HEADLINE NWS Primar chart subscriptions grow 350 per cent http://www.primar.org Electronic chart distribution service Primar Stavanger reports that sales of new ENC subscriptions are 350 per cent higher than in the same period last year, both from new vessels and existing vessels expanding their chart portfolios, with biggest increase is in vessels sailing in Norwegian waters. "One reason for this could be the m/v Rocknes accident, which put the importance of using official electronic charts and correct data quality on the agenda at shipping companies," says Kjell Birkevold, who heads the Primar Stavanger department at the Norwegian Hydrographic Service. All users of charts in the Norwegian Coastal Directorate, including pilots, vessel traffic stations and workboats, will be implementing ENCs and chart updating services from Primar Stavanger between Autumn 2004 and 2005. Primar Stavanger notes that there have been problems with shipping companies using ENCs sourced from both Primar Stavanger and IC-ENC due to the different formats used. The Danish Hydrographic Office, a member of Primar Stavanger, has changed its cell structure, reducing the number of ENCs covering Denmark from 365 to 61 - this means that the reduction in the cost of owning charts for the entire Danish coastline including one year updates has been reduced from USD 2900 to USD 1800. The Norwegian Maritime Administration is chairing an IMO correspondence group on Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS), to evaluate different ECDIS issues including conditions and schedule for possible introduction of ECDIS carriage requirements. A report will be submitted at next year's Nav 51 meeting. Siemens develops superconductor fuse http://www.siemens.com/marine The maritime division of electronics giant Siemens has developed a superconductor marine fuse, dubbed a "current limiter." The device cuts current flow if current exceeds a specified level, in the same way that a fuse does; however if the current then returns to a normal level, current can start flowing normally, there are no mechanical fuses to replace or trip switches to press, or moving parts to wear out. Current can be broken at a lower level than with conventional fuses, thus providing the shipboard electrical system with more protection. It takes under a millisecond for the current to be blocked and a few seconds to get current flowing again. The "current limiter" is made of superconductor materials; the resistance to the current flowing through it automatically increases if the current rises above a specified level, because the material changes form so that it is no longer a superconductor. The superconductor needs to be cooled with liquid nitrogen down to -196 degrees Celsius. More complex refrigeration systems than those required on ships are already used satisifactorily in many pieces of medical equipment worldwide, Siemens envisages that the system could be used on ships where the electrical supply system is being stretched to breaking capacity. Meanwhile Siemens and Germanischer Lloyd are working together on a project sponsored by German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to develop superconductor motors and generators for ships, which are smaller, lighter, have higher efficiency and a more favourable operational response. The project will make the first high temperature superconductor generator which can make 4 megawatt output at 3,600 rpm. The superconductors replace normal copper wirings in the rotor, and can create a current density 10x stronger than copper for the same volume. The US Office of Naval Research (ONR) is investing money in using high temperature superconductor motors to actually drive the ship; two motors have already been built, one 5MW 230 rpm, currently undergoing land testing, and one 36.5 MW, 120 pm, to be delivered to the US Navy in March 2006. To give an example of the possible savings, it is estimated that on a container ship using a superconductor engine, it could carry 2.5 per cent to 4 per cent more containers for the same size ship, on the basis that the reduced weight of the engine would enable more containers to be carried. There can be fuel savings of $100,000 to $500,000 per ship per year. The machinery is much quieter. The motors should also be commercially available at prices equivalent to conventional motors. Nauticast launches new AIS display http://www.nauticast.com image y Nauticast display.jpg AIS manufacturer Nauticast has launched a 3 in one AIS display system which gives users a choice of three AIS display formats - the standard list and chart, and a new format, "Fairway view," which shows ships around the vessel as a picture, see illustration. Nauticast has applied for a patent for the new display. "This three dimensional representation of the surrounding traffic