MAIN HEAD Digital Ship Cyprus report BODY Digital Ship Cyprus, our two-day conference January 27-28 in Limassol, generated some interesting debate among Cyprus Ship managers about broadband ship communications, reduced satcoms costs on MPDS, ship network security and crew calling DECK Dr John Coustas, managing director check of shipping company Danaos, talked about his company's experience using the Broadband Maritime always on 64 kbps VSAT communications system, which is, for him, a "dream come true." With monthly charges of $2,450 a month for always on global satcoms, including lease of the $60,000 shipboard terminal, the pricing is maybe out of reach for most shipping companies, but well in the reach of others. For shipping companies with a more typical usage pattern sending 100 kb a day in 4 separate dial-ups, Gregor Ross of EMS Satcom demonstrated the enormous savings they can make by using Inmarsat Fleet MPDS. Using real life data gathered from a V.Ships vessel, he demonstrated that by using Fleet MPDS, a shipping company would save 70 to 90 per cent over Inmarsat -A, 33 to 83 per cent over Inmarsat -B, 54 to 76 per cent over Iridium and 70 to 87 per cent over Inmarsat mini-M. "The last time I saw figures like that was when we took ships off telex and put them on e-mail," Mr Ross said. Kikis Kazamias, Cyprus Minister of Communications and Works, opened the conference by talking about how important it is that vessels are able to communicate with each other. "Communication represents one of the essential needs of human beings - going back to the beginning of mankind," he said. "The flow of information around the vessel becomes essential." "Businessmen and scientists identified the importance of marine communications and invented systems which present and infinite range of systems." SUBHEAD Dr John Coustas, Danaos Dr John Coustas, managing director of Danaos Shipping, talked about his experiences using the Broadband Maritime global VSAT system on one of his vessels. The company has been searching the alternatives for ship-shore communication for 3-5 years and thinks it has now found the right option. "We have found a solution to all the problems we were dreaming to have," he said. "We had a certain dream of how we wanted to run our company," he said. "We have always been experimenting with various management styles. But we were always let down by [satellite communications] cost issues." "From day one we have a saving with the broadband system. The difference is tremendous." "We have had this for 6 months now on one vessel and word has spread around other vessels. We have told [the seafarers] we are installing the system on all of our fleet soon." SUBHEAD Costs The Broadband Maritime system can carry 64 kbps data traffic between ship and shore and is always on. It can carry data and up to 4 telephone lines. Danaos is paying equipment-leasing costs of $1850 per month, under a three-year contact - after three years the lease reduces to $300 a month. Communications have a set-up fee of $3,500; thereafter they are priced at $400 per month for the first 3 years. The system software costs are estimated at $2000 investment, then $200 a month. The applications software is an approximately $10,000 investment. The total costs of this work out at $15,500 initial cost, then $2,450 a month. To compare the prices with Inmarsat Fleet 77, Mr Coustas thought the hardware would cost $23,000 initially and $200 a month to maintain; $2,000 initial charge for systems software; $12,000 for applications software and $2,000 a month communications cost, so total $37,000 initial cost, thereafter $2,200 a month. But you don't get an always-on connection for this. For phone calls, there is an additional charge of US 10 cents a minute for calls from ship to the office, and 20 cents a minute for calls from the ship to other terrestrial destinations, to cover the cost of the terrestrial component of the phone call. The charterer's communications, billed monthly to the charterer at an estimated cost of GBP 800 a month, now cost the shipping company much less. Mr Coustas negotiated a three-year deal because it seemed like an acceptable commitment, although he noted that he would have had reduced monthly leasing costs if he had agreed to a 5-year contract. SUBHEAD Benefits Danaos has always wanted to be able to connect its vessels to the internet, so that all shipboard work processes could be automated, without the hassle of maintaining complicated software and databases onboard. All software to be brought off the ship and put on the shore; the shipboard computer only needs a web browser. This means that much less computer literacy is required on the ship and also the ship-shore communication is much more reliable because it does not need store and forward e-mail. The computer systems are much easier to