Ship shore communications
Inmarsat’s 128 Fleet kbps
http://www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat has announced plans to upgrade the Fleet 77 service in the New Year, so that ships can send and receive data at 128 kbps (rather than 64 kbps) when they are under the Inmarsat spot beams. 

Pricing for the new service has not yet been released but it is expected to reduce the price of sending large files by about 15 per cent of the price of two 64 kbps channels. 

For example, the price for Inmarsat Fleet 64 kbps ISDN is around $9 per minute. The Inmarsat Fleet 128 kbps will be about 15 per cent of the price of two 64 kbps channels, so is expected to be around $15.3 per minute to send twice as much data.

The service change will be principally useful for shipping companies which regularly send very large files (e.g. larger than 500 kb) between ship and shore, and also for special applications where the ability to send data much faster will be of great benefit, for example in telemedicine when a doctor on shore wants as much data as he can about the ill seafarer.

For example, in a telemedicine application it would be possible to send a fairly high resolution video image of 90 kbps, still leaving a further 38 kbps data capacity (e.g. to send data from body monitoring equipment). 

Already Telenor Marlink, France Telecom and Xantic have announced that they will be operating the service.

Inmarsat has already been providing 128 kbps data communications over Inmarsat -B for a number of years on over 300 navy vessels. 

The upgrade can be made by upgrading the software attached to the terminal and typing in a PIN code supplied by the airtime provider.

Søren Einshøj, managing director of Telenor Marlink, says that many Marlink customers have already been asking for faster data communication. 

Inmarsat believes that providing faster data communications over Inmarsat Fleet changes the argument for purchasing VSAT communications - many shipping companies buy VSAT because they want faster data communication can Inmarsat Fleet can provide. 

Robert Johnson, director of maritime with Inmarsat, says that over 3,000 Inmarsat Fleet terminals have been sold to date, which is in excess of the company's forecast.

The amount of IP packet data being transmitted over the system has more than doubled over the past twelve months, he says. 

Mr Johnson welcomed the entry of Connexion by Boeing into the maritime market.

"I think it's encouraging that Connexion by Boeing sees this market as an interesting one," he said. "We'll take the challenge on."

Mr Johnson noted that even many cruise ships, which generally use VSAT for all their non-mission critical data communication applications (e.g. passenger internet browsing and hotel management) still maintain Inmarsat communications for their ship operations. 


"Cunard has a number of Inmarsat channels they use - but use VSAT for hotel services," he said. "We'll be promoting this to the cruise market."

The service will be available globally (rather than in the spot beam) when the I-4 satellites are launched during 2005.

Inmarsat hopes that software and applications providers will be encouraged to build applications which use the new system. Rydex has already announced that it has upgraded its ship-shore e-mail software to work with the system.

ChartCo plans data boost


http://www.chartco.com


ChartCo, which broadcasts data to vessels by satellite including Notices to Mariners (paper chart updates), weather data, news and electronic chart updates, is planning to double the amount of data it is able to broadcast in May next year.

The company has been continuously broadcasting 1200 bits per second since the launch of the service in January 1999; now the broadcast rate will be doubled to 2400 bits per second. 

1200 bps for 12 hours is 13 megabytes a day; 2400 bps for 24 hours is 26 megabytes a day.


The increased data rate will open up more options for the broadcast service to be used for different things. 

ChartCo has already decided to broadcast weather forecast information every 12 hours, rather than every 24 hours as currently, so ships have much better weather information available onboard. 

It is looking at broadcasting updates to UKHO raster charts (ARCS) and private vector charts, made by C-MAP, Navionics and Transas, to go with its existing service to broadcast updates to official vector electronic charts (ENCs).

ChartCo could potentially subcontract any spare data capacity it has out to shipping companies with large fleets, which wish to broadcast fleet specific data to them, for example updates to quality assurance manuals.

It could also be used to broadcast updates to shipboard antivirus software or improved shipping news services.

The data can be received onboard ships with a standard Inmarsat -A, -B or Fleet terminal, plugged into a special ChartCo box. 

Ships pay for the services they choose to receive (eg paper chart updates, weather) rather than paying for the kilobyte.

The point is that is much cheaper to broadcast data to 1600 ships at once rather than e-mail it to them all individually.

Currently 1600 vessels use the ChartCo system, with a further 300 vessels having the system on order. It is signing up between 30 and 50 new ships per month. 

The most recent new customer was ER Schiffahrts in Germany, signed by German agent Hansenautic, which is fitting ChartCo's ChartManager service and its MetManager weather service on all of its 70 container ships, following the company using the service on 9 of its vessels for 3 years.

ChartCo is also fitting the entire OSG Shipmanagement fleet.



SUBHEAD
ChartManager

The most popular service is the ChartManager service which broadcasts the updates to paper charts - Notices to Mariners, so the ship does not have to wait until they arrive in the post. 

ChartCo recently added Japanese and Brazilian paper charts to the range of charts it broadcasts updates for.

Shipping companies can use ChartCo's service to make sure ships have all the Notices to Mariners (paper chart updates) that they need.

It provides an "outfit management" service, to enable shipmasters to manage all of the updates they need to make. They can print out any corrections they need and then update the software when they have been applied.

Similarly, the service broadcasts updates to the UKHO Digital List of Lights. In order to receive the updates, users pay a subscription to receive them with the UKHO (the same as if they were receiving the updates on CD), but they receive them by data broadcast instead. 

ChartCo has received a boost following a decision made by the US government to stop sending out Notices to Mariners printed on paper; they will only be sent electronically from January 2005.


SUBHEAD
MetManager

The second most popular service is the weather forecast information, or "MetManager." 

40 per cent of the ChartManager customers also use its MetManager service, to receive weather information, and 10 per cent of them receive news services from TeamTalk. 

The MetManager service is particularly popular with masters because it provides them with the data they need to make the decision about routes and speeds themselves.

This goes down much better with the masters than having routes dictated to them by someone in a shore office halfway around the world.

ChartCo does not broadcast all world weather data everywhere in the world, but broadcasts different weather data through each of the four Inmarsat satellites - so for example the Atlantic Ocean East satellite broadcasts weather data for the land underneath the satellite.

The satellite footprints themselves overlap, so if ships are moving from under one satellite to another they should already have a few days of weather forecast for the area they are moving into.

ChartCo has recently upgraded its shipboard software for weather forecast and routing, an installation which was made entirely remotely.

The new software package can display weather in the future in 12-hour increments, and display predicted weather data at much higher resolution. It can also show hurricane data with much greater accuracy. 

ChartCo is developing its ship routing software, so it can work out the best route to take and best speed, to arrive at the destination at a specific time. 

The service is developed in partnership with AWT (Applied Weather Technology) of San Francisco, which supplies the data and the software.

Shipmasters can see the estimated position the ship will be at noon. 

The software onboard ship advises masters of different routes they can make to have different times of arrival, but critically does not tell them what to do. "We are placing weather routing onboard ships for the shipmaster to make his own decision," says Haydn Jones. 

Shell is using the service on all vessels; BP is using it on 6 vessels; trials are being held with Stolt Nielsen. 

"Ships can make significant savings on the estimated time of arrival, eg 5 to 10 hours going from the US Gulf to Europe," says Haydn Jones, managing director of ChartCo.

"The program can route them away from difficult weather, show how they can use the ocean current to their advantage, or try to steer them away from currents going against them. It can help them minimize damage to the vessel." 


SUBHEAD
Electronic charts

ChartCo has launched a groundbreaking service to provide updates to official vector electronic charts (ENCs). 

The complexity involved in updating official vector electronic charts and being able to prove to inspectors that they are updated is widely considered to be a big reason for the slow take-up of ENCs by shipping companies; this is something ChartCo is trying to improve.

"We want to very much simplify the update service for ENCs and make sure it is compliant with ECDIS," says Mr Jones. 

The ENC updates are all broadcast encrypted - ChartCo is not able to read them itself - but shipping companies which have paid for the specific encryption keys for the specific cells will be able to read and use them.

One problem with receiving chart updates by broadcast on the ship is that not all chart systems can connect with computer networks, however they all have CD-ROM drives.

