vsat service promises 350 in this issue mbps downloads...

OO 3b Networks has launchedits new O3bMaritime prod-uct, a Ka-band VSAT service

capable of providing 350 Mbpsdownload and 150 Mbps uploadspeeds for ships at sea, and hasalready signed its first customer withthe world’s largest cruise ship set toimplement the system.

The venture is being backed by arange of corporate heavyweights,

including technology behemothGoogle, global banking group HSBCand satellite operator SES.

The new service is aimed at cruiseships and super yachts specifically,with O3b Networks aiming to launchits initial constellation of eight satel-lites in early 2013, in two launches offour satellites each, using theArianespace facility in FrenchGuiana. The satellites will be

designed, integrated and tested byThales Alenia Space.

The company's Maritime service isscheduled to be operational in mid-2013, when Royal CaribbeanInternational’s flagship Oasis of theSeas will become the first ship to usethe VSAT network.

“Royal Caribbean is committed todelivering the most contemporaryvacation to our guests, and thatincludes pushing ahead for onboardtechnological advances that offer themodern conveniences that guestsenjoy on land,” said Adam Goldstein,president and CEO, Royal CaribbeanInternational.

“This milestone agreement withO3b Networks enables us to provideour guests with unprecedented inter-net service at sea aboard Oasis of theSeas and potentially in the futureaboard other ships in our fleet.”

The O3b network will use MediumEarth Orbit (MEO) satellites that willbe situated approximately 8,000 kmaway from Earth, as opposed to stan-dard Geosynchronous (GEO) satel-lites which operate approximately36,000 km away from Earth.

As a result, O3b says that round-tripdata transmission times are reducedto approximately 100 millisecondsand that latency is greatly reduced.

IN THIS ISSUE

August 2012

electronics and navigation

continued on page 2

software

satcomsReederei Werner Bockstiegel to installIridium Pilot fleetwide – 6

FleetBroadband boosted by extraphone lines – 10Small Vessel Plans add toInmarsat pricing debate – 12 High-throughput satellites to cut maritime data costs – 16

ABB to provide optimisation and fleetmanagement systems to Rickmers – 20 Blue Belt project aims to streamlineEU shipping – 24Reederei Claus-PeterOffen agrees 103-shipsoftware deal – 26

VSAT service promises 350Mbps downloads at sea

ENC updating system launched – 28

Vessel data to be addedto Google Earth – 32

Machine failure and reliance on technology – Dr Andy Norris – 34

O3b Networks is to begin the launch of a Ka-band satellite network in 2013,and has released details of a maritime VSAT service that will offer

350 Mbps download speeds to a single ship

The O3b network will feature 8 medium Earth orbit satellites

(+47) 77 62 19 00 or [email protected]

Eitzen Chemical operates, overall, around 80 chemical tankers. Based in Copenhagen, Capt Søren Krarup-Jensen heads up Marine HR. “Dualog Connection Suite is the corporate platform for communication with our ships. At the same time it provides our crew members with private e-mail accounts without any adminis-tration on our part”, says Captain Krarup-Jensen.

“Dualog provided the combination of fl exibility and control we were looking for – independent of satellite communication systems and airtime vendors”, adds Krarup-Jensen.

“Improved Crew Welfare”Søren G. Krarup-Jensen, General Manager, Crew & Marine HR, Eitzen Chemical

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p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:18

SATCOMS

Digital Ship August 2012 page 2

Vol 12 No 10

UPCOMING CONFERENCESDIGITAL SHIP HONG KONG

KITEC, Kowloon10-11 October 2012

DIGITAL SHIP KOREABexco, Busan, South Korea

30-31 October 2012DIGITAL SHIP ATHENSMetropolitan hotel, Athens

27-28 November 2012

Digital Ship Limited2nd Floor,

8 Baltic Street EastLondon EC1Y 0UP, U.K.www.thedigitalship.com

PUBLISHERStuart Fryer

EDITORRob O'Dwyer: Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 3410

email: [email protected]

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[email protected]

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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 theprior written consent of the publisher.Whilst the information and articles inDigital Ship are published in good faithand every effort is made to check accura-cy, readers should verify facts and state-ments direct with official sources beforeacting on them as the publisher canaccept no responsibility in this respect.Any opinions expressed in this maga-zine should not be construed as thoseof the publisher.

continued from page 1

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Reynolds House, 8 Porters' WoodValley Road Industrial Estate

St Albans, Hertz AL3 6PZU.K.

Imtech Marine has added two areasales managers to the Radio Holland USA team, with Mike Pizer and JohnSchwiering coming onboard. Mr Pizerreturns to Radio Holland after a brief term with Telemar, while MrSchwiering was most recently withL3/GA International.

Imtech has also appointed GennaroPipoli to the position of managing directorof Imtech Marine Singapore. Mr Pipolipreviously worked with GeneralElectric (GE), as well as other organisa-tions in Italy, Russia and Singapore.

Otesat-Maritel has been appointedas an Intellian distributor, and willinclude Intellian’s range of VSAT andTVRO antennas in its equipment portfolio.In addition, Otesat-Maritel will also becommissioned as an Intellian ServiceCentre for South-eastern Europe, theMiddle East and Africa.

Imtech Marine and ITC Globalhave entered into a long-term strategicalliance for the provision of VSAT servic-

es. Under the alliance, Imtech Marine willsupply, install and service shipboard sys-tems, while ITC Global will design, supplyand provide engineering support for theglobal satellite communications network.

KVH has named Boatracs as thefirst Value Added Service Provider(VASP) for its mini-VSAT Broadbandservice. This collaboration aims to servethe commercial workboat and fishingmarkets, packaging Boatracs' softwareapplications with KVH VSAT under the name 'Boatracs Broadband FleetManagement Solution'.

KVH has also added a number ofnew partners in different markets, withTesacom to offer its mini-VSATBroadband service in South America,KB Impuls Hellas S.A. to act as its com-mercial marine distributor in Greece, andMVS Group to add KVH products to itsportfolio for customers on a global basis.

Global Satellite USA hasannounced the appointment of NiniMontanez as business development man-

ager. Prior to joining Global Satellite, MsMontanez had the role of key accountmanager at Vizada and before that wasmanager, connectivity solutions, atRadio Holland USA.

OOO Iridium Communications,also known as Iridium Russia, hasreceived authorisation from Russianauthorities for commercial operations inthe country. Iridium Russia expects tolaunch service in the second quarter of2012, once all technical licensing require-ments are complete.

Coverage from the satellites will beavailable between +/- 45 degrees of latitude.

One unusual aspect of the system incomparison with traditional VSAT servic-es is that O3b Networks' satellites areequipped with steerable spot beams thatare adjustable in space to track a ship.

This means that all of the power avail-able in a beam can be directed to a specif-ic target, in this case the vessel, to deliverextremely high data rates. Real-time track-ing of the ship continues throughout itsvoyage to maintain the link.

O3b says that the system supports thehandover of a ship from one beam toanother, but in general this is not neededas it is envisioned as a regional service. Forexample, a cruise ship in the Caribbeancan transit the whole region and neverhave to change beams.

TechnologyThe satellite network will offer 10 beamsper region, across 7 regions, totalling 70remote beams per 8 satellite constellation.Up to 1.2 Gbps will be available per beam(600 Mbps x 2), meaning 84 Gbps will beavailable per 8 satellite constellation.

Beam coverage areas will be 700km indiameter, with transponder bandwidth of216 MHz; 2 x 216 MHz per beam.

Vessels using the service will beinstalled with two 1.2m or 2.2m stabilised

antennas, with the dual antennas used toensure a seamless handover at end of passand in case of blockage.

A third hot-standby spare antenna andspare modem will also be available forredundancy.

With regard to the manufacturers ofthis hardware, O3b says it is “workingwith partners both on the integration andtechnology side (and) will be making fur-

ther announcements in these importantareas in due course.”

MarketsObviously, having a dedicated beam for asingle ship will mean that the costs associ-ated with this type of technology willexceed that of most current VSAT services.

Although O3b has not indicated a pricerange, it says it will target the cruise orsuper yacht market for the time being,where the “4,000-8,000 passengers andcrew can easily support the somewhatincreased cost of the service”, though infuture the company may look broaden thisto cover other sectors.

Currently the service is expected to beavailable under 5 to 10 year contracts.

“For cruise ship guests and crew, head-ing for the high seas has meant leavinghigh-speed broadband services behind,”said John Finney, chief commercial officerfor O3b.

“It’s an ocean travel tradition thatO3bMaritime will turn into a thing of thepast, with fast, fibre-like connections thatdeliver the same high-quality internetaccess and broadband experience at sea asguests are used to at home.”

www.imtechmarine.comwww.otesat-maritel.comwww.intelliantech.comwww.imtech.eu/marinewww.itcglobal.comwww.kvh.comwww.tesacom.netwww.kbihellas.comwww.themvsgroup.comwww.globalsatellite.uswww.iridium.com

DSCoverage is available between +/– 45 degrees

The Oasis of the Seas will be the first vessel to use the service

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:18

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:19

SATCOMS


Anti-piracy systems launched www.ase-corp.com

www.beamcommunications.com

A range of new anti-piracy systems fromproviders Applied Satellite Engineering(ASE) and Beam Communications, utilis-ing the Iridium and Inmarsat satellite net-works, have been launched.

ASE has introduced an enhanced ver-sion of its Iridium-enabled safe room‘citadel’ solution for ships, with remotepolling technology.

Using the Iridium network, remotepolling enables ship owners on shore toremotely obtain ships’ positions. In theevent of pirate attacks or other emergen-cies where communications may be inter-rupted, this will allow shipping offices totake control of location reporting to directnaval rescue forces.

The remote polling feature can be con-figured to automatically capture locationinformation at set time intervals, whichASE says can prove useful when ships aresailing outside of other satellite providers’coverage zones, or when the crew makesthe decision to turn off the ship’sAutomatic Identification System (AIS) inpirate-infested waters.

In addition, the position of the ship canbecome ‘lost’ if the standard reporting sys-tems are inoperable for periods of time asit switches regions, communications serv-ices or experiences a malfunction.

The remote polling features have beenadded to ASE’s current safe room commu-nications system, which uses the Iridiumnetwork to provide telephony communi-cations and GPS position reporting.

The safe-room system combines thetransceiver and antenna into one smallenclosure, removing cable distance prob-lems and allowing the enclosure to bemounted hidden from sight.

A corded phone, mounted in a lockablewall mounted cabinet, can be installed inthe citadel with only one cable running to the outdoor unit. An additional phonecan be installed on the bridge from thesame system.

“International waters are becomingincreasingly threatened by piracy, andwe’ve seen an increase in demand forsecure on-board communications solu-tions, such as ASE’s Iridium-poweredcitadel solution,” said Ken Coffey, manag-

ing director for ASE’s EMEA operations.“We enhanced our safe room solution

with remote location polling to take thereporting burden off crews during stress-ful situations, such as emergencies or sim-ply when activity is at its peak.”

“Crews today are bogged down with somany reporting responsibilities. Enablinga shipping office to pull coordinateswhenever they need it helps make opera-tions more efficient, cuts costs, and mostimportantly, improves crew safety.”

Beam Communications, meanwhile,has introduced two new anti-piracy prod-ucts, utilising the Iridium and Inmarsatnetworks respectively.

Beam’s new PotsDOCK ExtremeCovert Piracy Solution utilises the IridiumExtreme satellite handset and a BeamCovert Antenna system to provide a dedi-cated unit for a safe room or citadel onboard a vessel.

The system provides access to voicecommunications, tracking and an alertfunctionality. In the event of an attack, an alert can be raised and the vessel can betracked.

Essential communications on board thevessel, such as the ability to alert authori-ties in the event of a piracy attack, can bemaintained even if all power or communi-cation equipment has been cut off ordestroyed by pirates.

The Inmarsat-based system operateswith the Inmarsat FleetPhone service, inte-grated into Beam’s new Oceana 800Covert Piracy Solution. Again, the phoneis aimed to be placed within a citadel, andconnected to a Beam-designed antennaintended for covert placement.

Communications, tracking and alertfunctionalities are also available from this system.

“Over the past 18 months we have seenan increasing demand for Beam’s piracysolutions with the total number of previ-ous similar systems deployed getting closeto 500 units,” said Michael Capocchi, man-aging director, Beam Communications.

“Safe and secure communication isextremely important for addressing thegrowing concerns of piracy attacks onboth commercial and leisure vessels andBeam specialised anti-piracy communica-tion solutions for the marine market arecertainly meeting these needs.”

www.thuraya.com

Thuraya has unveiled its SF2500 maritimesatellite voice terminal, developed jointlywith partner Addvalue Communications.

SF2500 is the latest product under therecently created Thuraya MarineCommsbrand, and the company has confirmedthe Indonesian Fisherman Association asan early adopter of the system.

“Our first customer for the SF2500, theIndonesian Fisherman Association, isexactly the kind of organisation we expectthe product to appeal to, and we are verypleased to see them sign up even beforethe product’s official launch,” said SamerHalawi, Thuraya CEO.

“Fishing is one of the three most dan-gerous occupations in the world, but lackof affordability has placed reliable satellitecommunications outside the reach ofmany fishermen until now.”

“Smaller form factors and more afford-able technology mean it’s easier to keepsatellite equipment onboard even in verysmall vessels, making it safer for fisher-men to do their jobs and stay in touch withshore.”

The system will be offered with tailoredpricing packages, as well as a Shareplanpackage whereby end-users can shareindividual airtime allocations across theirterminal base and mix and match differentThuraya solutions, both voice and data.

Thuraya introduces new voice satellite terminal

The Oceana 800 system from Beam is one of a number of new anti-piracy products

www.marlink.com

Marlink reports that it is to introduce newC-band services on the iDirect platform,utilising DVB-S2 with Adaptive Codingand Modulation (ACM) tech-nology on regional, multi-regional and global maritimeC-band beams.

The company says that thenew technology should helpto improve network efficien-cy and open up new optionsfor customers using itsSealink global C-band service.

The implementation of thenew platform follows therecent upgrade of Marlink’sVSAT network with the inte-gration of iDirect’s EvolutionX5 Satellite Router and latestoperating software release,facilitating new capabilitieslike Automatic BeamSwitching.

“Bringing the iDirect plat-form to our C-band services ispart of our overall strategy tooffer increased choice in cus-tomised Sealink services,which are available alongsideour standardised WaveCallportfolio,” said Tore MortenOlsen, CEO, Marlink.

“The use of DVB-S2 withACM is new to maritime

www.inmarsat.com

Inmarsat has announced that its flagshipFleetBroadband service has now reached30,000 active terminals in service.

This milestone occurred with the instal-lation of a FleetBroadband 500 on OlympicFuture, a Greek-flagged crude oil tanker,by Inmarsat’s distribution partner Otesat-Maritel.

Springfield Shipping, the vessel’s man-agement company, selected the satcom sys-tem as part of an integrated communica-tions package developed by Otesat-Maritel.

“This is a significant achievement thatyet again demonstrates the high regardand continued demand forFleetBroadband in the maritime indus-try,” commented Frank Coles, president ofInmarsat Maritime.

“We have now seen more than 4,000terminals added to our FleetBroadbandinstalled base since the beginning of theyear. Ship owners and managers areattracted to the global reach and reliabilityof FleetBroadband, and they value thehigh quality service that they receive fromInmarsat and our partners.”

FB hits 30,000 activations

Marlink moves C-band network to iDirect

Marlink’s C-band service will see improved networkefficiency with the new technology

VSAT on C-band and we believe that theseamless communication that this technol-ogy enables is very attractive for vesselswith high requirements for bandwidthand quality of service on a global basis.”

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:20

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:20


SATCOMS

ww.intelsatepic.com

Intelsat has introduced its EpicNG satelliteplatform, a new series of satellites whichwill combine Intelsat's spectral rights inthe C-, Ku- and Ka-bands.

The satellite network will be built uponan open architecture design and willutilise multiple frequency bands, widebeams, spot beams and frequency reusetechnology.

The new technology will also be inte-grated with Intelsat's existing satellite fleetand global IntelsatONE terrestrial net-work, for backward compatibility.

“The Intelsat EpicNG platform repre-sents the next generation of satellites, aprogressive evolution of the Intelsat fleet,”said Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade.

“As the global demand for bandwidthsurges and penetration of communica-tions reaches ever further into developingregions and mobile applications, we arestrategically investing in this platform tosupport our customers with a highly reli-able and efficient broadband infrastruc-ture as they launch new services and enternew geographies.”

With the launch of its new satellitesIntelsat is promising higher performance,

and therefore a lower cost per-bit.For each satellite, four to five times

more capacity than Intelsat’s traditionalsatellites will be available, with an antici-pated throughput of a massive 25-60 Gbpsper satellite.

Intelsat says it will deploy EpicNG pay-loads in all frequency bands (C-, Ku- andKa-), which will be optimised in the designof individual satellites, depending upon theapplication and region being supported.

The company also notes, in what couldbe interpreted as a slight on Inmarsat’supcoming Global Xpress services, that“unlike many new satellite operators,Intelsat is not constrained to Ka-band.”

The company says that the wide beamsand spot beams which will be employedwill help to provide the high levels ofthroughput, while the multi-band fre-quencies can be aligned to region- andapplication-specific requirements.

These features should also enablesmaller terminals to be used, and Intelsatsays it will be better able to support grow-ing applications in mobility, such as inmaritime, and benefit increasingly data-centric services like cellular backhaul.

“The driving force behind the creationof our Intelsat EpicNG next generation

platform comes from listening to our cus-tomers, and building a technical andstrategic understanding of their businessrequirements and long-term objectives,”said Intelsat EVP of sales, marketing &strategy Steve Spengler.

“The open architecture design ofIntelsat EpicNG will allow our telecom-munications customers to customise andcontrol their own service offerings, deter-mining critical elements such as speed,hardware and network topology.”

“This freedom of choice is not currentlyavailable in other high throughput satel-lite solutions, but it was essential to ourdesign considerations because our cus-tomers will be able to differentiate theirservice offerings to better serve theirrespective market segments.”

Initially, the Intelsat EpicNG platformwill feature two next generation satellites,with Intelsat noting that it is currently eval-uating proposals by several manufacturers.

These first two satellites, Intelsat 29eand Intelsat 33e, have projected in-servic-es dates in 2015 and 2016.

www.globalstar.com

Globalstar’s tribulations in its plans tolaunch its second generation satellite con-stellation continue, after commercial arbi-tration of a dispute with Thales AleniaSpace France was decided in favour of theFrench satellite manufacturer. The compa-nies have since reached a settlement indiscussions after the decision.

The arbitrators in the dispute concerningGlobalstar's 2009 satellite manufacturingcontract with Thales ruled that Thales has nofurther obligation to manufacture or deliv-er satellites under Phase 3 of the contract.

Phase 3 provided for Globalstar's optionto purchase up to 23 second-generation satel-lites in addition to the 25 satellites purchasedin the first two phases under the contract.

The arbitrator's ruling also requiredGlobalstar to pay Thales approximatelyEUR€53 million in termination charges byJune 9, 2012.

This payment was not made, whichcaused Thales to notify French groupCoface, the backer to Globalstar’s financ-ing on the project, and start a processwhich would see construction cease on sixsatellites that are almost completed andset to be launched in October if an agree-ment could not be reached.

This eventuality was averted however,with the June 25 announcement thatGlobalstar had reached a settlement withThales and had agreed to the terms of acommercial proposal for the purchase ofthe six additional spacecraft.

The mutual settlement ensures thatThales will complete its current work sothat Globalstar’s fourth launch of six satel-lites can be conducted this year. In addi-tion, Globalstar and Thales have agreed tothe terms of a purchase of six additionalsecond-generation satellites, with con-struction expected to begin this year.

Globalstar and Thales say they expectto enter into a commercial contract basedupon these terms in the near future.

www.iridium.com

www.globecommsystems.com/maritime

German shipping company ReedereiWerner Bockstiegel is to install the IridiumPilot system across its shipping fleet, aspart of an agreement with GlobecommMaritime.

The Iridium Pilot terminals will form part of an upgraded 'Telaurusse@COMM' communications package,the installation of which will be managed by Globecomm for the entireReederei Werner Bockstiegel fleet of 65 ships.

The vessels will receive one dedicatedvoice line for the captain and two inde-pendent crew phone lines. Globecomm’sTelaurus se@COMM Wi-Fi service willalso provide access points to enable crewto use their own laptops and smartphonesto stay connected onboard.

