T T orm Shipping has agreed a contract to implement SingTel's Global Maritime Very Small Aperture Ter- minal (GMVSAT) service aboard its fleet of 100 ships, which will provide always-on broadband con- nectivity for the Danish shipping group on a worldwide basis. The deal follows a trial period that began in the summer of 2008, which also marked the first cus- tomer deployment of this new SingTel service. The trial featured the installation of a 2.4m SeaTel stabilised C-band antenna on the deck of the Torm Vita, one of the latest additions to Torm Shipping's fleet. The system allows for broadband connectivity with speeds of up to 256kbps, on a global basis, with automatic beam switching built in and unlimited data usage included in the deal. Torm will also have SingTel's Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) telephones installed on each vessel as part of the service, for ship- to-ship and ship-to-shore voice communications. Claus Usen Jensen, Torm Shipping's executive vice president, technical division, commented: "VSAT opens the doors for the future. We can now ensure better communica- tion between vessel and office, but not least between vessel and home." "We now have to think in new work routines both in the office and onboard." SingTel's GMVSAT core infrastructure is man- aged over its ConnectPlus Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN), which will provide Torm with an additional level of security for the network monitoring and perform- ance management of its GMVSAT systems. Bill Chang, SingTel's executive vice president of business, noted: "SingTel's GMVSAT solution will enable Torm Shipping to reduce costs and boost business productivity by enabling its ships to become seamless exten- sions of the shore-based office." "It will also improve crew welfare by allowing seafarers to undertake online distance training and stay in touch with loved ones while at sea." "This multi-million dol- lar contract demonstrates Torm Shipping's confi- dence in SingTel to deliver world-class ICT solutions. We are excited to be a part- ner in helping them achieve their goals." Expansion SingTel has further sig- nalled its intention to pur- sue expansion plans beyond its Asia-Pacific base by supplementing this Torm deal with a teaming agreement with Becker Marine Systems Communication, to jointly offer services to the global maritime industry. Under the agreement, Becker Marine Systems Communication (BMSC) IN THIS ISSUE December 2008 electronics and navigation continued on page 2 software satcoms GlobeRydex, Rydex version 8, released - 5 Why we moved from VSAT to FleetBroadband - Varun Shipping - 8 High-speed, small antenna - mini-VSAT at Vadero Ship Management - 10 Satellite repositioning for global Fleet- Broadband to cause service outages - 10 Canada’s largest dry-bulk company to implement IMOS software system - 16 Shipdex - predicting the costs of electronic documentation - 18 Special report from Digital Ship’s second Shipdex conference: including Grimaldi Group, Intership Navigation, Finnlines, and Höegh Autoliners OSG installs data management technology from Datatrac - 26 Danish shipowners sign up for ECDIS - 27 Korea to launch maritime satellite - 28 Balancing technology and integrity - Dr Andy Norris - 30 Torm Shipping chooses VSAT for entire fleet Following an approximately six-month long trial aboard the Torm Vita, Torm Shipping is to install SingTel’s newly launched VSAT system across its 100-strong fleet, as Singtel looks to expand its market base Torm vessels will now enjoy 256 kbps connectivity anywhere in the world Directly manage onboard system configuration. From anywhere. (+47) 77 62 19 00 or [email protected]www.dualog.com Dualog® Connection Suite™ features RemoteConfig: A powerful tool that dramatically increases your fleet IT management capability Access and manage any ship's onboard configuration from anywhere via the Internet - independent of bandwidth available. Respond quickly to problems and configuration requirements - thus effectively reducing the need for IT competence and technician attendence onboard. You can even implement fleet-wide policies and optimisations in just a few clicks. Visit us at SMM, stand 115, Hall B7, Norwegian Joint Pavilion to learn more. BridgING the gap The Maritime Communications Experts ™
Transcript
TT orm Shipping hasagreed a contract toi m p l e m e n t
SingTel's Global MaritimeVery Small Aperture Ter-minal (GMVSAT) serviceaboard its fleet of 100ships, which will providealways-on broadband con-nectivity for the Danishshipping group on aworldwide basis.