ChartCo works around this problem by installing CD burners on ships. The computer which receives the ENC data has a CD burner - it burns the data on a CD which can then be put into the ECDIS.

ChartCo is encourage ECDIS manufacturers to make their systems networkable, so they could receive data directly from the broadcast. It has put together a standard interface which ECDIS manufacturers can install, to make sure the systems can be used together with ChartCo broadcast data. 

"We'll expect ships to start implementing the network interface," says Mr Jones. 

The ENCs update files are received from chart distribution services Primar Stavanger and IC-ENC. 

There are two formats for ENC updates: ER, which only lists the changes to the data, and EN which redelivers the entire cell.

ER has much smaller file sizes, but some hydrographic offices are still insisting on only broadcasting ENC updates by sending out a completely new cell, which is a much bigger file and less practical for shipping.

SUBHEAD
Low ENC take-up

Mr Jones notes that not as many shipping companies are using ENCs as might be expected, considering that most new ships now have ECDIS systems installed to read them. 

He attributes this low-take up to the enormous complexity involved with using ENCs onboard ships, in particular knowing what to do in areas where ENCs have not yet been produced, and the lack of regulatory consensus about whether raster charts can be used in this case and how much paper charts are needed. 

"There needs to be acceptance of a common standard of backup," he says. "There should be a common position on acceptance of raster charts or not. It is a big problem that different flag states have different views."

"I think we need an international driving license - there should be one common implementation standard."

"GMDSS works quite well - the requirements were well defined. Once a flag state accepted GMDSS station as approved, that ship could sail anywhere in the w3orld. The Position on electronic charts is a little more confused."


France Telecom is the largest
www.francetelecom-mobilesat.com

image france telecom eceuppens.jpg
Caption “Erik Ceuppens, CEO of France Telecom


France Telecom Mobile Satellite Communications is claiming to be the world's largest mobile satellite operator according to traffic and subscribers, including providing services over Inmarsat, Iridium and Thuraya.

It claims to have a 20 per cent share of the overall mobile satcom market and currently 100,000 mobile satellite customers.

The company says it has a 20 per cent market share of Inmarsat's business, with a 30 per cent market share of Inmarsat's business to customers on dry land, a 30 per cent market share of Inmarsat mini-M, and 50 per cent market share of Inmarsat's B-GAN business (high bandwidth communications to land mobile customers).

It claims to be the largest Thuraya service provider in the world and the second largest Iridium service provider. It claims to have 20 per cent of Inmarsat Fleet traffic.

The company recorded a staggering 46 per cent growth in minutes during 2002, with 100 million minutes in total, with a corresponding 14 per cent growth in revenue. There was a 10 per cent growth in maritime traffic in 2003. 

It is the largest company providing Inmarsat mini-M to the maritime sector and the largest company providing prepaid cards.

France Telecom has also been appointed, it says, Inmarsat's primary partner for the global B-GAN launch, scheduled for 2007-2008, providing 432 kbps services to the maritime industry using the soon-to-be-launched I4 satellites.

The biggest strength of the company, according to CEO Erik Ceuppens, is its worldwide distribution network, capacity to innovate and ability to launch new products. 

The company currently has 200 companies selling its services, and offices in France, Germany, Netherlands, US/ Miami, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore.

"The maritime market is a steadily growing market," he says. "But the biggest challenge is the hunt for growth. All companies are looking for growth. 

France Telecom sees possibility for growth in Asia and China, where many vessels only have radio but not satellite communications. 

France Telecom has operated an Inmarsat land earth station since the mid eighties, and began seeking international business (outside France) in 1997. In 2001 France Telecom acquired the Inmarsat business of Deutsche Telecom (Germany), DeTeSat, and also acquired satcom distribution company Glocall. In 2002 France Telecom Mobile Satellite was set up as a standalone company within the France Telecom group. 


SUBHEAD
Renegotiated LESO agreement

One major change for the Land Earth Station Operators (LESOs) is that Inmarsat renegotiated its agreement with them earlier this year. 

The original LESO agreement was a relic from Inmarsat's founding days; the company was originally founded and owned by shipowning countries, and the arrangement was that Inmarsat traffic would be handled in each country by the state-owned telecom company, using its own satellite dish (land earth station). 

As state telecom companies around the world, and eventually Inmarsat itself, were gradually privatised, Inmarsat had a deal with its land earth station operators that it would never sell satellite airtime to shipping companies directly, or run its own land earth station – they had to go through a LESO. 

Many Inmarsat observers believed that the LESO agreement was a big obstacle to lower satcom costs, essentially forcing shipping companies to use LESOs and allowing them to add on a mark-up.


In March 2004 the LESO agreement was renegotiated, and Inmarsat is now free to resell its airtime directly to any company which can make a case for access to the market, people who want to use satellite phones. In other words, the LESOs have to fight harder for business.

The major LESOs, including France Telecom, Xantic, Telenor, Stratos, need to make a case to show customers what value they add for their mark up, and strengthen their relationships with customers so that customers do not just play them off against each other and destroy their margins. 

The revised LESO agreement, according to Mr Ceuppens, makes a distinction between the companies allowed to sell Inmarsat's existing services (-A, -B, Fleet, mini-M) and the future services (B-GAN), where there is a possibility that companies not traditionally involved in the satellite sector but with a strong link to customers (for example IBM and Vodafone) might get involved. 

Mr Ceuppens notes that the flexibility has been in place for B-GAN on land since the launch of the service over 4 years ago, and France Telecom has managed to maintain its market share, so it expects to hold the market when B-GAN is introduced for shipping.

"B-GAN is not a completely new thing - it is a more positioned as a next generator of existing services," he says. "It will not be a revolution - just an evolution."


SUBHEAD
New services

France Telecom is well aware that the most important thing that shipowners want is cheaper satellite phone calls and better control of the costs. It is trying to build the business by providing both of these things.

"Whenever you talk to a maritime customer he is talking about the cost and the value that it will bring," says France Telecom marketing manager Ghani Behloul. 

Mr Behloul says that France Telecom has been lobbying Inmarsat to decrease the prices of satellite phone calls, to a level similar to GSM roaming calls.

France Telecom is actively pursuing business in cost effective crew calling; it is also trying to make its services easier to use, and making it easier for shipping companies to control their satcom costs.

"What is driving the growth and needs is first of all the data," he says. "Some captains and vessels still stick to telex - e-mail onboard is really something new."

The company is looking for ways to improve the Inmarsat Fleet MPDS service, in particular to help shipping companies manage their costs, and improve the protection of shipboard PCs from hackers.



The company estimates that 4000 vessels in total are equipped with Inmarsat Fleet to date; the traffic over Inmarsat Fleet has doubled over the past 6 months.

The Fleet 33 service took off in June - July of this year, after a launch in March 2003. The 128 kbps Fleet 77 service will be available by the end of 2004.

"We already have requests from our customers for Fleet 128 kbps," says Ghani Behloul. "Sometimes it can take a day to send data.”

France Telecom is offering a promotional MPDS package with 30 free megabits per month (worth around $90). 

It is developing improved tools to help shipowners manage their costs and restrict the usage of shipboard MPDS tools.

France Telecom has developed a MPDS Traffic Monitoring System (TMS), in response to shipping companies that were shocked by receiving large telecom bills after their crew were inadvertently connected to MPDS for too long.

The system enables shipping companies to put a bar on MPDS calls above a certain amount of money - once the vessel has spent a certain amount on MPDS they cannot use the service any more.

The service also allows the ship to receive e-mails when the remaining credit is under a threshold volume.

The Opti-Time+ seafarer calling card, the company says, gives the best rates on the market. It recently launched a version of the card in Spanish, for Spanish seafarers.



Users can make calls at $0.99 on 7pm to 7am weekdays and all weekend.



SUBHEAD
SkyFile

France Telecom says that one of the things shipping companies like the most about its SkyFile ship shore data communications service is the simplicity of it, he says. 

The SkyFile C service is proving very popular, optimising communication from e-mail and SMS to Inmarsat -C, and making it easy for companies to monitor how much they are spending online.