upgrade because it can all be done from shore. If the shipboard computer crashes, you can just switch to another one. All corporate information and e-mails are instantly available to the ship. Seafarers can use the system for cheap personal phone calls. "Every crew dollar buys 5 times more phone time," he said. "You can have up to 2 lines dedicated for crew phones." "Everybody recognises that crew calling attracts good quality crews. You don't give crew reasons to go ashore because it's cheaper to phone from the ship. We can also offer crews free e-mail." Mr Coustas noted that there are no gaps in the worldwide coverage. The system automatically jumps from one satellite to another without any problems or manual technical support required. The costs are also well defined and predictable. The only "blind" area, where the terminal did not work, was when it was directly beneath a container gantry, he said. There are benefits to the system in handling the company's safety management system. When the ship logs onto the computer system, it is alerted of any new developments in the safety management system, which can be immediately printed out on the ship and filed. The safety management system has an automatic acknowledgement that the change has been received. "What I've been telling you is not science fiction - its fact," he said. "The first time I have been able to have the system I really dream about." SUBHEAD Cost savings using MPDS Gregor Ross of EMS Satcom explained how much money shipping companies can save by sending data using Fleet MPDS, rather than Fleet ISDN, Inmarsat -A, -B, mini-M and Iridium. Typically, merchant vessels send under 100 kb a day, and dial in 3 or 4 times using the day; for these usage patterns Fleet MPDS is ideal. Fleet ISDN is only cheaper when sending file sizes of above around 200kb in a single batch. EMS Satcom, an established satellite communications company but new to the maritime market, first launched its Fleet 55 terminal at Digital Ship Hamburg in January 2003; the first sale was in March 2003; Inmarsat type approval was received in May 2003. SUBHEAD Trial The Fleet 55 was trialled onboard a number of different vessels; although EMS provided free use of the satcom equipment, the user was still expected to pay for the communications costs, to make sure that the trial was realistic. It was trialled onboard the V.Ships managed bulk carrier China Pride, using GT Mail software and the EMS Fleet 55 satellite terminal. Various different e-mail software was used including TeamTalk, Rydex, GT Mail, Xantic and Seawave. During the trial, there was an unexpected problem when switching from Atlantic West satellite to Atlantic East, when the vessel was crossing the South Atlantic. The Fleet 55 data communications service only works in the satellite spot beam, and there was a small area between the two satellite spot beams in the mid-Atlantic where there would be no coverage; EMS Satcom estimated that the satellite would be out of coverage for 18 hours. However the vessel was actually out of coverage for 3 days. The reason was that the EMS Satcom software is programmed to automatically point the satellite terminal at the closest satellite, switching automatically to the Atlantic East satellite when it was nearer. However due to the area the spot beams have been programmed, when the vessel is directly under the Atlantic East satellite it is actually in the Atlantic West spot beam. This glitch has now been rectified. The vessel was using Globe Wireless as a backup to the Fleet 55, for use when the vessel was outside the Fleet 55 spot beam. EMS Satcom calculated that with the vessel's actual usage patterns, by using Inmarsat Fleet MPDS it was saving 67 per cent over Globe Wireless, 70 to 90 per cent over Inmarsat -A, 33 to 83 per cent over Inmarsat -B, 54 to 76 per cent over Iridium, 70 to 87 per cent over Inmarsat mini-M. When outside the spot beam, it also calculated that it would be cheaper using Iridium than Globe Wireless. Mr Ross noted that using published pricing figures, Globe Wireless costs $150 per megabyte and Inmarsat Fleet MPDS is $32 per megabyte. The vessel had a volume of 4.5 megabytes per month, which would cost $165.50 over Fleet MPDS, at a price of $32 per megabyte and with a 15 per cent overhead. This compares to $540 a month over Inmarsat -A, $290 per month over Inmarsat -B, $240 per month over Iridium and $650 per month over Inmarsat mini-M. SUBHEAD Pay as you send EMS Satcom was supplied data usage and online time figures for 90 vessels in the V.Ships fleet. 4 vessels typically sent under 1.5 megabytes per month; 20 vessels sent 1.5 to 3 megabytes; 34 vessels sent 3 to 4.5 megabytes; 19 vessels sent 4.5 to 6 megabytes; 7 vessels sent 6.0 to 7.5 megabytes and 6 vessels sent more. The amount of hours connected per month showed a different graph. 