was conducted onboard a ship computer or over the web. If done over the web they receive the results automatically; if done onboard ship from a CD-ROM, the results are sent back to the shipping company as a 10 to 20kb e-mail. Seagull charges for its CD-ROMS in terms of annual licenses which can be stopped at any point; it notes that most shipping company budgeting is in terms of dollars per day, so charging for software in the same terms makes sense. The current prices are $86 per ship per year per CD. Seagull runs "hands-on" physical sit down courses at its centre in Horten, Norway; it is very keen to be seen as a training company rather than a software company. Its software is also used in a further 100 maritime training centres and 200 places use the training assessment software, mainly tanker companies. A recent development is a package to train seafarers how to use lifeboats. The software package has information about all the different lifeboats and hook products being manufactured and how to use them safely. "Most accidents on lifeboats are stupid and could be easily avoided," says managing director Roger Ringstad. In many cases, there is a legislative or charterer requirement that some form of training is conducted, without specifying much about the details of it; with Seagull software, it is very easy to demonstrate what training has been completed; the software can generate a report with everybody's names on it. SUBHEAD Iterative developments It is clear that there is a strong iterative component to the development of maritime computer based training software. It is very difficult for anybody to accurately imagine which aspects of a seafarer's skill base are best developed with computer based training, classroom training or practical experience. But over time, as shipping companies and software developers learn how computer based training can be used to best advantage, the training packages and the way they are used improves. Seagull stresses that not all seafarer skills can be developed using the software. "CBT is only a part. We believe combining it with onboard courses - that's when you get the best results," says Mr Ringstad. However it reports that some shipping company-training managers are already saying that the computer based training packages are better than the much more expensive classroom training that it replaced. SUBHEAD Hernis develops ship security system Closed circuit television manufacturer Hernis of Norway has developed "SeaTouch," a shipboard security software system which brings together closed circuit television cameras, ship door locks, motion sensors and lighting onto a single computer control system. From the computer screen, the user can see the picture from CCTV cameras around the ship, and control what the cameras are pointing at. They can switch lights on and off, lock doors and sound audible alerts. Hernis suggests that the main operator panel should be on the ship's bridge, possibly with a slave unit in the cabin of the ship's security officer. The computer records all of the data for a specific amount of time, so video images can later be passed onto investigators. There is of course no guarantee that CCTV will stop pirates or terrorists, particularly suicide terrorists that were involved in the attack on the VLCC Limburg. But it is widely accepted that it is a considerable deterrent to less serious attackers. The cameras can give the seafarers much better warning if the ship is likely to come under attack; motion sensors can be configured to switch lights on and point cameras directly at the moving object, so the ship security officer or staff in the ship's bridge can assess the threat. The system will be particularly marketed for LNG carriers and tankers. It has already fitted CCTV systems for LNG carriers operated by Bergesen and Leif Høegh, as well as ro-ro vessels operated by Sea Containers. Hernis is working closely together with a number of security consultancies, which can advise shipping companies about the optimum set-up for security lighting and cameras and how much they should spend. Closed circuit television cameras on ships are not cheap; the company estimates that 50 ships will generate $1m of sales for the company, so an average of $20,000 per installation. However with at least 370 vessels attacked and 263 seafarers assaulted during 2002, many shipping companies are starting to feel like the investment could be worthwhile. Hernis is a long established supplier of tough closed circuit television cameras for ships, offshore installations and other rough weather installations. It supplies CCTV cameras to the navies of the UK, Germany, US, Australia, South Africa and Norway. MAIN HEAD 180 ships using FleetMaster Technical Log and Electronic Logbooks Remote monitoring of ships, sending status reports about how well the ship is operating, seems to have finally happened. Kongsberg reports that it have delivered FleetMaster Technical Log for more than 140 vessels, which integrates process systems onboard and distributes and records data. The process systems onboard sends an automatic daily status report from the shipboard automation system back to shore. The shipboard automation system has sensors around the vessel monitoring the engine, pumps, steering and other equipment. Typically, the system takes a "snapshot" of readings from 2,000 sensors around the ship and sends this data back to shore once a day in a 40 to 50kb e-mail. Shore size technicians can also send a request for snapshot report at any time by Inmarsat -C. The system has already saved company money; a shipowner in Germany saved about $25,000 in offhire costs when a shore-side technician solved a that a certain problem was related to the lube oil. The FleetMaster Technical log is also able to provide online data to other system such as diagnostics systems, loading computers and planned maintenance systems. Typical recipients are MTU Dicare, Man B&W Cocos EDS, Kockumation, Star Information System, Xantic, Onboard Napa and more, so that online data is