Mr Behloul claims that SkyFile has evolved to the level of Xantic's popular AMOS ship-shore e-mail package, but SkyFile is provided to customers free of charge.

France Telecom recently launched version 5.0 of SkyFile, with capability to send faxes from the ship, which are created as e-mails (keeping the satcom cost low) but are faxed to the recipient on the land side.

SkyFile has proper anti Spam and anti virus tools. It has also used tools to enable shipping companies to check their mailboxes over the internet. 

France Telecom is improving the easy of interfacing between SkyFile and other shipboard software.

The new SkyFile system allows shipping companies to send and receive electronic faxes. They can also check e-mails from any internet enabled PC.

The software has the best anti-spam and anti-virus tools on the market (not just scanning for keywords like "Viagra") and also can be set with black and white filters. 

A new service SkyFile C can be used to send e-mails and SMS by Inmarsat -C, removing unnecessary headers and attachments and limiting incoming message size. 


SUBHEAD
Peter Döhle

France Telecom reports that shipping company Peter Döhle of Hamburg is a happy customer (also Peter Döhle is also currently experimenting with VSAT solutions from Sperry Marine, see report elsewhere in this report).

Peter Döhle owns 32 vessels and operates seven ships for other owners; it also charters in a further 200 container ships and bulk carriers.

85 per cent of its ship shore communications cost is data transfers. This includes regular despatch of loading dates, orders, reports and position data, multimedia systems to send digital photos for documenting damaged cargo or remote diagnosis in case of technical problems onboard.

For this it needs easy to use high performance low cost communication systems between ship and shore; it needs simple and clear billing with distribution of costs with minimum administration, to differentiate between e-mails sent by the charter company, ship operator and crews, the company says.

Döhle currently operates its 32 vessels and manages 7 others, while servicing an additional 200+ container vessels and bulk carriers for other shipping lines - mainly providing logistic or technical services. 

The company installed SkyFile C on all ships in June 2004, updating the old Inmarsat -C telex service. It was pleased about how well detailed and accurate communication costs could be listed for each ship, and costs can be listed for each separate originating e-mail address.

Döhle reports that even its "old school" captains, who are generally sceptical of technical innovation, were pleased with the Inmarsat -C e-mail service. 

"Within five minutes I was able to handle and operate SkyFile C,” says says Michael Dittmer, assistant superintendent of Döhle. 

“I set the parameters to suit our particular requirements and briefly familiarized myself with the service. 

"Frankly, I just couldn't find any disadvantages, and I certainly prefer SkyFile C to our old system: it's simple, saves time, money, and eliminates a lot of questions."

"The captain and responsible crew members should be able to use communication programs immediately, with no special prior knowledge or training." SkyFile C is the perfect answer." 

New deals for Iridium


http://www.iridium.com
Image – Iridiumphone.jp

Iridium, the ship-shore communications system, has announced big new deals with Univan, Stolt Nielsen, Columbia Shipmanagement and Eastern Meditteranean


Univan has fitted 70 ships with Iridium phone systems, supplied by Horizon Mobile Communications, after extensively testing the cost compared to other phone systems. 

The company says it saved 30 per cent cost on voice and paid back the initial investment in 3 months.

Stolt Nielsen is equipping its entire fleet of 74 chemical and parcel tankers with iridium satellite telephone systems under agreement with Marlink. 

It is also installing Iridium terminals at its headquarters in Houston and Rotterdam for low cost communications with ships. 

Meanwhile Columbia Shipmanagement has a 6 month trial for SSAS capability and also for voice and data traffic. They are supplied by the MVS Group. 

The decision to use Iridium at Columbia was taken following a six-month sea trial, according to Herbert Mikesch, manager for communication and electronics with Columbia Shipmanagement. 

"We have decided to take advantage of this opportunity to bring our ships into compliance with SSAS regulations, provide convenient crew calling facilities for our shipboard personnel and decrease monthly ship to shore communications expenses," says Mr Mikesch. 

"It puts us in a position to be ready for Long Range Identification and Tracking of Ships (LRSIT) when it will be required in the future."

Eastern Mediterranean Maritime (EastMed) is fitting its fleet with Iridium ship security alert systems - on 34 tankers and bulkers. The service agreement is provided by Marlink. The terminals will also be used for voice and data traffic and prepaid crew calling. 

Dan Thoma, manager of data services with Iridium, says that the service is still cash flow positive, and 20 per cent of the revenue is from data communication.

The short burst data service can carry between 30 bytes and 2000 bytes data packets and is priced at $1.50 per kilobyte. 


Purplefinder - 3,000 SSAS sold


http:///www.purplefinder.com

Pole Star Space Applications reports that it has sold over 3,000 ship security alert systems to date and has not yet encountered a single maintenance problems with any of them. 

"We can count on 2 hands the number that have come back," says Duncan * from Purplefinder. "Once it's installed that's it."

Shipowners pay $2,000 initial investment for the hardware, and $50 a month for the service, including online tools for them to track the vessels.

Pole Star offers a "light" service at $20 a month, for which they just receive one position report a day and security alert.

Pole Star has its own 24-hour monitoring centre to receive the alerts - it reports that some customers, including Maersk, monitor the alerts themselves.

No software is required - all the monitoring and configuration can be handled online.

A recent new produce launch was a system for charterers - enabling them to track the position of their chartered ships from their shipboard GMDSS terminals, so long as they have the position of the shipowner.


MacGregor launches remote monitoring service


www.macgregor-group.com 
image macgregor.jpg
Caption “Macgregor will be monitoring its cargo handling equipment over a satcom link”

MacGregor, a manufacturer of ship cranes, hatch covers and other cargo handling equipment, has launched a service to provide shipowners with guaranteed equipment availability.

It will use remote monitoring techniques to monitor how well the equipment is working from its shore offices. 

"Our goal is to ensure that our cranes, hatch covers, ro-ro and other cargo handling equipment are always in peak operating condition," says Hans Pettersson, president of MacGregor.

Mr Pettersson says that MacGregor has been seeing serious competition since 1994, and is looking for ways to improve the service it offers to shipowners.

"The companies which survive are the ones which adapt fastest to changing conditions," he says. "We have to get cost out of the system."

"The idea is not new but we had to wait for new technology to make it work," says Hans Pettersson, president of MacGregor. 

"In 1997 we defined service as the ability to give our partner shipowners the freedom to concentrate on pursuing their core business and maximizing profitable operations, knowing that their fleet's key revenue enhancing systems are receiving attention from a specialist."

This reflects a big change in service philosophy at MacGregor. 

Up until now it has made service and maintenance agreements on various items, such as spare parts supply, support, inspection, maintenance support, management support; but this is the first time it has agreed to take the same responsibility over the equipment which the shipowner has to, making sure it works reliably.


Under its "Total Onboard Care" package, MacGregor will take responsibility of keeping the equipment running. If it fails to reach the specified levels of uptime, the shipowner will be financially compensated.

It will record key parameters from the equipment every second, feeding data to a computer system onboard the ship. This includes condition monitoring (e.g. monitoring vibration) and comparing data against expected data. It will monitor the running hours of the different pieces of equipment, to be better able to advise when they should be replaced. 

Any necessary maintenance tasks can be scheduled for the next port of call.	

MacGregor will cover the cost of getting data back to shore by satellite as part of the package. 

The data will be fed into MacGregor's fleet database, where it can be accessed by service personnel. The shipowner can also access the remote diagnostic information.

The crew will still handle certain maintenance tasks but MacGregor will look after crew training. One of the conditions is that the equipment can only be operated by trained personnel. 

MacGregor has been trialling Total Onboard Care with a number of pilot projects since 2002. 


On Gearbulk's 47,800 dwt three year old vessel "Cedar Arrow" it has been monitoring the hatch covers and on BAN Nordsjöfrakt's 16,700 dwt "Nordon" it has been monitoring the ship's three cranes. It has also been monitoring three cranes onboard Rickmers Reederei's 23,000 dwt vessel CMA/ CGM Licorne. 

The data has been transmitted ashore and analysed. 

The service was originally developed for monitoring air conditioning and elevators in ships.