“It was vital for us to combine afford-

able equipment with competitive airtimeto give flexibility to our vessels,” saidAlbert Bokelmann, fleet manager atReederei Werner Bockstiegel.

“The comprehensive voice and e-mailservice enables us to significantly reduceour overall communications costs andprovide crew calling services that posi-tively impact welfare and morale while at sea.”

“BBC Chartering in Leer, our charterercompany, has reported that havingse@COMM installed will improve theirdaily operations significantly by enablingtheir e-mails to be delivered to the vesselin real time.”

Also part of the package will be theSe@COMM managed communicationsoftware application, which providesadvance price notifications and pushdelivery of e-mail, as well as managementof prepaid crew e-mail and SMS over theWi-Fi access points via a crew member’s

own notebook or PDA device.Globecomm Maritime, through its

local sales agent Nordic-IT Marine

Communications, will provide the IridiumPilot terminals and service plans for theBockstiegel ships.

Reederei Werner Bockstiegel to install Iridium Pilot fleetwide

Werner Bockstiegel’s charterer company BBC Chartering has reported an improvement in operations since the system was installed

Intelsat to improve VSAT capacity with new satellite network

The EpicNG constellation will begin with the launch of Intelsat 29e and 33e

‘EpicNG represents a progressive evolutionof the Intelsat fleet’ – Dave McGlade,

Intelsat

Arbitration setbackfor Globalstar

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:20

Introducing the Sea Tel 4012.

It lets you go from Ku to Ka

in eight easy turns.

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It’s as easy as that. Unfasten eight bolts. Re-

move and replace the front feed, and rear

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makes the optional upgrade from the cur-

rent Ku Band, to GX or other Ka Band net-

works. The new Sea Tel 4012’s completely

redesigned monolithic software architecture

offers IP-based, secured communication and

extensive diagnostic capability.

The interface allows the antenna system to be controlled

from a computer browser or even a tablet or mobile

device. The new frequency-tuned radome is engineered

to operate in Ku and Ka Band networks. And because the

Sea Tel 4012 can be controlled over the internet, you can

connect to it from anywhere in the world including your

corporate offices. Finally, the sturdy pedestal design is

based on the industry’s best 1-meter maritime antenna

system, the Sea Tel 4009. The best just got better.ex

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:20

www.imtechmarine.com

Imtech Marine has signed an AdvancedSupport Agreement for a second cranevessel with Seaway Heavy Lifting (SHL),covering all of the systems onboard,including VSAT, computers, navigationand communication equipment.

The maritime transport and offshoreconstruction services company has been acustomer of Imtech Marine and RadioHolland for many years, and in December2011 decided to place its crane vessel OlegStrashnov under an Advanced SupportAgreement.

The company has now decided to dothe same for a second crane vessel, theStanislav Yudin.

“After experiencing the benefits ofImtech Marine’s Advanced SupportAgreements for several months on theOleg Strashnov, we didn’t hesitate to placethe Stanislav Yudin under the samearrangement,” said Peter Dekkers, techni-

cal superintendent at SHL.Remote maintenance of the onboard

systems is a crucial aspect of this service,according to Mr Dekkers. He gives theexample that Oleg Strashnov has recentlybeen working in the Indian Ocean and itcan take six weeks to get a permit for aservice engineer to get onboard if there isa problem.

“When the vessel went offshore, thecrew discovered there were certain issueswith the telephone system but ImtechMarine was able to carry out a remoterepair, ensuring that we had the telephonelines in all of the right positions on theship and that all the connections werethere for ingoing and outgoing calls,” he said.

“But imagine if this had happened and we had to wait for an engineer to geta permit.”

This remote maintenance is managedby Imtech at three dedicated GlobalTechnical Assistance Centres in

Rotterdam, Houston and Singapore.“By monitoring the systems 24 hours a

day we can see if there is trouble with theinternet, for instance, and restore connec-tions before the crew even notices,” saidFrank Berends, Radio Holland managertechnical helpdesk.

“We are able to tackle the issues in realtime, while the vessel is sailing.”

One way that this kind of support canprevent problems is through temperaturemonitoring.

“When a working temperature isbetween 40-50 degrees Celsius, we cantake action if we see it getting higher, thuspreventing any problems before theequipment starts to fail,” said Mr Berends.

“By monitoring, we can carry out pre-ventive maintenance and avert mass fail-ure of equipment or we can advise thecrew to take action if we cannot repair itremotely. Then Imtech Marine can get theright spare parts and an engineer ready forthe next port of call.”

www.gentay.co.uk

Gentay has launched its Low Cost GlobalRoaming SIM Card, targeted at roamingoffice based ship managers and vesselbased users of cell phones facing highroaming charges.

The new product utilises multi-IMSI(International Mobile Subscriber Identity)technology, to offer connectivity world-wide but charged at local rates for bothvoice and data.

The SIM card also has the facility to incorporate multiple numbers, withthe aim of also reducing the cost ofincoming calls.

Gentay claims that the SIM card canoffer reductions in roaming cell phonebills of between 60 and 80 per cent in com-parison with roaming contracts offered bylocal cell phone service providers.

The company notes that, for example,typical roaming costs of data for non-domestic cell phone providers in the UKis £10 per MB but is £0.10 per MB with thenew product. Equally, a voice call fromthe US to Australia can cost £2.40 perminute with a roaming cell phone in theUS but £0.10 with the Low Cost RoamingSIM Card.

The SIM card uses the same regular cel-lular networks as all roaming mobilephones, and so offers the same quality ofservice. It does not require any uniquelocal codes or PINs, or the manual selec-tion of designated preferred service carri-ers in destination countries.

Upon activation of the cell phone in thedestination country, the SIM card willsearch for the strongest signal carrier andautomatically connect.

“The maritime industry is reliant oncommunications to manage the day to dayoperations of the company and, with theescalating cost combined with the need forincreasing global coordination, communi-cation budgets are stretched to breakingpoint,” said Martin Nygate, director atGentay.

“The Low Cost Global Roaming SIMCard is a ‘no risk’ way to reduce your com-munications budget without any changesto your day to day work pattern.”

“With a 90 day cancellation policywithout penalty, the Low Cost GlobalRoaming SIM Card allows you to experi-ence the service and cost reduction with-out 12 or 24 month financial penalties.”

SATCOMS


The main mast of the Oleg Strashnov, as seen from the helideck

www.orbit-cs.com

ORBIT Communication Systems has intro-duced its new OrSat300 VSAT antenna,which it describes as “Ka ready.”

The 1.15m maritime stabilised VSATantenna is built to support a range of con-figurations with different RF packages(Ku-band or Ka-band or X-band) and BUCpower levels.

“OrSat300 leverages breakthroughtechnology to meet both current and future needs,” commented Ofer

Greenberger, CEO of ORBITCommunication Systems.

“As a Ka ready system, OrSat300allows our customers to significantlyimprove their return on investment andreduce overall cost of ownership forequipment spanning multiple technologygenerations.”

This new antenna will join ORBIT'srange of products which the companysays are installed on over 3,500 marineplatforms, including naval vessels, cargoships and ocean liners.

www.nsslglobal.com

Satcom provider NSSLGlobal is continuingthe development of its DVB2-RCS VSATnetwork with the addition of new coverageareas, increasing the footprint of the net-work in East Africa and South America.

The new coverage areas are providedby the SES-4 satellite.

Two new beams will be operated out ofNSSLGlobal’s Jacksonville Hub; the firstproviding coverage around SouthAmerica, the second covering the territo-

ries of North Africa, including The Gulf ofAden, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenyaand the south of Sudan.

“At NSSLGlobal we are committed tothe ongoing development of our net-work,” said Sally-Anne Ray, chief operat-ing officer at NSSLGlobal.

“These new spot beams provide cover-age in two of the world’s fastest growing ter-ritories; the improved coverage in SouthAmerica and East Africa will ensure thatNSSLGlobal is fully equipped to meet theincreasing coverage needs of our customers.”

Orbit introduces Ka-ready antenna

Seaway Heavy Lifting agrees IT support deal Multi-country SIMfrom Gentay

NSSLGlobal extends VSAT network

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try number that will be routed to the ves-sel and charged at the same rate as if theywere making the call from ship to shore.

Remote accessR6 also contains additional features forusers with VSAT terminals connected,developed to keep VSAT terminals onlineand minimise backup L-band usage.

Automated scripts monitor the VSATsystem and will attempt an auto-recover ifrequired. If auto-recovery does not work aGlobe Wireless VSAT technician can stillaccess the iFusion via L-band, for remoteaccess to all the core components and sys-tems onboard with the same status andcontrol data as used on shore.

“This new feature assures the customerthat over 95 per cent of all outages arerecovered remotely. We have found thatfor every one vessel that does require avisit another 20-25 vessels are broughtback online remotely, saving the customerthousands of dollars per month,” saidBrad Rogers, director VSAT engineering.

“With our live monitoring, typicallywithin one hour of any outage, our engi-neers are already online checking the sys-tem and coverage. If there is an issue, mostvessels are recovered within 15 minutesafter remotely accessing the vessel.”

The pre-paid and sponsored e-mailaddition to R6 will allow users to set up,via the Globe iPortal, ‘sponsored’ monthlyquotas of free e-mail for crews, with mes-sage size limits to control how much traf-fic the crew can generate. These settingscan be configured fleet wide or can be spe-cific to each crew member.

The pre-paid account can be tied to thecrew member’s GlobeMobile GSMaccount allowing them to share the pre-paid balance between GSM calls, pre-paidFixed-Multiple Voice, e-mail and SMS.

Crew members will be able to pick upany of the Fixed-Multiple Voice handsets,enter a PIN and password and pay thesame rate as the GlobeMobile service.

If a crew member has a GlobeMobilenumber and uses a Fixed-Multiple Voiceline, the end user on shore will see theGlobeMobile number on their phone asthe caller ID rather than the vessel’s phonenumber. If there is no GlobeMobile num-ber associated with the crew member thenno number is displayed.

Globe says that these features will beavailable on VSAT and FB terminals.

“This is a very exciting update to oursoftware,” commented David Kagan,president Globe Wireless.

“We are providing unique voice solu-tions, going far beyond what our competi-tion offers, as well as great VSAT enhance-ments that have never been seen before inthe market. This is just the start of severalnew updates and features we haveplanned for Globe iFusion and our cus-tomers in the coming months.”

II nmarsat and Globe Wireless will bothoffer users the ability to make multi-ple simultaneous phone calls from a

single FleetBroadband antenna followingthe launch of new upgraded servicesusing the satcom technology.

Inmarsat has announced that itsFleetBroadband Multi-voice service, anew capability that will allow up to ninesimultaneous telephone calls to be madethrough a single FleetBroadband terminal,is now available.

There are two levels of FleetBroadbandMulti-voice available: Standard, whichsupports up to four simultaneous callsfrom a FleetBroadband 150, 250 or 500;and Enhanced, which supports up to ninesimultaneous calls on an FB250 or FB500.

“FleetBroadband Multi-voice is aunique integrated solution that maintainsInmarsat’s well-earned reputation forhigh-quality voice,” said Frank Coles,president, Inmarsat Maritime.

“It offers a far superior service to inter-net calling solutions, and is more cost-effective than accessing multiple voicecalls on a standard VSAT.”

“This new capability increases thevalue of FleetBroadband, and ensures thatthe service is future-proofed for a vessel’sgrowing communications needs.”

Thrane & Thrane has already announcedthat the Multi-voice service will be availableacross its entire SAILOR FleetBroadbandportfolio as standard, and is accessible onexisting terminals with a software update.

SAILOR 500 FleetBroadband will offerthe full nine simultaneous voice lines avail-able through Multi-voice, while a SAILOR250 FleetBroadband will offer up to six con-current calls and a SAILOR 150FleetBroadband up to four concurrent calls.

Once existing SAILOR users have thesoftware update in place, all that is requiredis to configure their FleetBroadband termi-nal via the web-interface and attach therequired number of handsets, or if desiredconnect an existing PBX.

Thrane is offering its own model ofhandset for use with the service, thoughthird party equipment can also be used.

With the Thrane handsets a dedicatedBGAN menu is available via the integrat-

ed screen, where value-added supplemen-tary voice services, such as a phone bookand call forwarding, can be operated fromthe handset itself.

“With multiple handsets integrated to asingle terminal, facility for dedicated voicelines can be made anywhere on board, fromthe engine room or canteen on a merchantvessel and the public areas on a passengervessel, to the saloon and staterooms aboarda luxury vessel,” said Casper Jensen, VPmaritime business unit, Thrane & Thrane.

“Additionally, we have ensured thatthe SAILOR 3771 Alarm PanelFleetBroadband works alongside theMulti-voice service, ensuring that distressalarms can be sent, regardless of howmany voice lines are being used.”

“Multi-voice will enable operators tooffer even better crew and passenger wel-fare services, by increasing the number oftelephone lines available on board. Thedesign of SAILOR FleetBroadband allowsMulti-voice functionality to be introducedwithout the need for engineers or hardwarechanges to the BDU, making it extremelystraightforward to add extra voice lines.”

VocalityFor FleetBroadband terminals other thanthe SAILOR range, Vocality has devel-oped new PBX hardware that can be usedalongside the terminal to access the addi-tional telephone lines.

The extra phone lines will be chargedby Inmarsat at the same per-minute tarifffor both pre-paid and post-paid calls. Thelines will also all support the free-of-charge ‘505’ FleetBroadband emergencycalling capability that connects a vesselimmediately to a Maritime Rescue Centre.

Ofer Ship Holding has become the firstcompany confirmed to have implementedthe new service since the announcement ofthe availability of Multi-voice.

The deployment on the 4,250 TEU con-tainer vessel Zim Constanza came a mat-ter of days after the multi-voice capabilitybecame commercially available onFleetBroadband, and will be available foruse by the ship’s 27 crew.

Inmarsat distribution partner Station711 installed the system, which is usingVocality PBX equipment to work along-side the ship’s installed JRC-500.

“It was easy to integrate theFleetBroadband Multi-voice capabilityinto the vessel’s infrastructure,” saidDotan Sofer of Ofer Ship Holding.

“The high quality of the multiple voicelines is the same as we had previously onthe existing FleetBroadband terminal. Thecrew really appreciates the added flexibil-ity and privacy that this service provides.”

Globe Wireless launches R6

Globe Wireless meanwhile has alsoannounced the latest software release, R6,

for its Globe iFusion satellite communica-tions system, which will add a Fixed-Multiple Voice option for FleetBroadband.

This extended calling option has beendeveloped separately to Inmarsat’s ownmulti-voice enhancement toFleetBroadband, and will allow connec-tion of the additional voice lines via theexisting iFusion hardware.

R6 will be launched in July 2012 as afree upgrade to all existing users, and willalso feature VSAT auto-recovery tools anda pre-paid/sponsored e-mail solution aspart of the upgrade.

The additional voice lines will build onthe existing multiple GlobeMobile voicelines on FleetBroadband equipped vessels,currently numbering approximately 1,000ships, running calls over VoIP.

This service utilises Globe’s DigitalQuality Voice (DQV) technology on bothGSM and VoIP phones over a standardFleetBroadband terminal.

With this release, up to five inboundand outbound calls are available overDQV, while the standard circuit switchedvoice line remains free at all time for thecaptain’s use or for emergencies.

Up to eight VoIP handsets can be usedonboard the vessel as well as a standard tele-phone handset plugged directly into the i250.

Each handset is configured from shorevia the browser-based Globe iPortal, allow-ing a simple name to be assigned, as well asan international inbound number if request-ed and PIN codes to restrict outbound calls.

Split billing for sub-accounts is alsosupported, with PINs able to be created asneeded, either fleet wide or per ship. Pre-pay PINs may be used that are independ-ent or tied to a GlobeMobile GSM account.

For example, in the case of a charteredvessel the charterer could have a uniquePIN allowing all calls to be billed under asub-account in the customer’s invoiceeach month.

Another feature of the multiple voicelines capability is the ability to assign inter-national phone numbers from approxi-mately 60 countries to each phone lineonboard, reducing the cost to call the shipfrom shore as no 870 number is required.

Customers who have offices in the des-ignated countries can have a local in-coun-

SATCOMS


www. thed ig i t a l sh ip .com

Ships using broadband technology are set to have their voice calling capabilities enhanced at no extra charge,with Inmarsat and Globe Wireless announcing the addition of extra phone lines on the FleetBroadband service

FleetBroadband boosted by extra phone lines

Globe’s iFusion service will offer it’s ownmulti-voice technology, separate from that

developed by Inmarsat

Thrane SAILOR FleetBroadband terminalscan offer Multi-voice with a free software

upgrade DS

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p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:21

SATCOMS


II nmarsat has introduced a new addi-tion to the FleetBroadband family,revealing its plans to introduce a new

low cost terminal and package of pricingplans that will target sectors of the marketusing small amounts of data.

The service will run over the Inmarsat-4 satellite network, used by all of the otherFleetBroadband products. These SmallVessel Plans will sit below the currentFleetBroadband minimum airtime pack-age of 10MB, but with a smaller minimummonthly spend required to keep the sys-tem linked to the network.

The flip side to this increased level offlexibility will be a higher per MB pricethan the standard plan, and a throttledquality of service that will offer speeds ofjust 32 kbps – significantly lower than the150 kbps available on the smallest existingFleetBroadband terminal.

As Frank Coles, president of InmarsatMaritime, explains, the aim of the productis to produce a terminal that is smaller andcheaper than the FleetBroadband 150 and

which will specifically address the leisureboat and fishing market.

“The existing fishing and leisure plansin the market were not as successful aswe’d hoped, because there was a highpenalty if you went outside of the plan.The overage charge was considered high.So what we’ve done is that we’veredressed it, and come up with two newsmall boat plans,” he told us.

“One is a global post-paid account,with no penalty and the same ratewhether you’re in plan or out of plan.There’s a minimum commitment and thenthere’s the same rate if you go out of that.The minimum is 5MB.”

“There is also a prepaid account, whichis available globally except in the UnitedStates, simply because at this point of timewe are not able to sell prepaid accounts inthe United States. It’s a legal issue. Thiswill be cheaper than the post-paidaccount. If you pay a minimum fee everymonth up front (like a subscription fee, tokeep the account active) you will have a

service that is cheaper.”Both of these services will be provided

at the 32 kbps bandwidth speed, withvoice calling charged at the same rate ason other FleetBroadband plans.

Mr Coles admits that the new offeringwill be positioned to compete directlywith Iridium services. Though Iridiumoffers its Pilot system (previouslyOpenPort) at 134 kbps, Mr Coles claimsthat the experience using his new servicewill be similar.

“In the fishing and leisure market I’mreally targeting the Iridium handset,which is a $1,500 product. Yes, it’s cheap-er, but it’s only 2.4 kbps in speed,” he said.

“(Our terminal will be) as fast as thenormal speed you will get on an IridiumOpenPort, though a FleetBroadband 150 ismuch smaller than an Iridium OpenPort,especially the antenna. It also means that small vessels, instead of using anIridium handset, will be able to use aFleetBroadband 150.”

“The 32 kbps is more or less guaran-teed, and we may provide different levelsof service. It could well be that we’ll havea 64 kbps service as well, using the sameantenna, but we just haven’t got to thatpoint yet. At 32 kbps, we believe that wewill actually be able to provide that levelof service, where Iridium claims to pro-vide it but doesn’t necessarily provide it.”

While the new product will target thefishing and leisure markets, it could alsobe an option for commercial vessel opera-tors looking for a low cost option for theirships that will offer basic communicationsfor a low monthly spend.

“The prepaid account will be the cheap-est service on the I-4 network. It shouldretail in the market at a rate of more than$100, but less than $150, per month for5MB. It might even be less than $100. Iknow what the wholesale rate is, but Idon’t know what retail will charge,” saidMr Coles.

“If they want to go into that area theywill have to pay a much higher rate thanthey pay in the current plans. What we’redoing is allowing people who want tospend less to spend less, as a total number.But they will pay a higher per-MB rate forthat service. This will be higher per MB,but much less commitment.”

Price warsThe release of these Small Vessel Plans,with their reduced monthly spendrequirements, comes at a time whenInmarsat has had to respond to a barrageof criticism concerning the recent

restructuring of its pricing for bothFleetBroadband and its Existing &Evolved (E&E) services, such as Inmarsat-B and Fleet.

These pricing changes were seizedupon by competitors and others with theirown vested interests as a way of attackingInmarsat with accusations of ‘arrogance’and ‘contempt for its customers’, as mightbe expected from those looking to profitfrom shifts in the market.