provided to these. SUBHEAD Electronic Logbooks Kongsberg is unable to reveal all customer names at this point, although it can say that 40 vessels, including those operated by Klaveness, Maersk, Bergesen, Sartor Shipping, Geoshipping, IUM, Scandic Line and Geoshipping have ordered and installed the electronic logbook on the bridge, which replaces the traditional ship paper logbooks (deck, oil record, port, dynamic positioning). The electronic logbook has approvals from flag administrations of Norway, Sweden, UK, Denmark, Bahamas, Isle of Man, Singapore, with approvals under consideration at Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Liberia, Panama and Spain. The approval indicates that the flag administration accepts that the electronic logbook satisfies all of the legal requirements of the paper logbook. Currently Bergesen have been using the electronic logbook for more than 16 months onboard Berge Clipper, going in world wide trade without any problems. Flag states such as Japan, United States and Korea have been informed of the system and have been positive to this leap forward. So far, throwing away the paper logbook has been a success. However there are additional benefits to using the electronic logbook; the electronic logbook may be used as a complete vessel reporting system which sends do all operational reporting back to shore, making routines easier and keeping an unforgeable copy of it. SUBHEAD Autochief Another interesting development from Kongsberg is the Autochief V, for the ship's officers in the bridge to control whether the engine goes full ahead, slow, dead slow, full astern etc. The propulsion control system is a steady line of business for Kongsberg; it delivers 250 systems every year. The system has already been through 4 generations - Autochief I, launched in 1967 and fixed on 335 vessels, through to Autochief IV launched in 1991 and installed on 209 vessels. In developing Autochief V, Kongsberg did substantial research among users of its systems and discovered that although the Autochief IV was reliable, it was not particularly user friendly, with too many buttons on it. So most of them have been removed. The company recruited a professional industrial designer, previously working on designing cars for Saab, to develop a new design. The investment paid off; it has already won a Norwegian Design Council award. The system can have slave controllers in the bridge wing and in the engine control room; there is a system to indicate which controller is in command at any time. All processors use Microsoft software and are digital. The system can be installed standalone or mounted on a bridge system developed by another company. SUBHEAD MCP develops GSM system for ships Maritime Communications Partner (MCP) is developing systems to use mobile phones (GSM) onboard cruise ships and ferries. MCP stresses that it is a service provider, not a technology provider. It has a license from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to provide GSM services in the open oceans and provid GSM services; it also has its own international calling code. The company's target pricing is that it should be possible to use cellular phones on ships for the same price as GSM roaming. You don't need to be editor of Digital Ship to spot the difficulties in building mobile phone systems onboard ships. The ship must have a VSAT connection because the systems won't work with Inmarsat Fleet unless it has an always-on circuit switched connection. Also you can't use the GSM systems when the ship comes into range of any terrestrial GSM; most terrestrial GSM companies have paid extortionate sums for their licenses to provide services and would not take kindly to interference from a system onboard a ship. Having said this, the popularity of cellular phones on ships is something of a phenomenon. According to some reports virtually every seafarer has a mobile phone and there are already indications that seafarers prefer to make their own private cellular calls than use public shipping company satellite phones, which can be cheaper in some cases. They like being able to make calls in privacy, send and receive text messages and be able to receive calls, which they normally can't do on a public shipboard satellite phone. VSAT satellite connections on ships are expanding; the upper tier of merchant vessels is considering using them, with fixed monthly costs of around $2,000 per month. But having said that, if a shipping company has installed a VSAT, and has the capability to give its seafarers almost free phone calls home, surely they would prefer to do this, rather than install an expensive GSM system so seafarers are back to paying $2 a minute again. It seems that realistically the market for GSM onboard ships would be limited to cruise ships and ferries which spend enough of their time more than 6 miles away from the coastline to want to fit their own GSM system, and would prefer to deal with a service supplier such as MCP rather than install the technology themselves and keep all of the money. MCP will handle all of the billing for the systems itself, negotiated through the cellular phone companies; all the shipping company has to do is allow MCP's GSM transceiver equipment to be installed onboard and receive a cheque at the end of the month which is a proportion of the shipboard roaming charges paid. The users pay for the service as part of their normal cellular bill. MCP will provide remote diagnostics for the system and make sure that it is powered down when the ship comes under coverage of a terrestrial GSM system to avoid violating any radio licenses. At this point the call will automatically be transferred to the terrestrial GSM company without interrupting the call. For cruise and ferry companies which do not have VSAT communication, MCP believes that the money earned from cellular calls on ships could cover the costs of the VSAT, at $2,000 a month. BOX TEXT Digital Ship's press tour of Norway was arranged by Blue Public Relations of Oslo. For further information see ___