It has already launched a remote monitoring system for air conditioning, managing provision stores temperatures, air cooler defrosting sequences, chillers and plant room supervision, alarms and control.

Another system, developed with elevator manufacturer KONE, allows remote analysis of elevator traffic and remote maintenance support.


SUBHEAD
Different levels of service


To summarise the different services:

"Basic" covers equipment inspections and condition reports, MacGregor makes proposals for remedial measures. 

Under "Enhanced," MacGregor will check maintenance made by crew, make basic adjustments, replace certain parts and handle crew training. This includes condition monitoring, proposal for preventative maintenance. 

Under "Special," MacGregor will take over maintenance from the shipowner, integrating its own maintenance system with the ship maintenance system. It will make basic adjustments to equipment, check maintenance carried out by crew, make condition report, do some reconditioning, make proposals for preventative maintenance, do crew training, provide information for ship maintenance systems 

Under "Total," MacGregor will commit to keeping the equipment running at a specified level of uptime, and commits that the equipment will not fall out of operation due to lack of maintenance. 



Dr Matthias Reith
http://www.thedigitalship.com/reith



Dr Matthias Reith, joint owner of German bulk carrier operator Orion Bulkers, continued his campaign to make it easier for shipmasters to rescue refugees in distress, with a press conference held at SMM.

The maritime industry has a major problem, he believes, in that countries around the world will not automatically accept people who have been rescued at sea, which could potentially lead to shipmasters being discouraged from rescuing people.

Dr Reith is making his campaign in a personal capacity, after hearing about many stories about refugees dying at sea because shipmasters refused to rescue them. "I'm a Christian and I cannot accept that people die," he said.

"Politicians must understand that ships are not floating detention centres," he said. "There is no commitment demanded of coastal states to accept people rescued at sea." 

"If this was happening at shore it would attract much more medium and publicity - but because it happens at sea nobody cares."

"Amendments of SOLAS could develop further to cover obligations of shipmasters to rescue people in distress. I would have liked legislation to put firmer obligations on coastal states. Rules could come in making the master free to drop of stowaways wherever he likes."

"Refugee boats do not belong to sea- they should not be allowed to leave at all,” he said.

"At Orion bulkers we brief our masters very intensively and make sure that all things that can be done are being done."

Mr Reith quoted unconfirmed estimates from the North of England P+I Club, which, he said, 1000 refugees died every year trying to make it across the Strait of Gibraltar.

Mr Reith said that shipmasters have a legal obligation to rescue anybody at sea in distress at any time, and if they wilfully turn a blind eye they could be criminally prosecuted; also charterers are not allowed to put ships into offhire when they pick up refugees or spend time trying to find a port which will accept them, unless this is specifically stated in the contract.

Ship navigation
Sperry Marine
http://www.sperry-marine.com

Shipboard electronics company Sperry Marine is developing its iFleet ship data system, which combines shipboard communications systems, including wireless communications, with ship shore communications.

It has announced the first trial iFleet installation, with a shipboard wireless network, VSAT antenna and voice over IP system, on container ship “Kopiapo” constructed for German shipowner Peter Döhle Schiffahrts by China Shipbuilding Corporation in Taiwan.  

The vessel is fitted with a 2.8m C-band VSAT antenna from Sperry partner company INVSAT, with a 4.5m radome. It weighs 1.2 tonnes and can carry data globally at 128 kbps. 

Onboard, the vessel has a wireless data communication system, including Sperry's "pocket bridge" system, where masters can see all the data displayed in the ship's bridge (apart from radar, which needs too much data) anywhere on the ship on a pocket computer. 

The vessel will be used as a showcase for many new Sperry Technologies, including its StarStream broadcast internet service and wireless communications onboard.

Döhle is trialling the service for six months, and will subsequently decide whether to purchase it. 

"It's giving a lot of opportunities," says Captain René from Döhle. "In the future we will have an internet connection - so what not start now."

"You can service the vessel remotely and make remote diagnostics. The vessel staff can contact Sperry or us. You can lose a lot of money waiting for service engineers." 

Captain René anticipates that the system will be very useful in helping the shipping company monitor what is going on, on the ship.

"The quality of junior officers will in future not increase," he says. "You have to have some control mechanism of what is going on."

"I think we have more opportunities to control the people onboard - to interfere, to act, to avoid incidents."

Döhle also anticipates using the system to improve quality of life for seafarers.

"We are looking to make life onboard a lot more comfortable," he says. "I don't need to tell you what kind of possibilities you have. You can download videos.  It could motivate more people to go to sea."

"I was sailing as a master - I know how it is onboard," he says. "15 years ago you couldn't talk to your family for months or years."

Captain René says that the company is not considering providing container tracking services, allowing shippers to track and monitor containers in transit sending data over the VSAT link. 

The ship will also have a wi-fi system; ten wireless access ports will be fitted on the vessel, which will also be equipped with 8 pocket computers, including 4 industrial strength (rugged) ones to use in the engine room. 

This will enable officers to monitor al aspects of the ship from in their quarters, offices and mess rooms.

Crew will be able to connect web cameras to the wireless network, creating pictures which can be viewed by other ship crew or sent ashore.



SUBHEAD
Trial



Döhle has committed to using the system for six months only, and after that the company will make a decision as to whether they want to keep it.

"We have to convince our superiors," says Captain René. "As technical managers we have to prove it over the next 6 months. We have to look for how to sell it to our boss. But our managing director was very interested in this."
 
"We're trying to evaluate the real lifecycle cost of the technology," he says.
"We know communications can be possible for $500 to $600 a month, and the costs are 10 times more.”



Peter Döhle has been working with Sperry Marine for around 4 years. "We established quite a good relations," says Captain René. "We would always like to do it with Sperry. We are assisting each other, we are together learning out of this."

"There's a big partnership going on here," says Chris Hapgood, director of iFleet programs with Sperry. "The evaluation is going on.
 


SUBHEAD
StarStream

In a separate development, Sperry has introduced its DVB StarStream service, which allows ships to receive data paying by the month for the service rather than paying by the kilobit or minute, at prices lower than standard VSAT.

The vessel is fitted with a dish smaller than a typical VSAT antenna (eg 1m), which is strong enough to receive data from the satellites but not strong enough to transmit data.

Ships can receive data at speeds as high as 2mpbs. But the requests for sending data have to go through a different system, eg Inmarsat Fleet MPDS.

The system is ideal for web browsing onboard the ship, because most of the data is sent to the ship and the amount of data which needs to be sent from the ship (eg requests for pages) is comparatively very small. 


The service is only available regionally, under the footprint of various satellites (eg for North West Europe).


SUBHEAD
INVSAT



UK VSAT satellite communications company INVSAT has created an "enabling platform" for the Sperry Marine iFleet system. 

Under the deal, Sperry will provide installation and service support for INVSAT's VSAT installations in the maritime industry. 

INVSAT says it has been chosen to work with Sperry on the basis of its research, engineering and manufacturing expertise.


Invsat has also developed StarStream system for Sperry Marine, combining an Inmarsat Fleet 77 or Fleet 55 ship terminal with a Ku and C band satellite dish.




SUBHEAD
Other Sperry news

Sperry has moved its Hamburg office, building a 1,450m2 facility in the town centre for sales, marketing, product engineering, application engineering, service, finance and control, IT and production control. There is a training unit with classroom and simulator training. 

Uwe Oldekop has been appointed managing director of the office, replacing Dieter Hallabauer who retired. Mr Oldekop was previously chief engineer in Sperry’s old Hamburg office.



Sperry has been certified by ABS to perform annual radio surveys on ships including GMDSS, AIS, ship security alert systems. Sperry Marine engineers can conduct inspections to be given to ABS surveyors. 

Sperry has introduced a new range of flat screen desktop marine radars, the entire line of BridgeMaster E radars has been switched to flat screen (LCD) displays. 

Sperry has a contract to supply an integrated bridge system for a training simulator in Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Marine Transportation in Egypt. 

It has a contract to supply navigation and communication systems for Ultra Voyager cruise ship, currently being built at Kvaerner Masa-Yards, Finland, for Royal Caribbean. It will be the world's largest cruise ship carrying up to 3,600 guests and 1,400 crew. 