However, what will have really stungthe satellite operator will have been thepublic protestations of its own shippingcompany customers to the changes.

In particular, an Open Letter publishedin the May 2012 issue of Digital Ship fromGreek group AMMITEC (the Associationof Maritime Managers in InformationTechnology and Communications)described Inmarsat’s price changes as“morally questionable” and showing a“blatant disregard” for the customer base.

Although Mr Coles did offer a responseto these claims at that time, which waspublished alongside the AMMITEC letter,discontent regarding the pricing changeshas lingered. Digital Ship asked Mr Colesto expand on the thinking behind themove, and give us his reaction to the neg-ativity that has since been generated.

First up for discussion was the increasein price on the E&E services operating onthe Inmarsat-3 satellite network.

“I think it’s fair to say that there was alot of misinformation and a lot of noiseand a lot of misunderstanding at what wasactually going on. Inmarsat increased theprice (on E&E services) in two ways – firstof all, we took away the volume discountscheme between ourselves and our keypartners,” said Mr Coles.

“They knew that was coming, over thelast several years they knew it was some-thing that was a possibility in the newagreements. That shouldn’t have been asurprise to them. The way that was han-dled by the partners was different for eachpartner, and we don’t have any controlbetween what we do wholesale and whatthey do retail.”

“The reason we did it was partly that,as more and more ships transition off theI-3 satellites onto the I-4 satellites, we stillhave to continue to maintain the landEarth stations, the networks, the satellites.When you have less traffic there, you haveless to go around.”

It was put to Mr Coles that the marketwould expect that declining user numberswould have been part of any projected life-cycle of the satellite network, and that the

Having introduced a new pricing structure on May 1 2012, Inmarsat is to add to its portfolio with a new range ofSmall Vessel Plans. Will this new addition help to deflect some of the criticism that has resulted from its pricing

strategy? Digital Ship spoke to Frank Coles, Inmarsat Maritime, about the new plans and the issue of satcom costs

Small Vessel Plans add toInmarsat pricing debate

‘There was a lot of misinformation and a lot of noise and a lot of misunderstanding aboutthe price changes’ – Frank Coles, Inmarsat Maritime

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:21

Digital Ship


business plan should have anticipated thisreduction in users as part of the overallfinancial projections for the constellation.

“What we do as a commercial organisa-tion is no different to what anyone elsedoes – as a service goes away you increaseit to take care of the running costs,” he replied.

“We are naturally seeing more andmore customers going over toFleetBroadband, the transition has beenmuch quicker than we expected. And thispoints to something else, which is themuch quicker take-up of cheaper datacommunications that exists today in themaritime industry.”

Mr Coles notes that the actual evolutionof customers from E&E products like Inmarsat-B and Fleet on toFleetBroadband happened faster than thecompany had expected and had built intoits projections, and that this was one of thereasons for the change in pricing on theE&E systems.

“It’s no different than any other ITindustry and communications industry,and the way we all react. When comput-ers first came out people were slow tobuy them. Now, the moment there’s anew version of an iPad people jump to it. On a communications service, if youwant someone to buy the new service you make the old service more expen-sive,” he said.

“When Inmarsat-A came out it was outfor the longest time, we had to drag peo-ple kicking and screaming on to Inmarsat-

B. The move from –B to F77 was faster,and the move from –B and F77 toFleetBroadband has been much faster.9,000 terminals a year (onFleetBroadband) – that’s very, very fast.”

“The economics of running those (E&E)services are much more labour intensive –land Earth stations, for example, Vizadaand others have a large number of landEarth stations. We’ve made the new I-4service much more efficient from a net-work perspective, because you have fewerland Earth stations around the world. So(the E&E network) is inefficient comparedto FleetBroadband.”

FleetBroadband pricechanges

The argument of a declining number ofusers doesn’t apply to changes in the pric-ing of Inmarsat’s flagship FleetBroadbandproduct, which recently passed 30,000 ter-minal activations but was also subject toprice restructuring as of May 1st.

For FleetBroadband, Inmarsat has triedto alter the landscape by reducing the costof its larger plans to make it cheaper forships committing to many hundreds ofmegabytes and above, while increasingthe cost for lower level users on pay-as-you-go (PAYG) plans.

These changes were communicated tothe Inmarsat distribution channel at theturn of the year, though it appears thatthe lines of communication between thesatellite provider and the end user didnot function quite as well as Mr Coles

might have liked.“They (the distribution partners) found

out about it in January. We’re required togive them 90 days notice, and they weretold 30 January, I believe,” he said.

“It is fair to say that, in the previousmonth beforehand, there was discussionamongst partners. We don’t make anychanges without a discussion with thepartners – though we don’t always acceptthe information they provide.”

“We fulfilled our obligations. The factthat the partners sat on the information,and the fact that things were handled theway they were, made the nonsense andthe noise.”

This movement in pricing was partly motivated by a wish to removeFleetBroadband as an option for compet-ing VSAT providers wishing to offer an L-band back-up at a low cost, but also by awish to increase the use of bulk plansamong the customer base.

“We increased the price of the PAYGservice, we increased the minimum com-mitment and the per megabyte rate. Why?Because we probably underpriced it in thefirst place,” said Mr Coles.

“Secondly, it is much more inefficientfor us to run the network and to run aservice on a PAYG basis, than it is to sell abulk plan. So we increased the price on thePAYG service to our DPs (distributionpartners).”

“What we then did was make it muchmore attractive for people to commit tovolume plans. We didn’t change the price

of the entry plan. We did take voice out,but that’s the way it is treated in the VSATmarket and in the general communica-tions market – voice is kept separate fromdata. We want there to be clarity abouthow much data you are using and howmuch voice you are using.”

The removal of voice calling from thesepackages has been one of the issues thathas caused the most anger among shipoperators. Previously, companies couldbuy an allowance or bundle that wouldallow them to deduct both voice and datafrom their total as it was used.

Under the new FleetBroadband pric-ing system however, each voice call ischarged separately, in addition to thedata plan – for example, a company thathas signed for a 200MB monthly plan butonly uses 150MB cannot convert its extra50MB into voice calls, as it may have pre-viously been able to.

Some customers have complained thatthis will add a new voice calling bill totheir monthly data plan spend, and assuch push up their costs significantly. MrColes however believes that the differenceshould not be extreme in most cases.

“It doesn’t make it an awful lot moreexpensive. (Using voice as part of a moneybundle) wasn’t always passed on by theservice provider, and the service providerwas getting the benefit and the end userwas not. We’re trying to give clarity andvisibility to the end user,” he said.

“We increased the price of the PAYGplan, but all other plans either stayed the

Visit us in Hall B6, stand no. 100

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:22

SATCOMS


same or reduced in price, to our DPs. Allthe bulk plans.”

According to Digital Ship’s understand-ing of the profile of commercial shippingcustomers using satcoms, based on infor-mation from various providers ofInmarsat services, the majority of vesselsoperate on a budget of less than $500 permonth when it comes to communications.

This group would be those most likelyto be negatively affected by the pricingchanges, and includes shipping compa-nies that have claimed that their budgetswill come under enormous pressure as a result.

Mr Coles disputes that the majority ofusers falls within this bracket however,and notes that, in general, the cost of satel-lite communications has fallen dramatical-ly in the last couple of decades and isstill great value, even with any increase in costs.

“Originally the Standard plan (PAYG)was a 6MB service – we made it a 10MBservice. We asked for a 10MB commitmentand increased the per MB rate. In truth, ifsomeone stayed on that plan and sent anamount of data in the 50MB range, itmight be about $90 per month more incost,” he said.

“Let’s take a step back here – we havereduced the cost of satellite communica-tions systematically for the last 30 years. You can now send data on aFleetBroadband package, depending on the package you buy, for well under $1per MB.”

“But our revenue shows that you arelow on the $500. Our average ARPU (aver-age revenue per user) is higher than $500,and we’re the wholesaler. The number ofdeep sea ships spending less than $500 permonth is very little.”

Averages, of course, do not quite tell

the full story in this regard – if a group offive ships has four using 10MB and anoth-er using 1GB, the average will offer a dif-ferent picture to the reality. However, as awholesaler Mr Coles notes he is not in aposition to accurately determine traffic ona per ship basis, and so cannot confidentlyconfirm or refute any such figure.

Customer communicationWhile Mr Coles accepts that there hasbeen criticism from particular sectors ofthe customer base and that elements of theprice restructuring have led to a backlashfrom some quarters, he insists thatInmarsat customers have not been unfair-ly treated.

“We are talking to our customers, andwe won’t always do things that they mightlike. But I dispute that there’s been anykind of gouging, and I certainly disputethat we’re not trying to service the cus-tomer,” he said.

“We’re seeing a trend towards moreand more data, and we have made all ofour data plans cheaper and cheaper. It isstill cheaper, even at the Entry level, to useInmarsat satellite service globally than it isto roam on a cell phone.”

“All of the people who are complainingare using cell phones and probably run-ning up bills at a per MB rate that is far inexcess of what Inmarsat charges. I’m nottrying to be arrogant about it, but let’s takea step back and take a look at what’s real-ly going on here.”

Mr Coles does concede, however, thatthe whole process could have been han-dled differently, and looking back acceptsthat mistakes may have been made, partic-ularly with regard to the timing of therestructuring.

“You never get it right for everybody.Did we make a mistake? Perhaps one mis-

take, which we could have done right, isthat we could have announced this earli-er,” he said.

“With the benefit of hindsight, I wouldprobably do it at the end of the year, andwe should have done it earlier to time it tothe budgets (of the customers). Perhapswe would have adjusted the Small VesselPlan as well at the same time.”

“I can understand that there was somedisappointment, but I’m not sure whatelse to say. Business is an iterative process,and we’re moving in that direction. I thinkI can say that it’s hardly likely that there’llbe any increase in prices in the nearfuture.”

While these criticisms are seen as justi-fied, it is talk of ‘arrogance’ and‘monopoly’ that Mr Coles feels is an inac-curate portrayal of the situation.

“I accept the criticism that we probablycould have timed it better and given morenotice. I do not accept the criticism that wehave sought to behave in a monopolistfashion, because I don’t believe that we’rea monopoly. I don’t accept the positionthat we have attempted to gouge cus-tomers, because we have a complete set ofpricing plans and a complete choice forthe customers to adjust,” he said.

“Is it true that the costs of communica-tions may have gone up for some users?For those who use very little, that is true.For those who are more committed to theuse of Inmarsat communications, theircosts may well have gone down.”

“I can’t say it plainer than that, but I’mhappy to go and meet any shipping indus-try company. I’ve stood and faced myaccusers, such as at (Digital Ship) confer-ences, which you facilitated.”

Mr Coles believes that, despite theprotestations of some shipping compa-nies, for the majority of Inmarsat cus-

tomers the effect of the price changes isneutral.

“It depends how the partner has treat-ed the communications, but most cus-tomers should see no more change than $3per day, $90 per month. A maximumincrease should be about $3 per day(wholesale price), and that’s if they did notmove off their plan,” he said.

“It depends on how many megabytesthey’re sending. If all they send is 10MBeach month, then I think their price hasgone up about $1 per day. If a guy sends25MB per day, at our level he’s gone upmaybe a little over $2 per day. Thereshouldn’t be anyone going beyond anextra $3 per day, at the wholesale level.”

“Going beyond 70-80MB per day youshould be reaching a situation where youcan get a 200MB package for the sameprice. I did all the pricing on that basis, togive people who are around that averagelevel (of 70MB) an extra 130MB for thesame price. Those were the exact specificsof how I priced it. But 70MB of datashould be buying you the Entry level plananyway – and then you’ve got space torun your business.”

To extend this point further, Mr Colesbelieves that one result of the pricerestructuring will be that vessel operatorswill take a closer look at their communica-tions agreements and may begin to moveto service plans that are better suited totheir specific requirements.

In the end, he believes that this willbenefit the shipping company and the dis-tribution channel, as well as Inmarsatitself.

“Part of the adjustments we’ve madeare also to protect our distribution chan-nel, that was in danger of driving itself outof business,” said Mr Coles.

“We need them to survive, to distrib-ute our products. We’ve given them anopportunity to realign themselves so they can continue to make money, andcontinue to provide our services on aglobal basis.”

“We’ve seen a lot of realignment inservice plans, which probably means thatcustomers have probably gone into pric-ing plans that they should have been in inthe first place. Things are slow to move,and a lot of people were on the wrongplan in the first place. Which probablymeans that actually some people may nothave seen their costs go up at all.”

With the discussion at an end, themajor conclusion that can be taken fromthis examination of Inmarsat’s pricingchanges is that Mr Coles genuinelybelieves that the approximately $90 pership per month that he is asking for tohave FleetBroadband onboard representsvalue to the customer.

However, the issue is one of perception– it’s hard to argue that $3 per day is a lotof money when it would barely buy a talllatte at Starbucks, but if you are a $500 permonth customer then $3 per day is anincrease of about 18 per cent, which couldbe more difficult to swallow.

Of course, the prices vary and the num-bers will need to be adjusted in every case.But at any rate, it is whether the customershares the ‘latte a day’ view or sees it as alarge percentage price rise that may holdthe key to the success, or otherwise, of thisnew pricing strategy. DS

The removal of voice calling from package plans has caused disappointment among some Inmarsat customers

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:22

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provider to lease hub space and estab-lish their own HTS service with full control of the network and service being offered to their customer.

3. Traditional VSAT Operator: This model is what has been available for many years and is common in Ku- and C-band services. A service provider can put up their own hub infrastruc-ture or co-locate a hub in the satellite operator’s teleport and purchase band-width from the satellite operator to manage and control as they desire.

If some of this seems familiar, it should.While high-throughput satellites changethe value chain for satellite operators andservice providers, not much is different fora maritime customer who is getting serv-ice from a provider.

Here again, a maritime customer seesthe ultimate benefit of high-throughputsatellites through increased capacity,lower cost hardware and less expensiveservice options.

They will still be working with themajor providers of satellite communica-tion services that they work with today,these operators will just have moreoptions in terms of where they get theirbandwidth and what types of servicesthey offer to their customers.

Several leading satellite operators havealready announced high-throughput satel-lite networks.

In 2013, Inmarsat plans to launchGlobal Xpress, its global Ka-band broad-band network. Meanwhile, Intelsat plansto offer the EpicNG platform, which com-bines C-, Ku- and Ka-band capacity for aglobal network.

There are also many opportunities forregional high-throughput satellite cover-age from operators like Telenor, Avantiand O3b that will open up interestingservice options for specific segments.

With these and other high-throughputofferings, operators are giving serviceproviders an easy opportunity to delivertheir own high-throughput services.

With more capacity available to servethe market, maritime customers will havemore options for choosing a VSAT-basedbroadband solution that meets theirneeds. And with more availability options,maritime companies can expect to seelower prices, more value-added features,and other benefits.

Making the switchGiven that there will be more choice forend users, what are some of the things thatmaritime customers should do to plan forthis important change in the industry?

This is by no means an exhaustive list,but here are some of the preliminary steps

SATCOMS


The upcoming launch of a number of new high-throughput VSAT satellites in both the Ku- and Ka-bands by various operators will significantly increase the capacity available, and should help to drive down

data costs, writes Terry Neumann, iDirect

High-Throughput Satellites to cut maritime data costs

AA s communications requirementshave evolved over the lastdecade, demand for satellite serv-

ices in the commercial maritime sector hasgrown significantly.

To meet this demand, and deliver reliable broadband connectivity for everything from crew welfare to improv-ing operational productivity, ship opera-tors have increasingly turned to VSATsolutions.

Now, with a host of new high-through-put satellites on the horizon, VSAT isbecoming an even more essential compo-nent of maritime communications net-works, making satellite connectivity moreaffordable, powerful, and dynamic thanever before.

When it comes to high-throughputsatellites, the keyword is capacity.

For as long as satellite technology hasexisted, one of the main barriers to adopt-ing satellite has been its cost. With limitedsatellite capacity, bandwidth has tradi-tionally been a somewhat scarce commod-ity, forcing satellite operators to chargehigher prices.

With the launch of high-throughputsatellites, however, new Ka-band and Ku-band capacity is coming, which meanssatellite operators will have more flexibili-ty in how they price bandwidth.

This change will have significant impli-cations for the economics of the satelliteindustry. Luckily, in the case of maritimeend users, all of them will be good andhere’s why.

Because bandwidth will become moreabundant, capacity will become lessexpensive for satellite operators. As such,operators have the option of selling capacity to a greater number of users for alower cost. However, that is only half ofthe equation.

As their name suggests, high-through-put satellites will deliver higher through-put rates for end users. This is essential asmaritime customers seek to implementhigher bandwidth applications, such asenterprise resource planning, remote ITsolutions, video conferencing, and more.

Given that high-throughput satellitesare poised to offer more capacity, and thushigher throughput, this presents a fewinteresting options for satellite operators.

They can either provide users with bet-ter throughput at the same price that theyare currently paying, or they can provideusers with bandwidth at the samethroughput level, but for a significantlylower cost per MB.

However a satellite operator chooses toprice its services, maritime end users endup winning. They either increase thestrength of their existing investment in

VSAT or they expand VSAT to more oftheir fleet at a lower cost.

When you factor in the lower capitalexpenditures associated with high-throughput satellites, the picture becomeseven prettier for maritime users.

High-throughput satellite terminalswill be smaller in size, easier to install andquicker to deploy onboard a vessel. Assuch, the overall CapEx required will beless than traditional VSAT services haverequired in the past.

Maritime customers will also see moreintegrated terminals where the antennamanufacturers have built all the infra-structure and functionality into a morecontained unit.

This means current VSAT users canupgrade their existing networks to accom-modate high-throughput satellites quicklyand efficiently. It also means that ships notusing VSAT can deploy the technology forthe first time at a lower cost, opening up agreater segment of the maritime marketthat includes small to mid-sized shippingcompanies, fishing vessels, yachts, andother specialised vessels.

High-throughput value chain

In addition to impacting the cost of satel-lite capacity, high-throughput satelliteswill also have a strong impact on the waythat satellite is delivered to end users.

By their nature, high-throughout satel-lites are fundamentally different in termsof design and ground segment require-

ments than traditional satellites.Traditional satellites use large regionalbeams that cover an entire footprint withfixed capacity.

Any service provider can own a huband teleport and offer services to cus-tomers as long as they’re in the satellitefootprint.

By contrast, high-throughput satellitesemploy multiple spot beams to increasecapacity through a process called frequen-cy reuse. These spot beams will bring

focused capacity to a specific area, ensur-ing that required capacity is availablethroughout key commercial shipping andtrade routes.

Due to the number of beams beingused, a service provider would not have ahub or earth station within a single beam.

For a satellite service provider thismeans there will be a number of optionsfor how they can get and offer service to the maritime market. Here are just acouple of examples of how the servicesmight work. 1. Managed Service: A satellite operator

may decide to offer a managed service. In this model the satellite operator would control the satellite, teleport, hub infrastructure and all network operations and the service provider would manage the service provisioning and relationship with the end customer.

2. Virtual Network Operator: In this model a satellite operator will own the satellite, teleport and control the hub infrastructure, but will allow a service

Service on high-throughput satellites could be offered via a number of different business models

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:22

that maritime customers should take toprepare for high-throughput satellites.1. Discuss high-throughput satellites

with your current service provider – If a maritime company currently usesVSAT technology, they should look at when their contract expires and begin planning for their next contract now. Many providers will be able to offer a range of VSAT services and high-throughput satellites may just fit into part of a broader connectivity solution. Maritime customers should ask their service provider partner about their plans for high-throughput satellites and what their strategy is for adding this technology to their portfolio. Ask about pricing, new features, and what

it would take to upgrade.2. Research the technology – Learn more

about what constitutes a high -throughput satellite network to see whether you’re currently equipped for high-throughput satellite capacity. Again, you will want to talk with your satellite service provider to learn more about what it might take to capitalise on the expanded capacity.

3. Understand your application require-ments – Maritime companies mayhave a long wish list when it comes tocommunications. Make sure that there is an understanding throughout your organisations about the increased capabilities that satellite can now offer.Find out the application requirements

from the different parts of your organ-isation including HR, Operations, Procurement and IT. They may want high-speed internet access, streaming video, efficient ship-to-shore commu-nications, business collaboration tools, and more. High-throughput satellites promise to make many of these appli-cations a reality.

As you discuss high-throughput satellites with your service provider, explain what applications you want and see whether they can provide them.

