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DIGITAL
SHIP MAY 2002
COMMUNICATIONS AND ONBOARD TECHNOLOGY
WEATHER ROUTING
The idea of shipping companies sending their captains orders about
which route to take has never gone down too well. But if the information
is taken as guidance only, there's a lot it can do. Yana Lenzner reports
on how shipping companies can achieve big cost savings through weather
routing and how the systems can be most effective. Lenzner@thedigitalship.com
AUSTRALIAN MARTIME COMMUNICATIONS
From 1 July 2002 Australia's maritime communications system will be
modified to include the latest distress alerting technology. Coast
stations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Townsville and Darwin
will close and be replaced by two stations in Charleville & Wiluna
to cover Australia's Search and Rescue Region. Rachel Sirr, Safety
Education & Marketing Adviser with Australian Search & Rescue (AusSAR),
explains how this will work.
THE SEAFARERS VIEW: LETTER FROM INDIA
Our seafarer technology correspondent Divay Goel continues his series
providing the seafarer's perspective on shipboard technology, including
distance training, websites for seafarers, recruitment services and
communications. Do the systems developed so far meet the needs of
the seafarers which use them, or the shipping companies which purchase
them? Contact Divay on divaygoel@yahoo.com
CERTIFYING SHIPBOARD EQUIPMENT.
Steve Harding, our special safety and third generation ship-shore
communications correspondent, gives his opinion on the current process
for certifiying shipboard navigation technology. Is there an adequate
certification procedure in place? How much can shipping companies
get away with, and what can be done to improve the situation? Contact
Steve on threegmarine@btinternet.com
VOYAGE DATA RECORDERS
The rush is on to fit voyage data recorders by the deadline, but nobody
is reporting any big problems. Is everybody putting them in well before
the deadline, or is it easier work than everybody anticipated? Here
is our review of what is going on. By Karl Jeffery Jeffery@thedigitalship.com
DISPLAYS ON AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS
There is still plenty of debate going on about how displays from AIS
systems should be managed. Should they have a small screen or be integrated
into the main navigation display? What are the benefits and problems
to integrating AIS with a radar display? Fred Pot, specialist AIS
consultant, gives his view. fpot@attbi.com
ELECTRONIC CHART UPDATES
The electronic chart business is a complex one, mainly because its
not completely a business; ships must have electronic charts onboard
supplied by official government hydrographic offices, and they're
not moving all that quickly to provide all of their charts in official
electronic format. We provide our roundup of what is going on. Will
ships ever be able to navigate port to port without paper charts onboard?
By Karl Jeffery, Jeffery@thedigitalship.com
E-BUSINESS
LETTER FROM AMERICA Barry Parker attended the Connecticut Maritime
Association conference in New York in March. Are the Americans doing
anything interesting with maritime information technology? Read this
column to find out! bdp1@conconnect.com
LETTER FROM HONG KONG Paul Barrett talks to LINE, the mysterious
e-business venture set up by Hutchison Whampoa, which has yet to make
any great announcements about what it has done. Paul finds out what's
actually going on, and also covers the other exciting developments
in Asian maritime information technology. pmab@onebb.com
INTEGRATING CONTAINER OPERATIONS
Tim Power continues his series on the latest initiatives to integrate
container shipping, for communications between customers, lines, terminals
and other people they serve. What are the most exciting developments
and what are the biggest bottlenecks in making this all seamless?
Tim also reports on the Eyefortransport conference in Amsterdam in
March. tjpower@attglobal.net
MAKING THE SHIPPING INTERNET WORK Post dot com boom and bust,
there are actually shipping companies achieving big cost savings using
e-business, and also finding ways to add value to their services.
Getting good results from e-business is harder than everyone expected,
but still possible. At our conference we look at all of the initiatives
from shipbroking to ship supplies. Here is our report. By Yana Lenzner,
Lenzner@thedigitalship.com
SEASUPPLIER
The e-procurement venture SeaSupplier has gone a little quiet lately,
but that's partly due to the fact that of its 36 staff members, 33
are actually developing the technology. There's an innovative set
up and good progress being made. Karl Jeffery reports Jeffery@thedigitalship.com
Digital Ship Ltd, 213 Marsh Wall, London E14 9FJ, UK, tel (+44 207) 510 4935, fax (+44 207) 510 2344, http://www.thedigitalship.com, editor@thedigitalship.com