The deal follows a trialperiod that began in thesummer of 2008, whichalso marked the first cus-tomer deployment of thisnew SingTel service.
The trial featured theinstallation of a 2.4mSeaTel stabilised C-bandantenna on the deck of theTorm Vita, one of the latestadditions to TormShipping's fleet.
The system allows forbroadband connectivitywith speeds of up to256kbps, on a global basis,with automatic beamswitching built in andunlimited data usageincluded in the deal.
Torm will also haveSingTel's Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) telephones
installed on each vessel aspart of the service, for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shorevoice communications.
division, commented:"VSAT opens the doors forthe future. We can nowensure better communica-tion between vessel andoffice, but not leastbetween vessel and home."
"We now have to thinkin new work routines bothin the office and onboard."
SingTel's GMVSATcore infrastructure is man-aged over its ConnectPlusInternet Protocol VirtualPrivate Network (IP VPN),which will provide Tormwith an additional level of
security for the networkmonitoring and perform-ance management of itsGMVSAT systems.
Bill Chang, SingTel'sexecutive vice president ofbusiness, noted: "SingTel'sGMVSAT solution willenable Torm Shipping toreduce costs and boost
business productivity byenabling its ships tobecome seamless exten-sions of the shore-basedoffice."
"It will also improvecrew welfare by allowingseafarers to undertakeonline distance trainingand stay in touch withloved ones while at sea."
"This multi-million dol-lar contract demonstratesTorm Shipping's confi-dence in SingTel to deliverworld-class ICT solutions.We are excited to be a part-ner in helping themachieve their goals."
ExpansionSingTel has further sig-nalled its intention to pur-sue expansion plansbeyond its Asia-Pacificbase by supplementingthis Torm deal with ateaming agreement withBecker Marine SystemsCommunication, to jointlyoffer services to the globalmaritime industry.
Under the agreement,Becker Marine SystemsCommunication (BMSC)
IN THIS ISSUE
December 2008
electronics and navigation
continued on page 2
software
satcomsGlobeRydex, Rydex version 8, released - 5Why we moved from VSAT to FleetBroadband - Varun Shipping - 8
High-speed, small antenna -mini-VSAT at Vadero ShipManagement - 10
Satellite repositioning for global Fleet-Broadband to cause service outages - 10
Canada’s largest dry-bulkcompany to implement IMOSsoftware system - 16
Shipdex - predicting the costs of electronic documentation - 18Special report from Digital Ship’ssecond Shipdex conference:including Grimaldi Group, Intership Navigation, Finnlines,and Höegh Autoliners
OSG installs data managementtechnology from Datatrac - 26Danish shipowners sign up forECDIS - 27Korea to launch maritime satellite - 28Balancing technology and integrity - Dr Andy Norris - 30
Torm Shipping choosesVSAT for entire fleet
Following an approximately six-month long trial aboard the Torm Vita,Torm Shipping is to install SingTel’s newly launched VSAT system across its
100-strong fleet, as Singtel looks to expand its market base
Torm vessels will now enjoy 256 kbps connectivityanywhere in the world
Dualog® Connection Suite™ features RemoteConfig: A powerful tool that dramatically increases your fleet IT management capability
Access and manage any ship's onboard configuration from anywhere via the Internet - independent of bandwidth available.
Respond quickly to problems and configuration requirements - thus effectively reducing the need for IT competence and technician attendence onboard. You can even implement fleet-wide policies and optimisations in just a few clicks.
Visit us at SMM, stand 115, Hall B7, Norwegian Joint Pavilion to learn more.
BridgING the gap
The Maritime Communications Experts™
Vizada reports that it is now offering theIridium 9555 voice handset as part of itsportfolio of satellite communications services.
Applied Satellite TechnologyLtd (AST) has announced the acquisi-tion of Capricorn SatelliteCommunications of South Africa,which will be renamed AST SouthAfrica following completion of the deal.
Otesat-Maritel has launched a newwebsite, with updated information aboutspecial offers and products and other fea-tures, such as a download function forterminal equipment activation forms.