Ultimately, high-throughput satellites willexpand the adoption of maritime broad-band connectivity for the betterment of theentire industry.

They will offer a more cost efficientway to deliver high-quality communica-tions, global coverage, and seamlessmobility, giving maritime companies theflexibility to choose the services they needto expand and improve their business andthe lives of the crew onboard. DS

About the authorTerry �eumann isdirector of corporatemarketing at iDirect.iDirect provides a VSATplatform used by mar-

itime satellite service providers to deliversolutions to the maritime market.

Digital Ship


www.batswireless.comwww.cambiumnetworks.com

Cambium Networks and Broadband AntennaTracking Systems (BATS Wireless) are to provide awireless point-to-point (PTP) radio and antenna track-ing solution which will be incorporated as part of a 4Gmobile communications networking project for the USNavy.

The project, being led by Oceus Networks and usingits Xiphos family of mobile 4G LTE network systems,will see the system to provide onboard and ship-to-ship broadband data and communications piloted bythe Navy as the first US Department of Defense opera-tional deployment of Fourth Generation Long-TermEvolution (4G LTE).

The Cambium and BATS Wireless systems will pro-vide a ruggedised, self-optimising wireless networkfor ship-to-shore, inter-ship or intra-ship broadbandapplications.

The systems also allow for a number of mobilityscenarios, including fixed (tower to tower, building tobuilding), fixed to mobile (ship to shore, air to ground),and fully mobile deployments (ship to ship, air tomobile command).

“By incorporating BATS antenna tracking capabili-ties and Cambium’s strong and reliable PTP systeminto our Xiphos-based solution, we’re able to offerdefense customers a broadband solution that willallow ships to communicate with each other even inthe harshest ocean conditions,” said Cal Shintani, chiefgrowth officer, Oceus Networks.

Time is of the Essence

Automatic ship-shore replication of crew and payroll information. For more information, visit www.adonis.no

4G networks for US Navy

www.skywave.comwww.kemilink.com

Kemilinks International has become the first companyto deploy the Inmarsat IsatData Pro system fromSkyWave Mobile Communications, integrating theservice with its Fuel Monitoring System.

Kemilinks’ Fuel Monitoring System is built to inter-face with any flow meter model and other sensors suchas engine control panel, anemometer and GPS, to cap-ture data regarding engine RPM, engine load, pro-peller pitch, propeller load and rudder angle.

Data can be sent back to shore over the IsatDataPro satellite system, allowing graphical trending

reports to be analysed at the vessel’s corporate headquarters, to determine the best ways to maximiseefficiency.

IsatData Pro can deliver up to 10,000 bytes of infor-mation to the device and up to 6,400 bytes from thedevice.

“The efficiency this design offers to onshore man-agement is unrivalled and it comes at a very cost effec-tive price,” said S. H. Tay, director of marketing andprojects for Kemilinks International.

“Benefits include always knowing the location andoperational performance of the vessel and having thecapability to immediately make effective directives tocorrect operational inefficiencies.”

IsatData Pro integrated into Fuel Monitoring system

www.vizada.com

Vizada has announced that it is to extend the coveragearea of its Pharostar Ku-band VSAT service, and isintroducing a range of new packages to appeal to awider section of the market.

Pharostar’s coverage area is planned to be extendedtwice this year, to offer services for vessels operating inthe South Atlantic and Indian oceans. The service canbe combined with a mobile satellite service (MSS)back-up for full global coverage.

The new range of service plans will be based on‘data allowances’, differing from a more common‘throughput-based’ VSAT offering. Packages will start

from 5GB for an airtime cost of $1,000, with top-upoptions available.

New 60cm and 80cm Ku-band antennas have beenalso been added to the portfolio, to supplement theexisting 1m version. Data rates of up to 1.5Mbps willbe offered.

“These additions are the latest components in ourstrategy to offer the largest choice to the maritime com-munity and to develop the most comprehensive mar-itime broadband solutions portfolio in the market,”said Ghani Behloul, Vizada chief marketing officer.

“They will allow us to welcome more vessels ontoour network and contribute to improve the service forthe existing ones.”

Vizada extends VSAT service

p1-17:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:22

A permanent window on an international fleet

Imtech Ad Connectivity 2.0 566x382.indd 1 27-6-2012 18:08:43

p18-26:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:32 Page 1

Randall Miller received the message just after the board meeting. MV Hemingway was forced to change course, due to an emergency in the next port of call. Recently Randall had selected Imtech Marine as their connectivity supplier. The promise of hassle-free solutions was delivered right away. Thanks to the global VSAT connection he could set up a crystal clear video conference with the captain, the cargo owner and port authorities. An alternative route was quickly agreed, the delay limited to mere hours.

Imtech Marine’s connectivity solutions excel by their global coverage and value added services. Find out more at www.imtechmarine.com/connectivity.

Randall Miller received the message just after the board meeting. MV Hemingway was forced to change course, due to an emergency in the next port of call. Recently Randall had selected Imtech Marine as their connectivity supplier. The promise of hassle-free solutions was delivered right away. Thanks to the global VSAT connection he could set up a crystal clear video conference with the captain, the cargo owner and port authorities. An alternative route was quickly agreed, the delay limited to mere hours.

Imtech Marine’s connectivity solutions excel by their global coverage and value added services. Find out more at www.imtechmarine.com/connectivity.

p18-26:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:32 Page 2

Erria agrees Intelloship deal


SOFTWARE

www.abb.com

Rickmers Group in Germany has agreeda deal with ABB to supply advisory sys-tems for dynamic trim optimisation andfleet management solutions for fivemulti-purpose vessels operated byRickmers-Linie.

The technology will be used to operatethe vessels in the most efficient way possi-ble, to save on fuel consumption.

ABB’s trim optimisation system aims todo this by dynamically measuring theactual trim and advises the crew on opti-mal floating position of the ship via arange of displays.

All data generated onboard is alsotransferred to a cloud based applicationfor vessel benchmarking. This providesthe management onshore with full visibil-ity of the fleet’s energy consumption, as allsystems are connected together by theABB system.

Together these systems form what ABBcalls its Advisory Suite of software prod-ucts, newly developed by the company

after an expansion of its portfolio of prod-ucts for Vessel Information and Controlsystems in 2011.

The range now includes integratedautomation, vessel management and con-trol systems, as well as marine instrumen-tation and sensors, which can all be com-bined to improve performance.

The installation of the system will bedone vessel by vessel, with the first systemexpected to be commissioned in the thirdquarter of 2012.

The complete system for five vessels isexpected to be fully operational by the endof year.

“With current fuel prices, the estimat-ed payback of the system is less than ayear,” said Mikko Lepistö, advisory sys-tems manager for ABB’s marine andcranes business.

“Through industry experience andtests on-board we are certain that ourtrim optimisation system can help ourcustomers save up to 5 per cent in fuelconsumption and consequently reduceemissions significantly.”

Rickmers to implement ABB technology

www.intellocorp.com

Software developer Intellocorp hasannounced that it has agreed a new dealwith Erria A/S, a Denmark-headquarteredcompany managing a fleet of 43 ships.

Erria had been using a trial version ofIntellocorp's new SaaS (Software as aService) program Intelloship on one of itscombined dry-cargo and container ships,but officially signed a fleet-wide contractfor the service before the trial period washalf way through.

“We chose Intellocorp as they have avast knowledge and understanding of theindustry,” says Erria managing director,Henrik Andersen.

“After just a few weeks, we gained abetter picture of our business. There is nobacklog in the office, and the dashboard isavailable 24/7, 365 days a year.”

Intelloship, launched earlier this year, isdesigned to give real-time data on fuel per-formance, crew performance and severalother key performance indicators (KPIs)for a variety of container, cargo, cruise andRo/Ro vessels. Data is provided at sea aswell as onshore to company executives.

Intellocorp used Microsoft technolo-gies and tools to build Intelloship, whichruns in the Microsoft Azure cloud infra-structure. Microsoft has since invitedIntellocorp to become a new strategicpartner.

“Microsoft did a great job in makingthis happen and we had great success,”said Intellocorp CEO, Morten Bjoern.

Ship operators can use the software toview fleet information in one place, theExecutive Dashboard which is constantlyupdated. This allows for transparency ofdata across fleets and from ship to shore.

Intellocorp says that the biggest bene-fits of the system are that it is web-based,requiring no on-site installation unless the

user chooses the On-Premise version, andtherefore needs no local maintenance.

“Companies are looking for advancedsoftware systems to monitor their fuelperformance, and more, and typicallyend up making huge investments,” saidMr Bjoern.

“Some programs can cost millions ofdollars to develop, plus you also have theadded high cost of software analysts. Allof this is removed with Intelloship.”

Intelloship also incorporates LDAP(Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)user authentication, Excel spreadsheetweb uploads, filtering capabilities, bench-marking and a ‘lite’ design to minimisebandwidth requirements.

Users can download cumulative trenddata directly from the website in Excel for-mat and integrate it with Crystal Reportsor other Microsoft tools, while a historicalarchive of all voyage reports entered intothe system in Excel format is available,accessed via the Dashboard.

Intellocorp says that a future release ofthe system will include a ‘Data Threshold’feature where data validation will rangebetween minimum and maximum valuesand trigger alerts if it doesn't meet speci-fied criteria. These alerts can be sent via e-mail or automated phone call.

“Making data work for the customer isour prime directive,” said Mr Bjoern.

“Most companies only utilise between5-10 per cent of the data collected to mon-itor vessel performance. But now they canget back to the basics by using the datathey already have available while havingour software help analyse it.”

“Then they'll have a clear, failsafe deci-sion-making tool that has minimal risk andhuge savings. As Erria A/S now knows,this is business intelligence at its best.”

The Intelloship program is available fora fixed monthly fee.

Rickmers will use the new systems to reduce fuel consumption on its ships

www.aveva.com

AVEVA has introduced an enhancedversion of its instrumentation and control engineering software, AVEVAInstrumentation 12.1, available for bothplant and marine environments.

New functionality introduced for thisversion includes an improved interface,with enhanced graphical engineeringcapabilities. This allows tabular data suchas component references to be representedat the click of a button.

The company says that the latest ver-sion of the software has been designedand tested in collaboration with AVEVAcustomers, who have demonstrated signif-icant man-hour savings.

“AVEVA Instrumentation has provento be a highly successful engineeringproduct for AVEVA,” said Bruce Douglas,senior vice president- marketing & prod-uct strategy, AVEVA.

“AVEVA Instrumentation integrateswith AVEVA Electrical, which is a com-pelling piece of additional functionality tothis platform. No other supplier providessuch close synchronisation between thesetwo important disciplines enabling trueintegration.”

“We are excited to be able to providethe plant and marine markets with twomission-critical applications that are sotightly integrated and offer our customerssuch compelling quality improvementsand efficiency savings.”

www.dakosy.dewww.linescape.com

DAKOSY AG, the port community sys-tem for the Port of Hamburg, hasannounced a cooperation agreementwith vessel data company Linescapewhereby DAKOSY will provide its mem-bers with access to Linescape’s databaseof sailing schedules.

In addition to the existing 'Hamburgship departure list' DAKOSY can nowalso offer current sailing schedules for 8 million voyages from over 120 con-tainer carriers, with approximately

9,000 ships and through 3,000 portsworldwide.

"Our cooperation with Linescapebrings many advantages to our cus-tomers," said Dieter Spark, member ofthe board of DAKOSY.

"Customers can save much time andeffort in transport planning when theyhave a comprehensive overview of ship schedules directly integrated intoorder processing.”

“This avoids searching by externaltools, where data must be collected manually, and thereby avoids data entryerrors."

Vessel sailing schedules addedto Hamburg port data system

Instrumentation software updated by AVEVA

p18-26:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:32 Page 3

Digital Ship


www.amarcon.com

Subsea 7 has ordered the OCTOPUSmotion monitoring and ship responseforecast system from Amarcon for therecently delivered Pipelay/Heavy Liftvessel Seven Borealis.

In addition to the onboard motionmonitoring and forecast functionality,the Seven Borealis shall also beequipped with DP Capability Forecast,to enable the production of DP(Dynamic Positioning) plots based onforecast thruster utilisation.

This tool provides a forecast, displayedwithin the OCTOPUS-Onboard software,

showing how the vessel will be able tomaintain its position and heading inchanging environmental and weather con-ditions, hours and days ahead.

By using the OCTOPUS-Online serviceall the collected motions and accelerationsfrom the Seven Borealis will be sent to acentral database server, allowing autho-rised users at the Subsea 7 office to viewand analyze the recorded motion andacceleration data.

Subsea 7 has also ordered Amarcon’shydrodynamic analysis software OCTO-PUS-Office, for calculation of sea keepingcharacteristics for the Seven Borealis priorto new pipe lay projects.

AVEVA has expanded its LatinAmerican presence by opening an office inChile. The office in Santiago de Chile willserve a number of Latin American coun-tries providing sales and support forAVEVA’s entire product portfolio.

SpecTec has appointed EvanEfstathiou as executive director of SpecTec

Americas. Mr Efstathiou previouslyworked at Veson Nautical as directorof client services.

www.spectec.net

SpecTec has launched a new version ofAMOS Mail, with version 9.2 offeringoptimisation and compression algorithmswhich the company says could save up to80 per cent on satcom costs.

Integration with SpecTec’s other software applications, within AMOSBusiness Suite and the AMOS2 EnterpriseManagement Suite, has also beenimproved.

Like version 9.1, the new upgradedapplication runs on Sybase, Oracle andMicrosoft SQL Server Database manage-ment systems, with MySQL supportrecently introduced.

AMOS Mail is compatible with allMicrosoft Operating Systems, both 32 and 64 bit, Windows 8 included, andincludes a native interface to MicrosoftExchange Server.

On the user side, new interface cus-tomisation options have been added,

including Spotlights and Smart Folders toassist in organising and searching mes-sages, and a Message Categories functionto facilitate invoicing communicationcosts to different areas.

“The efforts we are spending on theproduct to add new features and make the existing one better are remark-able,” said Alberto Rinaldo, AMOS Mail product manager.

“The AMOS Mail Team is workinghard implementing features the customerswere asking from years, but also engineer-ing brand new applications the customerswill take advantage from in the future.”

“Right now we are working to addsome extra protection while exchangingdata with the office and to optimise thecommunication protocols when workingon the latest broadband satellite equip-ment. The new features will be intro-duced on AMOS Mail 9.3.0, which isplanned to be released before the end ofthe year.”

Subsea 7 to install OCTOPUS

The Seven Borealis has installed the monitoring system

AMOS Mail 9.2 introduced

www.aveva.comwww.spectec.net

Keep trimDynamic fore and aft trim measurement by Marinestar can lead to more economical use of bunker fuel.

Fugro Satellite Positioning, NorwayTel: +47 21 50 14 00 Fax: +47 21 50 14 01E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.fugromarinestar.com

WHEN EFFICIENCY COUNTS...

...COUNT ON

p18-26:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:32 Page 4


Data safety book launched

SOFTWARE

www.sener.es

Three months after being established,SENER Korea Engineering and SystemsCo (SKES) has won its first contract, alicence agreement with KR EngineeringCo (KRE) for the use of FORAN, SENER’s3D-model based software for ship designand production.

The FORAN modules for hull form gen-eration, hull structure, outfitting and draft-ing are being implemented at KRE's officesin Seoul and Busan, while end-users arebeing trained at SKES facilities in Busan.

KRE was established in 1997 by theKorean Register of Shipping (KR). Thecompany carries out consulting, designand inspection activities in shipbuildingand other industries.

SENER is hopeful that the agreementwith KRE will expand the user base for itsFORAN system in Korea, and also help toexpand business opportunities across Asiathrough wider collaboration between KREand SENER.

SENER agreesKorean deal

www.crewinspector.com

HAV Ship Management Kaliningrad andBachmannHR Group Ltd are both toimplement online crew management soft-ware systems, following the agreement ofcontracts between the respective compa-nies and CrewInspector.com.

CrewInspector will provide an onlinecrew management database, an integratedonline application system for seafarers,and crew payroll software.

The crew management system allowscrew managers to create seafarer employ-ment contracts, monitor certificate expiry and organise crew planning across the fleet.

Based on crew employment contracts, a

payroll module assists in calculating crewwages and respective deductions.

HAV Ship Management Kaliningradwill use the system to manage crew for its26 dry-cargo ships under management,classified by Germanischer Lloyd and car-rying bulk and general cargoes.

There are currently about 450 Russianseafarers working for the company.

BachmannHR Group will use the sys-tem across its group of companies, to inte-grate the crewing process.

“We introduced CrewInspector intoour company in the spring of 2011 and weare using it with more and more clients,”said Nick Saul, managing director atBachmannHR Group.

“What we like is the fact that it is web-based and can be set up with the mini-mum of fuss and complication. Our clientslove it as they too are able to see what ishappening to the crew and best of all wecan control what everyone sees.”

“The CrewInspector team are respon-sive and keen to sort any problems (big orsmall) and have been accommodating onany changes we have asked for.”

In other news, CrewInspector has alsoannounced the release of a new onlineapplication specifically tailored for mobilephone and tablets, to allow users to accessthe crew management database throughtheir mobile phone carrier network.

The app is specially optimised formobile phones with the aim of minimisingdata traffic, and specifically controllingroaming costs while users are travelling indifferent countries.

It is available on a variety of platforms,including Apple iOS, Android, WindowsPhone, Blackberry, Palm WebOS, FirefoxMobile, Chrome for Android, OperaMobile, Samsung bada, and NokiaSymbian.

Crew software deals for HAV and BachmannHR

The online crew management system cannow be accessed via mobile apps

www.imca-int.com

The International Marine ContractorsAssociation has published a new book toprovide guidance designed to minimise orprevent unnecessary corruption and/orloss of data in the use of IT systems.

‘Guidelines on the Safe Management ofSurvey and Inspection Data’ (IMCA S 020)aims to help users understand how tosafely handle large volumes of material,looking at the risks involved, and how toaddress and mitigate them.

The book has been written from aproject perspective, addressing the vari-ous aspects of data management that can occur during the project lifecycle,from the preparation phase through toproject completion.

“The real cost of corrupted or lost dataon a project can be significant, particularlyif any re-working is required. It is impor-tant that proper systems are in place toprotect data and ensure it is safelyarchived and delivered to the end client orend user,” explains IMCA’s technicaldirector, Jane Bugler.

“The principles outlined in our newpublication can be applied to any surveyor inspection data, from acquisition phaseto final end delivery and archiving, irre-spective of the volume of data, projectduration or complexity, and are intendedto ensure data security and quality.”

The guidance is available for down-loading free of charge for members andnon-members alike from the IMCA web-site at www.imca-int.com.

16 Grinrod ships to install BASS www.bassnet.no

Grindrod Shipping has signed a deal to implement the BASSnet FleetManagement System on 16 vessels.

Grindrod’s shipping division, head-quartered in Singapore with a technicalmanagement team based in South Africa,will implement the BASS software on nineproduct and chemical tankers and anadditional seven dry cargo vessels techni-cally managed by the company’s thirdparty managers.

The implementation project com-menced in January of this year and includ-ed the use of various dashboard applica-tions for functions including maintenance,procurement, human resource manage-ment, safety management and vetting,and management reporting.

In mid-February, a team from GrindrodShipping visited BASS Software’s opera-tional office in Kuala Lumpur, where thefull transformation project to BASSnetkicked off with a series of discussionsbetween the two parties.

“Our choice of BASSnet is logical, as we are very confident of BASS’s arrayof products, having diligently appraisedtheir presentations and conductedresearch of our own,” said QuentinFoyle, general manager – marine,Grindrod Shipping.

“Furthermore, our dry bulk thirdparty ship manager, Sandigan Shipping,also uses the BASS systems totechnically manage their vessel opera-tions efficiently.”

“Now we can streamline our maritimeprocesses effectively.”

www.grc.qinetiq.com

The RMK Marine shipyard in Tuzla Bay,Turkey, is to implement the Paramarinemarine design software, developed byQinetiQ GRC, for manoeuvring analysis.

“We were looking for a software solu-tion that had extensive manoeuvring func-tionality that would be easy to use andintegrate into our existing systems,” saidErsin Koyunoglu, CAD application engi-

Turkish yard implements Paramarineneering, IT department, RMK Marine.

“We selected Paramarine based on itstrack record and its proven capabilitiesdeveloped from operating in both thecommercial and defence markets.”

The capabilities of the Paramarine sys-tem have recently been extended with therelease of a new version with enhance-ments to its reporting, concurrent designand documentation functions.

