maritime gsm hotting up in this issue - eprints.soton.ac.uk5bp_apr09.pdf · no part of this...

GG lobe Wireless haslaunched its newGlobeMobile sys-

tem, a complete GSM solu-tion for vessels which willallow crews to use person-al GSM phones for voiceand SMS communicationswhile on deep sea voyages.

GlobeMobile, launchedat the Digital Ship confer-ence in Oslo on March 10,can operate over VSAT,Iridium OpenPort andFleet Broadband terminals,controlled by a custom-built Globe Wireless GSMnetwork.

The system will also becompatible with theupcoming FleetBroadband150, Inmarsat’s sub-$5000antenna expected to belaunched in the middle of 2009.

The network providesstandard voice calls to andfrom the ship, full SMSmessage support, andonboard mobile to mobilecalling, while also allow-ing visitors to the vessel to'roam' onto the ship.Installation of the systemis typically completed inone day.

Working with GSM

technology partnerZynetix, Globe Wirelesssays that this system willprovide inexpensive callingrates for GSM usersonboard the vessel throughits purpose-built hardwareand network solution.

“GlobeMobile is a rela-tively straight forwardinstallation,” explainedShane Rossbacher, GlobeWireless’ vice presidentproduct management.“Globe Wireless can han-dle the install for cus-tomers, and it is also cus-tomer installable.”

“The basic GlobeMobilesystem is all below decksequipment. This includes aGSM router (which is astandard rack mountedcomponent) and a GSMbase station. The key withthe installation is to identi-

fy the areas in the shipwhere GSM coverage is required.”

“We have developedsome guidelines for cus-tomers to use, and also canprovide additional hard-ware (such as remoteantennas) to extend thecoverage.”

CostsAll of the equipment need-ed to create the onboardGSM network is providedfor a monthly fee ofapproximately $200 permonth, other than thesatellite communicationsantenna which may bealready on board or pur-chased specifically to runthe mobile phone system.

Pre-paid SIMs are usedfor voice and SMS servicewhile aboard the ship, andcan also be used while onshore using standard GSMroaming.

“Our standardGlobeMobile prepaid SIMcards are provided for freeto the ship,” said MrRossbacher. “The captainis then provided withrecharge codes for sale tothe crew.”

“These codes are givento the crew and are keyedinto the GSM phone toload the SIMs. SIMs can betopped up at any time withadditional rechargecodes.”

“The crewmember paysfor SMS and voice calling.SMS is $0.25 per message

IN THIS ISSUE

April 2009

electronics and navigation

continued on page 2

software

satcomsHarbinger restates acquisition plan for Inmarsat – 6Safety and document management over VSAT – 10

The future’s Orangefor Bourbon – 14

Technology and crew welfare – the newfrontier – Guy Morel, InterManager – 11

Latest Shipdexdevelopments discussedat MAN Diesel – 18

Intertanko TOTS goes digital – 19

Information managementin a downturn – 20

Improving the Voyage DataRecorder – 24

Twelve years, no accidents –the Superstar Virgo – 29

Improving positionalaccuracy with GLONASS– Dr Andy Norris – 30

Maritime GSM hotting upCompetition in the maritime GSM market looks set to ramp up with

the launch of a new service from Globe Wireless that will allow GSM calling and SMS for crews over Inmarsat, Iridium or VSAT connections –

competition which could lead to lower prices for crew calling over GSM

GlobeMobile SIMs are provided free to the ship, allowing crews to purchase prepaid minutes and SMS

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www.caprock.comwww.seanet.sewww.umcglobal.netwww.otesat-maritel.com

SATCOMS NEWS

Digital Ship April 2009 page 2

Vol 9 No 7

UPCOMING CONFERENCESDUBAI

Mövenpick Hotel Bur, DubaiApril 21-22, 2009

SHIPDEXCongress Centrum, Hamburg

April 28, 2009

DIGITAL SHIP SUBSCRIPTIONSGBP £150 per year for 10 issues

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or contact Stephan Venter [email protected],

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PUBLISHERStuart Fryer

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No part of this publication may be repro-duced or stored in any form by anymechanical, electronic, photocopying,recording or other means without the pri-or written consent of the publisher. Whilstthe information and articles in Digital Shipare published in good faith and everyeffort is made to check accuracy, readersshould verify facts and statements directwith official sources before acting on themas the publisher can accept no responsibil-ity in this respect. Any opinionsexpressed in this magazine should notbe construed as those of the publisher.

continued from page 1

sent from the ship, and free for incomingSMS.”

One interesting feature of the system isthe fact that voice calling costs using aGlobeMobile SIM on a GSM phone aredetermined by the particular costs of thesatellite system that is being used.

“A key difference with theGlobeMobile system is that the GSMhandset that the crewmember uses is real-ly just an interface device,” MrRossbacher said.

“Really, it acts more like a cordlessphone. Voice calls are not passedthrough the GSM network, and thereforeare not subject to GSM roaming fees or other network surcharges. So, basical-ly, the crewmember pays standard satel-lite rates.”

“For our VSAT system, VoIP calls arevery inexpensive – generally less than$0.30 a minute to most popular countries.OpenPort can be as low as $0.53 perminute. FleetBroadband is at standardrates, but keep in mind that crewmemberscan use their GSM phones to accessInmarsat crew calling services and takeadvantage of Super Quiet time rates.”

New technologyZynetix has recently launched an updatedversion of its Ocean Linx GSM controllerand added a Managed Core Services(MCS) offering, which will both be a fea-ture of the GlobeMobile system.

The Ocean Linx GSM communicationsplatform includes bandwidth conserva-tion and enhanced voice and text featuresover the satellite link, which the companysays have been designed to meet both themarket-specific and technical-specific

needs of maritime GSM. The system is available in various con-

figurations including voice over IP (VoIP)and FXO port, according to the preferredsatellite backhaul mode.

The MCS aspect of the system is used tomanage and run the GSM core infrastruc-ture for Zynetix Maritime Service Provider(MSP) partners, allowing functions likeprepaid platforms, alarm monitoring andmultiple GSM partner interconnects tooperate onboard the vessel.

Frank Coles, president and CEO ofGlobe Wireless, is excited about the poten-tial of the technology, and believes it willoffer a really attractive option to seafarerswishing to stay in touch with home.

“The solution is the result of extensiveresearch and many months of work andsignificant innovation,” he said. “Theresult is a solution that provides a flexible,high quality service. It is designed bymariners for mariners and thus is inex-pensive and fits their needs.”

“Using smart technology developed byGlobe Wireless and Zynetix on the vessel,as well as shore, we have reduced band-width and costs. We offer free mobile tomobile calling on the same vessel, notsomething we have seen anywhere else.”

“With the downturn in markets andthe economic squeeze that is being feltglobally we needed to release a productthat would be inexpensive to install forthe owner and low cost calling for the crew.”

Ian Taylor, CEO and co-founder ofZynetix, echoed these sentiments, andexpects that the time when GSM will become a standard maritime fit is get-ting closer.

"GlobeMobile truly represents the nextgeneration of GSM-at-sea services,” hesaid.

“We're proud to partner with GlobeWireless and believe the introduction ofGlobeMobile will move GSM-at-sea froman expensive niche service to a main-stream service that many more marinerscan benefit from."

“The field of merchant-vessel maritimeGSM is now moving from trials and firstgeneration systems to the next generationof highly featured and lower cost platforms.”

CompetitionThe GlobeMobile system looks set to com-pete head-to-head with the Blue OceanWireless GSM service, launched in the firsthalf of 2007, which also operates viaInmarsat terminals.

Blue Ocean Wireless has seen somenotable success already in its two years ofexistence, having agreed GSM deals withmajor shipping companies like BernhardSchulte Shipmanagement and Wallem inthe last twelve months alone.

The emergence of another competitorthat can offer onboard GSM connectivityto seafarers at reasonable prices and with alow level of capital expenditure on sub-$5000 antennas like Iridium OpenPort andthe FleetBroadband 150, is sure to meangood news to those working on oceangoing vessels.

If this eventually results in even lowerper-minute pricing for crews, and moreextensive options in how to stay in touchwith friends on family on shore, then thebenefits will be felt by everybody in themaritime industry. DS

Printed by The Manson Group Ltd

Reynolds House8 Porters' Wood

Valley Road Industrial EstateSt Albans

Hertz AL3 6PZU.K.

Once downloaded, StratosNetAccelerator operates transparently on theuser’s personal computer, using data-compression to reduce the amount of e-mail, web and FTP data transmittedbetween terrestrial and mobile terminalsby more than 80 per cent.

Stratos says that use of the applicationshould "significantly increase transmis-sion speeds and reduce airtime costs."

“The introduction of StratosNet

www.stratosglobal.com

Stratos has launched its StratosNetAccelerator system, a free internet-optimi-sation application that aims to help cus-tomers reduce airtime costs over theFleetBroadband service.

StratosNet Accelerator is the latestaddition to Stratos Advantage, a range ofvalue-added services for Stratos'FleetBroadband users.

Accelerator added to Stratos FleetBroadband applications

William P. Thompson has joined maritimecommunications company umc.globalas vice president Americas. Mr Thompsonwas formerly vice president of sales-Americas at MCP, and also previouslyworked for Connexion by Boeing.

CapRock has expanded its presencein Asia Pacific by opening a new regionaloffice in Singapore, to be headed up byCharlie Ransford. The new office buildsupon CapRock’s existing activities in theregion, where it already owns and oper-ates an international teleport and supportcentre in Jakarta, Indonesia and a co-loca-tion and support centre in Perth,Australia.

Seanet MaritimeCommunications has signed anagreement with Eniro 118 118 for thesupply of directory services on Seanet’smaritime GSM network, allowing them to

offer a directory service to passengers inmaritime GSM coverage. All calls to theEuropean standard number 118 will belinked to the service.

Otesat-Maritel has advised cus-tomers that it will have to adjust billing forInmarsat services as of May 1st, 2009,following modifications of Inmarsat'sbilling conditions. This will create a mini-mum call duration of 15 seconds for Voice, Fax and Data, and of 10 seconds forISDN sessions, applying to all Existing and Evolved services (i.e. Inmarsat B, M,Mini-M, Fleet).

William Thompson, umc.global’s new vicepresident Americas

Accelerator demonstrates our commit-ment to minimise the operating cost andmaximise the effectiveness of our widerange of mobile satellite services,” saidStratos president and CEO Jim Parm.

“By offering the prepaid-internet fea-ture of ChatCard Data with the internet-optimisation capability of StratosNetAccelerator, we meet end-user demandfor an affordable, highly efficient mobilebroadband solution.”

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SATCOMS NEWS


www.shipequip.no

Ship Equip has signed a 6 year agreementfor the use of 3 transponders on the TelstarT11N satellite, which the company sayswill increase the capacity of its maritimeVSAT service threefold.

The satellite T11N from Telesat waslaunched on February 26th, and is nowbeing positioned in its final equatorialorbit at 37.5˚ W.

Ship Equip has secured three fulltransponders of capacity on this satellite,enough to provide its SEVSAT maritimesatcom service to between 1,500 and 2,000ships.

Ship Equip currently has approximate-ly 600 vessels in operation with its VSATsystem, but says that it is aiming toincrease this to more than 3000 ships with-in 5 years, with this Telstar T11N deal rep-resenting ”an important element in reach-ing this goal.”

In addition to increased capacity withthis transponder deal, the agreement willalso increase the coverage area availablefor Ship Equip’s Ku-band VSAT services.

Areas in the Mid Atlantic, around the Caribbean and in West Africa willnow have considerably enhanced VSAT coverage compared to what waspreviously available, following the

Ship Equip increases VSAT coverage and capacitylaunch and positioning of the Telstarsatellite.

The official start of operations of ShipEquip’s new services on the T11N satelliteis expected to be 1st May 2009.

www.mcp.com

Smyril Line reports that it has renewed its onboard maritime GSM contract with Maritime Communications Partner,with the new agreement running untilApril 2013.

MCP has supplied wireless services toSmyril Line since 2005. Under the newcontract the North Atlantic vessel operatorwill also add additional communicationsservices aboard the M/F Norröna, such asGPRS, a CrewSIM service, and WLAN.

“In the modern world of wireless tech-nology, people are accustomed to keepingin touch at all times,” said Jákup SverriKass, Smyril Line’s director of marketingand sales.

“Passengers are eager to share theirexperiences through mobile phone photosor placing pictures on social networkingwebsites such as Facebook. In order to dothis while onboard, the ship must have sta-ble and reliable wireless access.”

In addition to mobile phone connectivi-ty, MCP also provides Norröna withCrewSIM, a prepaid mobile phone serviceoffering fixed minute rates for crew.

The system is currently in use by more than 13,000 crew members, repre-senting some 50 nationalities, around the world. It has no connection fee andoffers subscribers free incoming voicecalls and SMS.

“We are pleased to have been entrust-ed with continuing to supply our provenline of wireless services and productsand look forward to developing furtherservices and technology together withSmyril Line,” said Bernt Fanghol, MCP’s CMO and vice president of busi-ness relations.

Smyril Lineextends GSM deal

Ship Equip has secured enough VSAT satellite capacityto service between 1,500 and 2,000 ships

www.intelsat.com

Detecon Al Saudia Co has signed a multi-year contract for Ku-band capacity onIntelsat's new satellite, IS-15, which will belocated at 85˚E when it is launched laterthis year. Detecon Al Saudia plans to usethis capacity to provide VSAT services tomaritime and other customers throughoutthe Middle East.

Detecon Al Saudia, a German-SaudiArabian joint venture telecommunications

and IT company, became a distributor ofIntelsat's Network Broadband GlobalMaritime service following an agreementbetween the two companies in June 2008.

"We chose to lease capacity on the IS-15because, in our view, it will be the highestperforming satellite in the Middle Eastregion" said Dr Harald Stange, director,information and communication technolo-gy, Detecon Al Saudia.

"This contract will support our strategyto provide our clients satellite services

www.iridium.com

Iridium has completed the replacement ofthe operational Iridium satellite lost in acollision with a non-operational Russiansatellite at the end of February.

Iridium's inter-connected network of 66satellites had enabled continuity of servicewhile one of the company’s in-orbit spareswas prepared and manoeuvred into theconstellation, but the replacement meansthat the constellation is now back to its fullcomplement and operating as normal.

“I am particularly proud of the Iridiumand Boeing teams that manage our con-stellation,” said Matt Desch, chairman andchief executive officer, Iridium.

"They moved quickly, efficiently andeffectively to limit the minor servicedegradation caused by the collision and to return our constellation to its full configuration.”

Iridium says that it has been engagedwith the US government in an effort toimprove assessment and warning of satel-lite movements, but believes that this inci-

dent has demonstrated the need for evenmore aggressive action.

The company has called for the pursuitof a number of measures, such as greaterinvestment in improving Space SituationalAwareness (SSA), improved informationsharing between industry and the US gov-ernment, and more funding and resourcesto support analysis, assessment, dissemi-nation and warning on timelines and withaccuracies that enable action to be taken toavoid collisions.

The company said, in a statement:"Improved SSA is essential to the wellbeing of the global space community. This event certainly points to the impor-tance of SSA to the success of the commer-cial space industry, including the commer-cial and government customers served byIridium."

