Digital Ship Athens - October 23-24th 2007

Our 5th Digital Ship Athens in association with AMMITEC, the shipping company IT managers' association, will this year move to a new venue, Aegli Zappiou, in Zappion Gardens, next to Syntagma.

We promise an exciting conference and exhibition with topics including finding experienced seafarers, Inmarsat FleetBroadband, developments with TMSA and making software systems easy to use.

As usual there will be no attendance fees for employees of shipping companies - attendance fees for non shipping company employees are GBP 395 / Eur 595.00. To register your place, please click here.

Limited places - please register now to reserve yours using the link to the left hand side of this page. Companies registered so far include

AM Nomikos TWMA SA, IT Manager; Avin Int. (Vardinoyannis Group), IT development department officer; Avin International SA, Software Development Department Manager; Brave Maritime; Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG, IT Manager; Ceres LNG Services Ltd, ICT Manager; Costamere, IT manager; Crossworld Marine Services Inc, Head of Greek Office; Dynacom Tanker Management Ltd; Dynamix, General Manager; Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, IT Manager; Fairsky Shipping and Trading S.A., IT Manager, purchasing manager; Franco Compania Naviera S.A., IT Manager, Safety & Quality Manager; Ionia, Marine - Vetting manager; Konkar Shipping Agencies S.A., Operations Asst Mngr; Konkat SA (Avin International), Network & Communication Supervisor; Metrostar Management Corp., Marine Manager; Minoan Lines SA, System & Network Dept. Manager; Naviera Ulises, IT Manager; Navios Shipmanagement, IT Department; Navios Shipmanagement, IT Manager; Odysea Carriers sa, InformationsTechnology & Communications; Olympic Shipping and Management, IT Manager, programmer; PEPEN, IT Manager; Phoenix Reederei Bereederungs GmbH & Co.KG, IT Manager; Pontoporos Ltd, Quality Manager; PrivatSea Projects; Samos Steamship, IT Dept; Sea Globe Management and Trading, Sup/Engineer; Star Reefers, IT Manager

Program at a glance
Day one
Satellite communications session
Session - how easy is our software to use
TMSA and making yourself more attractive to oil majors
Inmarsat FleetBroadband training

AGENDA - DAY ONE

Chairman: Professor Nikitas Nikitakos, president, AMMITEC, Head of Department, Shipping Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean

9.25 Welcome and words of introduction. Andreas Sakellion, business development manager, OTESAT- Maritel

9.30 Keynote speaker - Giampiero Soncini, CEO, SpecTec.
The status of IT in shipping

Demand for IT services in shipping is becoming more sophisticated in the advanced countries, while it remains relatively simple in the emerging ones. More and more companies are proposing new IT services, while the market is shrinking and prices are reducing. In the past 20 years, 20 or more IT companies in shipping have disappeared from the scene. Will the next 20 years see a similar carnage?

SpecTec is the world's largest maritime software company.

Day one morning session - satellite communications

10.00 - Inmarsat's plans for FleetBroadband, Kyle Hurst, maritime market manager, Inmarsat

- Plans for Inmarsat FleetBroadband, offering 432 kbps to the maritime industry
- How Inmarsat FleetBroadband will work
- How to upgrade to it
- What shipping companies can expect from it

10.30 Overview of VSAT - costs, benefits, coverage, reliability, comparison with Inmarsat FleetBroadband. Ivar Nesset, CEO, and Esben Flo, COO, ShipEquip

- What is VSAT and why should you consider it
- Why shipping companies are switching to VSAT
- System reliability
- Recent improvements to system technology

ShipEquip is one of the world's largest maritime VSAT companies, based in Norway
11.00 BREAK

11.45 Case study - satcoms and software at Teo Shipping.
Susan Radford, IT manager, TEO Shipping.
Recent installations on Teo Shipping vessels,
Fleet77, network cabling, hardware (2 servers and 4/5 Pcs on each ship)
Software, fault tolerance, backup, security and training.
Difficulties encountered with logistics.
Performance of hardware and software selected.