scenario is a completely unique way of capturing and representing vessel data," the company says. "We are very proud to follow our path as leading AIS specialist by upgrading our most successful transponder with another catalogue of features - selling it for the same price." "While other AIS manufacturers are downsizing their products to reduce costs, we are increasing value," says Peter Martin, Executive Director. Users can zoom in and out for a better overview, from 0.3 to 45 nautical mile range. They can also see the "radar" (overhead) view and fairway view simultaneously. Teekay remote monitoring tankers Http://www.teekay.com Oil major Teekay is currently receiving daily e-mails from many of its ships about fuel consumption and other data. The data is received at the 20th floor of an office tower in downtown Vancouver. In one example, an engineer could see that a 103,000 dwt tanker MT Victoria Spirit in the North Atlantic was losing speed and consuming 5 tonnes more fuel per day than it should have been, whilst travelling 1.18 knots slower than it should have been. Teekay thought that there might have been damage to the ship's propeller because it had spent some time waiting to discharge off the West African coast. It arranged for a diver to have a look and found that all four propeller blades were damaged at their tips, indicating that there could have been contact with an underwater obstruction. Divers were flown out to Halifax, where the ship was anchored, from Vancouver, and equipment was flown from Amsterdam. The propeller blades were carried out underwater. "This was the first time we had carried out this form of repair," says Iain Relf, vessel manager, Teekay Marine Services. "While the system has previously picked up deviations that have allowed us to fine tune our main engines, this was the first time we picked up a problem that was outside the engine room itself," Mr. Relf said. "After the propellers had been repaired, graphs showed right away that the ship was performing normally. That told us we had made the right call and could justify the expense." "Teekay is a world leader in vessel performance management because its focus is on assembling consistent and accurate data," says Mr Relf. "Also we managed to do it without loss of time, which was very important to the customer." "We have devoted a lot of resources and development to making sure that the figures we are checking are representative of what's actually happening on a ship." "The advantage to our customers is increased availability of vessels, improved reliability and optimum performance when on charter. Iridium's 3-year report http://www.iridum.com Iridium has released a 3 year report covering its developments since re-commencing satellite operations in 2001. The company now has over 100,000 subscribers, currently adding 2,000 to 3,000 more per month, with and positive earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITBA). It expects its existing satellites to last for at least 10 years. Revenues grew 17 per cent in the first half of 2004, following 44 per cent growth in the whole of 2003. It expects growth to continue but costs to stay flat. "Our rapid growth is attributed to a disciplined marketing strategy focused on reaching key vertical markets through partnerships with major service providers," says Iridium CEO Carmen Lloyd. "We also offer a competitive, simplified global pricing structure." The major markets are currently maritime, aviation, oil and gas, construction, mining and forestry. Also emergency services, law enforcement, and government agencies. Data services now account for 20 per cent of traffic and are seen as a major growth area particularly remote asset tracking. There are currently 44 Iridium service providers, 17 value-added manufacturers and 21 value-added resellers. CEO Carmen Lloyd, who joined in October 2003, was previously president and CEO of Stratos. Basque fishermen choose Inmarsat Fleet F33 www.inmarsat.com IMAGES y bite 331, y bite 338 (your choice) Caption "Spanish fishermen are obtaining data and filing reports over Fleet 33" Fishermen in the Basque region of Spain have selected Inmarsat Fleet F33 for communicating with shore-based authorities and receiving oceanographic data, including ocean temperatures, plankton levels and weather charts. So far over 40 Fleet F33 terminals (34 Nera and 7 Thrane) have been sold by Spanish maritime electronics specialist Nautical, with applications and business support from France Telecom. The initiative was launched in conjunction with AZTI, the marine technology institute of the Basque government. The information had previously been sent via a cellular network, but this became impossible when the switch from an analogue to digital service reduced the effective coverage area to only five miles. Nautical is now