"Iridium is committed to healthy coop-eration between government, industryand the international community toimprove the capabilities of SSA and toenhance the security of the space environ-ment for all constituents."

Detecon Al Saudia contracts VSAT capacity from Intelsatwith the best power and bandwidth solu-tions, offering flexible, high data rate satel-lite links using antennas that are as smallas possible."

Jean-Philippe Gillet, Intelsat's regionalvice president, Europe and Middle East,added: "Our IS-15 satellite will serve astrategic role within our fleet, providingour customers such as Detecon Al Saudiamuch needed Ku-band transmission serv-ices throughout the Middle East, Russiaand the Indian ocean region."

Iridium network repaired after collision

www.shoresupport.nl

Outsource-IT Management has become aparticipant in the Shore SupportConsortium, established by WagenborgShipping and HME B.V. to research possi-ble improvements in engine room tasksonboard vessels, resulting in more effi-cient crewing.

The consortium hopes to achieve these

efficiencies through the use of modern ITand communication technologies.

Outsource-IT Management’s role willinvolve assisting the shipping lines withtheir usage of broadband technologies,and examining how this may change workprocesses onboard.

The company says that this may alsoinvolve changes in ICT infrastructureonboard the vessels.

www.minivsat.com

Coverage for KVH's mini-VSATBroadband service has now been extendedto the Persian Gulf, a step facilitated by arecent agreement between KVH andViaSat and following on from a recent cov-erage roll-out in the northern Pacific.

The mini-VSAT system offers Ku-bandmaritime satellite communications over a60-cm antenna, considerably smaller thantraditional VSAT antennas.

Coverage is still only available in spe-cific regions (see: www.kvh.com/ foot-

prints for details) at this time, thoughKVH has committed to covering moreand more of the world's oceanic areas inthe future.

"The addition of mini-VSAT Broadbandcoverage for the Persian Gulf enables us toprovide more affordable broadband inter-net for critical commercial and govern-ment maritime operations as well asleisure vessels in the region," said BrentBruun, KVH's vice president of sales andbusiness development.

"In most cases, we can dramaticallyreduce a fleet's monthly airtime expenses."

Mini-VSAT coverage now in Persian Gulf

Shore Support Consortium expanded

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

Satlynx is a leading global provider of satellite communications services with over 12,000 VSATs in more than 130 countries and offers broadband satellite connectivity across ocean, sea and inland waterway for small groups of vessels operating regionally to fleets operating on a global basis.

Meet us at the 4th Maritime Communication and Technology Conference4th to 5th March 2009 in Athens, Greece [email protected] www.satlynx.com

Stay in touch Connecting you and your business on board

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat has released its financial resultsfor the year 2008, showing an increase of 7.2per cent in maritime revenues, up to $332.5million from $310.3 million for 2007.

This was mostly down to growth indata services, which increased 9.7 per centto $227.8 million compared with a 2 percent increase in voice services (up to$104.7 million).

The company said: "The increase inrevenues from data services primarilyreflects greater demand, as a result of thetake-up and utilisation of our Fleet servic-es, which was partially offset by thedecline in our mature Inmarsat-B service. Inmarsat-B terminals declineddue to old ships being decommissionedand new ships being fitted with Fleet ter-minals, which has been driven by contin-ued growth in the global shipping new-build market."

"Additionally, we experiencedincreased volume of the low-speed dataservices, typically used for e-mail.FleetBroadband, introduced in November2007, continues to gain early customeracceptance and by the end of 2008 hadpassed 1,500 active terminals. These termi-nals are predominantly being deployed onrefits of existing ships."

Active Inmarsat maritime terminals at

the end of 2008 numbered 155,800, anincrease of 5.8 per cent on 2007 andincluding growth of 36.7 per cent in activeFleet and FleetBroadband terminals.

"During the fourth quarter we contin-ued to see steady activations of our Fleetterminals and an acceleration in the acti-vation of FleetBroadband terminals," thecompany said. "Average usage levels onour Inmarsat B and Fleet terminals, whichare predominately used by the shippingindustry, remained strong through thefourth quarter."

Inmarsat's potential takeover of Stratoswas also mentioned in its 2008 accounts,with the company stating that: "In April2009 we expect to exercise a call option tocomplete the acquisition of Stratos Globaland we are optimistic about the prospectsfor the enlarged group."

"On 16 January 2009, the US (FCC)issued its order approving the transfer ofcontrol over Stratos’ FCC licenses ... toInmarsat. Under the terms of the transac-tion, which closed on 11 December 2007,(Inmarsat) has a call option over 100 percent of the shares ... exercisable from 15April 2009 and expiring in December 2010."

"All government and regulatoryapprovals required for the exercise of thecall option have now been obtained and itis expected that the call option will be exer-cised on or shortly after 15 April 2009."

Crew entertainment installation for Solstad Offshorewww.bazetechnology.com

www.intele.com

Solstad Offshore has agreed a contract toinstall crew entertainment systems fromIntelecom Norway and Baze Technologyonboard its newest offshore supply ves-sels, beginning with the Normand Subsea7 currently under construction at thePalmer Johnson yard in Flekkefjord.

The contract represents the first agree-ment to equip a seagoing vessel with theentertainment system, with the technologyhaving been previously in use in otherindustries.

BazePort is a combined hardware andsoftware solution that aims to replaceother standalone systems used for enter-

tainment and crew communications. Itconnects to the onboard satcoms or televi-sion antennas to channel the systems intoone integrated interface.

The BazePort system to be installed bySolstad is an IP TV solution, which pro-vides TV, video on demand, internet, e-mail, and phone in one integrated system.It is operated primarily via a touchscreen,but wireless keyboards and mice can besupplied as optional peripherals.

The system also includes a portal that allows operators to publish informa-tion directly to their crew, with a rolebased setup that provides the possibilityof targeting messages to particular crewmembers.

It connects to its server with one IP

Inmarsat revenues up 7% in 2008

cable, eliminating the need for additionalcabling such as coax or telephone.

"At Solstad Offshore we have a contin-uous focus on attracting the best crewavailable," said new build project managerat Solstad Offshore, Geir Ove Olsen.

"The BazePort solution shall provideour crew on board with a modern com-munication and entertainment platformon this vessel. We believe this to be impor-tant for improving life onboard, and anedge towards the competition whenrecruiting the best new crew available."

Thorstein Rinker, business developmentmanager at Baze Technology, added: "Westarted marketing BazePort towards themarine and offshore industry less than ayear ago. The response the market has

given us has been great, and the number ofcontracts we are about to sign has provenall our expectations for the product."

SATCOMS NEWS


Crew entertainment and communicationsare integrated on the Bazeport touchscreen

FleetBroadband licence granted to JSAT MOBILEwww.stratosglobal.com

JSAT MOBILE Communications Inc, ajoint venture between Stratos and SKYPerfect JSAT that features JRC and Furunoas shareholders, has been granted a radiolicence by the Kanto Bureau of theJapanese Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications to offer InmarsatFleetBroadband on Japanese-registeredvessels.

Stratos and SKY Perfect JSAT formedthe joint venture company JSAT MOBILEin August of 2008 to target the mobilesatellite communications market in Japan.SKY Perfect JSAT is a satellite operator inthe Asia-Pacific region.

Furuno and JRC (Japan RadioCompany) joined the company as share-holders in November of last year.

The grant of this licence by theMinistry of Internal Affairs andCommunications means that the companyis now positioned to take advantage of theextension of FleetBroadband services inthe Pacific Ocean, following the globalavailability of the Inmarsat service onFebruary 24th.

Stratos president and CEO Jim Parmsaid: "With the necessary licences in place,JSAT MOBILE can now begin using itsstrong local team to meet the growingJapanese demand for the very latestmobile satellite services."

www.globecommsystems.com

Globecomm Systems reports that it hasacquired privately held company Mach6,a satellite services provider headquarteredin the Netherlands.

The purchase price was $5.9 million incash, which was funded throughGlobecomm’s existing cash reserves. Theshareholders of Mach6 could also receiveup to 300,000 shares of Globecomm com-mon stock, subject to an earn-out based oncertain net income milestones, which mustbe achieved within twelve months.

Mach6 is a service provider and tele-port operator, with revenues of approxi-mately $10 million in 2008. Previously,

Globecomm had announced a GlobalBroadband Satellite Maritime Solution inpartnership with Mach6.

“We decided to move forward with thistransaction due to a strong cultural fitbetween the organisations, led by the desireto provide seamless global satellite servicesto the maritime industry and to add highquality managerial and technical benchstrength,” said David Hershberg, CEO, pres-ident and chairman of Globecomm Systems.

"Mach6’s access to Globecomm’s robustglobal network footprint and deep techni-cal staff should accelerate their growth ineach of the market segments they serve."

Mach6 currently provides maritime broad-band services to approximately 140 vessels.

www.inmarsat.com

Harbinger Capital Partners has reiteratedits intention to make a formal offer toacquire satellite communications compa-ny Inmarsat upon the receipt of regulato-ry approval, with a statement to theLondon Stock Exchange outlining movesto speed up the regulatory approvalsprocess.

The company has asked US authoritiesto consider regulatory applications onbehalf of two of the businesses in which ithas shareholdings, SkyTerra andInmarsat, to be considered separately, inthe hope of accelerating the approvals.

The statement reads: "On 25 July 2008,the board of SkyTerra Communicationsand the management of Harbinger CapitalPartners Funds announced their intentionto make an offer to acquire the entireissued and to be issued share capital ofInmarsat plc not already held by(Harbinger) on terms to be announced fol-lowing a satisfactory outcome to the regu-latory approval process."

"This regulatory approval processincluded: approval from the US FederalCommunications Commission (FCC) forthe transfer of control of the FCC licencesheld by subsidiaries of Inmarsat; FCCapproval for the transfer of control of the

FCC licences held by SkyTerra SubsidiaryLLC, an indirect subsidiary of SkyTerra;and approval under the FCC's foreignownership limits for Harbinger to own upto 100 per cent of SkyTerra."

"In order to accelerate the regulatoryprocess, Harbinger has submitted arequest to the FCC that the SkyTerraChange of Control Application beprocessed separately from the InmarsatChange of Control Application."

Despite this attempt to speed up regu-latory approval, Harbinger says that itdoes not expect there to be any materialchange to the timetable for obtainingapproval on the Inmarsat deal as a resultof such separate processing.

"The approval process for the InmarsatChange of Control Application is ongoing,and Harbinger's expectation remains, asstated in the 25 July 2008 announcement,that approval is likely to take approxi-mately 12-18 months from the date of thatannouncement," the statement said.

"Harbinger's intention remains, as setout in the announcement dated 25 July2008, to make an offer to acquire the entireissued and to be issued share capital ofInmarsat not already held by (Harbinger)on terms to be announced following a sat-isfactory outcome to the regulatoryapproval process."

Harbinger restates acquisition plan for Inmarsat

Globecomm acquires Mach6

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

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Coverage restrictions for the extreme polar regions apply.

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

www.seanet.se

Seanet Maritime Communications is to supply GSM services on board threecruise ships for Classic InternationalCruises, the Athena, Princess Danae andPrincess Daphne.

The three vessels operate on a world-wide basis, and join the Funchal and Arionas the five members of the ClassicInternational Cruises fleet contracted toinstall the Seanet GSM system.

All five vessels are expected to be running live with the technology in April 2009.

"The GSM-service from Seanet gives our passengers a simple communi-cation tool as they can use their ordinaryGSM phones out at sea," said EmiliosPotamianos, Classic InternationalCruises.

In a separate development, Seanet hasreached an agreement with BelgacomInternational Carrier Services to act as itsinternational carrier and signalling

provider, meaning that Belgacom will ter-minate all Seanet international voice andsignalling traffic over the GSM service.

The company says that this will ensuregreater availability of its service to a vari-ety of users.

“One hurdle in Seanet’s efforts to estab-lish international roaming has, in manycases, been to conclude the so called IREG(International Roaming Expert Group)tests, because Seanet’s roaming partnercouldn’t reach Seanet’s number range(+882 42) via its International Carrier,"said Klas Lundgren, CEO of Seanet.

"Partnering with a Tier 1 InternationalCarrier such as Belgacom ICS will elimi-nate this obstacle to Seanet’s progress.With Belgacom ICS as provider of thisservice and Ericsson as provider of theinfrastructure, we are confident we havechosen the market leaders that will guar-antee Seanet the most stable maritimeservice possible, and that it can bereached by operators from any corner ofthe globe.”

GSM for Classic International Cruises

SATCOMS NEWS


Fixed satcom pricing from Wired Ocean

www.wiredocean.com

Wired Ocean has introduced a new fixedpricing scheme designed to enable vesselsto accurately predict shore to ship datacosts based on pre-determined usage lev-els, using the Wired Ocean satcom system.

The Wired Ocean system is designed todeliver shore-to-ship data via a vessel'ssatellite TV antenna, to reduce downloadcosts. The five new fixed price plans, des-ignated Beaufort 1-5, will allow vessels toselect the usage profile that best fits theirneeds, differentiated by the volume of pri-ority data downloaded.

These plans start at approximately $300per month, and the company says that therange spans up to gigabytes of data permonth for less than $1,000. All fixed priceplans feature a maximum shore-to-shipdata rate of 500kbps.

"The new fixed price plans are also avail-able with the cost of the S-Box, the heart of theWired Ocean system, included,” said VictorBarendse, managing director of Wired Ocean.

"So the benefits of Wired Ocean, such aslower broadband usage costs, fasterspeeds and greatly enhanced managementof budgets could be achieved without anycapital expenditure whatsoever."

"If a vessel doesn't already have a satel-lite TV antenna, the savings enabled byWired Ocean makes fitting one a muchmore attractive proposition and by bring-ing the world to the vessel via TV or cost-effective internet Wired Ocean can help toimprove operations and crew welfare atthe same time."

The Wired Ocean system offers fixed pricedata downloads via maritime TV antennas

www.numerex.com

www.savi.com

Numerex Corp and Savi, a LockheedMartin company, have announced a tech-nology partnership to co-develop whatwould be the first asset and shipment mon-itoring device that combines global satellitepositioning, active radio frequency identifi-cation and satellite communications.

The hybrid ST-694 GlobalTag is beingdeveloped to provide continuous moni-toring and precise location information ofassets for defence, public sector and com-mercial customers.

The system is aimed at both spot-leveland ongoing in-transit visibility of ship-ments and mobile supply chain assets, suchas vessels or container shipments. Thesatellite-based global RFID (radio frequen-cy identification) device will be designed toprovide tracking information in harsh envi-

ronments on a near global basis."We believe that this powerful combi-

nation of expertise and automated tech-nologies will advance supply chain moni-toring and management capabilities fromorigin to final destination, resulting inhigher levels of value for our customers,"said Mike Marett, chief operating officer,Numerex Corp.

David Shannon, Savi Technology's sen-ior vice president of product manage-ment, marketing and strategy, added:"Our collaboration will benefit any gov-ernment agency, department, or supplychain professional in need of a truly trans-parent, integrated tracking solution thancan span across existing RFID networksand into areas where traditional activeRFID infrastructure is not practical.”

“This will deliver improved, seamlessvisibility throughout the supply chainregardless of physical location."

Asset monitoring technologypartnership announced

www.globewireless.com

Globe Wireless reports that it has enteredinto a Letter of Intent to acquire the assetsof Atlantic RadioTelephone (ART), andthat it expects to close the acquisition with-in 30 days.