12.15 Managing e-mail spam Do shipping companies and service providers need to co-ordinate their white lists? Asad Salameh, managing director, World Link communications.

12.45 Panel discussion: How does a shipping company decide between Inmarsat FleetBroadband and VSAT? With Adonis Violaris, head of communications, public relations and human resources, Hanseatic Shipping

1.15 Lunch

Lunch sponsor:

DAY ONE AFTERNOON: HOW EASY IS OUR SOFTWARE TO USE? HOW GOOD IS OUR IT SUPPORT?
Session for shipping company IT managers, quality managers, technical managers

Chair: Dr Jonathan Earthy, head of human factors, Lloyd's Register

2.30 Rene Jungbluth, technical director, Exmar Experience with Software. Implementing a planned maintenance system - A case study

EXMAR is a diversified and independent shipping group serving the international gas and oil industry.

Its fleet includes 30 mid sized gas carriers, 10 pressurised gas carriers, 1 semi-refrigerated gas carrier and 4 very large gas carriers.

3.00 A shipowners' experience with good and bad software - Tasos Makris, IT manager, Gourdomichalis Maritime
The playoff between simple to use software and software which can do complex tasks

3.25 Making software easy to use. You've all had experiences providing software to employees which they struggled to get value from. How do you choose software in the first place which employees will find easy to use, and will require least support? Guest speaker: Dr Jonathan Earthy, head of human factors, Lloyd's Register.

3.50 BREAK

Day one afternoon coffee sponsor:

4.30 - Managing the performance of your IT staff - how can IT staff do more to help people use their software?Charis Nassis, IT consultant

4.55 University of the Aegean research work into system usability - Capt. Georgios Georgoulis, Phd student, University of the Aegean (previously tanker master's mate, Livanos Company)

5.20 Inmarsat research into usability and crew calling. How does providing crew communications capability improve the working and living environment for seafarers? Kartik Sinha, maritime market manager, Inmarsat 5.45 Panel discussion: What is the best way to make sure you are implementing software which employees can use?

6.00 Close

6.15 AMMITEC Annual General Meeting

6.45 Cocktail Reception

Cocktails sponsor:

8.00 Evening dinner at Aegli Zappiou

Dinner sponsor:

DAY TWO SESSION: TMSA and making yourself more attractive to oil majors

[parallel training session on Inmarsat FleetBroadband - see below]

Session sponsor

This session will review developments with Tanker Management Self Assessment (TMSA), continuing the series of TMSA events hosted by Tanker Operator magazine and chaired by Dimitris Lyras.

Leading TMSA consultant Antonis Iordanidis will present his perspective on how TMSA is evolving. Rene Jungbluth, technical director of Exmar, will present Exmar's perspective on TMSA; Spyros Malandreniotis, group training manager, OSG Ship Management, will present OSG's approach to managing seafarer competence; and Apostolos Belokas, managing director, International Business Solutions, will present technical approaches to helping seafarers gain experience in difficult shipboard positions, using computer based scenario tools.

This session is designed for shipping company general managers, human resources managers, IT managers, quality managers, technical managers and others.

In association with Tanker Operator magazine

Chairman: Dimitris Lyras, director, Lyras Shipping

9.30 How TMSA is developing as a system
Antonis Iordanidis, TMSA Consultant, Alphamarine

- General experiences with TMSA from consulting projects with shipping companies - how well is it working as a system
- Commercial benefits (or lack of benefits) from investment in increasing TMSA scores
- Risk assessment - how do you decide what kind of risk assessment to make for different activities? Does the industry need to agree on a standard methodology for risk assessment?