The system will include Sperry's Vision FT bridge system, with high resolution flat screen displays, convenient console layouts, ergonomic controls and new operating software. 

The systems can be controlled with trackball devices in the pilot chair's armrests. 

Lilley and Gillie


http://www.lilleyandgillie.co.uk

UK chart agent and electronics supplier Lilley and Gilley is putting together a package to get shipping companies started with electronic chart systems, for just $3,500. 

For this they get the electronic chart software (which they can run on a normal PC) and a selection of electronic chart files. 



Companies cannot purchase a type approved electronic chart display system (ECDIS) for $3,500, put they can get an ECDIS-like non type approved system (known as an ECS, or electronic chart system) which will enable them to get up to speed and find out how useful electronic charts actually are.

Lilley and Gillie believes it is in a special position, alongside the UKHO and Kelvin Hughes, as one of the few companies active in selling electronic charts which is also a major paper chart supplier, and as such in a very good position to help shipping companies make the transition to electronic charts.

The company is suggesting that shipowners sign a five-year agreement to receive both paper and electronic charts, with a view to making the full transition to electronic charts and type approved ECDIS at the end of the five years. 

"Providing you upgrade in 5 years we specify a price," says managing director Graham Knight.

Many shipping companies are starting to ask about electronic charts, and Lilley and Gillie suggests that they make a gradual transition rather than try to throw all their paper charts away and jump straight to electronic. 

There is also the problem that large amounts of worldwide electronic chart data are still not available, but is quickly becoming available. 

"They can get crews used to electronic charts whilst also having paper charts," he says.



Lilley and Gillie is developing remote diagnostics services for its shipboard equipment, so that more problems can fixed remotely.

"Many service engineers don't know about ships," says Mr Knight.


Many problems onboard ships take two or three attempts to get repaired - often service companies don't want to hold spare parts. 

The first engineer diagnoses the problem, a 2nd engineer fits the new part and the 3rd engineer tries to get it working. The shipping company can regularly pay as much as $1,000 for each of these service visits. 

Lilley and Gillie is developing a processor unit it will be able to connect to its shipboard equipment.


C-MAP


http://www.c-map.no

Norwegian electronic chart company has signed a deal to distribute official electronic charts (ENCs) from the Italian hydrographic office, the first chart agent in the world to be able to do so.

Italy has long been the black sheep of Western Europe in its refusal to allow public use of its ENC, since nearly all other coastline in Western Europe, including Spain, UK, France, Denmark, Scandinavia and Greece is covered.

Italy is part of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Virtual RENC (MBSV-RENC) which also includes Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Monaco, Russian Federation, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia. 

The charts will be supplied to C-MAP non-encrypted and sent to the ships in C-Map's proprietary SENC format, which means they will only work if C-MAP software is installed on the ship bridge system. 

C-MAP has also achieved another breakthrough deal, obtaining a certification from the International Standards Organisation (ISO) for its private vector chart database, including the procedures for creating the data, checking the quality and updating. 

The standard was developed by ISO with contributions from the hydrographic offices, class societies and shipping companies.

C-MAP hopes that this will be a big step towards regulatory approval for C-MAP's vector charts being used for ship navigation.

Currently ships are only allowed to "rely" on vector charts produced by official hydrographic offices. However many hydrographic offices subcontract the work of producing the charts out to C-MAP, and it produces its own vector charts in exactly the same way as the official vector charts.

This means we have a rather ludicrous scenario of two sets of charts produced in exactly the same way (private vector and official vector) but shipping companies are allowed to use one set to navigate with and the other set can only be an aid, with paper charts being the main navigation tool.

There is one critical difference between official and C-MAP data though; with official data, hydrographic offices accept a degree of liability if a ship has an accident due to errors on the chart; C-MAP does not accept any liability in a similar way.

SUBHEAD
C-MAP Marine

 Forecast



C-MAP has set up a new company, C-MAP Marine Forecast, based in Bergen, dedicated to improving the weather service offered to C-MAPs customers. 

The general manager is Bjørn Age Hjøllo, who has worked for the Norwegian Meteorological Office for 12 years, including heading up the Marine Forecasting Centre for the last 5 years. 

Bjørn Age Hjøllo will be collaborating with the meteorological office to improve the presentation of weather data and develop systems for a more innovate use of data in national and international shipping. 

He will work towards improving the use of high resolution data in coastal waters and increasing the amount of available information such as ice borders, earth observation and satellite images. 	

C-MAP Marine Forecast will sell weather and sea state information, to be distributed as part of OceanView, C-MAP's office route planning program, C-Star, the weather routing system, and its electronic chart system. 

There will be new modules for tides and tidal streams, giving data about tidal height and tidal stream direction. 

C-MAP is developing services to provide improved information about ports onboard ships, including port data, plans and photos.


Nauticast
http://www.nauticast.com

IMAGE Nauticast Kim Fisher
Caption “From left to right: Peter Martin, managing director of Nauticast; Kim Fisher, head of navigation with the British Coastguard; Ernie Batty, technical director of IMIS”



AIS manufacturer Nauticast has launched two new products - an AIS base station, “X-base,”and a special US AIS system, “X-Pack US” manufactured in the US.

The X-Base base station is a receiver system for ports and other agencies wishing to monitor local vessel traffic from the shipboard AIS systems. It can receive all AIS messages in radio range, and connect to a computer network so the data can be monitored somewhere else.

The X-PACK US is intended for the US workboat market and costs $2,990. A special website has been built for it at www.ais-shop.com

An interesting development from Nauticast (already reported in Digital Ship) is the "fairway view" AIS display; instead of showing the conventional electronic chart / birds eye view, shipmasters can look on the screen and see the ships in front of them, using the data from their AIS systems.

The user can change the scale (eg do you want to see ships within 5 miles or within 40 miles) - they can also change the symbols displayed.

"You only see what's in front of you - who cares what is behind you," says Peter Martin, managing director of Nauticast. 

As expected, the AIS market is very price sensitive, he says; units are currently available for as low as Euro 3,500 to 4,000, and manufacturers are doing everything they can to produce cheaper AIS systems.

Nauticast's goal is to remain competitive with the cheapest units on the market, but provide something seafarers and shipping companies really like at the same time, he says. 

"People say, it’s simple to use and we like it," he says. "It’s simple for the shipowner to give it to his people."

"We encourage shipowners to let their people play with it and see if they can work with it before they buy it."

Nauticast is participating in the standardisation group for Type B transponders, which are designed for non-SOLAS vessels particularly in the US, who want to monitor AIS transmissions from larger vessels. The system does not have such complex installation. 

"We are really trying to make something seafarers will like."

Nauticast has made a tie-up with IMIS (International Management Information Systems), a UK provider of AIS base stations. 

IMIS is selling an AIS base station for Euro 35,000, including a Nauticast AIS receiver, a rugged box and a computer with software to manage and display the data and send it out to a network. 

The system can be used in a port AIS base station, or on an offshore platform or wind farm. The unit has a power consumption of just 25W (15W for the AIS receiver, 10W for the computer system), small enough for it to work from solar power. 

The system takes about an hour to set up, IMIS says, and displays all the AIS data received on a computer screen using Internet Explorer software.

The system can show the ships locations on a map, or display all the information they are transmitting (including cargo, destination) on a spreadsheet. 

A special tool enables all the vessels to be displayed on top of a satellite photo of the port, rather than a map. 

By clicking on the vessel, all the relevant information about the vessel is displayed. 

The box can be connected to the internet and controlled remotely; it is possible to gather data from 200 separate base stations at the same time.

Users can send messages over the AIS to vessels, sending them to specific vessels or all the vessels in one area (for example to warn them of a hazard). 
If the box is connected to the internet, it can be configured so that a normal e-mail can be sent out to specific ships over AIS. 

The messaging system should be especially useful, because messages can be sent in text which are normally broadcast over radio (eg telling someone their berth has changed). 

Messages can often be conveyed more easily by text than voice if the person does not speak English as their first language. The text message is also much clearer than the voice if there are several different communications going on the radio at the same time.