“The sale of Paramarine to RMK

Marine represents another step in the takeup of our solution in the commercial mar-ket,” said Vittorio Vagliani, managingdirector, QinetiQ GRC.

“In addition to establishing ourselvesin Turkey it demonstrates the increasinglyglobal nature of our extensive customerbase. Over the last twelve months we haveadded a significant number of new cus-tomers in both the defence and the com-mercial markets across the world.”

www.axsmarine.com

AXSMarine has introduced AXSDry4.0 toreplace its current AXSDry software, usedto manage chartering information.

AXSDry4.0 will offer access to embed-ded databases to improve analysis capabil-ities, and will feature an updated naviga-tion system.

Two new optional features have been

Chartering data software system updatedadded, the first being a new auto-e-mailupdater called AXSReader. This systemautomatically recognises e-mail text andupdates vessel positions into clients data-base views, with an approximately 90 percent recognition rate.

For an additional fee, adjustments forthe remaining ~10 per cent can be provid-ed by the AXSMarine team.

The other new feature is embedded

AIS information, which allows users to see live vessel positions and port traf-fic, and compare AIS with commercialpositions.

AXSMarine sources this data under acommercial agreement with VesselTracker and exactEarth.

All of these new capabilities includeAXSMarine’s databases for vessels, portsand distance.

p18-26:p1-14.qxd 29/06/2012 11:32 Page 5


Digital Ship

www.seagull.nowww.videotel.com

Seagull and Videotel have both intro-duced new CBT programmes, withSeagull offering training in ship security,and Videotel introducing courses forlifting appliance surveys and dynamicpositioning.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority(NMA) has recently approved the newship security training package by Seagull,which the company says can be used toassist in compliance with the Manilaamendments to the STCW Conventionand Code.

The revised STCW, which came intoforce in January this year, introduces morestringent requirements for onboard securi-ty training, with particular provisionsdesigned to ensure seafarers are properlytrained in case their ship comes underattack by pirates.

Seagull's new security training courseswill be available in September of this year,and the courses have also been certified byclassification society DNV through theSeaSkill programme.

Seagull has developed two new CBTtraining levels - Level 1, covering security-related familiarisation and awareness forall seafarers, and Level 2, for seafarerswith designated security duties.

Level 1 includes two e-learning mod-ules; one on security awareness and one on piracy and armed robbery. Theseare supplemented by a workbook with

exercises and a security familiarisationchecklist.

Level 2 comprises an onboard coursefor personnel with security duties, whichincludes the same two e-learning moduleson security awareness, and on piracy andarmed robbery. This is supported by aworkbook with practical exercises.

It has also updated its existing ShipSecurity Officer (SSO) course, which is thedesignated Level 3 of the Seagull SecurityOn Board training system, in line with theManila amendments.

Level 3 training will comprise the sametwo modules as Level 1 and 2, CBT 115Security Awareness and CBT 156 Piracyand Armed Robbery, with the addition ofa specific SSO e-learning module andworkbook. This will be delivered throughthe CBT 121 Ship Security Officer course.

“With the new Security On Boardtraining system we offer three coursesand, with continued NMA backing,shipowners can be assured that certifica-tion through these courses will demon-strate the proficiency, as well as the com-petency, of their seafarers in securitymatters,” said Anders Brunvoll, Seagullsenior course instructor.

“A key concept of the Seagull SecurityOn Board training is that seafarers will beable to start at any of the three levels,depending on their position and dutiesonboard. If required they can then easilymove up to a higher level, without repeat-ing any of the e-learning modules theyhave already taken.”

“The training is also designed so thatseafarers are more or less obliged to famil-iarise themselves with the particular secu-rity requirements of the vessel they are onand the company employing them.”

Videotel meanwhile has introduced anew Survey and Examination of LiftingAppliances training course for surveyors,with the aim of reducing the number ofinjuries and deaths caused each year bylifting operations, as well as a DynamicPositioning Basic Training Course, in con-junction with C-MAR’s The DynamicPositioning Centre.

The survey of lifting appliances coursewas created in association with LloydsRegister, with the objective of ensuringthat examinations of lifting appliances arecarried out thoroughly and consistently,and that personnel who perform the taskare acknowledged as “competent per-sons” as defined by the InternationalLabour Organisation (ILO).

Videotel says that successful comple-tion of this course is a significant steptowards gaining the relevant knowledgeneeded to fit that definition.

The programme is delivered via CBTwith multiple choice questions at the endof each module and a final assessment.

“When a lifting appliance fails, theconsequences can be far-reaching,” saidNigel Cleave, CEO of Videotel MarineInternational.

“Serious injuries and deaths can occur,not just to onboard personnel but to thegeneral public. As a result, legal claims

www.fathom-ctech.com

Fathom has launched CTech, an onlinetool that provides a searchable criticalanalysis of eco-efficiency technologies forthe shipping industry.

Supported by shipping associationBIMCO, the web tool enables users to examine, compare and contrast tech-nology providers, as well as access emis-sions savings calculators, case studiesand peer reviews.

CTech is an extension of Fathom publi-cation 'Ship Efficiency: The Guide', and issearchable by parameters such as shiptype, technology type, company and retro-fit or newbuild.

The company says that the tool pro-vides “independent reviews, analysis ofthe technologies, savings potential, ROIperiod and viability.”

“Investing in the right technologies cansave ship owners and operators millionsof dollars,” said Alison Jarabo, managingdirector of Fathom.

“But right now the maritime commu-nity faces a vast information void when it comes to having access to theright information and objective insightthat can help them make these vital decisions.”

“Organisations, tasked with the hugeresponsibility of steering through some of

the most challenging market conditionsever known, now have instant access tothe information that can help improveoperational performance, efficiencies andprofitability with just the few clicks of a mouse.”

The system offers interactive function-ality that enables members to submitupdates, reviews, case studies and ques-tions about particular technologies, whichwill be reviewed by the CTech team beforegoing live to the site.

A £250 / $350 annual subscription ischarged for the service.

Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy secre-tary general of BIMCO, who support the initiative, commented: “In the current economic and regulatory envi-ronment, improving technical and oper-ational efficiencies is becoming a vitalconsideration.”

“BIMCO believes that CTech is apromising initiative that owners andoperators can use to explore a widerange of possible options and inform the decisions they make to realise theseefficiencies.”

“BIMCO was pleased to supportFathom in the publication of 'ShipEfficiency: The Guide' and maintain its commitment by supporting thelaunch of this next-generation, onlineplatform.”

Kornet extends software contract

New CBT courses released

Eco-tech online search tool launched www.mirtac.nl

Dutch shipping company Rederij Chr.Kornet & Zonen has extended an existingagreement with Mirtac to manage theinstallation of a software package fromStar Information Systems on its latest ship.

The Star fleet management system willbe used to manage compliance with vari-ous regulations, but is hoped to also driveimproved operations.

“Customer and ISM compliance, together

with proven increased efficiency throughoutour existing fleet, have led to a new contractwith our knowledge partner MirTac for ournewest vessel,” commented Chris Kornet,managing director of Kornet & Zonen.

“MirTac has proved to be an expert intranslating our daily practice into a suc-cessful management tool.”

The software will be installed on themulti-purpose vessel Merweriver, to bringthe company's fleet to 13 general cargoand container dry cargo vessels.

The vessel Merweriver is the latest to be installed with the software

can also arise with the inevitable impact ofassociated legal costs – and those costs arerising.”

“Likewise, when equipment fails, thecosts of disrupted operations and off-hirecan also be considerable.”

The Dynamic Positioning BasicTraining Course meanwhile is alignedwith the Nautical Institute DP Basic/Induction course syllabus and covers allareas of DP, including system architectureand basic principles, together with modesof operation, operational procedures andrisk considerations.

The system contains mixed media inthe form of text, images, animations, videoand audio.

On completion of the course, whichVideotel says reduces the training timerequired at a C-MAR DP Centre, usersintending to become DP Operators willhave sufficient understanding of the prin-ciples and practice of DP to undertakesimulator exercises as the next steptowards gaining a recognised DP qualifi-cation from the Nautical Institute.

The Dynamic Positioning programmeis available as an online course and shouldtake approximately six hours to complete.

“A basic knowledge of DP is becomingincreasingly important to a wide range ofmaritime professionals,” said Mr Cleave.

“The rise of the offshore oil and gasindustry and its constantly changingdemands has brought about great devel-opments in the field of DP. Yet interesting-ly this growth is not now confined to thoseindustries, and at least a basic knowledgeof DP has become important to many, bothbased at sea and based on-shore.”

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SOFTWARE

The results of the EU-backed Blue Belt pilot project, which aims to reduce the time spent on documentation and administration in intra-EU shipping trade through the use of technology, have been released,

with the publication of the project evaluation report

Blue Belt aims to streamline EU shipping

II n September 2010, an informal meet-ing of EU transport ministers dedicat-ed to inland and maritime transport

embraced the ‘Blue Belt’ concept, an initia-tive that aims to create a European mar-itime transport space without barriers.

The long term objective was to allow shipsto operate freely with a minimum of admin-istrative formalities, irrespective of their flag.

The ‘Blue Belt’ will be complementedby ‘Blue Lanes’, defined as administrative,technological or physical facilitationsgranted by ports and customs authoritiesto ensure swift processing of goods in freecirculation in the EU.

Following the development of this con-cept, a Blue Belt pilot project was formalisedby the EU Council in December 2010.

The Blue Belt Pilot Project providesship notification reports to customsauthorities of all EU Member States, withthe aim of supporting customs by provid-ing verified information about the voy-ages of vessels engaged in intra-EU trade.

The notification reports are generatedautomatically by a specific module of theEuropean vessel monitoring system,SafeSeaNet (SSN). SSN is the maritimeinformation exchange system developedby the EU Commission in cooperationwith Member States to ensure the imple-mentation of Community legislation.

The reports created by SSN are deliv-ered to the relevant customs authority twohours before a ship’s estimated arrival.

The pilot project was rolled-out in dif-ferent phases. Initially, a planning andpreparatory phase took place duringwhich the requirements from EU customsauthorities and the shipping industrywere collected and integrated into a proj-ect implementation plan.

Once approved, technical adjustmentsto SSN functionalities were made, fol-lowed by the appropriate validation tests.

At the same time, a CorrespondenceGroup (CG) with the participation of therelated Commission services, EMSA andvolunteering Member States, as well as anAdvisory Group (AG) comprisingshipowners were established with the aimof assisting in the implementation andmonitoring of the project.

The pilot project monitored 253 vessels(the ‘Blue Ships’), which participated inthe pilot project on a voluntary basis.

A cross-section of vessels was chosen tobe representative of the different tradesmost frequently seen in the EuropeanUnion, such as pure intra-EU movements(under the authorised regular shipping serv-ice regime (RSS) or not), feeder or main haulliner shipping vessels and bulk carriers.

During the operational phase ship noti-fication reports were delivered to the cus-toms authorities. These reports are com-posed of two attachments:1) the voyage report containing informa-

tion about the vessel, its recent ports of call and the last voyage details; and

2) a screen shot indicating the Blue Belt ship track toward the destination port, plotted on a nautical chart.

Additional features were introduced laterin the project, such as the integration ofSatellite AIS position data, to track theBlue Ships beyond the limits of coastalcoverage of AIS shore stations, and infor-mation on vessel behaviour (e.g.encounter at sea, not reporting, etc.).

The outcome of the evaluation of theBlue Belt pilot project will determinewhether existing customs procedures canbe adapted, using reliable ship notificationreports as a support instrument, to simpli-fy intra-EU trade.

It was agreed that the pilot projectwould be evaluated at the end of 2011, inorder to assess how the Blue Belt servicecontributed to fulfilling the objectives ofthe Blue Belt concept. The results of thisevaluation have now been released.

EvaluationThe Blue Belt project was launched in May2011. In order to effectively evaluate theproject, it was agreed that the concernedMember States and industry would provide feedback to the EuropeanCommission and EMSA on the technicaland operational aspects of the project.

Data was collected via questionnairefrom the EU Member States and also fromthe industry participants. The data willallow an assessment of the practicalimpacts of the Blue Belt pilot project bothfrom the customs and industry perspective.

Concerning the technical aspects of theproject, information was collected twicefrom the Member States’ customs authori-ties via a questionnaire covering the peri-ods May-July and August-October 2011.

For the operational aspects of the project aquestionnaire was sent to the Member Statescovering the period May-November 2011.

This information provided feedback aboutthe service delivery of the pilot project.

The purpose of collecting data relatingto the operational aspects of the projectwas to assess whether the informationcontained in the reports had been useful tocustoms authorities when carrying outcustoms procedures.

It also aimed to assess if the informa-tion contained in the reports had beenaccurate and whether providing reliableinformation related to ships’ voyages tothe customs authorities could in the futurelead to facilitations for vessels trading inEU waters.

The shipping industry also sent out

questionnaires to the participating compa-nies and ships in order to get accurateinformation about the impact of the pilotproject on customs procedures for the par-ticipating vessels.

Responses to the questionnaires (tech-nical and operational rounds) came from19 Member States for the technical indica-tors, and 18 Member States for the opera-tional indicators.

Technical questionnaireresults

The following section presents theresponses to the technical questions (a-h).The technical questionnaire focussed onthe timeliness of the report delivery, thecompleteness and accuracy of the infor-mation contained in the notificationreports, and the transmission mechanismof the report.

The questions were as follows:a - Have you been regularly receiving

Blue Belt reports for your port?b -Has your port been called regularly by

‘Blue Ship’ vessels?c - How many of these vessels were engaged

in a RSS - Regular Shipping Service?d -Did the ‘Blue Ship’ vessels inform of

their status upon arrival?e - Did the notification reports arrive

within 2 hours of a vessel's arrival?f - Did you notice any missing data in the

notification reports?g - Did you experience any problem when

receiving the Blue Belt reports via e-mail (e.g. filtered-out as spam, blocked by antivirus or antimalware software, etc.)?

h -Would you see the benefit to continue receiving the Blue Belt reports through e-mail messages or would you find it useful to be presented through existing national customs systems?

A summary of the main points highlight-ed by the technical responses is as follows:• Most of the coastal EU Member States

have been regularly visited by Blue Ships but only half of the ships informed customs authorities of their participation in the Blue Belt pilot project;

• Generally the blue belt notification report was received on time (two hours before arrival) though in some cases it arrived slightly before the arrival or in a few cases too late in respect of the actual ship’s arrival. The cause of such inconsistencies may lay in the definition of actual time of arrival which differs from port to port and from country to country;

• Technical problems in accessing or reading the reports were encountered in very few cases and existing issues have been resolved;

• Cumulatively, there were around 26,000 calls from Blue Ships at EU ports during the operational phase (5 May – 2 November 2011), of which around 1,200 ship calls were made by Blue ships whilst engaged in RSS;

• In very few cases information was miss-ing from the Blue Belt Report. In the future the customs authorities would be interested in receiving more details about the vessel’s voyage in the report.

Operationalquestionnaire results

The operational questionnaire was circu-lated at the end of November 2011 andinvited the Member States’ customsauthorities to answer questions on howthe Blue Belt notification reports wereused in the period May-November 2011.

The results are based on 18 MemberStates providing responses. The questionsin this survey were generally more open-ended than the Technical Questionnaireand not just answerable with ‘yes’ or ‘noresponses, as follows:a - Please indicate how you used the

notification reports.b -Please indicate the impact of the

report's use in general, on Regular Shipping Service, on AEO or on autho-rised consignors.

c - Please indicate which information of the notification report was previously not available.

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d -Did the information included in the Blue Belt report effectively comple-ment other information that was already available locally (e.g. FAL forms, ISPS notifications etc.)?

e - How many cases have you identified where a notification report did not cor-respond to other information or facts?

f - Did the report help with the risk assessment tools at national level, and consequently help target shipments carried on 'Blue Ships' for inspection?

g -Did the reports facilitate customs processing and clearance, including confirming proof of Community status?

h -Did the reports provide assurances to customs for verifying the correctness of the vessel’s declared routing?

All but one Member State who respondedused the Blue Belt notification reports andof these, 10 Member States found newinformation in the reports, while the oth-ers found confirmation of other informa-tion obtained from existing sources.

12 Member States replied that thereports provided information that wasused in the risk assessment process, eitherdirectly or when used in combination withother sources.

With regard to facilitation of customsprocessing and clearance, eight MemberStates stated that the reports did not facil-itate current Customs procedures, howev-er five Member States indicated that theBlue Belt reports facilitated certain aspectsof customs procedures.

Concerning the Blue Belt notificationreports providing assurances to customsabout the correctness of the vessel’sdeclared routing, most Member States indi-cated that the reports provided assurancesand only one Member State stated that thereports did not provide any assurances.

The following suggestions were madeby respondents on how to improve theBlue Belt service:• To improve the automated informa-

tion integration with other existing (national or other) systems and to include cargo information;

• To extend the service to include all vessels trading in the EU;

• To enhance the information about vessel voyages.

Based on the technical and operationalquestionnaires, the majority of MemberStates indicated that the reports providedassurances about the correctness of thevessel’s declared routing.

The project has however also demon-strated that the information provided by thenotification reports can be used to supportcustoms operations and may be a compo-nent offering assurances to customs author-ities that can support risk assessments.

Shipowners’ viewShipowners’ representatives were invitedto provide feedback and commentsthroughout the project.

This was collected by the EuropeanCommunity Shipowners Association(ECSA) and the World Shipping Council(WSC) on a monthly basis from theshipowners, the ship’s masters and theiragents. The shipping industry identifiedthe 253 ships that are participating in theBlue Belt pilot project.

Their feedback gave indications of theimpact of the project by monitoring the

way these participating ships were treatedat port level by the customs authoritiesduring the project, as compared to the sit-uation before the project.

In terms of awareness of the project, theshipowners noted a lack of awareness fromlocal customs of the Blue Belt pilot projectand of the ‘Blue Ship’ status in a large num-ber of ports in EU Member States.

Despite noticing the political interest atEU and central customs level for the BlueBelt project, there was a perceived lack ofengagement at local/port level. Thus nochange in procedures was experienced bythe participating ships and no improvedcustoms processes were offered.

The shipping industry also noted thatno benefits had been felt by participatingBlue Ships, regardless of their status ortype of service.

Despite this, some benefits of the projectas a whole were recorded. From the indus-try perspective, there was an interest infinding out how customs used the Blue Beltnotification reports and whether thesereports create any added value for customs.

Furthermore, the industry felt that theinformation provided to the customsauthority through the pilot project providedthem with data that they did not have accessto previously, and that the Blue Belt reportscould better inform customs officials aboutships’ particulars, status and voyage.

The industry felt that the informationprovided during the Blue Belt pilot projectdemonstrated to customs that the move-ments of the participating vessels can be ver-ified, and provides evidence that the vastmajority of ships have normal behaviour.

The information provided to customsshould give them confidence about themovements of the ship (and the cargo onboard the ship) which in turn creates anincentive to simplify customs procedures,especially regarding proof of EUCommunity status.

The representatives of the shippingindustry were also invited to make com-ments on the impact of the Blue Belt pilotproject with regard to the issues raised inthe questionnaires.

Their statements aim to reflect theexperiences of the vessels participating inthe project and also take into account theresponses of the Member States.

One area examined was that covered bythe Operational Questionnaire’s QuestionD – Did the information included in theBlue Belt report effectively complementother information that was already avail-able locally?

When noting the majority of positiveresponses to this question from theMember States, the industry representa-tives agreed that the Blue Belt project suc-ceeded in providing confirmation of theinformation available from existingsources used by the Member States.

The shipping industry was encouragedthat several Member States also came tothis conclusion, and believes that the BlueBelt service has, by filling the informationgap about vessels and their voyage, rein-forced the level of trust felt towards theindustry by the Member States.

Questions F and G of the OperationalQuestionnaire were also looked at – Didthe report help with the risk assessmenttools at national level, and consequentlyhelp target shipments carried on 'Blue

Ships' for inspection? Did the reports facil-itate customs processing and clearance,including confirming proof of Communitystatus of the goods?

Regarding questions F and G, it wasnoted that one of the aims of the Blue Beltpilot project was to provide additional cer-tainties to the customs authorities byimproving the quality of information avail-able to them by complementing existingsources of information used for risk assess-ment and for customs procedures. This wasconfirmed by the answers provided by theMember States to both questions.

It can be stated that the project hasdemonstrated that information aboutships and their voyages is useful to cus-toms authorities.

A similar argument is used in responseto question F which stated that the BlueBelt notification reports do not contain“enough information” to carry out a riskassessment.

