MAIN HEAD The internet on ships DECK HEAD Digital Ship has updated its online guide to websites which are useful onboard ships. See www.thedigitalship.com/webguide BODY Internet access on ships? To some it seems a long way away, considering that many employers still don't let their people browse the internet at work using comparatively cheap terrestrial connections. But on the other hand, how much value is it if seafarers can access weather forecasts, find out about recent piracy attacks, find out about new obstacles to navigation, find out about the requirements and vessel traffic system at the next port, or look up a health problem? Or, with port stops getting shorter and shorter, find out how to find the nearest cash machine and shops at the next port of call, or if it is worthwhile to make the trip into town? Websites are continuously getting more useful and the cost of satellite data communications with ships continues to drop. It is still very expensive to browse the web onboard ships but it is easy to see the direction things are going. A number of companies, including KDDI, KVH and Xantic, are developing special internet services intended for access by satellite, which automatically strip the pages down as much as possible, removing superfluous images, tags and code, so you just see the content that you want with minimum cost. You can provide seafarers with accounts so they pay for any non-company websurfing, eg to find the latest news reports, themselves, rather than putting it on the company account. You can configure Internet Explorer not to download any images or sound files under TOOLS - INTERNET OPTIONS - ADVANCED. Scroll halfway down the list and untick "show pictures," "play videos in web pages" and "play animations in web pages." The Inmarsat Fleet 33 service now comes with automatic compression, so all data downloaded over Fleet 33 is compressed. Over Inmarsat Fleet MPDS you can typically download a megabit of data for around $4. The front page of the BBC news website, http://news.bbc.co.uk, is 130 kilobytes, including text, images and the news scrolling across the top. Clicking on the first story would be about 80 kilobytes. So to read a single story you have to download 210 kilobytes, or 1.68 megabits and pay $6.72. By switching off images on Internet Explorer, downloading the front page and a single news story of the BBC website would cost around $2.88. The BBC also runs a special light site which enables you to read the front page one news story for $0.99¢. Does it start to sound cheap enough? NOTE TO VIVIAN This is a guide to websites that work well from ships - I would like to put screenshots next to most of them - please make a suitable screen-sized space (can be quite small) next to most of them and I will send you it later World VTS Guide www.worldvtsguide.org An online guide to vessel traffic systems around the world. The site is light, you can download information about the vessel traffic systems, radio frequencies, maps and special information. The site is partly sponsored by Norcontrol. The download files are very light. For example, when visiting the Port of Rotterdam, you can download the general rules for ships for Rotterdam, VHF procedures, different approaches into the port, reports required, plans of the entire port and pilotage requirements in just 204 kb ($6.53). Try it yourself at http://www.worldvtsguide.org/MenuPages/NetherlandsMenu/Rotterdam.html IMB Piracy reporting centre http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/menu_imb_piracy.asp The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) piracy reporting centre broadcasts daily bulletins to ships via Inmarsat C, detailing attacks on vessels and suspicious vessel movements. On the website you can find a weekly update of reported occurrences that keeps ships on the alert in dangerous waters. A monthly newsletter contains information on the latest frauds, crime prevention techniques, and commercial crime trials. US Coast Guard An excellent, well-presented resource of information for US Coast Guard news and information including sections covering maritime mobility, communications, environmental protection, safety and security. Navigation and safety in US waters http://www.uscg.mil US Coastguard maritime communications page http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms A list of maritime safety broadcasts, and a guide to GMDSS, and local information about safety and the national distress system. US Coastguard maritime navigation page http://www.navcen.uscg.gov The Navigation Centre (NavCen) contains information on GPS and DGPS operating status, light lists and corrections, notices to mariners, VTS services, and navigation rules (available for download). US Coastguard vessel database http://www.st.nmfs.gov/commercial/landings/cg_vessel2.html The United States Coast Guard's (USCG) vessel data base contains information on vessel characteristic, documentation, and ownership data for vessels over 5 tons. Safeports site http://www.uscg.mil/safeports The safeports site or POISE (port operations information for safety and efficiency) contains links to maritime related web pages in the US. Port Guide http://www.portguide.com Commercial guide to ports and port developments from Lloyds Register with a good deal of port news for free. The full port information is extensive covering 5,500 ports