The system could be configured so that ship agents can send messages to vessels they are looking after, with the message sent as an e-mail to the AIS base station and then sent on to the ship.

When messages come into the shipboard AIS system, an alarm is heard on the bridge. 

This would be a very useful tool in many port areas, particularly if the AIS box was purchased by a port authority and broadcast data to all of the port agents and terminals in the port over the internet, so they can see when their ships come in. 

The tool would also be useful for customs people, who could monitor the activity in several different ports at the same time if they all had AIS boxes. 

IMIS has demonstrated the box at an innovation show organised by the US Coastguard in May 2004, and also participated in a US Navy equipment trial in Boston harbour.

IMIS said it chose the Nauticast box due to its low power consumption and ruggedness; the Nauticast AIS receiver is designed to continue working if it is dropped or soaked in salty water. The box is totally sealed, it does not contain any fans. 

Kelvin Hughes sells 12 Mantas
http://www.kelvinhughes.com



Kelvin Hughes reports that it has sold 12 of its new Manta flat screen bridge displays over the past 12 months.

Users can choose what they want to show on each display, for example electronic chart, two radars, conning display, engine data. 

The company has launched a new S band low profile antenna, which has less wind resistance and uses less power, or can rotate faster with the same power consumption.

Saab TransponderTech
http://www.transpondertech.se

IMAGE R4 AIS system
Caption “The 4th generation AIS from Saab”



Saab TransponderTech has launched the 4th version of its shipboard automatic identification system (AIS). 

It is also making steps to correct what is reported to be a major problem with AIS systems, that they transmit faulty GPS data, indicating to other ships that the ship is somewhere where it isn’t, potentially very dangerous.

The GPS problems are normally due to low quality GPS systems being plugged into the shipboard AIS box, with either read the satellites inaccurately or cannot tell if there is a problem with the data. 

Technologies have been developed to improve the accuracy of GPS, and warn ship masters if there is a problem with the GPS data, by using data from more satellites to check. The service is called "Receive Autonomous Integrity Monitoring" (RAIM). 



There are 24 satellites in total in the GPS system, and 5 are always observable from any point in the world. The GPS takes the data from the best three (two dimensional), or the best four (three dimension, eg for aeroplanes when a further dimension, height, is involved).

The RAIM system checks the data from the best three or four satellites, against a further satellite.

On New Years Day of this year, one of the 24 GPS satellites failed for 2 hours due to a problem with its atomic clock, and was broadcasting incorrect data; the satellites are circling the world, not geostationary, so there were problems caused all over the world. Shipboard GPS systems were giving readings which were 40 km out.

Any RAIM-enabled GPS system would have noticed that the data from one satellite was inconsistent with the other four, and so ignored the data; it might also have switched the traffic light to amber indicating that shipping companies should still treat the data generated with a pinch of salt since there was no further satellite to check it against.

The RAIM GPS system has a colour code to indicate how accurate it believes the data to be, with green meaning go, red meaning ignore the data, and amber meaning there are concerns about it. 

It is possible for the user to set the required navigation accuracy, and control which problems trigger the amber or red light.

Unfortunately these systems are not required, so whilst you can sort out the GPS on your own ships, you can't force all the ships you might meet mid-ocean to have the system onboard.

Saab is offering an "enhanced" AIS system, with a RAIM-enabled GPS inside it, for maximum reliability of transmitted GPS data.

It is also offering a GPS system with DGPS and RAIM, to provide the highest possible accuracy GPS. This system can be integrated into all kinds of equipment on the bridge.



Saab is also building business selling AIS base stations, for shore authorities to monitor systems received by shipboard AIS; it is also selling AIS receivers for use on planes, for example for search and rescue planes looking for ships in distress, or for coastal surveillance. 

The business in AIS systems is booming, according to Gunnar Mangs, business development director. More and more countries are bringing in their own requirements, and requirements being introduced for various inland waterways. Boats involved in surveillance, for example police boats, are increasingly fitting AIS systems. 

Saab believes that the maximum capacity of AIS (maximum number of ships which can be tracked by one AIS receiver) is around 500 ships transmitting at the same time; ships only transmit if they are moving. This means it should be enough for any harbour tracking scenario.


IMO tries to encourage ECDIS


http://www.primar-stavanger.org



Moves are going on at IMO to try to clear up the current messy situation of how ships navigate on electronic charts when the official vector electronic chart files, or "ENCs", have not been produced, Primar Stavanger reports. 

At the meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee in May 2004, Australia started the ball rolling, suggesting that the requirement that ships need to have paper charts when working with raster charts should be deleted.

The requirement that ships still need to have paper charts when using either raster charts or non-official charts is a big inhibitor to the use of electronic charts - shipping companies don't want to have to pay for charts twice.
Norway said it agreed with the main aim of the proposal, supporting the wider use of electronic charts, but was not happy about raster charts and official vector electronic charts (ENCs) having equal regulatory status.

Norway proposed an alternative approach, of forcing shipping companies to use ECDIS and ENCs where they were available. 

Norway also proposed that every coastal state should evaluate which of its waters are adequately covered with raster charts, with a view to eventually allowing them to be used if the specific coastal state agrees. 

The issues should be discussed as a "high priority issue" for the next two meetings of the subcommittee of safety of navigation in June 2005 and June 2006.

Meanwhile a special correspondence group on the issue has been set up, chaired by Norway.

Maris' flat screen ECDIS


http://www.maris.no



Norwegian maritime equipment manufacturer Maris reports a growing interest in its electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS), one of the most cost effective type approved systems on the market.

Maris is now on its 5th generation of ECDIS products, and claims to be the only manufacturer with a type approved flat panel computer for ECDIS. 



Maris says it has a 90 per cent share of the retrofit ECDIS market for commercial ships in the Scandinavian market, and has delivered over 500 ECDIS systems to shipping companies in over 25 countries. 

"One day ECDIS will be mandatory," says Maris marketing director Willy Nørgaard Hansen. 

"The LCD display technology can revolutionise use of ECDIS on ships,” he says. "The screen is flat with no distortion or reflection, so there is better viewing in sunny conditions and no magnetic disturbance or X-rays."

"It should be more comfortable viewing conditions, consume less power, and take up less space.”

UKHO’s Admiralty ECDIS plans


http://www.ukho.gov.uk



UKHO announced its plans to for the Admiralty ECDIS service, to be launched in December, with a mixture of the official Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) and Admiralty Raster Charts (ARCs).

Charts will be bundled into different folios, including a "full" folio with all coverage available for a given area, a "standard folio" with coverage of major ports and trade routes, and the "transit folio" giving coverage needed for safer transit including principal ports, primary routes, bunkering ports and ports of refuge.

New ENCs will be added to the relevant folio and supplied to the customer free of charge.

Updates include all Notices to Mariners, New Editions, Replacement Charts and Temporary and Preliminary Notices for all charts. 


MX-Marine makes AIS interesting
http://www.mx-marine.com/



Maritime electronics manufacturer MX-Marine has made an interesting effort to create an AIS system which provides more value to shipmasters - the system can also provide tide information.

The AIS is programmed with a tide table calculator, taking data from British Admiralty tide tables. 

When the data is combined with the GPS (position) input, the master knows at any time if he is on high or low tide, and what the tide is going to be at the next port with the estimated time of arrival. 

Shipboard electrics
Siemens IP computer network
http://www.siemens.com



Siemens has developed an IP shipboard computer network system, which enables telephones, video, fax, computer, TV and other services to be connected together on the same cable, rather than having a separate cable for each. 

The systems all send data in the IP protocol, which is the same system used for the internet and virtually all shore based computer networks. 

IP is famously reliable (being originally developed for exchange of data in the event of a nuclear war). If one cable is broken, the data automatically finds a different route to its destination. 

For example, if somebody cuts or unplugs a network cable on the ship, then the flow of data (e.g. a telephone call or video) automatically reroutes itself, and the person using the telephone does not even hear a click.

Having IP-based networking also means that the ship can take advantage of products developed to use in installations on shore, when IP is the world standard. 