Antonis Iordanidis is a naval architect and marine engineer, and expert in implementation/evaluation of Quality Management Systems and specialisation on ISM code application and TMSA requirements. Mr Iordanidis is the director of the Marine Consultancy firm "Alpha Marine Services Ltd.", and has provided advice to various tanker companies on TMSA requirements. He has also headed the working group of the Union of Greek Shipowners dealing with IACS' Common Structural Rules for Oil Tankers. As a technical consultant to the Union of Greek Shipowners, he has participated in IMO proceedings as a member of the Greek delegation. He is a Lead Auditor to EN 17020, EN 45012, EN 45011, etc. standards and has conducted numerous audits to Classification Societies (Recognized Organisations) on behalf of various flag Administrations. He was a Commander with the Hellenic Coast Guard. Clients include various Greek and foreign companies. www.alphamrn.gr

10.00 Managing Competence
Spyros Malandreniotis, group training manager, OSG Ship Management

- Approach to officer assessment at OSG since 2001; resulting dissociation between certification and competence that justifies the impact it had in delivered training
- Human factors in the evolution of human error and how effectively they are being addressed during training
- Comparison in the delivered training between aviation and maritime industries

10.30 Rene Jungbluth, technical director, Exmar Experiences with TMSA - how we are finding and developing officers

EXMAR is a diversified and independent shipping group serving the international gas and oil industry.

Its fleet includes 30 mid sized gas carriers, 10 pressurised gas carriers, 1 semi-refrigerated gas carrier and 4 very large gas carriers. 11.00 BREAK

Coffee sponsor:

11.30 Using gaming technology and role play to boost officer competence
Apostolos Belokas, managing director, International Business Solutions (IBS) Perikles Koukis, technical director, desktop simulator project manager, IBS

- IBS has developed a commercial role play gaming simulator, to help improve shipboard safety. It can simulate emergency simulations such as fire fighting, abandon ship, collision, and other shipboard situations.
- Can tools of this kind help officers learn faster how to make better decisions?
- Can tools of this type help shipping companies meet the shortage of competent officers faster?

IBS is a knowledge based organisation providing maritime solutions in the areas of quality, health, safety, environmental, crisis, security and risk (QHSE-CSR) management. Solutions include consulting, manuals development, training onboard and ashore plus development of computer based training and software modules.

12.00 - Panel discussion: What is the best way for shipping companies to meet the shortage of trained and competent officers? What is the best way to approach the use of computer tools for training, helping officers make mistakes (and learn from them) without causing accidents, and assessment? Panel discussion participants: morning speakers

12.45 Lunch

Lunch sponsor

DAY TWO MORNING PARALLEL SESSION: SPECIAL TRAINING SESSION ON FLEET BROADBAND
FleetBroadband is Inmarsat's next generation of maritime services delivered via the world's most sophisticated satellites - the I4s. It will bring you simultaneous voice and broadband data through a single terminal incorporating the latest technology, to take you seamlessly into the IP age.

Inmarsat will be delivering a 2-hour 'training' session on FleetBroadband at Digital Ship Scandinavia. During the session, Inmarsat will update you on the technology behind FleetBroadband, the proposed coverage, the prospective services, and the new terminals and network.

There will also be a live demonstration of standard maritime applications across the BGAN network outlining the potential benefits of this technology to the maritime community.

1.00 Lunch

Lunch sponsor

DAY TWO AFTERNOON - TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

Technology showcase - invitation for developers of new technology products and services to address an audience for 10 mins per person.

2.30 - Dr Adrian Dore, managing director, Cabis Group . Business excellence and the latest information technologies spawn new breed of business management system

Dr Adrian M Dore is a mechanical engineer, with a Phd in analysis and simulation of advanced manufacturing systems. He has lectured on information engineering at the University of Salford, UK. He is founder of the Cabis Group, which has developed a business application framework based on the Business Excellence Model and work of W E Deming. It can be used for performance management, business intelligence, people management, risk management, quality and safety.

2.40 Hans Henrik Danevig, sales manager, KVH Europe - What broadband at sea was meant to be” – TracPhone V7 - New Mini VSAT from KVH with Spread Spectrum Satellite Technology

2.50 Captain Himanshu Joshi, vice president, Teledata Marine Solutions

3.00 Harry Miyashita, general manager, Europe, JRC. New FB250 terminal.

3.10 Hans Heiervang, BASS Introduction of new shipmanagement software.