ART has been operating in Miami forover 35 years, and operates an on-line webstore (www.satphonestore.com), sellingmaritime and land-mobile satellite equip-ment and airtime, VSAT internet and tele-vision systems, radars and a variety ofmarine electronics.

ART also offers service and supportfrom centres in Miami and Jacksonville,and these offices will be complemented bya newly opened Globe Wireless sales andsupport office in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

“The acquisition of the ART /SatPhoneStore assets is the next step forGlobe Wireless, allowing the company toexpand the products and services we offerto our current customers," said FrankColes, Globe Wireless CEO.

Globe Wireless inFlorida acquisition

www.iridium.com

Iridium is re-launching its ‘Trade-Up toIridium’ programme, which providespricing incentives for customers willing totrade in Globalstar satellite phone hand-sets to switch to Iridium.

From February 20 to September 30,2009, any Globalstar satellite phone userwill be able to trade in his or her handsetfor an Iridium satellite phone. The initial‘Trade-Up to Iridium’ offer ran fromJanuary to September 2008.

Through the programme, participatingIridium Service Providers based in NorthAmerica will offer a credit of up to $400 ona new Iridium 9505A satellite phone tocustomers turning in an existingGlobalstar handset.

Participating Service Providers will alsooffer up to $300 in airtime credits when signinga customer for a qualified Iridium calling plan.

Service Providers outside of NorthAmerica are also expected to offer similarincentives, through regional programmes.

Iridium re-launchestrade-in programme

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

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p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46


SATCOMS

Safety and document management over VSATCrystal Pool, a shipping company based in Finland, knew it needed a new approach to its IT infrastructure,

and set up a small project team to completely change the way the company deals with information. Jouni Salo, Crystal Pool, told Digital Ship about how the company has used its new VSAT system

to improve information management and increase safety

FF innish chemical tanker operatorCrystal Pool recently embarked on aproject that aimed to completely

overhaul its entire organisational IT struc-ture, including the installation of a newsatellite communications system that wasto be used to run the vessels as a networkof “floating offices.”

As part of these changes the companywould also introduce a new safetymanagement system, and transfer the ICT management of the vessels to the IT department, from the technical department.

The company has six vessels in techni-cal management and twelve in commer-cial management, but was working with avery small team to manage the entire

restructuring project, explains Jouni Salo,quality and safety superintendent, CrystalPool.

“We started the project in 2008 and hada budget of €1.2 million for 5 years, includ-ing the communications costs,” he told us.

“We had the problem of high commu-nication costs and a lot of trouble with themanagement of the vessel IT systems, andthis was aimed at changing that.”

“The project was done with one and ahalf employees – myself and the IT man-ager. I say one and a half because I don’twork in the IT department anymore, I’vetransferred to the quality department, butwas involved during the project.”

To begin the process, Crystal Pool spec-ified a list of aims for the project, and out-

lined the particular operational issues itwanted to overcome with its new IT infra-structure.

“The problems that we were looking atare pretty clear to all shipping companies,you have ships that are sailing around theworld and you have to keep in contactwith them to get operational data and givethem voyage orders, distribute documentsand so on,” said Mr Salo.

“If you don’t manage the IT well youwill have problems with viruses and mal-ware, if you have an internet connectionsomeone is going to use it if there are norestrictions on it.”

The company’s vessels had been oper-ating with a mix of different communica-tions systems up to this point, but Mr Salonotes that their performance was mixed.

“We had a lack of internet and telepho-ny connectivity because we used mostlyGSM or GPRS routers, though we also hadInmarsat Fleet and FleetBroadband anten-nas which had no problems with connec-tions,” he said.

“Before the IT department got any ofthe vessels under their control there wasa lack of standardisation of the equip-ment onboard, nobody knew exactlywhat was installed and there wasn’t verygood documentation. So this was thestarting point.”

“With the FleetBroadband, the speedwas okay but the pricing per use for thetransfer of megabytes created a bit of amess, we had some pretty nasty invoices acouple of times. For the GPRS routers, weused a Finnish service provider and it wasokay in Finland, it was €12 per month forunlimited access, but when we went toother countries and ended up with theroaming costs, well, everybody knowshow much they are.”

Knowing some of the problems it want-ed to solve, the company also had somefurther ideas about additional capabilitiesit hoped to introduce with its investmentin its communications.

“Our first targets were to reduce thecommunication expenses, but we alsowanted to centralise the ICT managementto the IT department at headquarters, andto offer remote support in things likeinstalling programs and all that stuff,”said Mr Salo.

“We wanted to not have to visit the ves-sels and physically work on the machinesthere for support, we wanted to do every-thing electronically and remotely.”

“We also wanted to look at the issue ofcrew welfare, because like all other ship-

ping companies we have the problem ofgetting good people on board the vesselsand actually keeping them. Giving themconnectivity and calls home and internet,it’s a way to do that.”

A key feature of centralising the ITmanagement at the shore office was theintroduction of a networked documentmanagement system, with informationacross the organisation available any-where it was required, on land or sea.

“What we wanted to do with the inte-gration was to control and streamline thedocument flow,” said Mr Salo.

“With the normal paper documentsit’squite a mess when you have to archive itto folders or scan them into sharedWindows folders, and so on. It’s reallyhard to keep track of the versions and access controls of the different documents.”

“Most of our users were using Adminrights too, so with an open system withaccess rights to everything you get a lot ofICT support calls. It was a problem toknow exactly what you have and who hasaccess control. Updating any forms or anydocuments, that can be really complicatedwhen you have people moving from ves-sel to vessel and company to company, itbecomes unmanageable.”

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flow’ – Jouni Salo, Crystal Pool

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Digital Shipferent systems would suit its needs, thecompany opted to fit VSAT as the centre-piece of its IT infrastructure development.

“We decided to go with a VSAT instal-lation instead of upgrading all of the Fleet77s to FleetBroadband,” Mr Saloexplained. “We got the system fromSatPoint, having asked for a quotationfrom 23 providers.”

“We firstly wanted tohave a fixed rate for unlimit-ed data per month, becausewe saw this as the only waythat we could do real inte-gration of the systems. If youhave to pay for every bit thatyou’re replicating over thesatellite it’s going to bepricey.”

“IP phones were put on,so we could take off most ofthe GSM phones and reducethe costs that way. The crewalso wanted to have access sowe got, for all of the ships, aLinux-based computer so asnot to worry about securityissues for malware andviruses (that you can get onWindows).”

Crystal Pool agreed afixed monthly package withSatPoint that would allow itsvessels to share data usageacross the fleet, dependingon what type of functionswere being performed, MrSalo told us.

“We ended up with a poolof bandwidth for the fleet,and for us it was a good solu-tion,” he said.

“We have a pretty simplestructure on the vessels andnot that many large files that we need to send over the satellite link. The onlyway we really want to beusing the bandwidth waspretty much for remote con-trol, and that’s possible withthe pool.”

“When we are only con-trolling one or two vessels ata time we can draw thebandwidth from the othervessels for remote desktopand remote access use onthe vessels which we areworking on. This is the samething with replicating theservers or the documents,when we just schedule thereplication to be done at aspecific time.”

The company also struc-tured its onboard connectivi-ty in such a way as to haveseparate networks for crewand company use, to moreeasily control how the sat-com system was managed.

“We separated the busi-ness and pleasure side ofthings on the local area net-works, with a VPN on thebusiness side from the Earthstation to the office, thenrouting the data out of theoffice,” said Mr Salo.

“That means that those onboard havethe same restrictions that people inthe office have. Then the crew LAN is sent out to the internet from the Earthstation.”

Mr Salo admits that the VSAT systemdoes have some issues with structuralshadowing and connection downtime, butsays that these limitations are acceptable

in terms of the overall result the companywas trying to achieve.

“For the connection time, we know thatthe connection is not always-on, there aregoing to be shaded areas on differentheadings and it won’t be 100 per cent on,but the uptime is going to be better thanwith our GPRS modems,” he said.

“We built our document management

system in such a way that having non-con-nected time is not a problem.”

This set-up included a renewed focuson security and control, which had beenan issue for the company under its previ-ous IT infrastructure.

“First, we wanted to tackle theWindows active directory problem, toremove the Admin access rights and

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SATCOMS

downgrade them, giving everybody a username, that was the first task,” said Mr Salo.

“Then we implemented, instead of ourclient antivirus software, a server-clientantivirus software. We use F-secure PolicyManager antivirus software, because wehave that in the office, and it’s a prettygood software.”

“We started the documentation of theinstalled system, the Admin passwords,the equipment, the software, and so on.This was also done to the IT department’spre-installed computers that were to bedelivered to the vessels, it’s obviously eas-

ier to do when you’re at the office with ahigh-bandwidth internet connection thanwhen you’re on the ship.”

Document managementand replication

One of the features of the infrastructurethat Mr Salo has been most pleased with isthe introduction of a new document man-agement system that has allowed the com-pany to have all of the information storedon the vessels and in the office centrallyaccessible, making it easier for people tofind what they need exactly when theyneed it.

“The document managing softwarethat we have is Motivesys M-files,” he said.

“We implemented that in 2005 in theoffice, and we’ve been really happy withit. It’s end-user friendly, it’s pretty muchlike browsing in your normal Windowsenvironment.”

The system has now been extended to include the vessels by utilising theVSAT connection, and is used to managefour essential functions - version han-dling, access control, back-ups and work-flow tools.

The document managing system stores

all of the documents in a single vault ineach location, with everything separatedby metafiles and document classes. Theback-up is done through the satellite link,with only the changes replicated.

Employees in Crystal Pool headquar-ters that are looking for documents can use either the document vault that is replicated to the office network, or they can do a meta file search of the ves-sel vault.

“Version handling is probably themost crucial part of it, to know whereyou have your documents and whichdocument is the newest version,” saidMr Salo. “You also want to have the roll-back option, if someone goes andchanges the document he needs to havethe ‘oops’ button.”

“The access control is another crucialelement in managing documents, and wecan control that by just signing into theWindows active directory network, forgroups or for individual users.”

“Back-up is easier with a manage-ment system because everything is in onevault. There is no folder structure to bebacked-up, it’s just a meta file structureand a bunch of documents, sent over theVSAT link.”

Replication of the data vaults in theoffice and on the vessel is performed grad-ually, so as not to completely clog theVSAT pipe with the updated information.

“When the ship’s vault is replicatedover the satellite link it’s replicated intothe main Crystal Pool servers, and thoseare backed up every day,” said Mr Salo.

“Replication is done on a slow TCPtransfer in the background so it doesn’ttake any peaks in the bandwidth to movethe data. It can be set to be once a day,once a week, or whenever they need thedocuments.”

Workflow toolsThe ‘workflow tools’ included in the sys-tem are used to make sure that companyinformation is presented to the people thatneed to know about it as soon as it is madeavailable, with the office able to monitordocument access to make sure compliancerequirements are being followed.

“The workflow tools work with thedocuments and objects, we can create doc-uments and assign them to people, forexample you could assign to the masterthe task of reading the newest version ofthe training manual,” said Mr Salo.

“Before the implementation of the doc-ument management system, the sendingside was based on making copies of phys-ical forms, filling them out, scanningthem, storing them, renaming them, e-mailing them, maybe faxing them, andstoring copies in physical folders.”

“On the receiving side when they gotthe e-mail they had to process it, usuallythis means printing it out, stamping it,scanning it, and e-mailing it back to thevessel, while putting a copy in a physicalfolder.”

This process has been significantlyimproved since the introduction of thereplication and management system, bothin terms of the time needed to deal withdocumentation and the effectiveness ofthe information flow.

“After the implementation we’ve beenable to create the documents from a tem-

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46


Digital Shipplate and fill it in on the computer,” MrSalo said.

“If a stamp is needed they can print itand stamp it, and then scan it back in.Then on the receiving side they’ll receive a notice that the documents are there, or sometimes they’ll know that the documents will be there at a specific time,so they can search the vessel’s vault andfind them.”

“If it’s totally electronicthey won’t need to stamp it or sign it because it will already have the timeand date, and the user andother meta data that can bepreset in the creation of thetemplate.”

The document manage-ment system also has poten-tial safety implications, making it easier for crewmembers to stay up to datewith safety bulletins orequipment manual updatesfrom the office.

“With this system there isa much reduced possibilityof human error in processingand storing important docu-ments,” said Mr Salo.

“We can use this systemfor getting verification ofwork being done, things likeNCRs, notifications, circu-lars, and other importantdocuments.”

“We can use it for manu-als, when we do an updateon a manual we can just putit in the vault and after it’stransferred over the satellitewe can assign them to printthe documents that havechanged and then physicallychange the manual folders.They have to have the physi-cal manuals for the vettinginspections.”

BenefitsWith the system installedand up and running, Mr Salohas been impressed withhow easy it has become tofind exact documents orclasses of information thatthe company might requireto monitor and improve per-formance, no matter wherethat information might belocated, on shore or on aseagoing vessel.

“We can see all of the ves-sels that we manage and allof the vaults, and can makequeries easily with Excel orSQL, and pull the informa-tion from the vaults, slicedand diced how we want it,”he said.

“It could be, for example,how many near misses forthe vessel for this year, andthat will be stored in thevault so we don’t have to gothrough the manual foldersand count how many thereare or keep updating theExcel files manually every

time. These kind of snap shots are veryeasy to export, then you can use the datahowever you want.”

Mr Salo also believes that his compa-ny’s experience should prove to beencouraging to others, to recognise the potential benefits of these systemsand show that, even with a small teamworking on a project, major improve-

ments are possible.“Vessels are, nowadays, moving offices

or production plants, and the communica-tion solutions should be pretty much thesame as in the offices in normal businesssettings,” he said.

“If you’re setting up an office inLondon they’ll want to have access to thedata in the office in Finland, and vice

versa, in a timely way.”“With this project I think we have

achieved a lot of savings in communica-tions costs, and at the same time imple-mented a system that allows the hardworking people on the vessels work lessand let the computers do some of it. It’sdoable for anyone, I would say, since wehad just two guys doing it on our side.” DS

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46


SATCOMS

The Orange Group, presently well-known for its mobile phone services, is looking to extend its business services to themaritime VSAT sector, and has agreed a deal to install the communications system aboard Bourbon’s fleet of ships

FF rench marine services group Bour-bon has chosen to install a Ku-bandVSAT communications system from

Orange Business Services on its fleet of 150vessels.

The contract includes the integrationand operation of the maritime VSAT satel-lite communication system, which willconnect the vessels to the Bourbon net-work via an IP VPN.

The VSAT space segment will beshared by all Bourbon vessels and is usedfor accessing the Bourbon network, pro-vided by Orange. The interconnectionbetween the space segment and theground network is through Orange-man-aged teleports.

Bourbon says that the goal of the proj-ect is to implement new communicationservices and new business applications forits entire fleet.

The new VSAT system has alreadybeen deployed on 45 vessels and at 4ground bases, and the company says thatthis has already helped it to cut communi-cation costs by a factor of five.

The service includes an IP telephony

solution from Orange Business Services,where the conventional PABX is replacedby a central IPPBX. This allows for addi-tional capabilities such as number porta-bility, flexible billing that can be consoli-dated or by site, as well as a report gener-ation system.

