FULL AGENDA

CLICK FOR general event information - conference agenda - list of delegates and speakers - exhibition information - booking information

AGENDA DAY ONE :
Maritime software and communications
Moderator: Panagiotis Nomikos, maritime IT consultant (consulting to Stelmar and one of AMMITEC founders)

GENERAL SUBJECTS
General views on the future evolution of shipboard ICT systems
Experiences so far in implementing ICT onboard (positive and negative) -
"Wish list" of items to be developed and implemented, addressed to software developers, airtime providers, Inmarsat, etc. -
Experiences with crew adoption of ICT systems onboard (positive and negative) -
The training methods that their companies have used so far to train crews (successful and unsuccessful methods)

SESSION: WHAT SHIPPING COMPANIES WANT
9.30 Achilleas Choursoglou, IT manager, Olympic Shipping

9.55 Prof. Takis Varelas, CIO, Thenamaris Shipping
"Towards to a paperless ship".
How and why must we improve the Ships IT system availability ?
Why the real data communication is required ?
How the integration of data from applications, emails, forms data may be implemented ?

10.20 Michael Kennedy, IT manager, Hellespont Steamship
Email: History and Present at Hellespont
Word Processing or Data Processing - Hellespont Paradigm
Future High Speed Synchronisation - Possibilities
Training and changing role top officers FULL TIME JOB

10.55 BREAK

SESSION: WHAT SOFTWARE COMPANIES CAN PROVIDE
11.15 Dimitris Theodosiou, managing director, Danaos
11.40 Achilleas Vardakis, managing director, SES-Vardakis
12.05 Paul Ashton, managing director, Vector Informatics

12.30 PANEL DISCUSSION : Prof Takis Varelas, Michael Keendy, Dimitris Theodosiou, Achilleas Vardakis, Paul Ashton. How can software do the most to improve shipping operational efficiency?

1.00 LUNCH

SESSION: WHAT SHIPPING COMPANIES WANT

2.00 Dr. Panagiotis Nomikos, ICT Consultant (Consulting at Stelmar and AMMITEC founding Member)
Vessels will be connected to the global communications infrastructure; they are the last business sector to be connected to Internet.
As a result vessels will become a lot more flexible business units, and will gain more autonomy in decision making.
"Green field" for a new qualititative level of onboard applications of every kind (communications, operations, workflows, intranets, etc).
Necessary the specialization of some crew members to become "onboard ICT officers".

2.25 EXPERIENCES USING INMARSAT FLEET ONBOARD VESSELS
Pantelis Goros, CIO, Common Progress
- Use of MPDS for e-mail and for access to company intranet
- Crew impressions from the the introduction of Fleet 77 and level of acceptance

2.50 Aris Igglessis, IT manager, Samos Steamship
Hardware issues: No easy on-site maintenance, power supply is not steady onboard
Software issues: Low level of crew IT literacy necessitates a very user-friendly interface for any onboard software
ISO and ISM requirements have put a lot of extra reporting duties to crews; supplementary data-entry duties must be done in the simplest possible manner.
There are no certified IT training courses for crews, so the companies must undertake crew training.
The vessels must communicate automatically in a structured way, and a database for vessel transactions must be created and maintained.

3.05 George Kyriakopoulos, IT Manager, Naftomar

3.30 Susan Radford, IT manager, Teo Shipping

3.40 PROBLEMS WITH INMARSAT MINI -M
Tassos Makris, IS Director, Gourdomichalis Maritime
Problems with Mini-M are not mini-problems
Is the mini-M fragile ?
Are the support companies adequately equipped ?
Are the shipping companies adequately assertive?

4.05 BREAK

SESSION: WHAT SOFTWARE COPMANIES CAN PROVIDE
4.30 Asad Salameh, president, World-Link Communications, speaking about cost control strategies at Hanseatic
5.55 Panteleimon Pantelis, director, Ulysses
6.20 Emilios Dragas, IT manager, SAIT-Radio Holland

6.55 PANEL DISCUSSION : Tassos Makris, Susan Radford, George Kyriakopoulus, Aris Igglessis, Pantelis Goros, Pangagiotis Nomikos. MODERATOR Panteleimon Pantelis.
TOPIC: how can software and communications do the most to improve maritime safety and operations?

7.20 BEVERAGES

8.00 EVENING ROOFTOP DINNER FOR DELEGATES

CLICK FOR general event information - conference agenda - list of delegates and speakers - exhibition information - booking information

DAY TWO AGENDA
MORNING : Maritime software and communications (cont/d)

9.30 OVERCOMING PROBLEMS WITH MARITIME SOFTWARE
Panteleimon Pantelis, IT manager, Lyras Shipping (presentation written by Dimitris Lyras, director, Lyras Shipping)
Making the right decision in the current business cycle of replacing software - develop software in house or buying off the shelf - making software more popular with seafarers

PERSPECTIVES ON SHIPBOARD ICT
9.55 Prof. Nikitas Nikitakos, Dept. of Shipping, Aegean University