No part of this publication may be repro-duced or stored in any form by anymechanical, electronic, photocopying,recording or other means without the pri-or written consent of the publisher. Whilstthe information and articles in Digital Shipare published in good faith and everyeffort is made to check accuracy, readersshould verify facts and statements directwith official sources before acting on themas the publisher can accept no responsibil-ity in this respect. Any opinionsexpressed in this magazine should notbe construed as those of the publisher.
continued from page 1
aims to incorporate SingTel's maritimesatellite solutions into its umc.global net-work managed services platform, whileSingTel will look to offer BMSC'sumc.connect portnet ship to shore servicein more than 80 seaports worldwide.
With umc.connect portnet, vesselsclose to the shore can reduce costs byswitching their satellite broadband con-nections to SingTel's land-based WiFi ormobile networks.
The agreement also looks at providingumc.global network customers with 2G, 3G
and 3.5G roaming coverage via SingTel andBridge Alliance networks in 11 countries:Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia,Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines,Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
"This teaming agreement seeks to bringsatellite, GSM and terrestrial wirelesssolutions together to provide maritimecompanies with an innovative one-stopICT experience that will transform theway they do business," said Titus Yong,SingTel vice president of satellite.
"SingTel is excited to work closely with
Becker Marine Systems Communication togive maritime customers a vital competi-tive edge."
Thomas Mueller, BMSC managingdirector, added: "SingTel, with its cutting-edge integrated solutions and superiorsatellite and terrestrial coverage in Asia, isan ideal partner to chart new oceans ofopportunity."
"We look forward to working together todevelop flexible and cost effective managedcommunications services that will empow-er our customers to achieve their goals." DS
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offering Inmarsat broadband mobilesatellite services, includingFleetBroadband, later this year.
"The addition of Furuno and JRC asshareholders is further proof that JSATMOBILE is dedicated to providing theJapanese market with the latest mobilesatellite services and strong local sup-port," said Stratos president and CEO JimParm.
JSAT MOBILE president and CEO KeiShibuya added: "Both Furuno and JRC areintimately familiar with the Japanese mar-ket. Their participation in JSAT MOBILEwill help ensure an unwavering commit-ment to customer satisfaction."
www.on-waves.com
On Waves has been awarded a fleetwidecontract to provide mobile phone servicesto Brittany Ferries' passenger ships.
The agreement covers 8 vessels and isexpected to be extended to include addi-tional vessels in the future as they areintroduced. The On Waves services willinclude voice, SMS and data connectivity.
Brittany Ferries operates vessels fromnine ports, linking four countries: France,the UK, Ireland and Spain. Last year, thecompany carried 2.66 million passengers,773,000 cars and 235,000 freight vehicles.
François Seminel, Brittany Ferries ITdirector, commented : "The reliability of On-Waves' maritime GSM services havealready been proven successful, and we arewilling to offer a consistent level of highstandard customer service on all our vessels,to demonstrate our commitment to quality."
"We are very proud to participate byoffering our maritime GSM services to thepassengers of Brittany Ferries," addedConstantin Simeonidis, CEO of On Waves.
"To have the trust of a well know com-pany like (Brittany Ferries) which operatesbetween UK, France, Ireland and Spain is agreat endorsement of the reliability of ourmaritime GSM service and we are highlyhonoured to participate into BrittanyFerries commitment to bring the best ofthe mobile technology to their recurrenttravellers."
On-Waves has also recently agreed adeal with Windstar Cruises to providemobile phone services aboard the vesselsWind Star and Wind Spirit, having previ-ously installed the system on the Wind Surf.
The service is to be available on the WindStar from the end of November, for its 14-day Panama Canal cruise from Barbados toPuerto Caldera, and will be installed on theWind Spirit during an upcoming dry dock inpreparation for a 7-day cruise from Lisbon toBarcelona in April 2009.
The contract includes the installation ofa roaming network which supports GSMand CDMA technology on the vessels,including SMS, GPRS and EDGE datafunctionalities.