The intention of the Blue Belt projectwas not to use these reports as the sole ele-ment of a risk assessment, but to confirmother available information on the itiner-ary of a ship and its cargo when sailingbetween two EU ports.

Using the Blue Belt pilot project’s eval-uation results as a starting point, discus-sions should begin with the customsauthorities of the EU Member States thatshould aim to find an acceptable way inwhich to further facilitate the processes forships carrying goods between EU portsand to create a level playing field for theshipping industry when trading within, toor from the EU.

This was an objective of the Blue Beltconcept and the pilot project was able todemonstrate that this could be achieved.In this regard, the outcome of the trial canbe perceived as successful.

AnalysisDrawing from the questionnaire responsesof the Member States, comments receivedduring the meetings of the ElectronicCustom Group (ECG), the discussions heldduring the Correspondence Group &Advisory group meetings, and the com-ments received from the shipping industry,a number of findings can be highlighted.

At the beginning of the project, fourspecific aims were defined:• Project aim 1: A ship can be effectively

tracked when sailing between two EU ports, even when it sails outside Member States’ territorial waters

• Project aim 2: Information about avessel’s voyage given to customs authorities can be of assistance for implementing existing legal provisions with more confidence

• Project aim 3: Receiving more accurate scheduling information on a ship’s arrival and departure can contribute to improve efficiency in allocating resourcesfor carrying out customs procedures

• Project aim 4: To demonstrate the economic importance of the project for maritime trade between EU ports and the effect on the modal split of trans-port between ship, rail and truck

The stakeholders believe that the pilotproject achieved most of the project aims.For project aim 1, the Blue Belt notificationreports have provided vessel voyageinformation to the Member States for their

voyages. For waters outside the EU, theuse of satellite-AIS has provided addition-al coverage.

For project aim 2, the extent of the infor-mation provided about vessels and theirvoyages has been useful, timely and relevantfor the customs authorities. To this extent thepilot project has helped to improve efficiencyand to give sufficient reassurances to cus-toms about a ship’s voyage.

Furthermore, nearly all Member Statesused the Blue Belt notification reports reg-ularly and the quality of the reports wassufficiently high for these to be reliedupon to support their risk assessments.

With regards to project aim 3, wherereceiving more accurate scheduling infor-mation on a ship’s arrival and departurecan contribute to improve efficiency inallocating resources for carrying out cus-toms procedures, the Blue Belt reportshave provided new information to theMember States’ customs authorities andhelped to confirm information providedthrough other sources.

This has strengthened the informationavailable and supported the tools avail-able to them to carry out their tasks.

The information provided via the BlueBelt service has also helped to improveefficiencies by enabling more accurateship targeting which has allowed a betteruse and allocation of staff resources.

Finally, project aim 4, which was todemonstrate the economic importance ofthe project for maritime trade between EUports, could not be achieved.

Following the analysis of the resultswithin the context of the project aims, thetables on the previous page present theresponses by the Member States to theproject monitoring questionnaires.

The pilot project has demonstrated that itis possible to deliver accurate and timelyinformation about vessel voyages to cus-toms and that this information is indeed use-ful and can support customs procedures.

The pilot project did not lead to simpli-fications in customs procedures for shipssailing between EU ports as the currentlegal framework has remained unchangedand, for similar reasons, it did not lead toany improvements for ships trading in theEU as called for by the EU Council.

At the request of the Member States,the services delivered by the Blue Beltpilot project should continue whilst thelegislative issues are addressed.

Further enhancements of the service aredesired by the customs authorities, such asthe integration of the Blue Belt service intothe existing customs systems as well asextending the scope of the Blue Belt serv-ice to provide additional informationabout all ships trading in the EU.

Any technical developments of the BlueBelt service which help the Member Statescarry out customs procedures should besupported by legislation which simplifiesprocedures and offers facilitations for theshipping industry whose vessels areengaged in trade in the EU by keeping theCommunity Goods status when sailingbetween EU ports.

Digital Ship


DS

This article is an abridged version of thefull EMSA Blue Belt evaluation report,which can be downloaded from theEMSA website by following this link:http://bit.ly/MrqC6g

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AA BS Nautical Systems reports thatimplementation of its NS5 Enter-prise software system has begun

on Reederei Claus-Peter Offen’s 103-strong fleet of container vessels.

Based in Hamburg, the company willbe utilising three modules from the ABSNautical Systems software package, hav-ing purchased the Maintenance & Repair,Purchasing & Inventory and VoyageManagement modules for its fleet.

These systems will be used to trackmaintenance expenses, upcoming dry-docks and repairs, inventory replacementneeds, fuel consumption and cargo opera-tions across all of the vessels.

“We needed technology that offeredboth a centralised and standardised solu-tion, and was user-friendly,” said LutzMiesen, project engineer for ReedereiClaus-Peter Offen.

“Our engineers and crew wanted a one-for-all solution for their day-to-day work-loads and ABS Nautical Systems’ softwaresuite has provided that.”

Reederei Claus-Peter Offen initiallyinstalled the software on four of its vesselsfor testing and familiarisation purposesahead of the implementation on theremainder of the fleet, which is scheduledfor completion over the next two years.

ABS Nautical Systems will be assistingthe shipping company’s own team withthis process.

“Working closely with our clients dur-ing the initial stages of the software imple-mentation allows them the ability to finetune the system for their specific opera-tions,” says Karen Hughey, president andCOO of ABS Nautical Systems.

“Through this process, Reederei Claus-

Peter Offen was able to customise the soft-ware to meet their needs and they are nowour largest client in Germany.”

Global expansionThe deal with Reederei Claus-Peter Offenis just one of a number of new contractsthat ABS Nautical Systems has recentlyconfirmed with a range of global compa-nies, with a further two companies inGreece, one in Dubai and another inMalaysia having also agreed to use thesoftware package.

In Greece, shipping companiesPetrochem General Management S.A. andOpera S.A. have agreed deals to implementNS5 Enterprise software. Both companieswill be part of the ABS Newbuild Programwhich offers free software to ABS-classedvessels built after 1 January 2009.

Petrochem General Management S.A.will implement the Hull Inspection mod-ule on seven of its chemical carriers. ThePiraeus-based company will integrate thenew software with its current PlannedMaintenance System to facilitate informa-tion sharing between its vessels and cen-tral offices.

Athens-based company, Opera S.A.will computerise its current in-house PMSsystem and will implement HullInspection and Maintenance Managermodules on two of its vessels and in onecentral office location.

In Dubai, Arina Offshore (Fze) will useNS5 Enterprise software in its vessel char-tering and brokerage operations, utilisingthe Maintenance Manager module on oneof its offshore vessels through the ABSTransfer of Class Agreement (TOCA)Initiative which offers free software to any

vessel that transfers class into ABS.Arina Offshore (Fze) will also imple-

ment the Purchasing & Inventory modulefrom the NS5 software suite on two addi-tional vessels.

Finally, in Malaysia, Saujana MarineSdn Bhd has signed an agreement for theuse of NS5 Enterprise software on two ofits 300 pax accommodation barges, andwill implement the Maintenance Managerand Drawings Management modules.

This agreement also falls under the ABSNewbuild Program.

ABS ConnectIn other news, the ABS classification soci-ety, of which ABS Nautical Systems ispart, has launched ABS Connect, a pack-age of products which it hopes willimprove information transfer between thesociety and its clients around the world.

ABS Connect incorporates a mobileinterface for its website, as well as ABS Bookshelf, a mobile library of ABS'publications.

Currently available for download, at nocharge, from Apple's App Store, ABSBookshelf includes the more than 100Rules and Guides available electronicallyand used in the design, construction andmaintenance of vessels and offshore struc-tures to ABS classification.

“The ABS Bookshelf app providesdesigners, builders, owners, managersand operators the ability to take ABS'Rules and Guides anywhere in the worldon their iPad or iPhone,” said ABS chieftechnology officer, Todd Grove.

“The functionality of the app allowsusers to easily search and annotate keypieces of information that previously

required internet access or large volumesof printed documents - all within a dedi-cated app designed to organise a user'sABS documents.”

The mobile version of the ABS websitealso allows for the downloading of ABSpublications, including the Rules andGuides, onto any mobile device likeBlackberrys and Android phones ortablets.

The company says that the new mobilewebsite and Bookshelf app will soon bejoined by ABS Survey Manager and ABSDirectory apps, prototypes of which havebeen recently launched.

The ABS Survey Manager app allowsowners and managers to securely searchreal-time class and survey information ontheir ABS-classed fleet and then store it ontheir device.

The ABS Directory provides contactdetails for ABS offices around the worldthrough a direct search or GPS locationfunctionality. Both apps will be availablethis summer.

“As the class society of the future, ABSwill continue to raise the bar in providingcomprehensive services that help themarine and offshore industries meet thewide spectrum of operational and regula-tory challenges,” says ABS president andCEO, Christopher Wiernicki.

“In today's global environment, timelyaccess to information is critical to manag-ing the operations. ABS Connect willallow our clients to access key classifica-tion information at the time and place oftheir choosing.”

“ABS Connect is the first phase of thenew ABS class experience. In the comingmonths, through ABS Connect we will rollout additional products and applicationsto allow quick and efficient access to theinformation and class services decisionmakers need. It's all about having readyaccess to information whenever and wher-ever you need it.”

German shipping company Reederei Claus-Peter Offen has agreed a deal to implement the ABS Nautical Systems fleet management software package across its entire fleet of ships

Reederei Claus-Peter Offen agrees 103-ship software deal

Ships in the Reederei Claus-Peter Offen fleet will use ABS software to manage a range of functions

The ABS Connect service aims to improveaccess to class information

DS


SOFTWARE

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION Digital Ship

South Tyneside College upgrades simulators www.kongsberg.com

The School of Simulation & Senior Marineat South Tyneside College in the UK is toinstall a range of upgraded navigation,engine room and Vessel Traffic Service(VTS) simulator hardware and software,supplied by Kongsberg Maritime.

The upgrade project is being carriedout during the summer and will includeinstallation of the simulation systems andimprovements to the buildings thathouse them.

“Although our simulation facilities are continually updated and improved weunderstand the need to keep at the cut-ting-edge of technology and quality inorder to meet the changing trainingrequirements in the industry,” said Paul

Hodgson, technical and projects manager,School of Marine Simulation and SeniorMarine, at South Tyneside College.

“Our first Kongsberg simulator wasinstalled in 1997, when we decided thatthe Polaris ship’s bridge simula-tor/Neptune engine room simulatorcombination was a more powerful and flexible system than the availablecompetition."

"This opinion hasn’t changed and we are looking forward to offering thepossibility for our students to train on the very latest versions of these simula-tors, using the extensive library of exer-cises and models we have developedover the years.”

The project will feature a total refur-bishment for the main Polaris bridge sim-

ulator, which includes two full-missionbridges and four part task bridges, withnew consoles including K-Bridge andPolaris Radar ARPA upgrades.

Multiflex panels will also be used,which offer the ability to change function-ality through software, rather than swap-ping out hardware panels.

The bridge will feature a new projec-tion system that is twice as bright and pro-vides twice the resolution of the existingsystem, while all standard PCs will bereplaced and the computer networkupgraded from CAT5 to CAT6 cabling.

The second Polaris bridge simulator,which consists of eight desktop simulatorsand a VTS simulator, will move to a newlyrefurbished building at STC, which bringsall School of Simulation & Senior Marine

simulators into the same location.The school's full mission engine room

simulator will be upgraded to include use of touch screen technology and new Local Operating Stations for mimicpresentations, as well as 65 inch touchscreens for interactive virtual engineroom applications.

The simulators will allow differentengine types to use the same hardware, asall dials, indicators, buttons etc are pre-sented on screens and either controlled bymouse/trackball or touch.

All four full mission simulator models(MAN B&W 5L90MC VLCC L11-V,Wärtsilä RT-Flex Container L11, M22 PCFerry-IV and DE22 Cruise vessel-III) willbe integrated with the main Polarisbridge simulator.

Kongsberg has supplied upgraded simulator bridge system consoles to the college

Fugro’s Marinestar ManoeuvringSystem has been approved by the BSHmarine authority in Germany as both aSpeed and Distance MeasuringEquipment (SDME) and TransmittingHeading Device (THD). This means thatthe system can be installed as an alterna-tive to a doppler speed log in order to meet SOLAS requirements, and can act as an alternative to one of the gyro compasses.

MARIS and Consilium havereached an agreement to cooperate on theservice and installation of all MARIS prod-ucts through Consilium’s network of sub-sidiaries and agents in more than 50 coun-tries. MARIS will provide a technicaltraining programme for engineers in theConsilium network, covering competencein all MARIS products.

SELEX Elsag, a Finmeccanica com-pany, reports that it has been selected asthe UK distributor of Watchkeeper, awireless Bridge Navigational WatchAlarm System (BNWAS) product fromNet-Logic.

Ocean Signal has appointedTaylor Marine as its dedicatedAustralian distributor. Based in bothHenderson, Western Australia andBrisbane, Queensland, Taylor Marine willbe responsible for distributing OceanSignal’s SafeSea range of GMDSS prod-ucts, which are approved for use byAustralian registered vessels.

Fugro Satellite Positioning hasalso appointed Genoa based CAIMas national sales agent in Italy for the Marinestar range of navigation prod-ucts and services for deep sea commercialshipping.

Unique Systems FZE, a UniqueMaritime Group company, has beenappointed as Teledyne’s authorisedservice provider for the United ArabEmirates. Unique Systems will extendwarranty and non-warranty repair services for Teledyne’s MeridianGyrocompasses and ancillaries.

SRH Marine Electronics ofGreece has entered into an agreement

with IHC Merwede to act as a suppli-er to its group of companies worldwide.IHC Merwede, headquartered in theNetherlands, offers design and construc-tion services for the specialist maritimesector.

Norway-based cruise line operatorHurtigruten is to install WESMAR’sNS860 searchlight sonar for navigationalsafety and hazard avoidance aboard theAntarctic expedition ship Fram. TheNS860, designed for cruise ships andexcursion vessels, is used to detect under-water hazards near the surface as well asbeneath and around the vessel.

Frequentis reports that it has taken a 51 per cent stake in AMT

Shanghai, as part of its strategy toaccess the Chinese market. AMT will nowbecome the Frequentis Group’s sales andoperations unit in China. The currentdirectors will remain with the company,with Rolf Unterberger, member of theFrequentis executive board, representingFrequentis on AMT’s board of directors.

ETC, the MSG MarineServeGmbH operated ‘ECDIS TrainingConsortium’, has reached agreement withElcome International in Dubai to actas its local partner. MSG will provideECDIS training courseware, systems and Train-the-Trainer courses, togetherwith certificate authentication and traineedatabase services, for Elcome to deliverthe training.

www.fugro.comwww.caim.itwww.maris.nowww.consilium.sewww.selexelsag.comwww.net-logic.co.ukwww.teledyne.com

www.marineserve.dewww.elcome.comwww.frequentis.comwww.oceansignal.comwww.wesmar.comwww.srhmar.comwww.ihcmerwede.com

www.sam-electronics.dewww.valmarine.com

Hamburg-based SAM Electronics and itsassociate group company, L-3 Valmarineof Norway, report that they have complet-ed the delivery of integrated navigationand automation control systems to the130,000-gt Carnival Breeze, CarnivalCruise Lines’ latest flagship,

The 306 metre-long vessel, delivered atthe end of May by Fincantieri’sMonfalcone yard, will use SAM’s NACOSPlatinum navigation assembly to providea range of ship management functionsusing a shared set of standardised work-stations with multi-function displays sup-ported by a common operational network.

The complete system comprises dual S-Band and X-Band IP radars linked by anEthernet network to six Multipilot work-stations, each of which can be operated as

a radar or ECDIS while also providingconning functions.

A further two Multipilot consoles areadditionally assigned for specific ECDISand conning operations.

L-3 Valmarine’s Valmatic Platinumautomated system is integrated with theSAM Electronics’ NACOS assembly, andis able to handle around 20,000input/output signals controlled by sixprocessing stations covering seven differ-ent fire zones.

Operator control is via ten multi-func-tion workstations variously sited at strate-gic control points such as the engine con-trol room, ship’s bridge and officer cabins.

A supplementary InformationManagement System (IMS), whichincludes a one-year historical database aswell as analysis tools, reporting and diaryfunctions, is also available for optimisingship’s operational performance.

SAM equips Carnival Breeze

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION


www.orbcomm.comwww.exactearth.com

In addition to Google’s efforts to bring AISdata to the masses (see page 32), existingsatellite-AIS providers have announcedtheir own respective recent developmentswith the agreement of a new contract byORBCOMM and the launch of an expand-ed data product by exactEarth.

ORBCOMM reports that it has agreed amulti-year framework contract with theEuropean Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)for the provision of satellite AutomaticIdentification System (AIS) data.

The deal, agreed through ORBCOMM’spartner, LuxSpace Sarl, an affiliate of OHBSystem AG, will see the information usedfor ship tracking and other maritime navi-gational and safety efforts by EMSA, indesignated regions and for specific mar-itime projects.

The framework contract covers up to€500,000 Euros (approximatelyUS$625,000) for the first year, with optionsfor an additional two years (at a cost thatis yet to be determined).

When choosing among competingsatellite-AIS providers EMSA noted thatthe ORBCOMM and LuxSpace service was"was the most advantageous in regards ofquality price ratio."

Headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal,EMSA is one of the largest consolidators ofAIS data and is responsible for maritimesafety, pollution and security on boardships for the European Union and itsMember States.

In addition to the EMSA contract,ORBCOMM says it is also actively partic-ipating in a number of other AIS demon-strations and tests, including a Navalexercise conducted by 22 Pacific Rim

nations in the Pacific Ocean which startedat the end of June.

The company says that eighteen addi-tional AIS-enabled satellites that willmake up its next generation constellationare scheduled to begin launching later thisyear, which will further enhance the cov-erage and performance of its service.

exactEarth meanwhile has announcedthe release of a new product, exactAISPremium, combining satellite and terres-trial-based sources of data in order toprovide detailed global information onship location.

The service will provide a single provi-sioning of global AIS data, eliminating theneed to de-conflict AIS data from multiplesources.

With access to this new data service,customers can integrate data into theiroperational and analytical systems andhave instant access to the dataset of exactAIS Premium for vessel trackingpurposes.

The system currently offers users dailyvisibility of approximately 80,000 vesselsworldwide.

“We are very proud and excited toannounce this addition to our exactAIScapability,” commented Dave Martin, VP,product management at exactEarth.

“exactAIS Premium builds upon ourexisting and proven exactAIS service andprovides the most complete record ofglobal AIS vessel movements on a globalscale, now delivered as a single integrateddata service.”

“We believe customers who wish tomove on to the next level of maritime sur-veillance will gain great benefit from hav-ing such a rich and high quality source ofmaritime vessel movements availablefrom a single integrated source.”

www.navtor.no

NAVTOR has announced the introductionof NavSync, a new system to allow themost up to date versions of ElectronicNavigation Charts (ENCs) to be uploadeddirectly to an ECDIS from a USB device.

The system has been developed to workin tandem with NAVTOR’s recentlylaunched 'Pay As You Sail' DNV-approvedENC service, which allows access to chartsthrough a subscription-based model.

“When a new subscriber signs up toour service, we distribute the ENCs on theNAVTOR NavSync USB compatibledevice, the NavStick,” explains NAVTORsales manager Børge Hetland.

“By using the USB port on the ECDIS,the ENCs are installed from the NavStickin one simple operation, as opposed toloading multiple CDs into the ECDIS.Updates can then easily be downloaded tothe NavStick via an internet enabled on-board computer and transferred to theECDIS on a rolling basis.”

“It really is a time and cost-saving way

to get the latest ENCs at the touch of a fewbuttons.”

As an added feature, the NavSync pro-gram also offers a print function for pro-ducing relevant port authority reports toverify that vessels are equipped with themost up to date versions of ENCs.

NAVTOR marketing manager WillyZeiler sees the new service as a way ofbypassing the problem of most currentECDIS systems not offering internetaccess, and that NAVTOR will work withmanufacturers to help them tailor thetechnology to their systems.

“We have commenced a developmentprogram in connection with the majorECDIS manufacturers to jointly imple-ment technology developed by NAVTORfor the future of ENC handling,” he said.

“It is a comprehensive program man-aged by some of the best skilled and mostexperienced people in the industry.Together we’ll be looking to rollout tech-nology that will further enhance the use ofENC and ECDIS in preparation for theintroduction of the IMO mandate.”