5 vessels spent under 1 hour online per month; 34 spent 1 to 2 hours; 29 spent 2 to 3 hours; 6 spent 3 to 4 hours; and 13 spent 4 to 5 hours and 3 spent over 6 hours. The spread for amount of megabytes sent is different to the amount of hours connected; although shipping companies pay in terms of hours connected, and benefit by data which is sent. This clearly indicates a large amount of inefficiency and wasted online time. All of this can be avoided using Inmarsat Fleet MPDS because shipping companies pay for exactly what they send. Mr Ross also pointed out that the choice of whether to use Fleet 55 or 77 has nothing to do with the size of ship and type, but to do with the trade pattern, and whether or not you are likely to need fast data communications outside the Inmarsat spot beams. SUBHEAD Handset configuration Mr Ross noted that one problem EMS Satcom has encountered was a handset accidentally being configured to make all phone calls using ISDN, more expensive than the normal voice channel. EMS Satcom has fitted a "reset to factory settings" switch on the terminal to remove any unintended configurations. The terminal configuration can be altered either using software or using an interface on the terminal itself. The software tool is normally kept by the shipowner and not available on the vessel. The terminal configuration has three levels of authority - normal user, owner /master and dealer / shipping company; the normal user cannot to much to change to configuration, indeed cannot do very much apart from just use the terminal. SUBHEAD Ship security alerts Themis Evriviades, marine surveyor, Cyprus Department of Merchant Shipping, talked about the requirements for fitting ship security alert systems on Cyprus ships. There are proposals coming in requiring long-range automatic identification systems, sending information about the location of a vessel by satellite, although the requirements have not been finalised. There has been discussion about tracking vessels 200 miles from the coastline or 2,000 miles from the coastline, or sending position reports every 15 minutes, or 2 reports a day. The decisions will be made at the meeting of the IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in London in May this year. The ship security alert systems, which must be fitted on most deep sea ships by the first radio survey after July 1 this year, have not been finalised yet, in particular who will receive the alert and what they will do with it. For Cyprus flagged ships, the "competent authority" is the Cyprus Department of Merchant Shipping, and the alert systems will be delivered via Inmarsat -C to the department's station in Larnaka, which will be monitored around the clock. Company security officers will have the role of informing the vessel after there has been a false alert, asking them to reset the system. Mr Evriviades noted that he thought fitting the 2nd alert button in the master's cabin was a good idea. He also suggested that a keyword system should be developed between the ship and company security officer to check false alerts; for example, if the button is pressed, the shipping company can phone up the vessel - the vessel can give one code word to indicate that it was a false alarm. No reply to the phone, or the phone being answered and a different code given, would indicate a genuine security alert. Two issues of concern to the Cyprus authorities are what happens if a shipping company changes flag, and how the system of changing the person to respond to the alert system should be managed; also, if a shipping company does not pay its service fees to the SSAS company, they might suspend the service. The Cyprus Authority is asking SSAS providers give the flag authority one-month notice if they intend to suspend the service. SUBHEAD AIS and long-range tracking There was substantial discussion about the problems with AIS systems; in particular the difficulties masters have gaining useful information from its 3-line display. "Most shipmasters have asked us to put AIS on the main radar," said one shipowner representative. "They can't afford to skip from screen to screen. Peter Martin, managing director of AIS manufacturer Nauticast, concurred. "We get a lot of feedback from masters who say they are really confused using AIS parallel to ARPA," he said. Mr Martin noted that there have been many problems reported with incorrect data being programmed into the AIS. "I think the maintenance of the data input is quite weak," he said. "I've heard 60 per cent off vessels are moving around with false target data." "The thing we get most complaints about is the MKD [minimum keyboard and display] unit," he said. "This is the last thing to be added to the standard. The first idea about AIS was to incorporate it into an electronic chart display." One shipowner complained