10.20 Vassilis Kalapotharakos, IS manager, Pleiades Shipping

10.50 Themistoklis Sardis, deputy EDP Manager, Costamare
THE PROBLEM:
IT budgets are low - costs of communication are high
Senior staff often computer illiterate and sceptical
PCS not designed for maritime enviroment, marinised PCs not very good
Good support hard to find, expensive and involves waiting for days
Seafarers mess around with shipboard computers
Big software companies don't understand shipping,
Maritime specific software companies are small with limited resources and limited overpriced applications, with too long between software generations
Ship operation is becoming more complex with ISM/ISO/ISPS and other new regulations
Computers are doing more tasks onboard vessels including control, monitoring, loading, stability, ECDIS, business applications

THE SOLUTION
E-mail is necessary for cost effective and efficient communications and will shortly be considered as vital as the telephone
Integrated messaging is the primary application
Fleet 77 is changing ship-shore connection - ship becomes an extension of company IT infrastructure Exciting new applications for example itegrating ECDIS with weather maps, and remote alarm monitoring, is around the corner
Seafarers need formal training
As the maritime software market grows it will be of increasing appeal to larger software companies while > traditional shipping software houses will get more revenue that will help them improve their products

11.15 DRAWING CONCLUSTIONS PANEL DISCUSSION
Adonis Violaris, communications manager of Hanseatic Shipping, with Panagiotis Nomikos, IT consultant of Stelmar Tankers, Dimitris Lyras of Lyras Shipping, Achilleas Choursoglou, IT manager, Olympic Shipping

- What is the best way information technology can help improve operational efficiency in the maritime industry and what do shipping companies need most of all?

11.35 BREAK

SESSION :INNOVATIVE MARITIME SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES

12.00 LEARNING FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S CASUALTIES
Per Steinar Upsaker, managing director, Barber Software Solutions
How Jebsen, Hoegh, Brostrom, Wallem, OSM Group, Wilhelmsen, Barber ShipManagement, Norwegian Coastguard, OSG Shipmanagement and Wagenburg, share safety and casualty information Speaker from Stratos (speaker name TBA)

12.25 CLASS AND PORT STATE DATA ABOUT VESSELS ONLINE
George Barclay, deputy director, Equasis.
Overview of EU deal with IACS that class societies make information available about vessels through the Equasis system. What benefits is the maritime industry and its customers gaining from the Equasis tool?

12.50 Utilising class data
Alistair Stubbs, manager of ship information systems, Lloyd's Register
How web-hosted software can provide clients with up-to-date class data and help expedite class approval

1.15 Developments in ship-shore communications technology
Steven Evans, head of technical support, Stratos
Best Cast : a security tool for verifying personnel remotely by fingerprints and photographs, a technology developed for personnel identification in money transfers in Africa
MPDS - Stratos developments with Inmarsat
Fleet 55, how it will be used and what it does

1.40 Evangelos Valsamis, regional manager Europe / Middle East, ABS Nautical Systems

2.00 LUNCH

DAY TWO AFTERNOON
Automatic Identification systems, Shipboard alert systems and long range ship tracking

3.00 AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION
Anders Bergstrom, sales director, Saab TransponderTech :
AIS is around the corner, have you seen it?

What manufacturers are type approved
What ships are or will be fitted with AIS
Who are prepared to deal with the AIS information and provide the ships with support?
How will AIS increase safety and security and maybe also reduce cost for the owner?
What are the latest development in the field of AIS?

3.25 SHIPBOARD ALERT SYSTEMS
Julian Longson, marketing manager, Pole Star Space Applications.
What kind of shipboard alert systems will shipping companies be expected to use, and how does this work as a security measure?

3.50 EXPERIENCES WITH INSTALLING AIS SYSTEMS ONBOARD
Dimitris Papaioannou, electrical engineer, Environmental Protection Engineering (EPA)
*) If shipping companies are gaining benefit from AIS systems installed so far
*) Market requirements: do shipping companies typically want just the minimum installation at minimum cost?
*) Shipboard Interfaces and power supply required in order to fit AIS
*) Will quality of installations decline as the market pushes the equipment price down over time?
*) Cost of ownership of AIS: how low will the prices go?

4.15 BREAK

4.45 AIS' ROLE IN MARITIME SAFETY AND SECURITY
Robert Hockham, regional business development manager, Transas
Marine Integrating AIS systems with ECDIS

5.10 SHIPBOARD ALERTING SYSTEMS - THE OPTIONS
Hailla-Marie Sylla, ShipLoc business manager
What options do shipipng companies have in choosing a ship alert system provider? -
What are the satellite options, what are the benefits of the different systems?
A 100 per cent track record in recovering pirated ships : how the ShipLoc system works -
Who responds to a shipboard alert, and how does this change with the IMO system over the system that ShipLoc/IMB already has in place?

5.35 PANEL DISCUSSION Anders Bergstrom, Mike Swart, Dimitirs Papaioannou, Robert Hockham,

6.30 BEVERAGES