NavSync ENC updating system launched Satellite-AIS continues to develop

DNV predicts emissions technology uptake to 2020www.dnv.com

DNV has developed a simulation modelusing global shipping data and technologyspecific information to predict the deploy-ment of emission reduction and energyefficiency technologies up to 2020, and hasreleased information on the results of itswork.

These results have been obtained byexamining the technology choices avail-able to ensure regulatory compliance andhow these technology options will beadopted based on simulated investmentdecisions for individual ships.

DNV notes that the model is notrestricted to the newbuilding market aloneand also offers insights on fuel choice,exhaust gas treatment and ballast watertreatment for existing ships, with over 20technology options having been includedin the modelling process.

According to the company the modelpredicts that high fuel costs will result in adrive towards more energy efficient shipsahead of the EEDI regulatory timeframe.

Fuel choices up to 2020 will be drivenby the time spent in an Emissions ControlArea (ECA), but distillate fuel is a more

likely option than scrubbers for most shipstowards 2020.

By 2020, it is expected that new tankers,bulkers and container vessels will be up to30 per cent more energy efficient thantoday’s newbuildings. DNV predicts thatone-third of the reductions will be costeffective for shipowners.

The Energy Efficiency Design Index(EEDI) will be the driver for the remainingtwo-thirds of the efficiency gains.

The results of a survey conducted inMarch 2012 involving a number of ship-ping companies have been used as thebasis for the investment decisions. Themodel also factors in fuel availability, reg-ulatory timelines and the net growth in theworld fleet, amongst other things.

DNV stresses that this is not an optimi-sation model trying to predict the optimalchoices for the world fleet, but a modelthat aims to simulate the most likely out-comes amongst a multitude of technologyoptions and preferences in an environ-ment of uncertainty.

An analysis of fuel choices predicts thatbetween 10 and 15 per cent of the new-buildings delivered up to 2020 will havethe capacity for burning LNG as fuel. This

Børge Hetland and Willy Zeiler, NAVTOR, demonstrate the new system

equates to about 1,000 ships, with largervessels benefitting more from using LNGthan smaller vessels.

Furthermore, a gas-fuelled engine canbe justified if a ship spends about 30 percent of its sailing time in ECAs. In 2020,the number of ships using LNG willincrease significantly with the introduc-tion of a global sulphur limit.

“Incorrect investment decisions couldbe devastating for individual shipownersand collectively they could impact nega-tively on the environment as well,” saidDNV president Tor Svensen.

“This model gives shipowners a cleartechnology and market context to work in,with the opportunity for targeted analysisof individual ship profiles. Shipowners’costs will increase sharply in 2020 wheneven more stringent air emissions regula-tions take effect. It will be unfamiliar terri-tory for us all as the fuel market adjusts.”

“The investment decisions made over thenext few years will be critical preparation forthis time and DNV is dedicated to ensuringthat the industry as a whole is ready andable to make the correct decisions to ensureresponsible environmental stewardship thatalso makes good business sense.”

www.setel-group.com

Setel Hellas has launched a new additionto its 'Intelligent Vessel' package with theaddition of the SeeMBox-V remote per-formance monitoring system.

The new system, which has beendesigned to work with the requirements ofIMO's mandatory Ship Energy EfficiencyManagement Plan (SEEMP) that comesinto force on 1 January 2013, was officiallyintroduced at the Posidonia exhibition in Greece.

The SeeMBox-V offers a real time plat-form for the remote monitoring of a ship'sperformance, and operates independentlyof the equipment manufacturers' ownmonitoring systems.

Setel says that the new service can beintegrated with “any known existing mon-itoring system” and can accommodateequipment that is not included in standardAlarm Monitoring Systems.

Setel launchesremote

monitoring system

p27-36:p15-25.qxd 29/06/2012 11:38 Page 2


Digital Ship

www.lr.org

Lloyd’s Register’s Strategic ResearchGroup has joined forces with TotempowerEnergy Systems and Zodiac MaritimeAgencies to assess the potential of wind-generation devices onboard commercialships.

A fully autonomous wind-monitoringsystem designed and assembled byTotempower has been installed on theZodiac-managed bulk carrier CapeFlamingo.

Sensors have been installed in locationswhere the best wind conditions and themost relevant environmental data (windspeed, direction and turbulence) could beexpected, with consideration given to themost effective locations for onboard windgeneration.

The project is expected to identify andmeasure the potential generating capacityfrom wind power for the ship’s tradingpatterns. The data will be used to supportthe development of computational fluiddynamics-based simulation models thatcould be suitable for predicting the energyyields on other Zodiac ships.

“We are very excited to embark on thisinitiative,” said Simon Turpin, environ-mental superintendent for ZodiacMaritime Agencies.

“The data-collection phase is expectedto last four to six months. When the fieldtrials are completed, we hope to have abetter understanding of the feasibility ofimplementing wind turbines onboard ourships and the associated economic andenvironmental benefits.”

Supplemental wind power is just one ofmany cleaner energy options being

explored by the marine team at theStrategic Research Group in concert withshipowners, designers and operators; oth-ers include research into LNG as fuel,nuclear propulsion systems, solar andtidal energy and the potential of fuel cells.

“This is innovative work, and betteronboard energy management is the goal,”

Wind-power trialled on bulk carrier

The wind monitoring system will be installed on the Zodiac-managed Cape Flamingo

said senior specialist Spyros Hirdaris,Lloyd’s Register.

“To save fuel and maximise the under-standing of alternative sources of power,we need good data. This project isdesigned to provide the information thatZodiac needs to evaluate the effectivenessfor effective wind-energy solutions.”

Online ECDIStraining

now openwww.safebridge.net

Safebridge has announced that the first ofits new ECDIS online familiarisationcourses is now available online directlyvia the company’s newly restructuredwebsite.

The first course covers type-specifictraining on the Northrop GrummanSperry Marine VisionMaster FT ECDISsystem and is fully approved by themanufacturer, thereby fulfilling themandatory requirements of a number of Flag States. Courseware for the Transas Marine NaviSailor 4000 is expected to fol-low shortly.

The online course content follows thecompetencies set out by the recommenda-tions of various Flag States and requiresthe student to have completed IMO 1.27generic training as a pre-requisite.

It takes the trainee through those com-petencies again in a series of modulesusing the required, type-approved, ECDISsoftware in a virtual machine, in this casethe Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT, tolearn how the actual equipment controlsand displays the information.

This part of the course is covered under the Learning Management System’s'GuideMe' mode and represents 16-18hours of study, a similar amount of time as would be allowed in classroomtraining.

Every training package allows a three-week window from first log-in to com-pletion of all the lessons. The purpose ofthis is to permit the trainees to repeat les-sons if required and to thoroughly famil-iarise themselves with the ECDIS equip-ment in the 'FreePlay' mode without any tutorial.

“After being guided through the basicfunctions, the best way to gain proficiencyis simply to exercise and ‘play around’with the system as it operates in the realworld,” says Ulf Steden, managing direc-tor of Safebridge.

“Take a modern mobile phone forexample. You will not learn much fromreading the manual only, you becomefamiliar by using and playing around with it, gradually gaining confidence that way.”

“A similar pattern can be seen forECDIS training, which is why we believethat the interactive GuideMe mode com-bined with the FreePlay mode, in conjunc-tion with the additional time allowed, areso important.”

Upon completion of the learningcontent, the 'TestMe' mode is activated.After successful completion of the test, a manufacturer-specific certificate is issued.

Shipowners, managers and crewingagencies can make 'Fleet Bookings' and then allocate these to individual officers progressively, managing thewhole process from within the corporateaccount facility on the Safebridge website.

www.polestarglobal.comwww.skywave.com

Pole Star Space Applications reports that it has released an upgrade to its DSASShip Security Alert System, featuring new hardware from SkyWave MobileCommunications.

The upgraded DSAS is designed to pro-vide continuity of service and a smoothupgrade path for Pole Star SSAS cus-tomers, as well as future-proofing theirinvestment by routeing data traffic via theIsatData Pro network.

The new SkyWave IsatData Pro serviceutilises the Inmarsat I-4 satellite constella-tion, also used to run the FleetBroadbandservice, to provide remote managementand communication with mobile and fixedassets worldwide.

“Since first release in 2003, our DSASproduct has established an excellent repu-tation as a sturdy and robust unit andproven itself to be very reliable in service,”said Pole Star product manager, commer-cial shipping, Paul Morter.

“A number of our clients have used thishardware in real-life threat situations andthe equipment has always performed well.When we came to consider an upgrade itwas critical to maintain the confidence of

our customers as well as ensure that it metthe requirements of SOLAS regulations.”

The DSAS redesign process requiredPole Star to produce a unit that could beretrofitted with the minimum of disrup-tion, working to the same physical foot-print as previous models, with no require-ment for re-cabling or other structuralmodifications.

That new unit has now completed IECtesting and received fresh classificationsociety Type Approval.

Installation of the new DSAS can beperformed by the ship’s crew and theupgraded system promises faster messagedelivery. The unit offers 5-6 days of inde-pendent battery back-up and an alarm sig-nal in the event of a security alert.

“Pole Star wanted to be an earlyadopter of IsatData Pro technology and,effective from May this year, all our DSASunits will employ the new transceiver.This makes the new DSAS effectively afuture-proof option for Pole Star cus-tomers,” said Mr Morter.

“And because the shore user will con-tinue to operate fleets with a mixture ofold and new DSAS hardware in the shortterm, the Pole Star DSAS web applicationwill support both systems with no soft-ware upgrades necessary.”

Pole Star SSAS unit upgraded

www.veripos.com

Veripos reports that it has been commis-sioned by Aberdeen-based SpecialistSubsea Services (S3), the survey, position-ing and ROV subsidiary of the ReefSubsea group of companies, to supplyfacilities and equipment aboard two of itsnew multi-purpose vessels, Reef Despinaand Reef Larissa.

Under the agreement, both 98.6m ves-sels, which have been chartered by S3’sparent organisation, Reef Subsea, arebeing provided with Veripos’s UltraPrecise Point Positioning service.

Veripos says that this system helps toremove or minimise GPS system errors bydirect calculation, precise modelling orestimation, offering continuous decimetre-level accuracies globally with a typicalcorrection update rate of 30 seconds.

Associated facilities for each of theUlstein-designed vessels, includingVeripos LD2-GGT2 integrated mobileunits incorporating demodulators andmulti-frequency receivers, will be sup-plied, supported by Verify QC softwarefor real-time position and quality controlinformation.

S3 vessels to installVeripos positioning

p27-36:p15-25.qxd 29/06/2012 11:38 Page 3



www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

The Canadian Coast Guard reports that it is to upgrade twelve MarineCommunications and Traffic ServicesCentres across the country with new technology to assist in the provision ofcommunication and traffic services to mariners.

Canada's Marine Communications andTraffic Services Centres broadcast mar-itime safety information such as weatherand navigational warnings, as well as reg-ulating traffic movement and monitoringdistress and safety calls.

Information is transmitted from a net-work of 214 radio towers and 24 radarinstallations across the country.

The telecommunications network pro-vides standard coverage in all regions ofthe country, but the Coast Guard notesthat the communication and traffic servic-es centres currently use outdated technol-ogy and are limited in their ability to coveror share workload in emergencies orunforeseen events like power failures.

“The safety of Canadians and marinersis the top priority of the Canadian CoastGuard,” said Keith Ashfield, CanadianMinister of Fisheries and Oceans.

“Improving and integrating communi-cations centres across the country willensure that important information can be properly broadcast to mariners andemergency calls will be received under all circumstances.”

As part of the upgrade programme

Marine Communications and TrafficServices will be modernised and consoli-dated into twelve centres across the country equipped with the latest technol-ogy to be better interconnected. As such, the modernised centres will be ableto pick up any calls from other connectedfacilities.

Some facilities will also increase theirareas of responsibility and will receiveadditional staff and resources accordingly.As a result, the Coast Guard will be able to consolidate services into these bettercentres and close those with outdatedtechnology.

All of the radio towers and radar facili-ties will remain where they are to main-tain the current level of coverage.

This process is an extension of theCoast Guard's general policy over the last30 years to integrate services into fewercommunication and traffic services centresas new radio and navigation technologyhas become available.

During the past three decades, theCoast Guard has twice expanded thecapacity of these centres using new tech-nology - for example, in the 1990s, theCoast Guard used new technology to gofrom 44 centres to 22 centres.

The upgraded MarineCommunications and Traffic ServiceCentres will be strategically located acrossCanada, with three in Newfoundland andLabrador, two in Nova Scotia, two inQuebec, two in Ontario, two in BritishColumbia, and one in Nunavut.

www.ses-marine.com

Marine electronics supplier Ships ElectronicServices (SES) has announced that it hasbeen awarded a GBP£375,000 contract tosupply all the navigation and communica-tions equipment for two new Hybrid Ferriesbeing built at Ferguson Shipbuilders, PortGlasgow for Caledonian Marine Assets.

These will be the world’s first hybriddiesel electric Ro Ro vehicle and passengerferries to enter service, and will be operatingon the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Servicefrom spring 2013.

Green technologies will be incorporatedthroughout the ships, supplying a minimumof 20 per cent of the energy consumed on board.

SES will be fitting the electronic systemsfor the hybrid ferries, including FurunoRadars and Transas ECDIS.

A double ended heading system fromRaytheon Anschütz will be installedenabling all the headings to the AIS, ECDISand Autopilot to be changed 180 degrees,along with all the navigation lights, at thetouch of a single switch.

“These are important vessels for the yardand show Scottish ship building at the fore-front of green technology, substantiallyreducing fuel usage and emissions,” saidRichard Dean, managing director ofFerguson Shipbuilders.

“We are delighted to be working onceagain with SES who have provided excep-tional service to the yard over the years.”

Canadian Coast Guard to update ITC

www.actisense.comwww.raymarine.co.uk

Actisense has teamed up with Raymarineto launch the new NGW-1-STNG, aSeaTalk Gateway designed to link datanetworks.

The system can be used to link old and new data networks using the NMEAstandard. The NGW-1 can convert NMEA 0183 data into NMEA 2000 data,and vice-versa.

"We are delighted to partner with

Raymarine, a global leader in marine electronics," said managing director ofActisense, Phil Whitehurst.

"Our combined vision for the SeaTalkGateway (NGW-1-STNG) is to be thenumber one device for data handling, con-version and reporting for NMEA systemsand we have spent a significant amount oftime and resource in developing this veryuser-centric product."

The NGW-1-STNG is available for sale via Actisense’s worldwide distributors.

Actisense and Raymarine collaborateon data conversion device SES to supply hybrid ferries

www.sam-electronics.de

SAM Electronics has introduced itsECDISPILOT Basic, a new small ECDISunit specifically designed for retrofitapplications aboard ships of all types andsizes, in accordance with IMO carriagerequirements beginning this July.

The stand-alone 22-inch panel PC sys-tem includes a high-resolution TFT dis-play, and is compatible with all main chartdatabases such as ENC S57/S63,Admiralty AVCS and ARCS, and C-MAPCM93-3.

Features include an extendable navaidsensor interface module, route planning

facilities, a separate layer for user objects(Notices to Mariners), overlays of ARPAand AIS targets, on-screen NAVTEX infor-mation, and tidal and current data. Thereis also an integrated conning page.

SAM says that, depending on class, flagor customer requirements, the system canbe extended to include options for a print-er, installation of an uninterrupted powersupply (UPS), and an interface unit forexternal radar overlays.

The new ECDISPILOT was officiallyunveiled at this year’s Posidonia exhibi-tion by SAM Electronics’ representativesin Greece, Environmental ProtectionEngineering.

Retrofit ECDIS from SAM Electronics

SAM’s new ECDIS features a 22-inch Panel PC

The hybrid ferries will incorporate green technologies throughout the ship

www.ukho.gov.uk

The United Kingdom HydrographicOffice has agreed a deal to supplyWarsash Maritime Academy in the UKwith training licences for its full portfolioof Admiralty Digital Publications.

The agreement will see WarsashMaritime Academy, part of SouthamptonSolent University, utilise the AdmiraltyDigital Publication portfolio in its passageplanning, ECDIS, navigation and radiomodule training.

The applications, which include the

Admiralty TotalTide, Admiralty DigitalLights List and Admiralty Digital RadioSignals (volume 6), will be installed on upto seventy work stations across theWarsash campus.

“We always strive to prepare our students not only for their exams, butalso the reality they will face at sea,”said Chris Lowe, senior lecturer at Warsash.

“Our new training licences will ensurethat officers trained at Warsash are readyto serve on the many ships that are usingAdmiralty Digital Publications.”

Warsash agrees Digital Publications deal

p27-36:p15-25.qxd 29/06/2012 11:38 Page 4

Swedish patrol boats to install IBSwww.northropgrumman.com

Sperry Marine reports that it is to supplyintegrated bridge systems (IBS) for thenew class of patrol boats being built forthe Swedish Coast Guard.

The IBS for the patrol boats is based onthe company's VisionMaster FT technolo-gy, which integrates the vessels' naviga-tion and ship control functions within anEthernet network.

Each vessel will be equipped withthree TotalWatch multifunction worksta-tions, which include ECDIS, navigationalradars, GPS positioning, autopilot, steer-ing control and conning information.Voyage data recorders (VDR) will also be

supplied to the ships.The contract includes five new vessels,

with the first vessel, built by BalticWorkboats in Estonia, recently deliveredto the Swedish Coast Guard.

CA Clase Marinelektronik AB,Sperry's sales and service representativein Sweden, will provide technical support to the Swedish Coast Guard forthe project.

“Our state-of-the-art navigation tech-nology will provide optimum situationalawareness for the ships' watch officers incarrying out their missions on these newpatrol boats,” said Hans Rasmussen,director of global business development,Sperry Marine.


Digital Ship

Thomas Gunn launches Voyager 4 www.thomasgunn.com

Thomas Gunn Navigation Services haslaunched Voyager 4, the latest version ofits navigational software system, featuringa number of new applications.

The system is linked to a database ofnavigational data, displayed using aninteractive map interface with theAdmiralty information overlay. The soft-ware can also be customised for individ-ual voyage requirements.

Subscribers to the Voyager system will automatically receive the newVoyager 4 update.

“We have incorporated a number ofindustry firsts into the new Voyager,”explains Thomas Gunn, founder and man-aging director of Thomas GunnNavigation Services.

“The new Route Planning functionalitywill enable the mariner to plot an opti-mum route and then automatically receive

a tailored list of corrections for that routealone. Our Digital Loose Leaf applicationdelivers digitised loose leaf updatesstraight to the vessel.”

“We are also very proud of our part-nerships with organisations such asShipping Guides, Regs4ships and SPOS,and of new features such as ENC displayand touch screen technology which havebeen developed in response to customerfeedback. Voyager 4 will ensure the bridgehas access to the specialist navigation toolsessential for a safe and efficient passage.”

Weekly updates for British AdmiraltyNotices to Mariners and Tracings, and theAdmiralty Vector Chart Service andAdmiralty Raster Chart Service are alldelivered directly to Voyager, using thesystem's own file compression technologyto minimise data traffic.

Any available amendments to portinformation will also be included in theweekly Voyager updates service.

w w w . t h e d i g i t a l s h i p . c o m

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maritime IT professionals

Trinity House orders new raconswww.tidelandsignal.com

Tideland Signal reports has won a neworder from Trinity House for seven dual-band racons (radar beacons).

The order of these -50dBm SeaBeacon 2System 6 units falls under an existingframework agreement with the GeneralLighthouse Authorities of the UK andIreland (GLAs), and brings the totalrecently supplied for installation roundthe British and Irish coasts to 26.

In most cases, the new racons are being

installed to replace older and less capableracons.

Tideland says that one of the key fea-tures of the SeaBeacon 2 System 6 is itsdynamic range and sensitivity of -50dBmfor both X- and S- Band.

The racon can respond simultaneouslyto both X and S-band radars, which thecompany says helps in displaying its iden-tity and location. Proportional scalingshould allow the racon trace to remain vis-ible on radar displays regardless of therange scale selected.

The company says that it is also work-ing on a number of additional extra serv-ices to incorporate into Voyager, includ-ing distance tables from AtoBviaC, publi-cations from the Witherby Seamanshiplibrary, as well as anti-piracy tools. These

enhancements will be announced when ready.

The Voyager service does not requireany additional communication equip-ment, and is installed on a Windows PC tobe updated via e-mail or the web.