about the requirements for long range AIS systems coming in so soon after fitting in the standard AIS systems, requiring another $6,000 to $7,000 cost, comparing this to Windows producing regular new versions which users are expected to buy. Paul Morter of Transas Telematics noted that AIS and long-range tracking are completely separate entities under MSC77; it isn't a question of upgrading one to the other. Mr Morter explained how long range tracking is likely to work. It must be controllable by the master, and data should be available to a flag state internationally and to a coast state within a specified distance from the coastline. The communications charges associated with long range AIS must be paid for by the authority which wants the information, not the shipping company. One concern, he says, is what happens when the areas overlap - for example, a vessel could be simultaneously within a certain distance from many different coastal states, and if they are all asking for tracking reports that would all work out to be a large amount of information. A better solution would be for the IMO to define sea boundaries, with one specific shore based authority being responsible for collecting and paying for tracking information when the vessel is in a specific place. This data could be sent to a shore based tracking centre and then redelivered to all authorities with rights to see it. There were concerns, again, of shipping companies leaving installation of SSAS until the last minute, like they did with GMDSS. "We receive requests for quotes for ship security alerts every day, but no orders," said one SSAS manufacturer. SUBHEAD Security concerns One shipowner mentioned that he had experienced problems with seafarers leaving ships at port and not being registered properly, and finding them not being allowed back onto the ship. "There are concerns with how well ports deal with ISPS," he said. A representative of a passenger ship company noted that for cruise ships calling at Cyprus ports, the company is only required to count the number of people. But in other parts of the world all passengers are required to have a boarding card with their photograph on it. Alexei Bozrikov, IT manager with Unicom, said that his company uses the Fidelio system on a cruise vessel it manages. All passengers have a security card, which automatically makes a record when they get on and off the ship. From this system automatic reports can be generated and sent to the US Coast Guard. SUBHEAD Manos Manoli, Marlow Navigation Manos Manoli, ICT manager, Marlow Navigation, talked about the computer network security threats which shipping companies face. There are three different groups of people which might try to hack into the shipboard computers, he said. Young kids, doing it for fun; older hackers trying to cause problems; and organised criminals. One trick is to search a computer network for holes, trying to find a way to log into it from outside. Another "very popular" threat to shipping company systems is mail bombing, sending e-mails to somebody until their mail server crashes. Mr Manoli gave a particular warning about the Spector software, which is sent to someone as an anonymous attachment. If the person clicks on the attachment, it launches software which records every keystroke you make and records screenshots, e-mailing them back to the person who sent you the e-mail, all of this being invisible to the user. Another software to be very careful of is Kazaa, which enables the user to share files with another party. It is very dangerous if company employees use the software, in case they enable an outside party to see confidential files by accident. The software is good at getting around firewalls, because the authorisation to reveal the contents of the folders is made from within the computer itself, not from a hacker outside the firewall. Mr Manoli noted that e-mail has become a critical tool to many shipping companies, which certainly would not be able to send all the e-mails they send as faxes if their e-mail system wasn't working. Also, the cost of spam e-mails sent onboard ships can be extremely expensive due to the data communication costs. One good security measure to implement is "content checking," which scans all data packet going into the company looking for pieces of software intended to try to take control of your computer network, similar to the way that airport X-ray scanning checks the content of all baggage going onto the aeroplane. Mr Manoli said that it is very important to tailor make a security system specially for a company's business processes. SUBHEAD Alexei Bozrikov, Unicom Alexei Bozrikov, IT manager of Unicom Management Services said that security systems are often hard to operate and hard to install. Mr Bozrikov said that security systems can't be just purchased off