The ‘Talk IP’ service from Orange isbased on a monthly subscription contract,with the cost of communications betweenvessels and Bourbon sites included in the plan.

Outbound communication costs arecovered by an IP pricing rate that Orangesays is eight times cheaper than Bourbon’sprevious communication system.

In addition, with the IP telephony solu-tion, Bourbon also has a private number-ing system which provides access to theBourbon directory by means of abbreviat-ed dialling.

Bourbon says that it is intending todouble its workforce in the next fouryears, and hopes that the crew welfareoptions available through the VSAT serv-ice will help to attract new crew members.

It is also looking at improving businessfunctions through better management ofthe flow of data sent and received by thevessels, the transmission of real-time sta-tus reports on the vessels in an electronicformat, and the real-time monitoring ofthe use of consumables for each vessel.

The company will also be able to accessmission critical applications over theVSAT, such as maintenance softwarepackages, and access company databases.

Maritime focusThis deal marks an important step for theOrange Group, most popularly known asa mobile phone operator and a part ofFrance Telecom, as it seeks to expand itspresence in the maritime communicationssector.

“VSAT offers much better communica-tions between the vessel and offices, but

also a lot of benefits for crew members,”said Michel Verbist, product manager satel-lite solutions, Orange Business Services.

“They can email and call their family;they can use online learning tools and soon. The cost of doing this before was pro-hibitive.”

“We expect that the regular Inmarsathigh-end customers will migrate to VSATtechnology now. Inmarsat has good cover-age but supports very limited data speeds.In practice, most customers are only get-ting 64 or 128Kbps and they have to payfor usage”

Mr Verbist believes that an increase inthe use of data hungry applications couldrequire the transmission of multiple giga-bytes per month, and will join crew com-munications as the main drivers of VSATadoption in the shipping industry.

“In the past, maritime satellite cus-tomers would have had to use applica-tions optimised for the low bandwidthoffered by Inmarsat," he said. "Now theycan run mainstream applications such asMicrosoft Exchange or Lotus Notes."

"We can also integrate the vessels intothe corporate IP VPN network, whichenables free communication between ves-sels and terrestrial sites and between dif-ferent ships in a fleet. This is crucial forcustomers who see their vessels as justanother remote office to be connected tothe corporate network."

Average installation costs for theOrange Business Services VSAT systemare approximately €40,000 per vessel, withannual charges coming to a similaramount.

While acknowledging that these aresignificant costs for a company with alarge fleet, Mr Verbist notes the savings ofhaving voice calls at a cost of 20 cents orless with the VSAT solution, and no fur-ther ‘pay-per-use’ data costs. DS

The future is Orange for Bourbon

Average installation costs for the OrangeVSAT system are €40,000 per vessel

Bourbon is to install Orange VSAT on its fleet of 150 vessels

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46


Digital Ship

SS hipmanagement is essentially aservice industry. We serve an own-er, who can be our own company,

or a third party. But there is a specificity to shipmanage-

ment: The services that a shipmanagerdelivers are those that would be per-formed by the owner himself, if he was notusing the shipmanager.

In this context, we are different from,let’s say, a bank who delivers a servicethat cannot be performed by its client.

Our main competitor, or, at least, ourmain benchmark comparison, is our ownclient. In this sense, our client is judge andparty at the same time: he is always askinghimself: “Could I do better if I was doingit myself?”

So, the challenge of shipmanagement isto be always on the go and to keep a com-petitive edge against your own clients in themost critical fields of your business. I woulddefine these critical areas to be: Finding andmaintaining quality crews, and the constantuse of the latest technologies.

Shipmanagers must maintain a leadingposition in the provision of quality crews,if they want to survive.

And they have succeeded. Today mostshipowners contract the provision ofcrews to third parties. Be those peoplecalled crewing agents, crew managers orshipmanagers, they all provide the sameservice: they guarantee to the owner thepresence of a full, competent and motivat-ed crew onboard their ship 24 hours a day,seven days per week.

This dominant position of managers inthe field of crew supply is not random: ithas been achieved through efforts, sweatand money.

Shipmanagers have opened offices inall the major crew supply centers; organ-ised large scale recruitment systems;installed sophisticated crew managementsoftware systems; created and financedsophisticated training centers; and con-stantly looked for new sources of qualitycrews.

These efforts have paid off, as mostInterManager members continue to seegrowth in their crewing activities,notwithstanding the latest crisis.

And in this process, shipmanagers haverealised that crews are their most impor-tant assets and have deployed great effortsto attract and maintain their quality crews,in a world where the hunt for good seafar-ers, and in particular competent officershas become ruthless. Who has not heard ofthe complaints about crew poaching?

NeedsSo, crew retention has become a centralissue. And, to retain your people in a con-

text of intense competition, you must con-vince them that staying with you is thebest for them.

But, as always in these situations, thesatisfaction of need has to be preceded bya deep understanding of what are theseneeds. When you understand the needs,then you can take actions to fulfill them.

So, we dug into theory. An Americanpsychologist, Abraham Maslow, devel-oped some 50 years ago, a theory on thehierarchy of needs. In essence, he theo-rised that there are levels of growingneeds that need to be fulfilled by men in apyramidal way.

To fulfill human needs at a certain levelrequires that the fulfillment of needs at alower level be achieved. This is the pyra-mid proposed by Maslow (see page 16).

Maslow suggests that the needs are, byorder, called basic, safety, social, self-esteem, and self-actualisation.

The basic needs correspond to survival:food, for example. Safety needs representthe search for comfort: money, healthinsurance, etc.

The stage called love/belonging, andwhich I prefer to call ‘Social’, correspondsto the desire to relate and to be acceptedby your immediate environment: family,job – i.e. to be part of a group.

The fourth stage, Esteem (or Selfesteem), is the need to be recognised inyour environment (and by yourself) foryour achievements.

The fifth stage, Self Actualisation, issomewhat more theoretical: it representsthe state of equilibrium, reached when one

is fully at ease in his environment and when you are trying to achieve thebest in your job as a fulfillment of a per-sonal desire.

A bit like the stage when you are happyto go back to work on Monday morning. Itold you: this is a bit more theoretical! Buteach category can be applied to our situa-tion in shipping.

Ship specificThe lower level is associated with simplephysiological needs, representing survivalrequirements.

Except for some rare cases of ownersrunning floating wrecks and maintainingtheir crews in a state of misery andhunger, I would say that our crews are allhaving these needs fulfilled. Food andshelter are provided.

In addition, for those reckless substan-dard owners that are not providing for

these basic needs, the imposition of portstate controls has limited their ability to goon with their reprehensible business.

Safety needs correspond to a desire ofpredictability, including job security,financial comfort, and health insurance.This is a level of need that we, managers,are careful to fulfill to the best extent.

Indeed it will be the basis on whichdecisions are made by the seafarer to joinour ranks. He will look at the pay package,the health insurance, the way we proposeto treat him and his family, and he willmake a decision on all those elements thatare providing the safety net that herequires.

Obviously if ‘the package’ offered isbetter somewhere else, this is where hewill go. And I think that we, shipman-agers, are doing a proper job here.

These actions are directly addressed tothe individual: proper recruitment

Information technology helps to provide for many of the basic needs of the modern seafarer, offering improved safetyand training systems that have revolutionised the industry. But the new frontier for ICT is to provide for the social needs

of those onboard, writes Guy Morel, general secretary, International Ship Managers' Association (InterManager)

Technology and crew welfare –the new frontier

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‘The use of modern communicationstechnology has revolutionised crew welfare’

– Guy Morel, InterManager

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46


SATCOMS

process; training for career development;competitive salaries and incentive pro-grammes; management of career patternsand promotion; establishing the systemsthat are guaranteeing safety at sea; assis-tance in case of emergency; medical super-vision and proper health coverage; andprospects of a long career in the group.

Once physiological and safety needsare fulfilled, the next level is social. ForMaslow, the three key words are friend-ship, intimacy, and family.

In the fulfillment of social needs, thekey is to create for our crews a sense ofbelonging. By developing the notion of anenvironment that cares for them beyondthe simple satisfaction of physiologicaland safety needs, we are giving them agroup to which they can identify.

Those groups can be arranged intothree specific catagories.

The ship’s crew onboard: our crewsneed to feel that they are part of an organ-ised group, rather than a commodity thathas been placed there to do a job for a peri-od before being dumped again.

Careful management, choice of nation-alities, organisation of work onboard,organization of non-working life onboard,entertainment, adapted food, etc. are allimportant aspects that will achieve thesense of belonging to the group onboardthe ship.

The company: our crews have to feelthat they are part of a larger group,extending beyond the ship, that has regu-lar and substantial interaction with them.

The ship visits every 4 months of ascreaming superintendent are history.Now visits are organised and regular:crew visits to shore offices; shore staff vis-its to ship. But not quick jobs: the visits aremade with the intention to align mentali-ties and to develop the company’s culture.

Small things such as acknowledging abirthday date or giving away businesscards to the crew with their name and thelogo of the company achieve great resultsbecause they create the sense of grouprecognition.

The family: the most important group towhom to relate. Because it is the groupwhere all our crew come from, we mustmake sure that they maintain this belonging.

Technology and socialneeds

The use of modern communications tech-nology has revolutionised this aspect ofcrew welfare: it is, in fact, reproducing thenormal conditions of living, onboard aship.

Which kid, today, would think of liv-ing in a word where there is no communi-cation, SMS, mobile telephone, internet,MP3, and other elements of what struc-tures the reality of today’s life?

The repeat of this environmentonboard a ship is a crying need, and it isdifficult to impose technology limitationson the legitimate needs for what we haveourselves created.

The levels of communications are var-ied – they go from the simple ability tosend and receive an email, to SMSexchange, voice communications, webbrowsing, to video conferencing, and IPvideo communications.

Communications from the ship areexpensive, and we may offer them to our

crews in a limited way, with a limitation ofduration and limitation of place to access,limitations on the type of communication.

But we have to offer them this ability tocommunicate or we will lose them. Andthe closer we are to house life environ-ment, the better it is.

By giving our crews possibilities tocommunicate in an intimate environment,such as IP communications from theircabin, we are achieving the need for inti-macy that they call for. And we will getthem to feel at home, thus eliminating theneed to escape the ship.

I would say that the fulfilling of social

needs has long been our stumbling block inshipping, and the development of new tech-nologies have achieved outstanding resultsin our capacity to pass this level of needs.

RespectThe fourth level is self-esteem. It dealswith the need to be respected and recog-nised in its achievements.

And it is about the generation of self-esteem. It is saying to your crew, “not onlydo you do a good job, but also I recogniseit, and I trust that you have the capacitiesto recognise it yourself.”

The need for more efforts at the level ofself-esteem need is important, our indus-try has been very short of thinking in thisarea.

We agree to pay our crews, to trainthem, to protect them, to promote them.We integrate them in our groups.

But we have a hard time recognizingtheir contribution and allowing them todevelop their own confidence and theirown self respect, because we still considerthat the power is ashore, in the manage-ment offices, and because we still considerthat once disembarked, our crews are nolonger part of the group.

I should say that many attitudes of theindustry are lately changing this situationin a very encouraging way: the recogni-tion that crew loyalty is not due but mustbe earned, has contributed greatly to thisnew, more integrative attitude.

The concept of company culture isimportant at this level: to give publicrecognition of achievement of one individ-ual to the group.

I see, for example, some managers that

are acknowledging publicly employees bytheir name for the period of time that theyhave been serving in the company. Thisgives a great feeling of being recognisedby your professional family, and it goes along way to create a need to continue toserve the same company.

But there is also the sense of beingtogether when things are not OK, thesense of not being abandoned. The recentuproar surrounding the unjust criminali-sation of the officers of the Hebei Spirit hasdone more in creating self-esteem for ourcrews than all concerted efforts beforethat.

The magnificent spontaneous arisingwas a great moment for shipping. For thefirst time, all members of the shippingworld (owners, managers, crews, unions)got united to defend their own people.

No more bickering, no more self inter-est.Two of our brothers were in need, andwe all got together to fight injustice infront of powerful groups. We have notwon yet, but Capt Chawla and C/OChetan are out of jail today, if not yet backat home with their families.

This demonstration of solidarity to helpour colleagues-in-need was the act ofrecognition that crews have been lookingfor around the world. Time will demon-strate that simple tenacity in fightinginjustice has achieved a lot of more forcrew welfare than many organised pro-grammes.

Another issue for crew self esteem isthe image of shipping. Too often ourindustry is being mentioned publiclywhen there is a catastrophe, be it a majoraccident, a major environmental disasteror a major criminal activity like the attackson ships in the Gulf of Aden.

Our image is that of an industry whichis negligent, or lawless or reckless or dan-gerous. Not a convincing image for ayoungster that would consider going tosea. But not a good story either, for theseafarer going back home - how can weretain him, if he is ashamed of his work?

In this context, we have not been verygood. Too many of the people involved inthe industry have been selfishly trying tomind their own business in a fiercely com-petitive environment, which has created aculture of discretion and shade that has

not helped our image. Let us be proud of our industry, let us

be proud of our crews, and our image willimprove.

Technology and the new frontier

Let me go back for a moment to the rolethat ICT has been playing, and is playingnow, in the build up of crew welfare. It issubstantial – the ICT industry has beensupporting crew needs at all levels.

Basic needs require to be protected, andinformation regarding abuses must be dis-seminated. Database technology hashelped the development of Port StateControls in this field.

Safety needs are the playground of ICTapplications, and crew management soft-wares have allowed us to maintain andmanage our databases.

From the first contact with the crew tothe management of the crew travel, fromthe establishment of crew documentation,to the salary and allotment managementof the crews, all crew functions have beenautomated in computer systems.

Crew training activities have been sim-plified with the use of real time computerbased simulators. Computer based train-ing systems, and, lately, the courses on theweb, such as the ones offered by Videotel,have allowed for crews to advance in theircareers while serving onboard.

GMDSS includes a set of communica-tion systems that are guaranteeing bettersafety for the crews in the most dramaticcases of distress.

These systems have contributed to thesaving of many lives at sea. ICT has beenthe cement of the fulfilment of safetyneeds.

Social needs are now the new frontierfor ICT. The first application is communi-cation systems. High speed broadband isslowly becoming a standard of modernshipping operations.

We must offer e-mail facilities andinternet access onboard ships to ourcrews. The reaction of some operators,worried that crews will have a reducedproductivity because of their access tointernet, is unreasonable.

We are not in the situation of choice anylonger. The wellbeing of our crews is alsoour guarantee that ships will continue tomove on the seas.

The issue of cost is, of course, serious,but I am sure that the imagination that hasbeen demonstrated in applying ICT toshipping will continue to help us find bet-ter, cheaper and more efficient ways forour crews to be happy and to want towork on our ships.

It has taken many years for us to realiseto which extent our crews are important tous and to our operations. Today, with theabrupt crisis having invaded our life andour minds, we will be tempted to cut onwhat is considered to be non-essential: thewell-being of our crews.

It would be dramatically wrong to dothat because that would be unfair to ourcrews, and because we would be prepar-ing ourselves for extremely difficult situa-tions when the market moves up again.