Charges will be determined by the user'sown mobile phone service carrier and willappear on their regular monthly phone bill.
"We are pleased to provide this serviceto our guests," said Diane Moore, presi-dent of Windstar Cruises. "It allows themthe convenience of staying in touch withfamily, friends and business associateswhile enjoying their cruise."
www.stratosglobal.com
Stratos has announced that Furuno andJapan Radio Co. (JRC) have become share-holders in its new Japanese communica-tions joint venture, JSAT MOBILECommunications Inc.
Furuno and JRC will each assume a 10percent share in JSAT MOBILE.
Stratos formed the joint venture com-pany JSAT MOBILE in August, with part-ners Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation, toserve the mobile satellite communicationsneeds of Japanese businesses and govern-ment agencies.
The new company intends to begin
Furuno and JRC join JSAT Mobile
On Waves GSM contractfor Brittany Ferries
coastal waters, based on GMDSS.Frequentis, in conjunction with prime
contractor Abertis Telecom, will also pro-vide the Office of the Merchant Navy withcommunication services on the VHF, MF,and HF wavebands for the different mar-itime navigation zones, and establish andmaintain a network of coastal stations andradio-maritime communication centres.
The system is scheduled to go live atthe end of April 2009.
www.frequentis.com
Frequentis is to supply a GMDSS (GlobalMaritime Distress Safety System) for themonitoring of the Spanish coastal waters,following the provision of a contract bythe Spanish Ministry of Development.
The contract will cover a period of 4 years, with an option of another 4years, and comprises the service com-mission for monitoring of Spanish
Frequentis to supply Spanish GMDSS
Paul Jolley and Roger Adamson havefounded a new maritime business devel-opment agency, under the name JolleyRoger. Mr Jolley and Mr Adamson havea long background in maritime informa-tion technology communications compa-nies such as Infonic, Rydex andInmarsat, and hope to apply this experi-ence for clients of the new venture.
www.cobham.com/seatel
Sea Tel has changed its nameand branding, with the addi-tion of parent companyCobham's name to its brandand new logo.
Cobham, a global compa-ny engaged in the develop-ment, delivery and supportof maritime, aerospace anddefence systems, acquiredSea Tel for $26 million inSeptember 2003.
Existing Sea Tel productsand services will remain thesame, with the only differ-ence being the display of thenew logo on Sea Tel domesand wherever the Sea Telname is displayed.
Sea Tel's headquarterswill continue in their presentlocation, in Concord,California, and all contactinformation will remain thesame, except that Sea Tel,Inc. will now be doing busi-ness as Cobham SatcomMarine Systems.
Digital Ship
Digital Ship December 2008 page 3
www.globewireless.comwww.intelsat.com
Globe Wireless and Intelsat have jointlyannounced the launch of a new regionalKu-band VSAT service over a reduced-sized antenna, to be calledGlobeSwift Mini-Ku.
The GlobeSwift Mini-Kuservice utilises a 60cm Ku-band antenna, and is intendedto provide 'always on' internetservice to yachts and commer-cial ships sailing in coastal USand Caribbean waters.
The Mini-Ku service usesIntelsat satellites and earthstations, while GlobeWireless will be the main dis-tribution partner.
The service has recentlycompleted beta testing aboardtwo Nekton dive charter ves-sels, the Nekton Rorqual andNekton Pilot, which take up to30 passengers for dive vaca-tions. Passengers during thetrials had access to the inter-net, e-mail, and voice callingservices.
Globe Wireless says thatthe system will be aimed atcommercial ships in coastalUS trade, the oil and gasindustry operating in theGulf of Mexico, as well as theleisure market.
Frank Coles, president andCEO of Globe Wireless, com-mented: "We can now offercustomers a 2.4m C-Band, 1mKu-band, and now a 60cm
Mini-Ku VSAT service. Combine this withthe Globe i4, which uses traditionalInmarsat or Iridium as a backup for VSAT,and we now have the best and most com-plete maritime VSAT solution in the market today."