the shelf - they need to be built up over time to meet a company's specific processes. Unicom's IT security system has been gradually built up over 5/6 years. Many factors related to computer security come down to the people using it - for example, users forgetting their passwords. Wi-fi systems, increasingly used in offices around the world, can pose a major security threat. Mr Bozrikov talked about his experiences while travelling when he tried to access the wi-fi network in a coffee shop across the road by holding his laptop computer out on the hotel balcony. He did not manage to access the internet through the coffee shop system, but did manage to access a local corporate network and long on. He could get information about staff salaries and customer discount card details. With a computer with a wi-fi network card it is easy to see which computer networks are around you; you just click "network neighbourhood" and they all come up on the screen. It is logging onto them which is difficult. One way to make wi-fi systems harder to hack into is by using wi-fi cards and wireless hotspots made by the same manufacturer, so you can use the proprietary security protocols each manufacturer has, rather than the generic (non company specific) security protocols which are not as good. Mr Bozrikov recommended locating wi-fi hotspots away from windows; signals pass through windows much more easily than through walls. Unicom has installed a wireless internet connection built by Thunderworx in its company building. "We didn't trust it to much but we tested it and it works fine," he said. Adonis Violaris, of Hanseatic Shipping, noted that having ships connected to Inmarsat Fleet MPDS creates an additional headache for shipping company IT managers because it contains a possible route for someone on shore to hack into the shipboard computer system. Ghani Behloul from France Telecom said that if ships have fixed IP addresses it is much easier to make them secure; the only computer system allowed to log onto the ship system is the shore computer system. This means that the only way to hack into the ship is via the company security system, which probably has many firewalls in it already. SUBHEAD AMMITEC Dr Panagiotis Nomikos, president of the Association of Maritime Managers of Information Technology and Communications (AMMITEC), spoke about developments with the association, which currently has 70 shipping company IT managers as members, collectively responsible for over 2,000 vessels. "AMMITEC's goal is to increase collaboration [between the members], sharing advice about different equipment, explaining how IT provides an important role in the growth of a shipping company," he said. Dr Nomikos stressed that AMMITEC is not a union - it is a non-profit making professional organisation, now incorporated under Greek law. AMMITEC is actively seeking to establish international branches. AMMITEC's first major mission is to improve, standardise and update the code systems used for maritime purchasing. "The catalogues which exist are not complete," he said. AMMITEC has held meetings for shipping company IT and purchasing managers to try to determine what needs to be done and find a way to do it. It is now inviting software companies and others to build a coding system. Dr Nomikos suggested that AMMITEC should establish a formal co-operation between the IT Committee of Cyprus Shipping Council, rather than try to establish an AMMITEC branch in Cyprus. "Our objectives are not conflicting," he said. "We should not have a double effort." Mr Nomikos suggested that the Cyprus Shipping Council ICT Committee should get involved in decision making at AMMITEC, maybe taking one or two seats on the board. Alexei Bozrikov from Unicom said that in his opinion AMMITEC should be built into an international body, not just incorporated in Greece, similar to other professional institutions. George Hoyt, managing director of Newslink Services, said that there has already been discussions about setting up a branch of AMMITEC in Asia, and the body could eventually be a voice at the IMO. Subhead Sergiy Nastachenko, Reederei Nord Sergiy Nastachenko, IT administrator of Cyprus shipping company Reederei Nord, talked about the different options for crew communications, from the shipowner's point of view. "I as an ex-seafarer know how important it is to be in touch with your family and friends and loved ones especially when you are many miles from shore," he said. "The crew want privacy and undisturbed access to the facility. It is important that crewmembers do not have to ask for permission to phone home and will not be disturbed." There are many problems with seafarers phoning home using the main ship telephone, he said. "You don't want seafarers on the bridge chattering when people are trying to work, and the master does want