So my message today will be: respectyour crews in the way that you would liketo be respected by them. And they willhelp you in your endeavours. DS

The maritime IT industry has been supporting crew needs at all levels for some time

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

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• Context and presence informationUsers can see who is online and available for contactClient software available for PC’s, laptop, mobilephones, Blackberry’s, PDA’s

• Real time communication• Store and forward function to send messages to users

not currently online• Conference / chatroom facilities• Full conversation history and archive• File and document transfer facility• Interface with shore based PDA / Blackberry devices

FAX• Sends and receives faxes as e.mail• Each vessel is allocated a unique fax number allowing

senders to use standard fax services

RAPIDOMAIL 5.0• See features on the right

SMS• Simple to use interface• Send individual and group messages• Receive SMS replies• Long text function allows you to type long messages -

which are split and sent in sequence• SMS Delivery notification - be alerted when a message

you send has not been received

INTERNET ACCESS• User profiled secure internet access• User authentication defines which websites or web pages

can be accessed by the user on the post paid account andwhich on their personal pre paid account

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COMPANY INTRANET• Web based access

File sharingWeb linksActive directory synchronisationData importFTP file transfers

• Input information directly to shore side serversImproves operation efficiencyNo costly daily update filesCustom designed form templates

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REMOTE SUPPORT• Quickly establish remote control with minimum data cost• Access for AND Group support personnel and shipping

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p1-17:p1-14.qxd 25/03/2009 12:46

Latest Shipdex developments discussed at MAN Diesel

SOFTWARE NEWS


www.shipdex.com

The latest developments in the progress ofthe Shipdex standard protocol for mar-itime manuals was the subject of a recentmeeting at the offices of MAN Diesel inCopenhagen, where the engine manufac-turer and other stakeholders outlinedsome of their latest work on the project.

MAN Diesel says that it has agreed ona prototype project for the delivery ofShipdex compliant instruction book files,for an order of six vessels equipped withthe company’s most recent engine type(S40ME-B), for shipping companyIntership Navigation.

Equipment manufacturer MacGREGORalso reported that it is currently changingover to a fully XML-based system, enablingproduction of Shipdex compliant instruc-tion manuals.

SpecTec and Corena, who recently

agreed a partnership to jointly developShipdex solutions, demonstrated a range ofS1000D/Shipdex compliant products underthe brand of AMOS Shipdex Suite, that willbe released to the maritime industry to aidcompanies wishing to take advantage to thecapabilities of the protocol.

The companies involved in the meeting noted that they have reached an agreement on forming a closeralliance, aimed at future common proj-ects, and are looking at ways to bringother equipment makers into theShipdex community.

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Partners in the Shipdex project discussed the future of the protocol at MAN Diesel in Copenhagen

www.napa.fi

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), based inMiami, has completed a fleet installationof the NAPA Power fuel economy system,developed by Onboard-Napa Ltd.

Initial piloting of NAPA Power at NCLyielded positive results, encouraging thecompany to expand the use of NAPA

Power throughout its fleet.NAPA Power is used in voyage plan-

ning to find the optimal way to operatethe vessel by optimising the route, speedprofile and propulsion mode for eachpart of the voyage.

The system chosen by NCL will beinstalled with a Speed Pilot module,which allows automatic control of opti-

NCL to install voyage planning software

www.jmfmimic.co.uk

James Fisher Mimic has completed theinstallation of a new condition monitoringsystem for the Queen Mary 2 (QM2), aCunard vessel (part of the CarnivalGroup).

This installation marks the tenth suchvessel installation, and completes the out-fitting of the entire Cunard UK fleet.

The Mimic Condition MonitoringSystem is integrated with SpecTec’sAMOS Computerised MaintenanceManagement System throughout the fleetof Carnival UK’s vessels.

The installation included Mimic’s inte-gration into AMOS and an additionalvibration monitoring module. Up to 90assets onboard are currently being moni-tored with the Mimic system.

Monthly analysis reports are also pro-vided, describing specified machine con-ditions for all Carnival UK vessels backto company superintendents and chiefengineers.

“Carnival UK have recognised this suc-cess and as a result JFM were proud to beinvolved with the installation of thisunique development to their latest andworld’s biggest cruise vessel, Queen Mary2,” said Shaun Rowe, business develop-ment manager at JF Mimic.

Condition basedmonitoring for QM2

mised speed.“Conserving fuel on our ships sailing

around the world is particularly impor-tant,” said Captain Niklas Peterstam,vice president, nautical operations, NCL.

“NAPA Power has enabled us to opti-mise speed, and in doing so, we are min-imising our fuel consumption.”

p18-21:p15-25.qxd 25/03/2009 12:27 Page 1

Digital Ship


Strategic DataWorks has appointedSteve Woodward as new business sales man-ager of its London office. Mr Woodward pre-viously worked for Nordic IT, where he wassales executive for new sales.

Telaurus has appointed Gregor Rossas director of European sales and market-ing. Mr Ross will be based in London, having previously worked for EMSTechnologies, GN Comtext andM.C.T.S. Ltd.

Hartmann Logistiks has takendelivery of the first of 12 AHT fromFincantieri of Italy. The vessel, Atlantis,is the first ship of the HartmannGroup which will be equipped withSpecTec’s Amos2 Quality, Maintenanceand Procurement, and will operate inEgyptian waters on behalf of BP.

Seaarland to install ShipNet

www.strategicdataworks.co.ukwww.telaurus.comwww.spectec.net

Hartmann Logistiks newbuild AHTs will be equipped with AMOS

www.coracleonline.com

Coracle has launched an online'Background to Shipping' certificate tooffer computer based training facilities tothose working in the maritime industry.

The online course is adapted from theInstitute of Chartered Shipbrokers’'Understanding Shipping' course, andallows students to study the nine sectionsin a remote location and then submit mul-tiple-choice answers for marking.

Marks and the certificate for the coursewill then be returned to the student via e-mail. Successful candidates are awarded aCoracle TutorShip certificate, validated bythe Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.

Students can start the course whenever

they like and can take up to nine months tofinish it. There are no course pre-requisites,and no need to attend an exam centre.

Coracle founder and managing direc-tor, James Tweed said: “It’s easy to getcaught up in the jargon of our industry,and consequently new entrants often getdumped in the deep end.”

“It’s not fair to expect back office staffto instantly understand the nuances of ourindustry; companies should invest inappropriate training for every member ofstaff and that includes support staff.”

“By selecting an entry-level course,staff without a background in shippingcan quickly get up to speed, which willultimately save their employer time andmoney.”

Coracle launches online training

www.seagull.no

Seagull reports that it has negotiated anagreement with Intertanko to license thecontent for E-TOTS, an application thataims to assist those working withIntertanko's Tanker Officer TrainingStandards (TOTS) initiative by providinginformation in an electronic format.

Seagull hopes that the administrationand monitoring tool will allow more com-panies to adopt the initiative with minimalextra workload.

Intertanko marine director, CaptainHoward Snaith, said, "We are verypleased that TOTS is progressing into elec-tronic format, as this will enhance effec-tive monitoring of each officer’s progres-sion through the TOTS system and reduce

the workload for participants."Intertanko says that many major com-

panies are requesting TOTS in electronicformat, and that this agreement withSeagull will enable the organisation todeliver the TOTS Record Books andComputer-Based Assessments digitally.

Information is organised withinSeagull's Competence Manager software,an integrated part of the Seagull TrainingSystem.

"We are confident TOTS will maintainits position as the industry standard andenable us to achieve the ultimate objectiveof increasing the number of competenttanker officers and provide alternativemethods of measuring experience, otherthan 'time in rank' and 'time in company',"said Seagull, in a statement.

Intertanko TOTS goes digital

www.shipnet.no

Seaarland Management ServicesSingapore, a Singapore based ship man-agement company operating tankers andbulk carriers, has completed the imple-mentation of ShipNet’s Pool Managementsolution.

Seaarland will use the system to help tomanage its newly created Global TankerPool in Singapore.

The Pool Management system beingimplemented by Seaarland is a sub section

of ShipNet’s Marine ERP application, whichthe companies say could be expanded intoother parts of the business in the future ifthe installation proves successful.

Thomas Banas, ShipNet regional man-ager, said: “Seaarland, like most pooloperators, needed to take care to managetheir pool of ships and more specificallythey needed a robust and detailed poolcalculation system.”

“Our ShipNet Marine ERP platformprovides Seaarland with greater visibilityof their transactional fleet information.”

www.spectec.net

Unicom, part of the of the Sovcomflotgroup of companies, has ordered 67licences for SpecTec's AMOS2 Qualitysoftware module.

The shipping company has requestedthat all of the licences for the roll-out aremade available for an immediate start.

The project that led to this softwaredeal started in late September 2008, withSpecTec having been involved since thattime in the implementation of Unicom's

Safety Management System and docu-ment distribution, Incident/Accident andNon-Conformity Modules.

Customisation and training tasks havealso been undertaken by SpecTec as partof the deal.

Installation of the AMOS2 Quality sys-tem was carried out on a pilot vessel inDecember, with the companies now mov-ing forward to a live fleet roll-out.

Completing this implementation willinvolve the generation of a large numberof databases for deployment to vessels.

Unicom to install AMOS2 Quality system

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p18-21:p15-25.qxd 25/03/2009 12:27 Page 2

SOFTWARE


AA nyone who has read managementbooks has probably heard abouthow leading companies manage

information so as to accelerate decision-making, preparation, efficiency, and so on.

A low stock market and a low chartermarket are environments when good the-ory is found interesting but rarely adopt-ed. In such an environment, why pay nowfor something hopefully attainable later,when the company is barely overcomingcosts today?

In the shipping business, an informa-tion-centric organisation could bedescribed as one that pays a lot of attentionto how information is internally distributedand disseminated, an organisation that dis-tributes information to the right person atthe right time, without spending tremen-dous conscious effort achieving this.

So what would be the bottom line advan-tages of better information distribution?

These could be in earlier risk assess-ment and a better chance of managing riskmore cost effectively; better preparationbefore performing critical operationswhere sub-optimal procedural variationscan cost a lot of money; and the preven-tion of incidents arising from uninformedareas in the organisation.

You can also lower costs by having lesspeople minding paperwork and puttingmore attention on optimising spendingand operation; have faster vettingapproval on tankers and less time withsub-optimal approvals; and have far betterinternal compliance with new cost andefficiency policies and procedures.

Each of these areas can make a signifi-cant impact on the performance of thebusiness.

Using informationTo examine the benefits of earlier riskassessment and a how it allows risk to bemanaged more cost effectively, let's takesome examples of risk assessment neces-sary in day-to-day ship management.

A report of seawater content in thestern tube lubricating oil shows a higherlevel than usual. Is this information some-thing that remains within the technicaldepartment or is it a subject requiringsome risk assessment from a commercialas well as technical standpoint?

If this discussion remains within thetechnical department, is there not a majorlikelihood that an early opportunity toinspect the stern gland may be lost if thevessel is promptly chartered to an areawhere stern seal repairs are prohibitivelyexpensive and unreliable?

If the cause is fouling of the gland,such that there is a chance for it to dete-riorate fast, could this not soon requireimmediate intervention and interruptionof the vessel’s current employment oreven salvage? So is this not a situationthat needs to be assessed by senior man-

agement and commercial management?What is the cost of this information lay-

ing hidden from the stakeholders suchthat remedial action is late and costly?How wise is it that the company dependson at least two levels of voluntary report-ing for this critical risk?

Then there is the issue of better infor-mation distribution before performingcritical operations.

Let’s assume that all the right peopleknow about the water in the stern tube atthe right moment, and therefore, all com-mercial opportunities in solving the prob-lem are available.

Let’s also assume that the stern tube hasbeen fouled by fishing lines and an in-waterinspection and seal replacement is required.

How important is it to co-ordinate thisexercise? How clear and transparent mustthis preparation be in order to minimisedowntime and minimise the huge risk oflost employment?

For example, how important is it to beclear and accurate about the recent history ofthe stern gland, information about on boardspares, the availability of standby replace-ments, the time required to deliver stand-byreplacements, customs clearance proceduresat the repair location, the decision to supplyexpensive components machined speciallyfor the vessel despite the stand by require-ment, or the use of the downtime for otherrepairs requiring immobilisation?

The convenience with which this infor-mation is managed and co-ordinated playsa major role in the avoidance of a delay,such as, for example, a delay in the deliveryof a necessary stand-by spare part.

Furthermore, the ease with which allthe stakeholders remain informed ensuresthat, for example, the commercial depart-ment is able to choose the optimal periodbetween spot fixtures. A good choice ofidle period makes a tremendous differ-ence to the overall cost of the repair.

So how can good coordination savecosts? The lost earnings for a day or two,or the missing of the next employment

and a far greater financial loss, or the lossof an opportunity to perform other down-time work and avoid another several daysof downtime.

EfficiencyInformation management is needed in theprevention of incidents arising from unin-formed areas in the organisation.

Now supposing that the ballast plan forclearing the stern seal from the water line,under the current circumstances, requiresthe transfer of fuel oil to a forward deeptank. However, when this transfer ismade, the master and chief engineer arenot in touch with the senior superinten-dent who remembers that the heating coilsin this deep tank are defective.

The result is that upon completion ofthe stern tube work the fuel cannot bedrawn from the forward deep tank result-ing in a short cargo lifting for two voyagesuntil measures are taken to bring the oilback to the aft tanks.

What is the cost of this missing infor-mation? And what is the cost of hundredsof similar examples?

Savings can also be made by havingless people minding paperwork and put-ting more attention on optimising spend-ing and operation.

Now let’s assume that the master andchief engineer, in preparing the vessel forthis repair, also have to perform custom-ary port arrival and departure tasks aswell as voyage planning tasks, crewreplacement paperwork, new securityprocedures, stores list requirementspreparation, spares receipt checks, safetychecks for the stern seal repair, etc.

How much time is spent managingunwieldy paperwork versus the timeactually planning and optimising the cur-rent process?

Furthermore, with the current manda-tory rest periods, does the crew not taketremendous risks by taking paperwork tothe bridge watch, or spending less time onpractical tasks while trying to keep up

with a poorly designed bureaucracy?Would you not expect better results if youcould save half the present time spent oninformation management?

Better information management canalso mean faster vetting approval ontankers and less time with sub-optimalapprovals.

Suppose that, after a few months, thevessel undergoes a vetting inspection andthe inspector wants to see the risk assess-ment checks made during the stern sealrepair.

He finds that a variety of checklistsfrom the company’s SMS were omittedduring the repair period: the diver co-ordination checklist, the stand by mooringcontingency while the vessel was at therepair berth, the weather checks duringthe repair, etc.

We all know that oil companies viewvetting as an assessment of managerialcompetence. They rely on spot checks andrecord checks. How can you maintainrecords if the SMS system is so complicat-ed that it is unclear which item of paper-work pertains to each circumstance? Howcan you prove managerial competencewithout a tidy trail of records?

How can the oil company rely on anoperator who cannot be expected to beable to prove diligence in an incident? Areoil companies not dependent on operatorsto give a good account after an inevitableincident? Will this not lead them to payattention to how consistent the operatorappears with respect to records?

Can oil companies afford to suffer theloss of public favour if, during an investi-gation, an operator appears unable todemonstrate proper procedure?

Internal complianceInformation management produces farbetter internal compliance with new costand efficiency policies and procedures. So,in a period of low earnings, let us assumethat a manager wishes to implement cer-tain efficiency improvements.