Intelsat and Globe Wireless say theyhave plans to expand the service into otherareas of the world in the future, targetingthe Mediterranean, Europe and Asia.
"Our customers can look forward toexpanded coverage for the GlobeSwiftNAVARINO heart29.7x21.ai 133.00 lpi 165.00° 5/16/08 11:41:06 AMNAVARINO heart29.7x21.ai 133.00 lpi 45.00° 5/16/08 11:41:06 AMNAVARINO heart29.7x21.ai 133.00 lpi 90.00° 5/16/08 11:41:06 AMNAVARINO heart29.7x21.ai 133.00 lpi 105.00° 5/16/08 11:41:06 AM
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Globe Wireless and Intelsat launch VSAT service
Sea Tel namechange
Mini-Ku service," said Mr Coles."However, unlike our competitors, we prefer to make sure that the service isready and available before makingannouncements and publishing mislead-ing coverage maps."
SATCOMS NEWS
Digital Ship December 2008 page 4
www.seanet.sewww.c2sat.com
C2SAT has signed a framework agree-ment with Seanet MaritimeCommunications AB for the delivery of 60stabilised VSAT antenna systems. Two ini-tial antennas will be delivered to Seanetfor immediate test installation on ships.
Seanet says the company plans to focuson the provision of maritime GSM services,and that it has received several new ordersfor this product already this autumn.
As a result the company has decided tocancel the C-Max antenna project it hadpreviously been engaged in, leading tothis new deal. The decommissioning ofthat project involves cost savings ofaround 300,000 SEK per month.
In connection with the now signedframework agreement, C2SAT will takeon some of the equipment from Seanet'sdiscontinued project.
"There are great synergies between ourcompanies that address the same markets.The agreement provides us with the reli-able antennas which significantly increasethe level of service to our customersaround our communications solutions toships," said Klas Lundgren, CEO Seanet.
"The agreement with Seanet gives usgreater predictability in our antenna deliv-eries. Seanet's client portfolio is impres-
sive, and with our reliable antennas, theirrevenue per vessel will increase. Theagreement also allows us to act jointly insales efforts towards ships with a strongproposal," added Fredrik Hånell, CEOC2SAT Group.
To date, Seanet has a total of 23 con-tracts for communications solutions forships, of which 12 are now deployed.
www.ems-t.com
EMS Technologies has announced that ithas signed a definitive agreement toacquire Satamatics Global, a provider ofInmarsat IsatM2M (machine-to-machine)services headquartered in Tewkesbury,UK.
The deal is intended to complementEMS' existing Iridium and Inmarsat-basedtracking solutions, and EMS says itexpects the acquisition to add EBITDA of$3 million to $5 million in the first yearpost-acquisition.
Operating with Inmarsat's IsatM2Msatellite service, Satamatics enables organ-isations to locate, track and communicatewith mobile assets, to safeguard fleets,cargo and personnel. Founded in 2001, thecompany has had a consistent growth rateof 29 per cent since 2005.
Dino Koutrouki, CEO of Satamatics,will continue to lead Satamatics post-closing. EMS also plans to retainSatamatics' staff and current operations in Tewkesbury.
The parties anticipate the transaction toclose in the first half of 2009, subject to cus-tomary closing conditions, including thereceipt of necessary regulatory approval.
www.marlink.com
Marlink has agreed to purchase theWaveCall brand from Sea Tel, and will nowpackage its maritime VSAT solution withthe Sea Tel 4006 Ku-band antenna system.
The new WaveCall by Marlink productwill be marketed as a cost-efficient VSATsolution providing e-mail, internet, voiceand IP packages for the leisure yachtingsector, with value-added services toinclude simultaneous voice and data, pre-paid calling cards, and flexible billing.
The new product launch also translatesinto increased satellite capacity forMarlink in current coverage areas, such asthe Caribbean, the Americas and Europe.
"Marlink and Sea Tel's long-standingrelationship provides a strong foundationfor this new agreement, which will max-imise the potential of WaveCall as furtherstrength to our VSAT portfolio," said ToreMorten Olsen, CEO of Marlink.