IP telephones have already been developed for use on shore IP networks - they look exactly like normal telephones and are exactly the same to use - but they send the data using IP, rather than normal telephone protocols. 

IP computer networks can carry enormous amounts of data, easily in the range of more than one gigabit per second.




SUBHEAD
Mission critical

Although the system is currently being developed for non-mission crucial applications (e.g. television and communications), Siemens anticipates that once the reliability of the system is proven, it should be possible to use it for mission critical applications. 

Siemens is already looking at connecting semi-mission critical applications, such as the air conditioning control system and alarm monitoring control system, using IP networks. 

It could also be used for shipboard closed circuit TV cameras - many modern cruise ships have hundreds fitted - rather than cable them all individually, they can just be plugged into the network.

It is quite easy to give data packets different priorities, so if the network is congested with data packets, a mission critical data packet (for example connecting the engine control system to the bridge) will always get through.


SUBHEAD
Easier integration

Using IP-based protocols would make the task of interfacing different equipment together much easier.

This provides a route away from shipping company systems using proprietary technology, which means that it is easier for systems to interoperate. 

Failure of electrical equipment to interoperate is a major cause of ship accidents - every time you hear about a ship suffering a steering or power failure, it could well be due to different systems on the ship not working together properly. 

The introduction of voyage data recorders proved a major headache to shipowners, with the problems of gathering all the data from different equipment in a format enabling it to be stored on a computer hard drive. 

If all the shipboard equipment - microphones, radar, GPS, routinely gave out data in IP format, than saving all the data would be a doddle.

Shipping companies which monitor their ships on shore could receive data from a number of different ship systems which would all integrate into their own systems much more easily. 

"We want to integrate as many services as humanly possible, to make one network," says Jens Prüfer from Siemens.

"The ultimate goal is that all services about the ship - which need to be connected - can do it over the same network. It must be highly reliable and can't fail."

Zenitel


http://www.zenitel.no



Norwegian company Zenitel is also developing IP networks for use on ships, so companies can run phones, faxes and other equipment from the same cable. 

Zenitel is stressing the flexibility of an IP network - it is possible to add more equipment at any time without needing new cable. It also points out that the physical size of the IP router is much smaller and cheaper than a telephone exchange.

It also stresses that the time taken to install the equipment at shipyards is much less because of the less cabling required.

The company supplies shipboard communications systems to Silja Line, RCCL, A P Møller, Tidewater and P&O Nedlloyd. Its system is DNV approved. 

The system can make remote monitoring much simpler, because the shipboard computer network can be plugged directly into the satcom. 


Kongsberg launches new range
http://www.kongsberg.com

Image – Kongsberg BridgeLine1
CAPTION Kongsberg’s new bridge system – all the equipment have similar user interfaces 



Maritime electronics company Kongsberg has launched "BridgeLine," a new bridge system and control system technology, which is designed to have a whole range of bridge and control equipment with the same user interface and same hardware.

The idea is that it should be easier for seafarers to learn to use different equipment, go from one control system to another, and easier to install and repair the system, a smaller range of spare parts needed. The system should also be much less likely to go wrong because the interoperability is much simpler.

The uniformity is more than just user interface: the hardware being used (computers, distributing processing units, screens) is the same for different pieces of equipment. 

Kongsberg moves some of the computer processing to be placed near the equipment that it is controlling, rather than running long cables between all the sensors and the control room. 

The bridge system includes navigation (route planning, automated route keeping, ECIDS /radar presentation) - manoeuvring (manual levers, joystick, dynamic positioning) radio and satellite communications, and safety system. The core consoles are radar/ARPA display, ECDIS and conning information display.

Control systems available include dynamic positioning /manoeuvring, propulsion and thruster control, power supply, machinery and cargo automation, cargo and ballast monitoring and control, cargo level gauging, safety protection. 

The control system includes diagnostics, to measure the health of the control system itself, check the ship power system, monitor fuel consumption and cargo temperature. 

There is a new autopilot which constantly feels the behaviour of the vessel and adjusts the use of the rudder to match the actual conditions. It can be operated from its own panel or remote controlled from any DataBridge unit. 

"We are very concerned about the user interface," says Roy Larsen, marketing manager of Kongsberg. "You have so many different computers onboard with different user interfaces - to use all these different systems is totally impossible."

"If they buy all the equipment from Kongsberg, you know one, know them all. It's the same user interface for all the various applications, including navigation cargo control, radar processing and alarm monitoring. This will make operation easier and improve safety."

"It’s going Windows to Excel - if you know Microsoft it’s so much easier to go to Excel."

"We do all applications with the same style of graphics, same procedures to operate."



Kongsberg will shortly be developing a new AIS product which fits in with the system.

The development fits in with Kongsberg's goal to provide the "full picture" - all aspects of technology needed to run a ship and maximise its performance, over the full lifetime of the ship.


SUBHEAD
Lifecycle costs



Many shipowners are becoming much more interested in the ship lifecycle cost of equipment, rather than the purchase cost, he says, and looking more at the user benefits. 

"They are asking, how can I operate my vessel with your equipment," says Mr Larsen.

"They are thinking about seafarers. They are looking at equipment which helps reduce fuel consumption, helps reduce wear and tear on the engine."

"We have had a serious shipowner say, if you compare the purchase price and price for keeping it for 20 years, the purchase price is only 30 per cent of the total price," he says. "That's our task now - to minimise the 70 per cent training and maintenance."

The modular system also makes it very easy to change equipment and install new items, and having standard hardware means less spare parts are required. 


Germanischer Lloyd
http://www.germanlloyd.de

Class society Germanischer Lloyd has developed a shipboard routing system, intended to make it easier for ships to avoid bad weather. 

The system collects data from a special X-band radar antenna, as well as data from weather forecasts, wave conditions (height, length, direction), the ship's loading condition, sped, course, heading and route. 

There is a pre-calculated hydrodynamic database.

The calculation gives information about the current loading of the ship and its cargo. It can show the loads (stresses) on different areas of the ships, Typical responses monitored include loads on different areas of the ship, ship motions, accelerations on areas of the ship. 

The benefits are helping ships steer clear of adverse conditions, helping navigators steer a route minimising risk of damage to ship and cargo. 

The system was tested on Costamare Shipping company's 6,300 TEU container ship Sealand New York, and its 4,800 TEU container ship chartered by Hapag Lloyd. 
Hapag Lloyd subsequently ordered systems for four large container ships and 3 newbuildings. 

Germanischer Lloyd also has a system for electronic data exchange between shipyards, engine manufacturers and other suppliers.

It is testing the communication procedures in a pilot project involving clients in Asia and Europe. 

GL says that the aim is for rapid plan approval, with increasingly shorter production times at yards.

All participants can be informed immediately about current technical states. 

The drawings of ships, engines or components to be approved are exchanged in PDF format between the yard / manufacturer and G-L. 




Software and internet


Xantic
http://www.xantic.net



Maritime software company Xantic reports that its recent expansion to offer chartering and commercial management software, to go with its traditional range of ship maintenance, purchasing communications software, has met with some success.

The commercial operations software looks after the shipping fixture, including pre-fixture and post-fixture; it can be used to plan the vessel scheduling, working out how fast the vessel should go, which cargo should go on which ship. It takes large amounts of live and historical data from the ship operations software system.

The move was made in partnership with Veson, a US company producing chartering software.

Xantic did a great deal of work on the Veson system, which has been on sale for about 10 years, developing it to take advantage of the live data from Xantic's operation software. 

"All customers we've showed it to are very enthusiastic," says Arthur Hendriks, head of marketing for Xantic's AMOS software. 

Xantic is now installing its "full business suite" on clients' computers routinely, but they can only use the software if they purchase a license for it. 

Xantic believes that there are many advantages for shipping companies using commercial and operations management software from the same company, in that it is much easier for data from one system to be used in the other.

For example data submitted from the ship as a noon day report can automatically be incorporated in the ship operations software.

Two major companies using both systems already are Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (NGSCo) and Novoship in the UK.

Novoship has upgraded its entire fleet management software systems, with the suite in head office and onboard 40 vessels. 