Take, for example, the direct flow ofcritical information to senior managementsuch as stern tube lube oil analyses, directchecks of spares requirements againstimminent repairs and minimum quanti-ties in compliance with risk assessment, ortightening of crew travel procedures.

How does a company implement meas-ures designed to save costs? How canchanges be monitored without spendingmore time monitoring the benefits gainedfrom the improvements?

How can processes be monitored andhow can they be altered without a longperiod of training and monitoring? Andhow can it be done with the low levels ofstaff that prevail in the maritime industry?

One significant step is the ability tomanage information. Proper informationmanagement can ensure that progress in

Information management in a downturnIs monitoring via software more or less important for shipping company when the market is low and the global economy

is suffering? Improved efficiency through the availability of better information and data can be a key element inimproving performance and lowering costs, writes Panteleimon Pantelis, director, Ulysses Systems

Good information management can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs when times are hard

p18-21:p15-25.qxd 25/03/2009 12:27 Page 3

E-mail must be enhanced so as to serveas a tool for dissemination of informationand not just distribution.

Consequently, maritime applicationsmust also be converted to tools that areactually used for the recording of informa-tion, by adding significant enhancementsto their usability and convenience. Thefinal proof is experience in the field.

Digital Ship


adopting new processes is transparent. It can also ensure convenience in gath-

ering, comparing, and making decisionsbased on adequate information so as tobetter achieve cost control.

ConvenienceBetter information management isdependent primarily on convenience.

For example, e-mail hasexperienced tremendousgrowth simply by virtue of itsconvenience. In fact, manywill say that e-mail collectsmore information than theywould ideally wish.

This proves a very impor-tant fact - convenience is thekey to collecting informa-tion. Therefore, an informa-tion-centric organisationmust understand that infor-mation management startswith the recognition of theneed for convenient systems.

Systems must be provento be usable and able to col-lect the information youwant. We cannot bully peo-ple and train them to report.

This has never worked inthe marine industry becauseships have high turnover, areremotely located, and arerun by multi tasking man-agers. No senior managercan be expected to learn twoor three complicated applica-tions in order to carry out hisjob. So how do we expect acaptain or a chief officer todo so?

E-mail is a success onboard due to its intuitiveconvenience, but of course ithas its shortcomings. E-maildoes not easily file and dis-seminate information furtherthan provide somewhatlabour-intensive means forpersonal filing.

Personal filing is definite-ly not the right tool for infor-mation distribution. Forexample, company staff thatare not yet aware of the rele-vance of a piece of informa-tion, such as the heating coilexample given above, cannotbe expected to look for it in e-mails going back a year.

So how would they beexpected to anticipate theexistence of this information?The distribution of importantcorporate information mustbe as close to automatic aspossible and must find theuser with the right informa-tion at the right time withminimal required dissemina-tion from the end user.

For success in conven-ience, we have to go beyonde-mail, which alerts thereceiver when the sendersends the information. Wemust be able to put the infor-mation in front of the user atthe time that the user is like-

ly to need it, even if the user is not con-sciously looking for it.

We all know that people will not oftenrummage through records without know-ing whether there is anything of value tothe current activity. So, critical corporateinformation is often overlooked because itis difficult to find.

How would the junior superintendent DS

know anything about the condition of theheating coils in the forward deep tankif he or the on board officer could find no mention of the condition or when the heating coils were last tested? Howwould the superintendent know howpromptly stand by spares can be sent if hedoes not know the weight and size of eachcomponent?

p18-21:p15-25.qxd 25/03/2009 12:27 Page 4

Pole Star Space Applicationshas named the SkyWave LRIT systemas a 'recommended' technology for Flagsand ship owners looking to install longrange identification and tracking equip-ment. The system consists of SkyWave'sDMR-800LRIT shipborne terminal,SkyWave's IsatM2M satellite service andthe SkyWave Versa AutomatedProvisioning gateway.

HITT has acquired an order fromChina Harbour EngineeringCompany for the installation of a VesselTraffic System (VTS) at the Angolese portof Lobito. Installation of the VTS is expect-ed to be completed this year, at a cost ofapproximately Euro 1 million.

Solar technology provider CarmanahTechnologies Corporation has part-nered with Shine Micro Inc. to add anautomatic identification system (AIS)capability to its line of stand-alone solar-powered LED marine lanterns.

McMurdo’s FAST FIND personallocation beacon has now been approvedfor sale throughout the member states ofthe European Union. The approval wasgiven following an independent assess-

ment by BABT (British Approvals Boardof Telecommunications).

Kelvin Hughes has opened a newAmerican office, in Alexandria, Virginia.The primary role of the new office is toexpand on the existing Kelvin Hughesbusiness and presence in the US, provid-ing local sales and support for US-basedcustomers. The company already has aservice centre in New Orleans.

Raytheon Anschütz customerswill have access to greater support inSouth America with the opening if a newMRC Eletronica Ltda office inSantos, Brazil. MRC Eletronica, which hasoperated as a Raytheon Anschütz servicestation for some time, will now have fivetechnicians available to work in Brazil.

Chart updating from Norwegian Hydrographic Service

www.purplefinder.comwww.skywave.comwww.hitttraffic.comwww.carmanah.comwww.shinemicro.comwww.mcmurdo.co.ukwww.kelvinhughes.comwww.raytheon-anschuetz.com

www.sjokart.no

The Norwegian Hydrographic Service(NHS) reports that it is conducting a pro-totype development project for a serviceknown as Print on Demand, whichintends to facilitate chart users in orderingupdated nautical charts from theHydrographic Service.

The Print on Demand service will makecharts updated with the most recent Noticesto Mariners, normally published every 14days, available to users on demand.

NHS hopes that this will help to savethe user time and remove the need forpotentially error-prone manual updatingof the printed charts based on the Notices.

Current plans are to have a Print onDemand service available in 2010, phasedin on an area-by-area basis.

Provided it is updated with the aid ofthe Notices to Mariners, NHS says that achart supplied using such a service will beequivalent to the printed chart in respectof the requirements of the IMO/SOLAS.

The service will be offered to usersthrough authorised Print on Demandsuppliers.

"The Hydrographic Service is currentlyupdating its charts at intervals of abouttwo years," said Gerry Larsson-Fedde,Norwegian Hydrographic Service.

"Some charts have shorter, and otherslonger, intervals between printings. Onpurchasing a new chart, our customers arethus often faced with a major task updat-ing these with the most recent Notices."

NHS has also launched a new project toallow navigators to 'trace' corrections pub-

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS


NHS has launched a ‘tracing’ project for chart updates

www.fulcrum-maritime.com

www.skywave.com

Fulcrum Maritime Systems has agreed apartnership deal with SkyWave MobileCommunications to support the SkyWaveLRIT system.

As part of the LRIT prototype develop-ment programme, Fulcrum participated inthe initial prototyping process for theInternational Data Exchange.

Fulcrum's LRIT Master system pro-vides Flag States with a National DataCentre solution, with the company claim-ing that its was the world's first LRIT sys-tem developed expressly to meet theIMO's LRIT requirements.

LRIT regulations, established by theInternational Maritime Organisation(IMO) for the purpose of improving maritime security, came into force onJanuary 1, 2008.

Test ASPs (application serviceprovider) are responsible for providinginformation to ship owners and operators,as well as Flag Administrations, and

enabling testing to be carried out on shipsto ensure compliance before their nextradio survey during 2009.

Fulcrum notes that its BahamasNational Data Centre was among the firstof the LRIT Data Centres to be online bythe IMO’s transmission of LRIT data dead-line of January 1st, 2009.

"The Flag States we represent dependon us to provide reliable and robust solu-tions to ensure LRIT compliance," saysTracy Nichols, director for FulcrumMaritime Systems Ltd.

"After rigorously testing the DMR-800LRIT terminal to ensure it met ourexplicit technical requirements, we arepleased to partner with SkyWave to enableour customers’ full and rapid compliance."

Dan Poirier, senior VP of sales andmarketing for SkyWave, added:"SkyWave is very pleased to be workingwith Fulcrum, the ASP for Barbadoswhich is the third largest Flag state bygross tonnage. This partnership is a fur-ther endorsement of SkyWave's globallyaccepted LRIT solution."

Fulcrum and SkyWave in LRIT agreement

China plans third maritime satellite China's Science and Technology Dailynewspaper, an official publication of theMinistry of Science and Technology, hasreported that the People's Republicintends to launch a third ocean surveysatellite in 2010 to improve its maritimeweather forecasting capabilities.

A source at the Chinese NationalMarine Environment Forecast Center wasquoted as saying that the satellite will beused 'to monitor ocean wind fields, sealevels and temperatures'.

The first of China's ocean survey satel-lites was launched in May of 2002, followedby a second spacecraft in April of 2007.

The first satellite monitors ocean pollu-tion and topography using infrared sen-sors, while the second satellite collectsdata on ocean surface temperatures andwind fields through the use of microwavetechnology.

The third satellite is expected to com-bine features of its two predecessors for agreater level of ocean surveillance.

$23m share issue for space-based AIS companywww.comdevintl.com

COM DEV International, a providerof AIS (automatic identification system)data gathered by satellite, has announced that it has completed a new round of financing through the issue of a number of shares in the company.

The offering of 6,780,000 commonshares, together with the issue of anadditional 1,017,000 common shares fur-ther to the exercise in full byUnderwriters of their over-allotment

option, was priced at $2.95 per share. The total issue of 7,797,000 shares

created gross proceeds of $23,001,150for the company.

The offering was completed pursuantto an underwriting agreement betweenCOM DEV and a syndicate of under-writers led by Genuity Capital Markets,and including GMP Securities L.P. andParadigm Capital Inc.

COM DEV says that the proceeds ofthe share sale will be used principally totry and further commercialise its space-based AIS technology.

lished in the Notices to Mariners to theirnautical charts.

For example, a new subsea cable couldbe traced onto a transparent overlay underthe system, so the navigator can trace thecable onto the chart instead of having toplot a series of coordinates describing thesame cable.

"Tracings will not exempt users fromreading and appraising all informationprovided by the Notices to Mariners," said

Mr Larsson-Fedde. "Thus it will still be incumbent on the

users to update their own charts withinformation in the Notices and make theirown assessments of what must be takeninto consideration. Nor will it be either rel-evant or appropriate to make tracings ofall information provided by the Notices."

The Tracings service will be offered to allusers who subscribe to the printed and/ordigital versions of the Notices to Mariners.

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 1

Digital Ship

Digital Ship Ship April 2009 page 23

www.satamatics.com

EMS Satamatics has received TypeApproval from Germanischer Lloyd andthe Korean Register of Shipping for itsdual-mode Ocean Alert Ship SecurityAlert System (SSAS) andLong Range Identificationand Tracking (LRIT) technol-ogy.

With these approvals,Ocean Alert SSAS/LRIToffers a dual-mode systemwhich is compliant with themandatory regulations setby the InternationalMaritime Organisation(IMO) for both SSAS andLRIT.

EMS Satamatics says thatits system is the only fullycompliant SSAS and LRITInmarsat D (IsatM2M) solu-tion with maritime ClassSociety approval on the mar-ket today.

EMS Satamatics has alsolaunched an enhanced web-based tracking application,Ocean Alert+, as part of thedual-mode product to pro-vide additional functionalityto users, including the abilityto determine the LRIT statusof each terminal.

For current owners of theOcean Alert product, a freesoftware upgrade packageis provided to allow cus-tomers to upgrade any ter-minal to the dual-mode

Ocean Alert LRIT system. LRIT compliance became mandatory

in January for thousands of vesselsworldwide and applies to vessel typesengaging in international voyages, suchas passenger ships and cargo ships at or

VTS simulationinstalled atFleetwood

exceeding 300 gross tonnage. Proof of conformance of both the ship’s

LRIT and SSAS obligations is mandatoryfor the annual vessel radio survey.

EMS Satamatics has also recentlyreceived Type Approval from Germanischer

Lloyd for its SAT-201i-Long RangeIdentification and Tracking (LRIT) solution.

This system is sold as a complete solu-tion out of the box, with the terminal pre-configured and all installation compo-nents included.

EMS dual-mode LRIT system approved

www.transas.com

Blackpool and the FyldeCollege’s Fleetwood NauticalCampus has added a VTS sim-ulation system from Transas toits Navi-Trainer ProfessionalSimulation centre.

The two Navi-Monitorworkstations are used tomonitor the developing traf-fic situation in a simulatedexercise run on the main nav-igational bridges on site, partof IALA V103 standard VTSoperator training.

A projected visualisationchannel also presents theview from the control tower,to offer ‘full mission’ infor-mation.

Transas says that thisinstallation is the first of itskind in the UK, withFleetwood being one of onlytwo British nautical schoolsto offer MCA accredited VTSoperator training.

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 2

TT he European Maritime Data Man-agement (EMDM) project aimed tostudy new applications, function-

ality and to propose specifications andstandards for enhanced Voyage DataRecorders (VDRs) and Electronic Log-books (ELBs).

This was performed by a consortium ofEuropean manufacturers and researchinstitutions and reviewed by an ExpertGroup comprising senior European repre-sentatives from owner/operator, manu-facturer, investigation, administration,trade union, legal and insurance.

At the start of the project the argumentfor consideration of the VDR requirementswas that VDRs have existed for over 20years, thus there is a substantial body ofexperience, as well as the fact that the IMO VDR requirement has not changedsince 1997 and an IMO review was consid-ered imminent.

It was also argued that recent rapidadvances in technology have changed ves-sel instrumentation, which necessitatesnew functionalities, and the technologyadvances offer new possibilities for The VDR.

This research is based upon an exami-nation of existing legislation and stan-dards, an industry survey, investigationreports, and the latest technology develop-ments.

The VDRThe primary driver behind the VDR hasalways been the lessons that may belearned from a study of maritime casual-ties; if disseminated and heeded the over-all level of safety will increase.

Such lessons depend upon accurateinformation about events, including tim-ing, and an appreciation of the crew per-ception of situations and the reasoningbehind decisions, the human factor.

There are currently two variants of theVDR: VDR and S-VDR.

The S-VDR, being a transitionalrequirement, will not be installed after2010 and was not considered by the proj-ect. But, the project has considered thefunctionality of low-cost equipment(UVDR) for vessels which are outside thecurrent mandatory carriage requirements.

A VDR today records information overthe last 12 hours such that it is timestamped, tamperproof and is expected tobe recoverable even after a fire, explosionor sinking.

The information comprises a number ofdifferent types of data:

Primary navigational instrumentinformation – time; position; heading;course and speed over ground(COG/SOG); speed through water (STW);and wind direction and speed.

Vessel status – engine and rudder tele-graph; watertight doors; hull openings;and alarms.

External conditions – primary radar;VHF communications; and depth.

Crew perception and actions – judgedfrom bridge audio.

The first VDR was installed in 1988 byBroadgate in response to a number of highprofile maritime losses in the 1980s. In


ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION

1995 the signatories of the SOLAS conven-tion agreed it was desirable for ships tocarry a VDR to support maritime for casu-alty investigation.

The functional requirements weredefined by the International MaritimeOrganisation (IMO) in 1997, followed by the performance standard defined by the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC) and installation guide-lines defined by the InternationalStandards Organisation (ISO); carriagerequirements were defined by SOLAS andextended by the European Commission.