"This next generation of WaveCall com-bines state-of-the-art equipment with fastand cost-efficient service and supportbased on customers' true needs."
This product will be added to Marlink'sportfolio of Inmarsat, Iridium, VSAT andThuraya satellite communications systems.
www.telaurus.com
Aug. Bolten Wm. Miller's Nachfolger,Germany's second oldest shipping compa-ny, is to begin using the se@COMM sys-tem from Telaurus Communications, aftersix month trials on three vessels.
The system will be used to manage ship-shore communications for the vessels, suchas the routing of e-mail, and cost control.
"Maintaining communications on alllevels is vital to our business," saidAndreas Gober, ships' IT manager atAug. Bolten.
"Fast and reliable information flow isthe key for our own success. Informationwhen needed is important to all depart-ments in our organisation, whether it isthe technical, crewing, agency or charter-ing division."
"The Telaurus se@COMM with its'BlackBerry' style automated delivery of
e-mails is outstanding. It feels as if the ves-sel is always online and it has broughtdown the waiting time for answers for ourstaff on shore as well on the ship."
The new system will also provide crewmembers with the ability to have privatee-mail addresses which are not locked to asingle vessel, and can be accessed fromdifferent locations.
"Crew members now keep a life timeprivate '@telaurus.net' e-mail address,"said Mr Gober.
"This also allows them to have e-maildelivered to their home address free ofcharge when not at sea. Via our networkstructure on board the vessels everyonecan enjoy sending and receiving emailsand SMS in a private environment fromany PC in the network."
Satellite airtime for the system will beprovided via partner Land Earth StationOperator Otesat-Maritel.
Aug. Bolten goes for Telaurus after trials
EMS to acquireSatamatics
Marlink takes onWavecall brand
from Sea Tel
The new communications set-up will allow crews aboard Aug. Bolten vessels to have private e-mail
Seanet to purchase C2SAT VSAT antennas
C2SAT will deliver 60 antennas to Seanet
www.globewireless.com
Globe Wireless has launched a new ver-sion of its Rydex ship/shore satellite com-munications software, which is to bebranded as GlobeRydex.
The new software, the eighth version ofRydex, can be operated either through aPublic Hub environment (a service whereships connect to a Globe Wireless shore-side hub) or a Private Hub configuration(where the shoreside server is kept andmaintained at the user's premises).
"In past years Rydex has seen only min-imal software updates. It was in need ofenhancements and maintenance," saidShane Rossbacher, vice president of prod-uct management with Globe Wireless.
"Since Globe Wireless acquired SeaWave& Rydex, we have undertaken significanteffort to improve the Rydex system."
"The first phase of improvementsaddressed the Public Hub infrastructure.The hardware, network connections, inter-net gateway have all been upgraded,replaced, or improved to increase perform-ance and stability. We have also implement-ed automated network monitoring throughour 24x7 Network Operations department."
The new version of Rydex includes anumber of software fixes, as well as arange of new features such as improved
www.iridium.com
Iridium has introduced the new Iridium9555, its smallest and most powerful satel-lite phone, featuring a brighter screen, aspeaker phone, improved Short MessagingService (SMS) and e-mail capabilities, andan upgraded mini-USB data port.
The 9555 design includes a menu-driv-en interface, and uses Soft keys to allowfor flexible menu choices and ease of nav-igation, along with an illuminated, weath-er-resistant keypad.
The handset is 27 per cent lighter thanthe 9505A handset, and has an internallyretractable antenna. Menus are config-urable in 21 different languages, and addi-tional address book fields are available formore phone numbers, e-mail addressesand notes.
The battery for the handset will keep itoperational for standby time of up to 30hours and talk time of up to 4 hours. The9555 handset is now available fromIridium service partners.