to spend hours calculating minutes. "Its an administration nightmare and very inconvenient," he said. "Its also not the most cost effective way of managing crew calling, especially if the ship uses Inmarsat -A. The crew phone calls can also interrupt vessel business." Providing a remote dialler phone, located in crew quarters but wired up to the main ship phone, with seafarers using phone cards, is convenient, cheap and reduces administration for the shipping company, he said, but the seafarers are still making expensive phone calls if the ship uses Inmarsat -A. Some crew calling cards have an "after pay" option, he said; the shipping company does not have to pay upfront for the crew calling cards, but only pays after the cards are activated, which indicates that the cards have been sold and the shipping company has collected money for them from a seafarer. There is a risk involved if a shipping company is required to pay for crew calling cards upfront because most of them have an expiry date on them; if the cards are not sold by the expiry date then the shipping company loses its money. Reederei Nord has looked at one crew calling option on the market where a supplier provides and maintains a single terminal which can be used for voice, e-mail, and online services such as ordering flowers. "We were very surprised to learn that most of the crew needs are quality voice instead of everything else," he said. One advantage of this system is that the supplier of the equipment looks after it and takes responsibility for it if it breaks. The company is very concerned about receiving large satcoms bills after payphones malfunctioning. "We had a case when due to a payphone malfunction the seafarers could make free calls," he said. "This is the kind of thing shipowners really want to avoid." If seafarers are only allowed to make phone calls from the bridge system, it is very easy to spot unreported calls, because they show up on the company's telephone bill. There are ways to manipulate the crew dialling hardware, such as bypassing the dialler, stealing other people's crew codes and unauthorised use of PIN numbers. "We are very much interested to avoid such happenings," he said. There is still a small amount of administration required with crew cards, which includes keeping records of the cards on the ship and activating them. Subhead Unicom Alexander Igantiev, senior engineer superintendent with Unicom, said that the company provides a free crew e-mail facility. Seafarers are limited to 50kb e-mail message size. By providing the service free of charge there is much less administration, he said. For phone calls, Unicom provides an Iridium terminal onboard which can make phone calls for $1 a minute. "We used Iridium with a handset - you can go on deck and use it - its the cheapest possible solution - it allows us to supply some way to speak with the vessels. It is SMS capable. We have one Iridium handset for the whole vessel," he said. Unicom is not interested in looking at any other crew calling system which charges more; the $2 standard rate of most Inmarsat systems, for example. "Mini-M is very expensive compared to Iridium," he said. Mr Ignatiev said he had received offers from satcoms companies which enable the shipping company to make a profit out of selling crew calling cards, for example buying them at $10 and selling them at $18 to cover the administration costs, but he said, "this is not the way a shipping company makes money." SUBHEAD OceanWide Nicos Goudoulias, director of crew manning agency Oceanwide Cyprus, said that the main thing seafarers want to do is be able to make phone calls, not send e-mails or surf the internet. "The issues are availability, accessibility, privacy and cost," he said. Seafarers often use phone boxes in ports, where calls are private, low cost and good quality in most areas. Cellular GSM phone networks can be private and allow the user to take incoming calls and send and receive text messages. But charges can be as much as $8 a minute, which the user doesn't know about until receiving the bill. There is also a safety problem with using cellular phones on tankers - you can't use them on the deck. Satellite terminals onboard can be very cheap during "super quiet times", but there is still a small hardware cost and administration required. Mr Goudoulias agreed with Mr Nastachenko, that the multipurpose crew calling kiosks, providing phone, e-mail and web services, are not something the crew "is really in need of." "Seafarers' primary needs is to talk to beloved ones," he said. However he pointed out that a few seafarers would use it if they had the opportunity. SUBHEAD Londhe Shivaji, Kotani Londhe Shivaji, operations manager, Kotani Shipmanagement, said that the principal problem was of call privacy. "Crewmembers say, I am fed up with this [calling