George Milburn, quality and safety manager with Novoship, says "Novoship has been using AMOS maintenance and purchase for some time, and we are pleased to be taking the opportunity to improve. 

"In particular we look forward to having the opportunity to provide input into the further development of the quality and safety system to refine our management reporting and procedural process." 

"They want to have one vendor to take care of everything - voyage management, noon day reports, maintenance and purchasing, quality and safety, personnel, mail, voyage management," says Mr Hendriks.

"You have so much decision making support," he says. "You can look at profit instead of revenue and further optimise your profitability. You have a strong profit per day overview."

"The important part is having the data, accurate data," he says.


SUBHEAD
Mailbox management

Xantic has launched a web-based tool for shipowners to manage mailboxes from the office. 

Managers can add / delete mailboxes, change file size restrictions / black and white lists, sort out queue management, look at call message history and reports.

Shipping companies will be able to just download the headers of e-mails and choose which e-mails they want to receive. 

An advantage of the system is that shipping companies can pick and choose which data they want sent to the ship. For example, if weather reports three days old are sitting in the mailbox uncollected for some reason, they can be deleted so the shipping company does not have to pay the satcom cost of sending them. 

The service is free of charge for all customers of AMOS Connect, Xantic's ship shore e-mail system.

AMOS Connect integrates e-mail, fax, SMS, telex and shipmanagement applications onto one messaging platform and is used on almost 6,000 vessels.

"The ability to define the rules is handy for example determining the maximum size of e-mails sent to and from a certain mailbox and receiving notifications of these rules," comments Ron Vollenga, IT account manager Fleet at P&O Nedlloyd.

"Having online access to the 'sent' queue is also useful. With the constant threat of viruses and the annoyance of spam, usage of blacklisting allows us to stop e-mails being sent from a particular e-mail address or a whole domain."



SUBHEAD
Maintenance

Another development from AMOS is an improved maintenance management system, which enables shipping companies to bring work from external contractors into their maintenance system.

The software, running over the internet, enables the shipping company to show the external contractors how it wants them to work.

The software has tools to analyse how well the maintenance is being done, with key performance indicator analysis. 

The external contractors can review the required maintenance procedures and fill out checklists. Essentially a shipping company can manage maintenance made by external contractors in the same way as maintenance by its own staff. 

"Out aim is to give the technical manager of a shipping company more control over the maintenance," says Arthur Hendriks.

"You have all the data all on one system. You don't need someone to type it in - with this, they can type it in themselves. You can change procedures onboard the vessel. You can have a continuous improvement cycle."

"With external contractors - often you have spare reports or data missing," he says. 

"The shipping companies all asked for it - there is a big trend in outsourcing maintenance," he says. "Over 6,000 vessels have AMOS maintenance."

"You can see how the jobs develop, organise parts procurement, generate fleet wide maintenance reports," he says. "You can standardise best practise and distribute jobs around the fleet." 


Marine Transaction Services - massive growth


http://www.martranserv.com

IMAGE: MTS Partners.jpg
Caption: MTS partners Unitor, Alfa Laval, Jotun, Hellman Logistics and Cap Gemini



Marine Transaction Services, the electronic purchasing company backed by Unitor, Alfa Laval, Jotun and Hellman Logistics, reports 40,000 transactions expected for 2004, compared to 18,000 in 2003 and 3000 in 2002.

[Rival ShipServ, by comparison, claims 300,000 transactions in 2004, and 190,000 in 2003].

Currently 650 vessels are putting all their purchasing through the MTS system, and there are integrations with 65 suppliers.

The company's aim is to link together different computer systems and provide information technology, says CEO Brynjar Gevelt.

MTS' aim is to remove cost from the value chain, enabling transactions to be processed much faster, increasing response times and helping improve relationships between buyers, suppliers and forwarders.

Mr Gevelt says that the door is still open for new partners to join the system and anticipates that more partners will be announced shortly. 

Mr Gevelt was keen to kill off ideas many people have about internet companies not being profitable or not having any benefits.

"27 per cent of IT spending in the world is on some kind of web service," he said. 

"40 per cent of 200+ listed internet companies made profit in Q2 2002. 
More than 80 per cent of post 1995 web based productivity gains are in non-technology based industry."


SUBHEAD
Logistics

Electronic purchasing company MTS has launched a logistics system, Logilink, to help shipping companies manage the delivery of their supplies.

The project was originally developed with shipping company Jo Tankers, software company Xantic, and Hellman Logistics. 

The shipping company can be informed about the deliveries the supplier has made and the pick-ups. The shipping company can also decide how to make different deliveries to different vessels. 

The ship agent can be incorporated into the system, so they can advise on delivery status and sort out transport details. 

The system links together the software / ERP systems used by the shipping company and the supplier; it does not just require that they go to a website. 

"This is an important differentiator," says Brynjar Gevelt, CEO of MTS. 
We are the first to provide this."


SUBHEAD
Hellman Worldwide Logistics

Hellman Worldwide Logistics has set up a special emergency delivery service for the maritime industry, including shipping companies, shipyards and engine manufactures, called "SOS Logistics".

"When a ship breaks down far away, no one discusses freight charges!" says Michael K. Claus, managing director of Hellman Worldwide Logistics. 

"We saw an opportunity to establish a high-yield business and we took it."

The service includes air freight, air charter, a partnership with Lufthansa courier services. It can even deliver goods onboard ship by helicopter.

The service is run from Hellman offices in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Kobe, Piraeus, Seoul and Pusan.

Hellman now anticipates a close tie up with its SOS Logistics service and MTS, and wants to build the service from only spare parts to a broader range of ship deliveries.

"SOS will become a dedicated express product, where the message is to get the goods to where they are needed, whatever it takes," says Mr Claus.

The company says it strongly believes in paperless transactions as far as possible, with a constant flow of data and information.


SUBHEAD
Jotun

Jotun, which supplies coatings for over 20,000 vessels, says it chose to become a partner of MTS because the software fitted well with its own system. 

It had considered linking with other systems but decided against it because the cost of changing its systems and procedures to fit in with any system outweighed any benefits.

Esben Hersve, managing director of Jotun Paints Europe, said that he liked the MTS philosophy "By the industry, for the industry".

"The e-commerce sector has developed more slowly than expected, but the growth curve is now starting to rise sharply. We feel that the time is right," he says.

"By choosing MTS as our e-commerce enabler, we aim to take costs out of the value chain; not just move them around," he says.

"As an interface between Jotun and its customers, MTS will provide mutual benefits through lower transaction costs and greater accuracy - fewer mistakes."  

"We also see opportunities to communicate with other systems on the market, which is very important with respect to our customers.  I would also add that the indications are that our customers are very positive to this step."

"There are customers out there that want to talk to us and we want to talk to them," says Jotun. "We don't care how they talk to us as long as they can."

"Bergesen used to have their own electronic purchasing system. I think they used to find it too expensive."

Jotun plans to fully integrate MTS into its own order management system. 

Bureau Veritas VeriSTAR
www.veristarnb.com

Bureau Veritas has launched VeriSTAR newbuildings, a software tool to help shipowners, shipyards, equipment manufacturers and Bureau Veritas Surveyors work together when building ships. 

Bureau Veritas currently claims to class 32 per cent of all bulk carriers, 23.1 per cent of general cargo vessels and 35.9 per cent of all tankers in the world. 

The newbuild tool is intended to improve efficiency of project management. 

All drawings and plans can be stored online, and people can have a list of outstanding tasks they need to do.

The aim is to improve communication between parties, help people have a better picture of how the project is going, and reduce paperwork.

Everyone involved in a project can see the actions required, see all plans, certificates and documents, certificates can be checked and validated online. Equipment manufactures can track certification of their products. 

"Efficient project management is at the heart of effective delivery o survey, inspection and approval services," says Bernard Anne, managing director of BV's marine division.

When the ship is built, all the plans and electronic data can be kept available and used during the lifetime of the ship.

The system builds on the software tool which has been used internally at Bureau Veritas since January 2004, but now shipowners, shipyards and equipment manufacturers can use it as well.

It was originally developed for BV to manage product certification, to help cut down on fraud and mistakes, because product certificates could then be checked for validity easily.