Digital Ship
Digital Ship December 2008 page 5
The 9555 is Iridium's smallest satellitephone, 27 per cent lighter than the
previous generation
New satellite phone from Iridium
compression using 7ZIP; extended supportfor Fleet, FleetBroadband, and IridiumOpenPort; message-level split billing forsatellite airtime; interactive vector weathercharts in 3, 5 and 10-day forecasts; ship-board virus protection; and forms support,including US Coast Guard eNOAD, BallastWater and ISM templates.
Frank J Coles, president and CEO ofGlobe Wireless, added: "Globe Wirelessfully intends to support the Rydex prod-uct, continuing to improve and enhance itinto the future."
"This release is a culmination of a signif-icant amount of research and developmentof the product from that which we inherit-ed from SeaWave and Inmarsat. We arecommitted to servicing our loyal RydexPublic and Private Hub users, and we alsoplan to offer Rydex to new customers.Customers can look forward to future soft-ware releases with additional advancedenhancements."
In other news, Globe Wireless says thatit is currently in final testing with Iridiumon the satellite company's OpenPort plat-form, in advance of making the productcommercially available to customers.
The testing programme includes allaspects of the service and associated hard-ware and software, with the hardwareundergoing extensive field testing. The
Globe Wireless releases new Rydex version
Cooperation for Sperry and Virtekwww.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com
www.virtek.no
Virtek Communication and Sperry Marinehave signed a cooperative agreement todevelop a range of new solutions for ship-to-shore data transfer.
Under the agreement, Sperry Marinewill integrate Virtek's CommBox datacommunication technology into its next-generation ship telematic systems, con-necting shipboard and shoreside networksby satellite link.
Virtek's CommBox is used for the man-agement of security, e-mail, automatic filetransfers, compression, full IP routing andweb acceleration.
"We foresee an important transforma-tion in the shipping industry as ship oper-
ators leverage the increased availability ofeconomic higher-bandwidth satellite con-nectivity to integrate shipboard systemsinto their enterprise data networksashore," said Michael Woodman, businessplanning manager for Sperry Marine.
"We chose the CommBox from Virtekbecause it provides the most completeend-to-end system for secure and opti-mised ship-to-shore data communication."
Roger Negård, key account managerof Virtek Communication, added: "Wewelcome the opportunity to work closelywith Sperry Marine in this exciting pro-gramme. We are continuing to add newfunctions and features to our CommBoxproduct to meet the emerging require-ments for greater integration of ship andshore infrastructure."
service and the various service speeds arebeing rated under load, using the GlobeWireless range of e-mail services andapplications.
"We are prepared for a large release ofthe OpenPort, but before we do so wewant to make sure the product meets oursatisfaction so that our customers are notdisappointed," said Mr Coles. "With alarge expectation it is important that theservice is tested to the fullest."
Preparations are also underway toensure that the Iridium billing system is setup for the new pricing plans, and the sys-tems can effectively bill the new service.
Globe Wireless says it is "welladvanced" in its preparations of a securepipe for customers who want to be able tocontrol the amount of traffic and browsingallowed over the connection.
Dino Martins, vice president operationsat Globe Wireless, added: "We are pre-pared for an extensive roll out of this newservice. With over 300 ship visits a monthwith our own employees, we will want to
ensure we can deliver a rapid, high quali-ty install of the new hardware."
"Globe has a large back log of orders,and we will be ensuring the rapid deploy-ment of the service to ensure no customergoes too long without their OpenPort."
'This release is a culmination of asignificant amount of research and
development of the product from thatwhich we inherited from SeaWave andInmarsat' - Frank Coles, Globe Wireless
www.inmarsat.com
Users of Inmarsat satellite systems shouldtake note that changes to the telephonedialling codes for the company's satelliteservices are set to come on line at the endof 2008, with all Inmarsat-based numbersto change to a +870 prefix.
The move follows an agreement withthe governing body of country codes, theInternational Telecommunications Union(ITU), that Inmarsat will hand back thefour ocean region codes used for its serv-ices since operations began in 1982.
These four codes (+871, +872, +873 and+874) should not be used after 31stDecember 2008, with users now able touse the +870 prefix no matter which oceanregion the vessel is located in.