from the ship's bridge], I will go for my mobile," he said. "I feel that the technology [for crew calling] is there but it isn't being put on the ship." "In future, shipbuilders should build a special communications room for the crew," he said. There would always need to be controls about how communications are being used onboard ship. "You don't want seafarers in the middle of painting to send an SMS message," he said. SUBHEAD Security in crew communications There was hot debate about how to reconcile the desire to provide seafarers with private communications facilities with the need to monitor their communications for security purposes. Asad Salameh of World Wink in Boston noted that the easiest way to hijack vessels is to have somebody on the ship's crew involved. Providing seafarers with a private communications facility which logs all calls being made (i.e. numbers called and the times), without allowing someone to actually listen into the call is a good compromise. Mr Salameh pointed out that the best thing shipping companies can do is introduce more screening to the choice of seafarers onboard the ship, rather than try to monitor their communications. "The first line of defence is ourselves - we are the people who choose who's onboard," he said. Londhe Shivaji, operations manager of Kotani Shipmanagement noted that shipping companies need to be realistic about what they can and cannot control. For example, the shipping company cannot control a seafarer's movements when they go ashore. "He can give the vessel's itinerary to anyone," he said. "Security issues are overblown in most cases," he noted. Adonis Violaris, communications manager of Hanseatic Shipping, noted that even if somebody was listening into seafarer's phone calls, they could always use code words to exchange secrets. David Walker, maritime marketing manager of Inmarsat, pointed out that the ship's position and other information is already being continually broadcast using automatic identification systems. Mike Campling, director of the International Seafarers Assistance Network (ISAN), said seafarers should have access to a private communications network in case they get into problems and need help. "I would like to see, on every ship, access to a private communications system," he said. SUBHEAD Susan Awad, Interorient Susan Awad, ICT manager of Interorient Navigation, talked about how Interorient is allowing shipowners and superintendents around the world to access the Interorient intranet system via the internet. The company has had its own internal IT system for several years, but wanted to make the information available outside the company. The web-based system Interorient has built runs over Unix, which the company finds to be more "stable, reliable and secure." It uses an Oracle web server. The system has a large amount of security, recording exactly who accessed which information and when. The data is encrypted. The system frees company staff from large amounts of paperwork, because authorised users outside the company can easily obtain critical business information. Interorient plans to expand the system to enable ships to access the Interorient intranet system using Fleet MPDS. SUBHEAD Antonis Kasios, Hanseatic Antonis Kasios, communications administrator of Hanseatic Shipping, talked about the company's experiences experimenting with Inmarsat Fleet 77, using equipment by Nera, JRC and Thrane and Thrane. "All systems work fine so long as you make the right installation and configuration," he said. "A simple mistake can cause a lot of problems." Mr Kasios noted that installing Fleet 77 onboard ships does require a fair degree of IT knowledge, especially if a firewall is also being installed. Hanseatic liked the extra-large dome around the JRC Fleet 77 unit. An engineer climbing inside the dome, not by removing it, services the unit. "This provides safety for personnel and makes it easier for personnel to enter and maintain it," he said. "It also needs no earthling." Mr Kasios noted that Fleet 55 is expected to provide a global service within two years, which casts a shadow over arguments to buy a Fleet 77. SUBHEAD Anita Curry, ShipServ Anita Curry, alliance and sales manager with online ship supplies management company ShipServ, said that the company currently has 500 ship suppliers integrated into the system so they can use it to communicate directly with shipping companies. ShipServ has the facility to communicate with a further 7,500 suppliers automatically out of the system using fax. There are various different ways ShipServ is charging for use of the service. For example, shipping companies can integrate their 3 largest suppliers into the system for $15,000, and subsequently pay $200 per vessel per month. Lots of suppliers are asking to be integrated into the system for a better chance