Legislation and standards havechanged as problems have been identified;for example, practical problems with con-nection to navigational equipment foundon elderly vessels led to the definition ofthe S-VDR. The current legislation isshown in Figure 1, below

Industry surveyAn industry survey was performed dur-ing the project. Approximately 4,000 indi-viduals were contacted and asked abouttheir experience and opinions of aspects of VDRs.

They were asked to identify themselves

by industry sector to detect different view-points, if any. The sectors were Owner,Manufacturer, Legal, Institutional withsub categories.

From this survey, the most importantVDR features are:

Most important information – bridgeaudio (this was also mentioned as havingthe most problems); radar; ship manoeu-vring; and course.

Most common problems – sensors notworking (VDR is not required to alarmthis condition); and record overwritten(crew must act to preserve the record).

Respondents in favour of – more navi-gational data (e.g. ECDIS and more radar);longer records; and open playback stan-dard (this came into force June 2008).

Other comments – include AIS, BallastWater, Load Monitoring, Logbook data,signal integrity checks, vessel motion;extend record duration; and delete FireDoors and Internal Alarms.

The survey itself received a relativelypoor response from industry. Most replieswere received from the institutional cate-gory including government employeesand investigators, followed by owners andoperators.

The EU-backed European Maritime Data Management (EMDM) project studying the performance of Voyage DataRecorders and potential improvements that might be made on the back of emerging technologies was completed at the

end of February 2009. S Austin and Prof PA Wilson of the University of Southampton explain some of the project findings

Improving the Voyage Data Recorder

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VDR S-VDR

Functional requirement IMO A.816(20) IMO MSC163(78)

Performance standard IEC 61996-1:2008 IEC 61996-2:2008

Carriage requirement SOLAS V SOLAS V

EC Directive 2002/59/EC EC Directive 2002/59/EC

New installation permitted until 2010

Installation guidelines ISO 22472:2006

Figure 1 – Current legislation for VDR and S-VDR

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 3

Only half the owner/operators whoreplied make use of the VDR record.

Review of accident investigationreports confirmed the VDR record isextremely useful; it provides a clear andaccurate record of events, and also showselements such as failures in communica-tion between individuals.

Unfortunately, when a VDR is fitted,investigators may have only a partialrecord due to a malfunction or the recordis absent because it has been overwritten.

Although the EU has imposed thestrictest carriage requirements, the mostcommon types of vessels, leisure craft andfishing vessels, do not have to carry aVDR.

Without a VDR record a detailed exam-ination of a wreck is often the only way to understand what happened. Surveyand recovery of wrecks involves both riskand cost.

It is worthwhile to note that the use ofVDR records has evolved, in that recordsfrom vessels not directly involved in anincident have been used.

However, new equipment and newtechnologies are not currently well cateredfor in the VDR specifications.

There are a number of onboard datasources which are not presently mandatedfor capture.

These include secondary radar –although vessels are required to carry asmany as 3 radars, it is not clear what is theprimary radar.

AIS, ECDIS, and radar target trackingdata are all presently not a mandatorycapture requirement, while task orientat-ed information displays (as available fromIntegrated Navigation and IntegratedBridge Systems) and Central AlarmManagements Systems are similarly notincluded.

For the VDR itself, avail-able technology has broughtincreased processing power,increased storage capacity,all solid state memory, high-speed communication net-works, and all at lower unit costs.

Proposed VDRchanges

The project proposeschanges to the minimumstandard, the considerationsare detailed below.

It is necessary to state thatthe descriptions of the prob-lems encountered and theproposed solutions are con-cerned only with the currentminimum standards. Manyvessels are presentlyequipped well beyond thisstandard and already meetsome of these proposals.

Record duration –presently, a VDR record witha minimum duration of 12hours must be stored in therecoverable final recordingmedium (FRM), data olderthan 12 hours may be over-written. Under the typeapproval the FRM is tamper-proof and must be protectedto survive fire, explosive,

impact penetration and immersion to4000m.

This is unsatisfactory for several rea-sons. Where an incident occurs, but is notcatastrophic, the record must be savedmanually. The crew may be too busy orunfamiliar with the procedure; the recordis lost.

A longer record permits an investigatorgreater insight into the general standard ofoperation and how bridge crew interact.

The crew may also be unaware an inci-dent has occurred. The discovery of abody some 36 hours after a possible inci-dent was the first indication of the loss ofthe vessel Ouzo; thus no record was avail-able from the suspected involved vessel.

The record may contain informationabout an incident not involving the vessel.In the Ouzo incident above, records wereobtained from vessels close to the incidentonly because their VDR records were notminimum standard.

EMDM project proposes an increase inthe FRM duration to 24 hours and an addi-tional tamperproof recording medium(TRM) with a duration of 30 days.

The latter does not need the protectionagainst catastrophes since it is to providerecoverable records about non-catastroph-ic events.

Integrity – failures in the connectionbetween instrument and VDR are notuncommon. Analysis of VDR records froma sample set of vessels showed intermit-tent faults in 20 per cent of vessels.

This was echoed in the investigationreports and the survey where mostrespondents reported experience of miss-ing sensors.

Although the basic operation of bridgeaudio microphones is automatically con-firmed daily, the only general check ofVDR operation is for annual certification.

It is proposed that the VDR provide astatus indication, probably on the bridge,when it is not receiving data as expectedfrom a source. Status and not an alarm isrequired because the VDR operation doesnot affect ship safety and because somebridge equipment is switched off as a mat-ter of routine.

Bridge Audio – a good quality Bridgeaudio record can provide a wealth ofinformation for the forensic investigator.

This includes information about thepeople on the bridge, their location, proce-dures followed, levels of stress, perceptionof situations, distractions, decisions andreasoning, ease of communication, publicaddress announcements, sound signals inpoor visibility, and so on.

The project has identified several issueswith this.

A VDR installation normally uses mul-tiple microphones to record bridge audioand they may be grouped such that amicrophone cannot be isolated on play-back.

In this situation, if any one microphonein the group is subject to high levels ofnoise, say from wind, audible alarm, poorfixing or faults, it will degrade the speechintelligibility for the whole group.

The type approval standard may notadequately test the performance of amicrophone; much of the testing appearsto be at the electrical interface. A micro-phone may also be poorly sited for its pur-pose.

The installation guidelines could bemore specific – coverage guidelines fromthe manufacturer must be used, but howthe manufacturer should estimate the cov-erage is not defined.

The method should account for thedirectional nature of speech projection.Moving a microphone around we find the

sound level falls 4db above the speakerand 12db behind them and the spectraldensity changes.

Proximity to other sound sources basedupon impact on speech intelligibility, suchas alarm sounders or public address mustalso be considered.

Where several microphone signals aregrouped together to produce a singleaudio the permitted grouping should bedefined, similar to the rules for aircraftCockpit Voice Recorders.

The security of microphone fixing,avoidance of mounting panel resonance,and choice of materials should also beexpressed.

It should be possible to isolate eachmicrophone on playback such that themaximum contribution from other micro-phones under all conditions is limited.Ideally this limit should be quantified interms of speech intelligibility.

The annual certification of the installa-tion, normally performed by the manufac-turer, also creates a logistical problem.

A bridge in port is likely to be very different from the normal underway con-ditions, in particular for the audio; timemay be required to identify and correctproblems.

As a solution, recent records from ‘nor-mal operation’ are used as part of the con-firmation of satisfactory performance. Thepractice appears sensible but the maxi-mum permitted age of a record for thispurpose should be defined.

Configuration Files – equipment ismost commonly connected via IEC61162standard interfaces.

These enable manufacturers to transferdata which are not in the approved sen-tence structures via proprietary messages.Interpretation of these messages may causedifficulty and delay for investigators.


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EMDM proposes that a common openformat file for a connected source is sup-plied by the source equipment manufactur-er. The file relates the message and a plainlanguage interpretation, such that on play-back a message can be displayed as, ‘GPSReceiver Autonomous Integrity Monitorstatus = Caution’, rather than a code.

The VDR should also have facility tostore the file in the FRM.

Hull Stress Monitoring – hull stressmonitoring is an operational tool that pro-vides localised information about stress ofthe structure.

Currently, only statistical data likemean value, standard deviation, maximalpeak to peak value are stored in the VDR.This does not allow for rebuilding the sce-nario of a structural failure.

EMDM project proposes to record sen-sors’ raw data at a record rate of 20Hz.

Engine/helm controls – many vesselshave multiple steering stations, but onlyone position is active at a time. The VDRrecord should identify the active station sothe procedure and timing can be followed.

Screen images – the most recent stan-dard permits lossless JPEG2000 and PNGstandard image compression. The highestcompression, and hence lowest cost, isachieved by PNG on an image with acolour palette of less than 256 colours.

Analysis of the existing VDR standardshows that this limited palette can meetthe existing measured colour performancerequirement, and should be satisfactoryfor the subjective test as well. It is also nec-essary to capture the full screen resolution,see radar below.

However the resolving power of thenew generation of radar may change thisview.

The existing standard defines captureevery 15 seconds. EMDM proposes thatthe average interval is 15 seconds to avoidsynchronisation with blinking screenobjects that may make them appear in asteady state. A shorter interval betweenimages is foreseen for high speed craft.

Radar Images – digital display technol-ogy is only now showing the full limits ofresolution of the traditional magnetronradar, the information content with thenew solid-state systems promises to beeven higher.

If the perception by the crew of a situa-tion is to be understood then the VDRmust store images without significant loss.

The existing VDR standard requires

the primary radar, but crew will use the radar most suitable to the task; allpost-processed radar images should berecorded.

Proposed additions tominimum standard

The VDR should incorporate new function-ality to keep pace with the continued evolu-tion of vessel equipment and technology.

Integrated Bridge Systems (IBS) andIntegrated Navigation Systems (INS) –the greatest changes on the bridge are theintroduction of INS and IBS.

These permit the crew to display combi-nations of data from different navigationalinstruments in a task orientated manner. Inorder to follow the concept of crew percep-tion EMDM proposes that all such naviga-tional screens should be captured.

Radar Target Tracking – IEC61162 mes-sages support target tracking with a targetdata rate that is much lower than the radarimage, but the target information updatesmuch more frequently.

Investigators may find this useful to fillthe gaps between radar images and also toclarify the use by the crew.

AIS – AIS provides both IEC 61162messages and display, but not all mes-

sages should be stored. The Target Vessel and Aid to

Navigation messages enhance the infor-mation from radar; the Own Vessel allowsverification of information sent to others.

The display of an AIS minimum key-board and display (MKD) should not bestored; it only displays a few lines of textand is of limited use to the navigator. AISdata on graphical displays should berecorded.

ECDIS – ECDIS provides not only thetrack followed, but also insight into theplanning process and the use. The chartsource and update history is also important.

Hull Motion – a modern 6 axes motionsensor could fit inside the VDR itself. Itcan provide valuable information oneffects of flooding, crew fatigue and whencombined with Hull Stress Monitoring onlarge vessels can aid assessment of globalstress.

Alarms – a Central Alarm Managementsystem (CAM) collects alarms ship-wideand presents them on the bridge. TheCAM may process alarms to simplify dis-play, and provide other related monitor-ing functions such as trending.

Where fitted, the CAM screen imageshould be captured every 15 seconds.

The Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm(BNWA) system issues an audible localalarm and, if not reset by bridge crew,escalates to remote alarms.

It is expected that the local alarm wouldbe captured by the Bridge Audio micro-phones, the sequence of later remotealarm actions will not. There is no provi-sion for BNWA outputs to the VDR forthis purpose, but these may be captured asdigital signals.

Draught – the draught has at least twouses. Where a single sensor and trim areavailable the record can indicate squat,which has safety implications both in riskof grounding and rudder response.

Where several draught sensors areavailable the record can show hogging orsagging, which may not be detected bycurrent hull stress monitoring.

Data Safe – logs and other documentsthat are part of the regulatory compliancerecord or have other commercial value arecarried aboard vessels.

The survival of some of these after avessel loss may be important legally orcommercially, examples are the naviga-tional logbook and cargo records, othersmust be tamperproof, such as the Ballast

Water record.In most cases the traditional paper doc-

ument will eventually be superseded byelectronic versions, but its storage must bedemonstrably tamperproof and ideallytime-stamped. The VDR satisfies theserequirements and is therefore a suitablearchive for such data, provided the recordhandling is consistent with the legalauthentication of electronic documents.

The VDR TRM offers a tamperproofsafe; the FRM adds survivability for arecoverable record.

Application and benefitsof proposed changes

The proposed technical changes to VDRswill enhance the forensic investigation ofmaritime incidents and perhaps extendtheir carriage.

A not unexpected outcome of the proj-ect is that further evidence has been gath-ered to show that safety and financial ben-efits are available from existing VDRinformation if steps are taken to regularlyanalyse the data.

This is not necessarily onerous, as theevent and numerical data part of therecord is built from standard sentences soit is possible to analyse this data automat-ically.

With respect to safety, the aviationindustry has accepted that catastrophicevents are usually caused by a sequence ofminor failures and this has led to efforts attheir elimination.

Regular examination of flight records toidentify such failures followed by correc-tive action which maybe re-training or achange of procedure is part of the solution.

An owner could, within the limits ofthe VDR record, automatically identifyparts of a voyage where the navigationaland other behaviour appears to contra-vene company, port or collision regula-tions which needed further investigation.

Further detail can then be obtainedfrom stored instrument display or othersources, although this may require humanintervention. Examples are failure toadhere to a specified routing or maximumrates of turn, or to close watertight doors.

By the same processes the proposedadditions to VDR record would provideopportunities to detect and eliminate badpractices, such as squat which increasesrisk of grounding and dramatically affectsmanoeuvrability and response, or hoggingor sagging leading to increased hull stress.



The VDR needs to incorporate newfunctionality to keep pace with the

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p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 5

There can also be substantial potentialcost reductions.

In the article in Digital Ship in Marchentitled ‘Going green and saving money’,Peter Bond explored the potential fuel sav-ings. These include optimising speed andtrim for load and conditions, but this, ashe acknowledged, relies upon a long peri-od of data collection to characterise thevessel.

Some useful data is cap-tured by the existing VDR,such as speed, enginedemand, route, wind speedand direction. The proposedaddition of draught and hullmotion, although primarilyfor investigation, would bevery useful in the characteri-sation to optimise fuel usesince they could be appliedto sea-state and wave heightestimation as investigated bythe EU HULLMON+ projectand help characterise theenvironmental conditions.

A project between TeekayShipping and BMT Seatech tooptimise fuel use was report-ed in 2005. This included con-sideration of Propeller,Engine and Hull efficiencyand thus hull fouling.

One of the issues identi-fied was unreliability of man-ually acquired data. If ballastwater records and other logswere generated from auto-matic data acquisition, theproposed storage in the VDRwould concentrate the dataand could facilitate this char-acterisation with minimalhuman intervention.

Finally, intermittentequipment malfunction may be detected before com-plete failure permittingplanned corrective actionwhich should also be moreeconomical.

Process forchange

The mandate for the VDRcomes from IMO and theIMO NAV sub-committee.Proposals for change aremade in the form of submis-sions to the NAV sub-com-mittee.

Whilst the deliberationand decisions lie solely withthe IMO member states, thesource of submissions is notrestricted to member states;the EU Presidency may sub-mit papers on behalf of theEuropean Commission andthe EU Member States.