managing the equipment installation and the customised applications needed by the fishermen, including a Spanish version of France Telecom's SkyFile application. It expects to make use of the MPDS capability in future. Pole Star launches Purplefinder Spot reporting service www.purplefinder.com Ship tracking company Pole Star has launched the PurpleFinder SPOT Reporter Service to provide charterers with information about their ships. The service will be charged at $3.50 per day, including 4 automatic position reports, delivered together with information about the weather around the ship. Pole Star says that charterers have been demanding tracking information about their ships since its service was launched in 1998, but it has not been able to provide it due to the complex terminal registration process and legal issues, which have now been overcome. Pole Star has written a clause which can be inserted in charter parties, providing charterers with authorisation to track vessels. Xantic offers 9.6 kbit/s fax on Fleet 77 and 55 www.xantic.net Xantic claims to be the first company to make the new 9.6 kbit/s fax channel available on Fleet 77 and 55. Its Land Earth Stations in the Netherlands and Australia have both been upgraded in order to provide global coverage. With Fleet 33 already being equipped with the 9.6 kbit/s fax and data channel, this means that the entire range of Inmarsat Fleet services is now provided with a fast fax option. The new service will effectively replace the slow and relatively expensive 2.4kbit/s fax option on Fleet 77 and ISDN. According to Xantic, the 9.6 kbit/s fax is up to 50% cheaper than 2.4 k fax and up to 40 percent cheaper than G3 fax over ISDN. "Having installed Fleet 77 on 8 of our ships, it would have been better if Inmarsat had made a 9.6 kbit/s fax channel option available from the time Fleet 77 was launched," says Peter Van de Venne, director IT at Spliethoff, a Dutch company managing a fleet of 55 multi-purpose vessels ranging in size from 8,000 to 20,000 tons. "However, we are very pleased that the service can now be used - not least because it is leading to significant financial savings." NTL network for RNLI www.ntl.com In a contract worth £1.6m over three years, ntl's business division, a provider of business communications services, will design and implement an advanced high-speed Wide Area Network (WAN) for the UK's Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The service will connect over 200 lifeboat stations and seven beach rescue centres across the UK and the Republic of Ireland with the RNLI headquarters in Poole. The network will replace RNLI's existing dial-up connections. Stations will be able to send requests to RNLI lifeboat stations almost immediately, without waiting for a dial-up connection to be made. This will enable the charity to react to critical situations more rapidly and deploy lifeboats faster. The service will be fully managed and offers a stringent service lifetime agreement to guarantee the performance of the RNLI's mission-critical communications system. The WAN can also be used for email, file transfer and potentially to enable long distance learning for RNLI volunteers. New CFO at Inmarsat www.inmarsat.com CAN GET PHOTO EASILY I EXPECT Rick Medlock will join Inmarsat as a director and chief financial officer with effect from 27 September 2004. Mr Medlock joins the company from NDS Group plc, where he has been chief financial officer and company secretary for the last 8 years. NDS is the leading provider of technology solutions to the pay TV market and is listed on the NASDAQ and EURONEXT exchanges. Mr Medlock had previously served as chief financial officer at a number of private-equity backed technology companies in the UK and the US. He is currently a non-executive director of Mondiale Publishing Limited. "He has broad ranging experience in both the debt and equity markets as well as operationally in technology businesses," says Andrew Sukawaty, Inmarsat's chairman and CEO. SeaTel's new range of marine antennas www.seatel.com CAN GET PHOTO EASILY I EXPECT Sea Tel has introduced the new 04 Series of marine stabilized TV antennas. The product line consists of three different size models, 30, 40 and 50-inch antenna dishes for different vessels, cruising areas and budget. They are designed to deliver greater range, higher performance and more accurate stabilization. Sensors mounted on the antenna react to the slightest movement of the vessel and command brushless DC motors to make micro adjustments, virtually noiselessly, to isolate it from the ship's motion and keep the antenna locked on the satellite beam. The units have an optional touch screen display as part of the Below Decks Equipment that allows the operator to manage the antenna position, satellite programming and video output.