of winning business from the shipping companies which use it, and also to make it cheaper to communicate with the shipping companies, using electronic communication rather than fax. In this case the supplier pays to make the integration. Ms Curry noted that despite all the publicity about e-business bubbles bursting, the amount of electronic business conducted in 2003 is actually more than was predicted in 1999. SUBHEAD Inmarsat I-4s Adonis Violaris, communications and public relations manager of Hanseatic Shipping, talked about the developments with Inmarsat to build I-4 satellites, from next year (2005). The satellites will be 100 times more powerful than the current satellites, carrying up to 432 kbps data. The satellites will cost $700m to build, weighing 3,400 kg each. They will be largely built in the UK, with solar arrays in Germany, antennae in the US. The European Space Agency contributed Euro 5m to the project. Inmarsat is not planning a new range of communications services in connection with the satellites - instead they will be used to power the current services, including Inmarsat -B and Fleet, with the exception of Inmarsat -A which is being phased out. The existing B-GAN services, allowing land users to communicate data at fast speeds using satellite terminals the size of laptop computers, will be migrated from the Thuraya satellites onto the new Inmarsat satellites. Mr Violaris also said that Fleet 77 will shortly be expanded to 128kbps dial up data speeds from the current 64 kbps, to be available later this year. The system will use the same hardware but a small software upgrade will be required. There are plans to add call-waiting services, indicating if a phone line is coming through when the user is connected using MPDS. Also Fleet 33 MPDS services will shortly be available with a 28kbps data upload (ship to shore) speed. BOX TEXT Acknowledgements Digital Ship Cyprus has been the biggest and most successful event held by Digital Ship to date, probably the largest maritime information technology event ever held as a conference and exhibition. The event will be re-run in February 2005. Many thanks to Adonis Violaris, communications and public relations manager of Hanseatic Shipping, for suggesting the event in the first place, making the conference program and arranging the co-operation of the Cyprus Shipping Council. Many thanks to Cyprus Shipping Council for their assistance in delivering shipping company delegates to this event. Many thanks to our main sponsor Inmarsat, lunch sponsor Kongsberg, badge sponsor World Link Communications, and exhibitors Dualog, World Link, Thunderworx, JRC, Nera, Kongsberg, Island Net, Seagull, CYTA, Maris, Thrane and Thrane, Nera, Ariebiz, Otenet, Thuraya, Admiral Chart and EMS Satcom for making the event possible. Most original company presentations can be downloaded free of charge from www.thedigitalship.com/presentations.htm, along with more photographs from the event. Thank you very much for your support and we hope to see you all in Cyprus next February. BOX TEXT Websites - for further information about companies mentioned in this report SHIPPING COMPANIES Danaos www.danaos.gr V.Ships www.vships.com Unicom www.unicom-cy.com Marlow Navigation www.marlow.com.cy Hanseatic Shipping www.hanseatic.com.cy Ammitec www.ammitec.org Cyprus Shipping Council www.csc-cy.org Reederei Nord www.mkeo.com Interorient Navigation www.interorient.com.cy SUPPLIERS / REGULATORS Oceanwide www.oceanwidecrew.com EMS Satcom www.emssatcom.com Inmarsat www.inmarsat.com Pole Star Space Applications www.purplefinder.com Broadband Maritime www.broadbandmaritime.com Cyprus Maritime Administration www.shipping.gov.cy France Telecom http://www.francetelecom-mobilesat.com ShipServ www.shipserv.com International Seafarers Assistance Network www.seafarerhelp.org World Link Communications www.wlnet.com Newslink Services www.newslinkservices.com Iridium www.iridium.com Nauticast www.nauticast.com Transas www.transas.com EXHIBITORS Dualog, www.dualog.no World Link, www.wlnet.com Thunderworx, www.thunderworx.com JRC, www.jrc.co.jp Nera, www.nera.no Kongsberg, www.kongsberg.com Island Net, Seagull, www.seagull.no CYTA, www.cytanet.com.cy Maris, www.maris.no Thrane and Thrane, www.tt.dk Ariebiz, www.ariebiz.com Otenet, www.otenet.gr Thuraya, www.thuraya.com Admiral Chart www.admiralchart.no EMS Satcom www.emssatcom.com KONGSBERG Autochief - won a design award. We can automate intelligent engines and make more flexible engines. Same building blocks for automation systems. Distributed processing unit.s You would have 2 in the engine control room near the bridge. Light indicates which one is in command. Blank panel philosophy - if the system has nothing to tell you We can change the configuration and adopt to different ships. Flat screen - can shore pop up alarms.