The EMDM reports con-cerning the VDR are current-ly under consideration by atechnical consultation groupwithin the EU; it is anticipat-ed that some of the proposalswill carry forward in paperssubmitted to IMO NAV55 inJuly, where VDR and S-VDRare on the agenda.


Digital Ship

DS

About the authorsSteve Austin is a research fellow at the Uni-versity of Southampton, and has over 30 yearsexperience in design and development oftelecommunications and control systems. MrAustin has worked for many years as a design-er and consultant for control and automationsystems, including work related to the MODCVF project.

Philip A Wilson is professor of Ship Dynamicsat the University of Southampton, havingpublished more than one hundred and fiftyjournal articles and conference papers as wellas several books. He is editor of the Interna-tional Journal of Maritime Engineering, thejournal of the learned society of the RoyalInstitution of �aval Architects.

Project members: Consilium(Sweden), KelvinHughes(UK), Kongsberg(�orway), Avenca(UK), Euroquality(France), Sodena(France), theEuropean Commission Joint Research Cen-tre(Italy) and the University of Southampton(UK)

More information and reports availableat the EMDM website:www.euroqualityfiles.net/emdm.

Please visit usduring DigitalShip Shipdex,

Hamburg

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 6



Raytheon to deliver first widescreen radarwww.raytheon-anschuetz.com

Raytheon Anschütz has announced that ithas agreed a contract to deliver the first of itsNSC radar systems with wide-screen capa-bility to an unnamed German shipyard,with delivery scheduled for May 2009.

These new wide screen displays comein a 16:10 format, creating additional dis-play space which allows for an increased,quadratic target area on the radar screen(PPI). The user controls a larger area ofthe display and needs to change therange less often.

The additional space also allows for aredesigned presentation of the radarscreen, displaying all control functionsand status indications while reducing sub-menus and offering direct operation of allimportant controls.

Andreas Lentfer, sales and marketingdirector at Raytheon, believes that widescreen displays are certain to become thestandard option on the modern vessel bridge.

"In future, a modern bridge willincreasingly be equipped with new 16:10wide-screen displays," he said. "This willresult in a radar image with greater sizeand clearer structure, which will make theuse of radar easier. Furthermore, newfunctions contribute to improved situationawareness."

"The new radar presentation is a fur-ther development of the unique user inter-face of NSC radars - all operator buttons

are used for combined operator and statusapplications which help to save on spaceand de-clutter the display. Thus, the radarscreen appears simplified and well struc-tured with consistent large visual areabuttons, which provides safe operationeven under rough conditions such asheavy seas."

"Due to a common operating philoso-phy, it is possible to operate all radar func-tions with an ergonomic trackball. Anoperation panel with rotary knobs andsoft keys is still available to directly con-trol important functions such as gain, anti-clutter, bearing and range controls."

The NSC widescreen radar includes anauto-mode for dealing with sea clutter andthe Raytheon RainRate function, which isused to provide rain de-blurring.

These features are part of an overall focuson improving situational awareness, says MrLentfer, which is aided by the widescreen'sability to show more information.

"For example, SeaScout (an anti-colli-sion assistance system) analyses the trafficsituation relative to all plotted targets anddisplays dangerous areas when the opera-tor presses a single soft-key," he told us.

"Based on a target's position, the closestpoint of approach (CPA), heading andspeed the function continuously calculates'no-go areas' and shows them graphicallyon the screen.”

“It is obvious that the larger radarscreen provides additional intuitive assis-

tance to the navigator, to assist him infinding the correct course out of dangerbased on the specific traffic situation."

Mr Lentfer also points to the integratedautopilot function that has become afeature of many modern radar systems,which enable the user to change the course of the ship while watching theradar screen.

On the screen the course change is dis-played as a 'curved heading line', and thisfunction can be especially useful duringevasive action, when the navigator has tokeep the radar in view.

"During evasive action it is not onlyimportant to know if the new course fitsinto traffic situation, but also whether thewater depth is sufficient for the vessel," he said.

"In this situation, chart radar can provide additional sea chart informationon the radar screen to simplify the inter-pretation of the radar image. The chartradar achieves this by presenting ECDISinformation in the PPI to indicate wherethe ship is located with respect to shorelines, shallow water areas and traffic separation zones."

Widescreen radar allows for an increased target area and the addition of new functions to the display

DS

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 7


Digital Ship

TT he critical role of safe behaviours insafety is gaining strength aroundthe world. The International Mar-

itime Organization (IMO) is expected tointroduce Maritime Resource Management(MRM/BRM) training in the current revi-sion of the STCW Code and Convention.

Star Cruises committed to thisapproach as early as 1997 when it becamethe first shipping company to design, ownand operate a Full Mission High FidelityBridge Simulator to focus on MRM &Human Factors training.

The company has now entered itstwelfth year free of navigational accidentinsurance claims.

The Star Cruises’ Superstar Virgo oper-ates in the Singapore Straits, an area witha very heavy density of traffic and recog-nised as one of the most difficult areas inthe world for navigation.

Recently, during the last dry-dock of theSuperstar Virgo in Singapore, there was a com-plete upgrade of the navigation system, whichincluded the installation of a SAM ElectronicsNACOS 65-5 integrated navigation com-mand system, consisting of 3 Multipilot-ECDIS integrated with radar overlay.

The new Trackpilot can be operatedfrom five different keyboards, three ofthem located in the cockpit and one ineach bridge wing.

The Superstar Virgo's bridge team has beenvery pleased with the upgrade, particularlywith the radar transmitters that improve tar-get detection and the possibility of displayingdata from up to 8 targets – compared to onlyone in the previous version.

The possibility of permanently display-ing the Track-pilot settings (Auto-pilot) inthe conning displays is also a significantimprovement, as the team will always beaware of the Track-pilot sensitivity theyare working with.

Bridge communicationAs most navigation accidents occur inPilotage waters with a pilot onboard,ensuring safe navigation, good teamwork,and a clear understanding of task sharingbetween the pilot and bridge team are ofparamount importance.

With the objective of further enhancingteamwork between the Pilot and Bridgeteam a dedicated working station for thepilot has now been installed in the cockpit

as a part of the equipment upgrade. The pilot now has his own radar and

VHF and is seated next to what StarCruises calls the ‘jump-seat’.

In confined waters the 'jump-seat' is theCaptain or Staff Captain's workplace,when there is an increase in manning onthe bridge as per the procedures.

Today it has become more common forpilots to bring their own laptop withECDIS and electronic chart capabilities,and connect it to the ship’s GPS or bringtheir own antenna.

They use this technology as their ownnavigational aid, and we have createdspace for them to put the laptop at the

Following the installation of a new integrated navigation system onboard and an improved set-up for bridge resourcemanagement, the cruise vessel Superstar Virgo has seen a significant improvement in navigational safety,

writes Capt Gustaf Gronberg, fleet captain and SVP marine operation at Star Cruises

Twelve years, no accidents – the Superstar Virgo

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Integrated Bridge Systems (IBS)

Multifunctional workstations combine functions of IMO radars, ECDIS and central navigation data display on one dedicated position.

A standardised man-machine interface leads to safe and easy operation.

The integrated navigation system onthe Superstar Virgo features 3 ECDIS

working station so that they can still beseated in the cockpit.

With his own work station the pilotnow has the same basis for decision mak-ing as the rest of the bridge team. That is,the whole team is enabled to have thesame mental picture about the present sit-uation and any planned manoeuvres.

The communication between the pilotand bridge team has been greatlyimproved by this new arrangement.Situations are now assessed by the wholeteam, which improves safety.

With the closely connected work sta-tions, the Captain and Staff Captain willbe able to better follow the pilots’ commu-nication with other ships, helping toreduce the risk of misunderstanding.

One of the best examples of the benefitsthat this has created comes in a statementfrom the Chief Pilot Captain Teo Soon Huatfrom the Port of Singapore Authority.

He said: “With the addition of thisworkstation, Star Cruises has raised thebar of standards of safety and profession-alism and the better team performanceensures the overall safety of own ship andother port users.” DS

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 8



With the Russian GLONASS positioning system set to take a major step towards completion with the launch of its final expected satellites, due in 2009, Dr Andy Norris explores the potential benefits of this alternative to GPS

Improving positional accuracy – GLONASS

TT he Russians are continuing tohave success in their efforts tohave a complete constellation of

GLONASS global navigation satellites.Further satellites were launched inDecember 2008 and became operationalin January.

This means that twenty are now inposition, with four more (plus anyspares) needed for completion. These areexpected to be launched during 2009,with the design coverage being availablefrom 2010.

Even with the present twenty opera-tional satellites there is a good probabili-ty that more than four are in view fromany position on the Earth, and only avery small probability that there are lessthan four.

This means that GLONASS is already aneffective global positioning system and themarine industry should therefore be seri-ously considering its dual use with GPS.

Like GPS, GLONASS started as a mili-tary system with its first satellite launchesin the early 1980s. Unfortunately, after agood start it suffered from financial andtechnical issues. These lasted until a fewyears ago, when the decision was made torevamp the system.

All satellites now in use are relativelynew, the oldest having been launched inDecember 2003.

Much of the effort has been directedinto making the service useful for interna-tional non-military use. In 2004, a detailedGLONASS Interface Control Documentwas put into the public domain to allowmanufacturers to design receivers forcivilian applications.

There is an informative website(www.glonass-ianc.rsa.ru) that suppliesconstantly updated information on theservice, including a real-time map of thesatellite coverage.

Design featuresGPS and the in-development satellite posi-tioning services from the EU (Galileo) andChina (Compass) use digital modulationknown as code division multiple access –CDMA. It allows different satellites tooperate on the same frequency withoutcausing mutual interference.

The GLONASS signal is also digital butdoes not use CDMA. Instead, the signalsfrom different satellites are transmitted atslightly different frequencies in a methodcalled frequency division multiple access(FDMA), which is really just the historicalway of separating radio stations.

The transmissions are centred on twofrequencies in the L-Band, 1620.0 MHzand 1246.0 MHz. These are known as L1and L2. Each of these is comprised of 21discrete carrier frequencies, although only15 are used by the present service.

Since a full constellation consists of 24satellites, some need to operate on the

same frequency but these are always posi-tioned on opposite sides of the Earth,avoiding mutual interference.

On older satellites the civilian service isrestricted to the L1 frequencies but onnewer ones L2 is also available, giving theopportunity for improved ionosphericcorrection.

After demodulation of the FDMA sig-nals, the determination of position withina GLONASS receiver follows conventionalGNSS procedures, based on the determi-

nation of pseudo ranges and applying thenecessary corrections.

GLONASS uses a coordinate datumknown as PZ-90. Its first version differedfrom WGS84 by up to about 15 metres buta recent revision, PZ-90.02, has made themclosely aligned.

Both WGS84 and PZ-90 are now effec-tively linked to the InternationalTerrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), whichis being constantly updated to take move-ments in the Earth’s frame into account,such as those caused by plate tectonics.

The accuracy of the GLONASS civilianservice is presently inferior to GPS, per-haps of the order of 50 metres.

It appears to be presently hampered byinaccuracies in its predictions of satellitepositions. This aspect can probably beimproved by the GLONASS authoritieswith no changes required to receivingequipment.

IntegrityOver the past 15 years the marine worldhas come to rely heavily on the continuousavailability of accurate data from a singlesystem – GPS. In general, this has not been

a problem, as GPS has maintained a mostnotable record of system availability andoverall accuracy.

However, marine accidents continue tooccur when there is a problem with theindicated position on ships’ equipment.

This is despite the fundamental princi-ple of navigation of never relying on asingle source of information. All naviga-tors should therefore be regularly check-ing the indicated GPS position with otherinformation.

In coastal and harbour areas both visu-al and radar data are essential for this ver-ification. It takes little time to do and can,in effect, be continuously monitored.

On ocean passages estimated positiontechniques are usefully used as a check onGPS, maybe calculated once per watch. Sois astronavigation, but its availability canbe appalling and cannot generally be con-sidered to be anything other than an emer-gency backup.

The problems that cause loss of indicat-ed position are almost invariably due tofaulty equipment on the ship, either beingincorrectly installed or a failure that hasdeveloped in the electronics or equipmentinterconnections.

In fact, modern equipment designs arebecoming increasingly able to alert usersif there is a loss of positioning accuracy orif the equipment has developed a fault.However, there is a limit to which a sin-gle system can determine that there is aproblem.

Also, some of the regulatory requiredindications need users to be quite familiarwith electronic positioning techniques,which unfortunately is not always the case.

For instance, all marine GPS receiversprovide an indication if a user specifiedHDOP (horizontal dilution of precision)has been exceeded. Is this understood byall users, including how to set it up, whata suitable HDOP limit should be – andwhat should be the appropriate actionwhen an indication is given?

Receiver Autonomous IntegrityMonitoring (RAIM) has a range of indica-tions, such as safe, caution, unsafe, inoperation. Is RAIM properly understoodand do users look for such indications?

Differential systems also give a varietyof indications to the knowledgeable user.

Surely what the user really needs in thefirst case is a firm indication that theequipment is or is not correctly working,and to be given some indication as to theaccuracy of the fix.

This can only be positively achieved by

working with more than a single position-ing system. This is the significance of thenew availability of GLONASS.

Dual receiver approachTwo integrated GPS/GLONASS receiverswould form the basis of an extremelygood system. Despite the differences insignal format and frequencies, affordableintegrated designs are now possiblebecause of advances in the creation of inte-grated components.

Each receiver should be fed by its ownantenna capable of receiving both services.Within each receiver the software will beable to form several positional estimates.

The best position, which could be basedon signals from both satellite systems,would be normally output to the user viaan automatic unit that compares the out-puts from the two dual receivers.

Each dual receiver would internallycompare positions from GPS- andGLONASS-only solutions. If they differedby more than a defined amount the unitwould generate an alert to the user – itcould indicate a system level problem.

The ‘comparison box’, ideally part of anIMO compliant Integrated NavigationSystem, would automatically compare theoutput positions of the two dual receivers.Again, if differing by more than a definedamount a user alert would be generatedidentifying that there is a problem.

An automatic system is far more reli-able in doing this than a human being.However, like a human it can only indi-cate that there is a difference between thetwo systems but not necessarily determinewhich system is inaccurate. Three or moresystems are necessary to do this.

With further legislation a dualGPS/GLONASS set up would allow ownship’s position to be shown on an ECDISwith a symbol that immediately signifiesthe integrity and accuracy of the fix. Forinstance, green could indicate good accu-racy and integrity, orange use with careand red do not use at all.

Even better would be for this colourscheme to be accompanied by an indica-tion around own ship showing the areaextent of the likely error.

The use of a dual pair of GPS/GLONASS receivers is highly recom-mended but suitable type approvedequipment is not yet commonly available.Prudent ship managers should carefullyassess the advantages of the approach out-lined here and then demand solutionsfrom manufacturers.

Dr Andy �orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industryfor a number of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-technavigation companies but now he is working on broader issues within thenavigational world, providing both technical and business consultancy tothe industry, governmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]

A combined GLONASS/GPS receiver, likethis one used by the Russian military,

could help to improve positional accuracy

DS

p22-32:p26-32.qxd 25/03/2009 12:17 Page 9

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