The new system is linked to a database of navigational data, which can be displayed in an interactive map

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TT echnology giant Google hasdetailed its plans to include shipand ocean information in its con-

tinuing mission to index the world’s infor-mation, with the aim of making vesseltraffic and ocean bathymetry data freelyavailable on the world wide web.

Speaking at the 2012 Joint WarfightingConference in Virginia, US, chief technolo-gy advocate at Google Ventures MichaelJones presented some of the company’snew initiatives to change the face of mar-itime information.

“There are about 200,000 ships, vessels300 gross registered tons or larger, activeon the ocean every single day, all movingaround,” he said.

“Some of them are fishermen, a lot ofthem are fishermen, some of them arecargo carriers, oil tankers, some of themare ships from North Korea doing illicittranshipment in the middle of the ocean.There are all kinds of people who enjoythe ocean.”

“You might wonder, from a nationalperspective, what they’re doing, and youmight want to track them. How wouldyou track a ship at sea?”

One of the most straightforward meth-ods of collecting basic vessel informationis through the use of the AutomaticIdentification System, a mandatoryrequirement for ships over 300gt.

Mr Jones wants to incorporate this datainto the Google Earth system that he joint-ly developed, to offer a live picture of mar-itime traffic. However, the limitations ofthe technology on the ground are not inkeeping with this grand vision.

“(AIS) was designed to work at 10 milerange,” he notes.

“It turns out that if you build a reallybig antenna you can put an antenna onshore and get it at even greater range. So

the University of the Aegean in Greecebuilt tools for how to build your own AISground station, how to attach it to yourPC, and how to network them togetheronline so people could build this shore,coastal-watching, ship tracking system.”

“You can go to vesseltracker.com andyou can see all the ships that are within acertain distance of shore, in real time.What they’re doing, what their heading is,click on them and get their information. Itcould be anybody, though obviously if it’sthe illicit bad guys they don’t have AIS on.For everybody that’s good, so to speak –you get them.”

The problem using antennas to collectAIS data is that there is a limit to how farfrom shore it is feasible to operate such asystem, and the picture of vessel trafficstarts to disappear as they travel out intothe ocean.

“(It) doesn’t work, they’re over thehorizon, the signal’s too weak,” said MrJones.

“It turns out that what you need issome kind of exoatmospheric sensor plat-form – you need a satellite, in low Earthorbit, with AIS radios on it, that has a real-ly good ear and listens all the time.”

“One problem that happens in thatimagination is that the ships just broadcastat random, they’re not synchronised. If Italk and you talk, and we talk at the sametime, nobody can tell what we said. It’scalled superheterodyning. There are waysto deal with that. If Lockheed had built thesatellite it would be a 20GHz sample rateand they would deconvolve the signals.”

Google’s solution was different – thecompany had two satellites built, ofapproximately 25cm3 each. These satel-lites would be linked to avoid the super-heterodyne.

The project was run by just two people,

at a cost of approximately $3 million. Afterconstruction the company arranged tohave them launched as a hosted payloadaboard a Russian launch vehicle.

“You pay to get a little spot and aspring, and they toss you overboard at theright time,” said Mr Jones.

The result is that Google now receivesAIS data, which can be displayed onGoogle Earth, that displays the location ofapproximately 200,000 ships.

“We get that on a global basis – everysingle day, for the last year,” said MrJones. “If you click on those dots you cansee the ship, what it is.”

Free dataSatellite collection of AIS data in and ofitself is not a new technology, with exist-ing providers like ORBCOMM andexactEarth already offering services tovarious countries, including the US, formaritime tracking and surveillance.However, these services are offered on acontracted basis and are paid for as part ofmulti-million dollar contracts.

Google is suggesting making wide-ranging AIS data freely available, and thewisdom of allowing free availability ofAIS data is something which has sparkeddebate before, with some commentatorssuggesting that it could potentially createsecurity risks.

Mr Jones accepts that these are issuesthat Google has considered, but arguesthat this data is so easy to collect that it ismore important to accept the fact that peo-ple of dubious intent may well be able togather this information anyway.

“There’s something sort of unsettlingabout that. There are questions, likeshould you delay the report of the data?”he said.

“You could easily get Google to dowhatever the right thing is – but youcouldn’t get Al Qaeda to do the rightthing. If these things cost $3 million for thewhole programme everybody could dothat. Syria could do that, North Koreacould do that.”

“It angers me, as a citizen, that I caneasily do this and the entire DoD (USDepartment of Defence) can’t do this. TheNRO (National Reconnaissance Office)can’t do this. It’s somewhat lamentable tome. Part of my mission here is to tell youthat this is going to go live at some point,and if you are surprised on that day that’syour fault, because I told you.”

When the AIS data is displayed inGoogle Earth, users will be able to click ona dot representing a ship and see a rangeof information about that vessel. Mr Jonesdemonstrated this during his presentationby clicking on one particular oil tanker inthe display.

“That’s a time view over the course of amonth. He leaves Gibraltar loaded up, andhe runs down along the coast. He fills up

in the Canary Islands with local oil anddiesel fuel, and then he makes a stop onthe coast of Africa and he runs back up toGibraltar,” he said.

“I’m working with presidents inIndonesia and Iceland to make this kind ofthing a primary weapon which they’regoing to use, an intelligence weapon, todefend their EEZ from illicit fishing. It’s aservice that the US can’t help them with,but that Google can help them with, andthese two guys who built the satellite.”

Ocean bathymetryIn addition to its work on bringing AIS data to the masses, Google is alsoinvolved in a project to extend its GoogleEarth product beyond just the surface ofthe planet.

“It also occurred to us that the floor ofthe ocean is just as big as the surface.Unlike the surface, you can’t even see thefloor, you don’t know what’s downthere,” said Mr Jones.

“The way the Navy validates NOAAnautical charts is by diving into unchartedsea mounts, with submarines. It doesn’tseem like the best way to me.”

“So we had this idea that maybe weshould map out the ocean – we have satel-lite photography of the dry part of theEarth, maybe we could do undersea map-ping? Not in a coarse way, but in a minute,Google Earth-quality way.”

To begin with Google collated all of theavailable information to see how muchexisting data it had access to, and howmuch more would need to be gathered.This included known ocean bathymetryfrom research groups, NOAA, NAVO-CEAN, and others.

“This has been a five year project, andit’s hard,” said Mr Jones.

Google is to leverage its considerable resources to extend its indexing of the world’s information to include vesseland ocean data. Michael Jones of Google Ventures outlined the plans at a recent conference in the US

Vessel data to be added to Google Earth

During the presentation a sample of the AIS data was demonstrated,integrated with Google Earth

‘If you click on those dots you can see the ship, what it is’ – Michael Jones,

Google Ventures. Photo: US Naval Institute

p27-36:p15-25.qxd 29/06/2012 11:38 Page 6

“We’ve got all the data that anybodyhas, put it all together – but globally it’snot very much. It’s a big planet.”

To fill in the missing pieces, Googleneeded a way to chart the ocean floor.Multi-beam echo sounders can be used forthis, but as Mr Jones notes, there’s a lot ofocean to cover and that only allows it to bedone in small strips.

“That’s not going to work. What youneed is something that’s a kind of roboticundersea swimmer that can measure thisbathymetry almost like a photograph –but the technology for that didn’t exist,”he said.

“What you need is synthetic aperturesonar – this isn’t something you can justbuy somewhere, so how are you going tobuild that? You need to do it on a prettybig scale – 100,000 km2 per day to be ableto get the whole ocean in five years or tenyears, a reasonable interval.”

Google’s answer was simple – the com-pany just built the technology itself.

“It turns out that the ONR (Office ofNaval Research) had done research onthis, but they ran out of funding duringsome political squabbles so they cancelledthe project at MIT and CMU and ONR,”said Mr Jones.

“The students went off to get jobs, getmarried and have real lives. We found outabout this afterwards from one of the pro-fessors. We tracked down all the students,17 of them, and convinced them to quittheir jobs, sell their house and move toCalifornia.”

“We set up a little start-up company,put them in it, and they could build thisthing. They did it.”

The equipment that the team created isdescribed by Mr Jones as resembling a tor-pedo, with a 30-inch diameter. The tech-nology built into the unit can fix details ofthe sea floor to within a few centimetres, atfull ocean depth.

“There isn’t one of those anywhereelse,” he said.

“The Navy’s tested this and it worksgreat. It’s everything they’d wished itwould be if they could afford to do it, butthen they got too poor and they couldn’tdo it. We could do it as a hobby and theycouldn’t do it as US Navy.”

“We told the Navy ‘we’re your friendand it was your idea in the first place, wehave the exclusive rights to it now butwe’ll sell them to you at cost or give you

the data or something’.”Similar to his earlier point about parties

of dubious intent being able to run theirown projects to gather this type of data,Mr Jones expressed his concerns that theUS military was unable to gather this typeof information while being unaware ofwhether other parties would know thingsthat it didn’t.

“We’re going to measure the ocean. It’sgoing to take a long time, and I don’tknow when we’ll start but when we sur-vey the South Pacific we’ll run acrosswherever it is the NRO de-orbits its satel-lites. If we put that on Google Earththere’ll be a treasure hunt. That seems like

a bad treasure hunt to encourage,” he said.“So we spent a lot of time talking to

the right people, to say ‘if you’ve got stuff lying around we’re going to find it’.Along with Amelia Earhart’s aeroplane,Captain Cook’s steering wheel, and allkinds of stuff.”

“Google of course are going to havethat dialogue, but if we were the Chinesegovernment we wouldn’t have that dialogue. And if we can build this thing so could they. And so could almost any-body else.”

As a final point, Mr Jones reiterates thethat this information is available – andthat Google’s job is to make available

information easily accessible. It is impor-tant for everyone to recognise that thisinformation is out there, and deal with theconsequences of that reality.

“I don’t feel that all information shouldbe accessible, and neither does Google,”he said.

“We organise the world’s information,but there’s an implicit exception there –we organise the world’s voluntarily pro-vided information. If you make a website,we’ll index it.”

“We’re not going to break into yourhouse and look for your website. If youmake it public and want the world to findit, we’ll help the public find it.”


Digital Ship

From the leading technology Company

Contact:www.maris.no

[email protected], [email protected] (Norway) +47 974 72 000

Tel (Singapore) +65 627 62 472

lleeell

0575/12

MARIS is working with the UKHO to develop The Admiralty e-Navigator.

The Preferred ECDIS

Dear Sir,

The article on ‘The Future of Positioning’by Andy Norris in the June/July DigitalShip was interesting and thought pro-voking, but some clarification may behelpful.

eLoran is not a hyperbolic system, itis an all-in-view ranging system, operat-ing in a similar way to GPS, but withhigh-powered transmitters on theground, precisely synchronised to clocksindependent of GNSS, instead of low-powered transmitters in the sky. Henceits suitability as an alternative, whensatellite systems are disrupted.

The impression may also have beengiven that eLoran infrastructure isexpensive. That is not the case, it is farless costly than a satellite system and

much of the basic infrastructure isalready in place.

The number of additional stationsneeded to cover the world’s major portsand waterways should be quite manage-able. A study by the General LighthouseAuthorities Of the UK and Ireland hasshown that it is the most cost-effectiveoption for ensuring resilient positioningin our waters and the same is probablytrue for other extensive areas with densetraffic.

Another option considered in the arti-cle, inertial systems, would be attractive,but there is no sign that these will beavailable with sufficient performance,other than for very short GPS outages, ata cost acceptable for non-military appli-cations in the foreseeable future.

That leaves the option of improving

the performance of GNSS receivers,within an integrated navigation system,supported by radar positioning. This isundoubtedly the right way to go, but itwill require a complete rethink of designconcepts and standards, which will takeyears, if not decades to achieve.

The fact remains that eLoran is theonly proven option for supportingGNSS, available in the short to mediumterm. Without it we will be relying onGNSS (effectively GPS) as the solemeans of positioning for many years tocome.

Yours sincerely,Nick Ward

Research Director,General Lighthouse Authorities Of

the UK and Ireland

Letter to the Editor – response to The future of Positioning

Dr Andy Norris - Nick Ward is quite right in emphasisingthat eLoran is not strictly a hyperbolicsystem.

However, its chosen name makes itclear that it should be considered as anenhancement of the original Loranhyperbolic system. My use of the term‘hyperbolic’ was meant not only to con-vey this close association to Loran butalso to other hyperbolic systems, such asDecca and Chayka.

It was particularly used to help sug-

gest the similarity of the technologyinvolved, such as its use of low frequencyelectromagnetic waves, tall transmittingmasts, powerful transmitters, etc. In thepossible transition to eLoran I believethat the ‘hyperbolic’ term remains useful,even though it is technically a misnomer.

If eLoran is adopted, maybe the term‘LF ranging system’ will be more preciseinto the future but an internet search onthis at present highlights unrelated his-torical aviation systems.

My article was not suggesting that

eLoran would be as expensive as theinfrastructure for a full GlobalNavigation Satellite System, whichamounts to many billions of dollars –but how much would eLoran cost, evenfor a regional system?

It appears to be in the order of hun-dreds of millions of dollars – just decom-missioning Loran-C in the US was quot-ed in 2009 to be $146M. eLoran isundoubtedly a good technical solutionbut the international community needsto be assured that it is also cost effective.

DS

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WW e are encouraged to use theterm ‘navigational aid’ foritems of navigation-related

equipment onboard a vessel. This helps toemphasise two important points concern-ing their use.

Firstly, that they are there to aid thebridge team in the safe navigation of thevessel. Secondly, that the loss of any oneaid does not prevent safe navigation, eventhough it could result in it becoming amore demanding task.

For instance, a failure of the log or gyrois unwelcome but far from being a majorsafety issue, simply because otherinstalled equipment can be used to pro-vide a satisfactory, if not ideal, alternative.

Even though smaller ships carry onlyone radar, its potential failure is not a catas-trophe, although it would have a majorinfluence on the way that the vessel must benavigated to ensure continued safety, ideal-ly to the nearest port to enable a repair.

For larger ships at least two radars arerequired, greatly increasing the probabilitythat radar information remains available.

With multiple GNSS equipmentonboard complete loss of electronic posi-tion is becoming increasingly rare.

However, a ship is well equipped toenable position fixing by alternative meth-ods, such as by using visual and radarsights or by log and gyro to enable DR orEP based position estimates.

Whenever using alternative methods tocompensate for the non-availability of aparticular navigational aid, the overall riskof an accident clearly becomes greater butremains acceptable – at least until the ves-sel next berths, when repairs have to becarried out.

Of course, there are functions related tothe safe navigation of a vessel that areessential, such as the steering gear. A fail-ure of such functionality results in a trueemergency.

But we have entered an age where somenewer items of navigational equipment arealso providing essential functionality.

ECDIS is a leading example, but in theforeseeable future a major group willarise, of equipment that takes over specif-

ic navigational tasks from the human.Revised thinking about the failure of suchequipment is essential.

ECDISIt is obvious that if all ECDIS functionality islost, the ship will not be inevitably involvedin an accident – but continued safe naviga-tion will become highly questionable. Oneof the few benefits of paper charts is theirremarkable resilience to failure.

If the formal back-up is not papercharts a minimum of two ECDIS units arerequired to be carried – but what is theprobability that both could fail during avoyage, either randomly or by succumb-ing to a circumstance that causes both tofail simultaneously?

Most importantly, users need to betrained in coping with such a situation,however rare. In particular, companiesneed to have explicit onboard proceduresin place to ensure best practice.

In coastal waters perhaps a Pan-Panmessage would be the appropriate firststep, immediately alerting authorities andnearby vessels.

But then what should happen on thevessel – and what different actions shouldbe taken when the event occurs in oceanwaters? All this surely needs to be the sub-ject of best practice studies – and perhapseven of legislation.

Perhaps it makes sense for essentialequipment, such as ECDIS, to be designed tomeet defined reliability criteria, so at least therate of such emergencies would be undersome control and at ‘acceptable’ levels.

Until ECDIS can be shown to meet laid-down reliability requirements, shouldthere a further level of emergency backup?This could be a requirement to carry a setof small scale paper charts suitable to getthe vessel, with appropriate care, to anypilotage area close to the planned voyage.

This would only be practicable if therewas no requirement to update these chartson a weekly basis but just to renew themregularly, perhaps every two years.

Another feasible solution would be anemergency laptop computer capable ofdisplaying ENCs.

In fact, it is far from unknown for shipsnavigating on paper to receive copies ofmissing essential charts by fax or e-mail.This is also a potential emergency backupfor ECDIS.

Little international thought has appar-ently been applied to this problem but itsurely deserves some real attention.

Evolving skillsThe skills required for the safe navigationof ships continue to evolve, not leastbecause of advances in technology.

Despite these changes, the OOW con-tinues to be the central integrator of allnavigational data. This human-gatheredknowledge is then used to make the navi-gational decisions to ensure safety.

However, in the immediate future wewill need to think more clearly about theoptions ahead, simply because the tech-nology that is becoming feasible willsteadily undermine the need for humaninvolvement in an ever-increasing numberof navigational tasks.

An item of equipment making complexdecisions on behalf of the navigator effec-tively ceases to be an aid but becomes anessential item.

The human navigator is removed fromthe particular loop, effectively losing theskills to take over should the equipment fail.

It is therefore only appropriate for theequipment to be fitted if the machine canperform consistently much better than ahuman at the specific task.

It must have a very high availability – andon the rare occasions that a failure occurs thevessel needs to be navigated in accordancewith defined emergency procedures.

An example is the automatic positionand motion integrity checking function ofan integrated navigation system (INS).Such systems could become mandatory inthe foreseeable future through IMO’s e-Navigation programme.

It appears evident that an INS and asso-ciated equipment could be designed togreatly outperform humans in the integri-ty checking of position, including reliablyestablishing whether GNSS position isbeing compromised by interference, jam-ming or other problems.

It would also be able to compare GNSSposition with any future alternative posi-tional sensors such as eLoran and auto-matically make available the best positionand motion data, with appropriate warn-ings, if accuracy has been degraded.

The INS will be taking continuousmeasurements, 24 hours a day. Unlikehumans, it will not get tired or bored withthe activity, will effect a greater accuracy

and will react faster than even the mostdiligent officer in alerting a potential prob-lem to the bridge team.

If this technology is proven, the OOWcan be relieved of having to make posi-tional integrity checks, enabling more timeto be given to navigational tasks that ben-efit from being human-centred.

The result would surely be enhancedoverall safety, especially because anincreasing number of OOWs appear toneglect this onerous and generally non-rewarding task – ‘it’s always right so Idon’t need to be particularly careful’ .

Humans and machinesThe tasks that humans presently excel atinclude situation awareness monitoringusing the windows and radar displays,collision avoidance decisions and ECDIS-related activities.

Humans are also good at comprehend-ing and appropriately reacting to the latestarea-related information, such as thatgiven by Maritime Safety Informationsources and weather forecasts.

Importantly, humans can generally reactvery well to unexpected or unique situations.

However, when resilient and alwaysaccurate positioning truly becomes avail-able, machines will be able to take over anincreasing number of tasks.

Whenever automation can be shown togive greatly improved safety and environ-mental protection at an affordable costthere will be inevitable pressure for itsintroduction.

In the rather more distant future, theresultant limited human interaction need-ed may be best performed by shore-basedpersonnel, perhaps culminating in theunmanned vessel.

On the route to greater automation, theincreasing reliance on navigation technol-ogy will mean that equipment design andproduction techniques have to evolve.The equipment rather than an individualwill be increasingly the cause of remain-ing accidents.

We currently despair that 80 per cent ofmarine accidents are caused by humanerror, but what would we think if 80 percent were caused by machine error, even ifthe total accident rate were lower?

In particular, equipment manufacturerswould have to get to grips with the issuescreated by this greater liability.

It will be a different world, but it is thedirection that technology is presentlygoing in all transport sectors – road vehi-cles, trains and aircraft – with platformsfor warfare, such as drones, unsurprising-ly at the forefront. DS

Dr Andy �orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industry for anumber of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-tech navigationcompanies but now he is working on broader issues within the navigationalworld, providing both technical and business consultancy to the industry, gov-ernmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]



As reliance on technology increases, the consequences of machinery failure become more serious

As the range of technologies available to navigators continues to develop, and bridge officers increase their reliance on the information provided, the potential consequences of

a machine failure will grow in magnitude. Dr Andy Norris examines the risks

Relying on technology

p27-36:p15-25.qxd 29/06/2012 11:38 Page 8

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Selection of last year’s delegates of Digital Ship Asian events

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