and terminals worldwide and is available for a subscription charge as either a CD-ROM, book or web version. The online version is updated daily and also has the Tanker Berth Guide that provides additional information on over 5,000 tanker terminals and berths worldwide. US Government marine weather site International marine weather alerts in text format http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/marinewxi.htm You can obtain a "light" weather report with just 8kb download in total from this page. This US government weather site has the full range of forecasts and weather data including sea temperatures and tides. The graphical data includes satellite imagery and the charts are available in both vector and gridded data formats. The usefulness of this site for seafarers is mainly in that the weather data is available in text format. "Most Popular Marine Text Forecasts (low speed connection friendly)" is a good place to start. A graphical interface is still available for finding the forecast for the right area more easily. Mariners can also send in their own weather warnings, and view those of others in the area. The full variety of options for receiving weather data is huge, and this website is an excellent resource for reviewing the options. BBC Online http://www.bbc.co.uk BBC news low graphics site http://news.bbc.co.uk/text_only.stm/ The UK's premier source for worldwide news and commentary, the BBC offers a truly international service with over 43 languages available via the world service. With text only and low BBC answers the needs of those with low speed Internet connections in developing countries or from onboard vessels. Advertised as the UK's favourite website, the main site contains world news, information about BBC television and radio broadcasts and features on a variety of current affairs and entertainment topics. The resources for those living outside the UK are also excellent and comprehensive. The new BBCWorld website for example contains international news, business and features targeted towards the large audience overseas. For those learning English there are resources on the world service part of the site: explanations of key words and phrases, learning through news stories, music, sport, a discussion group etc. There are also resources in various foreign languages for the student. The text only version of the site includes the full content available. The settings (fonts, colours) are customisable to a variety of configurations and a drop down menu lets you move between the different sites (World Service etc.). There's even a UK shipping forecast . Lloyds List http://www.lloydslist.com The top daily shipping newspaper has a quality on-line edition. The full content is only available to subscribers, but there's some free information including headlines for browsing. Other free content includes: Notices - public information noticeboard; exchange - advertisements for products & services; Maritime Law Brief; Casualty Brief; Bunker Brief; Liner Analysis; Marine Equipment Guide - search by product, company or country; Satcomms Directory - telephone, fax, telex and email contact information for all ships in conjunction with Inmarsat; Maritime Moves - job vacancies International Seafarers Assistance Network http://www.seafarerhelp.org The website provides a comprehensive database of such agencies and support services called SHIP (Seafarers help and Information Point). The database is searchable by country, category or issue and you can also search by keyword. Viewing the information for a country gives you issues specific to that area, useful for reviewing potential issues at the next port. Amazon http://www.amazon.com Order books, CDs computer games and other items over the internet; have them delivered to the ship agent at your next port of call, or as presents to your family. Amazon has become one of the most successful retailers on the Internet, initially selling books at an average 30% discount from shop prices. The site offers CDs, DVDs, computer games, gifts and personal advertisements for items on sale. The site is easy to use and the purchasing system avoids the need to keep typing in the same information. There is a gift wrapping service for a small charge and a message of up to 200 characters can be included for free. World deliveries cost around £2.95 plus £3.00 per item. There are several international sites, in France (http://www.amazon.fr), Germany (http://www.amazon.de), Japan (http://www.amazon.jp) and Austria (http://www.amazon.at). Spanish language titles are available from the main site. Hotmail, Yahoo & Netscape messengers http://www.msn.com;http://www.yahoo.com; http://www.icq.com If you have a computer connected to a cheaper data connection, its worth downloading the free instant messaging software provided on any of these sites. Then when you're at sea you can engage in very low cost internet chat with your family, friends and colleagues if they have the software installed on their computers at home at very low cost (around 10¢ a line). Messenger will let you know when one of your contacts logs in to the service. It is then simply a matter of clicking on their name to make a connection and start talking. The entire conversation is displayed in the window so you can go back over what's been said. You can let everyone know if you are unavailable for some reason: gone to lunch, connection down, on the phone. EBay http://www.ebay.com This site lets you buy and sell things on the Internet - anything. Sellers put up items for sale and set a minimum price, then an auction is opened in which buyers bid for a fixed time, and the winning bid takes the item. Sellers are obligated under the eBay agreement to sell if they receive a bid above the minimum price, as are buyers obligated to pay. The range of goods is as wide as people's interests. Real people are selling what they think someone else might want, which often means that it is just what you are looking for. To protect users from fraud, there is a range of measures including a user "reputation" rating, detailing any times this user has failed to obey the rules, free $200 cover on most items, and an optional ID verification service. So if you have a credit card and you want something, you could see if someone near to your next port of call has it for sale, buy it and ask them to post it to the port agency. AMVER www.amver.com AMVER is a voluntary ship reporting system that improves safety at sea by maintaining a database of ship positions. In the event of an incident, AMVER can more quickly identify nearby vessels that can provide assistance. The system is completely free and open to most commercial vessels on voyages of over 24 hours. Currently 12,000 ships from over 140 nations participate and on average over 2,800 vessels are plotted each day. Amver estimates that 2,000 lives have been saved since 1990. Using an online form, the ship's voyage information can be entered in several stages to keep the Amver center updated with its position - this includes the sailing plan, a position report at least every 48 hours, a deviation report if necessary, and a final arrival report. Usually this is sent over Inmarsat-C, although other methods are available. Also on the website is the SEAS program developed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide accurate meteorological and oceanographic data in real time from ships at sea through the use of satellite data transmission. This is a voluntary system requesting ships to take weather observations four times per day, enter the data into the AMVER/SEAS IV software and transmit the data to SEAS Headquarters for global dissemination. The software is available for download from the website. ILS MART www.ilsmart.com Useful if you need a special part at your next port of call: see if anybody is selling it on ILS Mart. Maritime suppliers, in a range of different categories (e.g. maintenance, engine parts, geographical location) can publish directories of what they have in stock, including inventory levels, on the ILSmart site. Buyers can go into the site and look for what they need. If the buyers can find what they need in the location where they need it, they can send e-mail to the supplier (or various suppliers) and negotiate the deal privately from there, by telephone or e-mail. If they cannot find what they need, they can write "flash" messages, known as message broadcasts, which then flash up on all of the supplier's screens next time they log onto the system. NHS Home Treatment Guide http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ The National Health Service in the UK have an excellent on-line diagnosis guide for common conditions, many of which can be treated at home (or at sea). The guide is designed to lead you quickly to the right course of action, whether that be taking an aspirin or calling emergency services immediately. To use the guide, you can either select a part of the body where the problem lies, or browse a list of conditions in the index. Both routes lead to a series of questions designed to narrow down the possible cause of the complaint. There is a comprehensive health encyclopaedia containing lists of illnesses alphabetically or listing topics organised by subject areas. There is also advice for healthy living, diet, exercise etc., and health features, an on-line magazine covering topical health issues, with a special feature every month. Indianmariner http://www.indianmariner.com Information about the Indian maritime community, including education institutes, international and Indian shipping news, employment and weather. A mariner's helpline, co-ordinated by the webmaster of Indianmariner, aims to provide expert unbiased advice to mariners questions, which can be submitted for a subscription fee of 1000Rs a year. The questions are answered by an advisory board composed of respected members of the maritime community, listed on the site. The helpline is open to all mariners, not just those from India. MONEY TOOLS The VISA search engine will provide you with the precise locations of their ATMs worldwide. http://www.visa.com/globalgateway/gg_selectcountry.html?retcountry=1 The search engine serving MasterCard, Maestro or Cirrus offers a similar service. http://www.mastercard.com/cardholderservices/atm/ "The world's most popular currency converter" http://www.xe.net/ucc Digital Ship's guide to websites at sea http://www.thedigitalship.com/webguide Available in both light and normal graphics version, you can find out about the top sites for seafarers onboard ships as recommended by Digital Ship. You can find out quickly what each site does and also learn about how to configure your computer to reduce shipboard internet communications costs