The change affects all Inmarsat tele-phone services - including Inmarsat B,mini-M and Fleet - with the exceptionof new broadband services likeFleetBroadband and its new satellitephone services, which already use the+870 code.
"This change is at the request of theITU, but we think it makes life easier foranyone wishing to contact an Inmarsat ter-minal," said Chris Wortham, who is man-
aging the switchover project for Inmarsat. "If you call an Inmarsat terminal
onboard a vessel, for instance, you nolonger need to know in which oceanregion it is sailing. Across all our services,870 will become the standard Inmarsatdialling code".
Inmarsat has been working with LESOs(Land Earth Station Operators) and distri-bution partners to ensure a smooth transi-tion, and the company notes that details ofthe change have been posted in IMSObriefings and ITU operational bulletins, aswell as on Inmarsat's website, newslettersand magazine.
"Some service providers have seen asignificant increase in the use of the +870code," said Mr Wortham. "Anyone whomakes calls to an Inmarsat terminalshould ensure that they and their contactsuse the +870 code from now on".
Callers who experience problems using the +870 dialling code can contactInmarsat's customer care helpline on +44 (0)20 7728 1030, or visitwww.inmarsat.com/870.
In other news, Inmarsat also recentlyreleased its Q3 2008 financial results,showing maritime sector revenue growthof 6.7 per cent across voice and data serv-
ices compared with the sameperiod last year, and an over-all rise in profits of almost 60per cent.
Profit after tax for the quar-ter rose from $23.7 million to$37.6 million, year on year,despite a global economicslowdown.
Total active maritime terminals grew by 4.1 per cent, while Inmarsat noted that demand for its Fleet and FleetBroadband servicesremained strong with 35.9 per cent growth in active terminals.
Digital Ship December 2008 page 6
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www.zynetix.com
The management of maritime GSM tech-nology provider Zynetix are in 'final detailnegotiations' for a Management Buy-Out(MBO) of the entire Zynetix division fromparent company, Sonus Networks.
The deal will also include all necessaryintellectual property and other rights,along with 100 per cent of the staff cur-rently working for Zynetix or substantial-ly engaged elsewhere in Sonus on Zynetixprojects.
Those involved say that 'significant' pri-vate backing has been secured to fullyfinance the newly-independent company,which will continue to trade as Zynetix Ltd.
"Please be assured this should be seenas a very positive statement and heralds
the beginning of another phase forZynetix," explained Ian Taylor, managingdirector, Zynetix.
"There will be no changes day to day,and everything continues as 'business asusual'. Improvements in terms of innova-tion, agility and focus should rapidly fol-low, building on the solid foundations ofengineering and commercial qualityprocesses introduced over the last 18months."
Zynetix will continue to be led by theexisting management team of Ian Taylor,Andy Odgers, Darryn Trowell, MartinReason and Iain Ayres in their currentroles, while Martin Wren-Hilton, latelyhead of mobile strategy at the UK'sCarphone Warehouse, has agreed tobecome chairman and strategy director.
www.mcp.com
DFDS, a European-based transport net-work operating over 60 ships, hasrenewed its contract with MaritimeCommunications Partner (MCP) for theprovisioning of GSM services onboardfive passenger vessels and five Ro-Roships. The new agreement lasts untilDecember 2014.
Gert Møller, IT director, DFDS, notesthat the contract could be extended furtheras the company develops.
"We want to expand the breadth ofMCP services to all our passenger ships,"he said. "We are developing the Ro/Paxsegment, and expect to see an increase inthis segment over the years to come."
DFDS has seem GSM services form animportant part of its passenger businesssince the technology was installed.
"Connectivity is important to all ourguests. Each year we cater to approxi-mately 115,000 conference participants
who expect reliable telephony and inter-net access to remain in touch with clientsand loved ones," said Mr Møller.
According to Mr Møller, most passen-gers don't really realise that they are con-necting to a complex system that uses asatellite-link.
"Younger people are constantly in touch via their mobiles, and wouldgreatly resent being disconnected," he said. "We have been trying to keepprices at an acceptable level, but at the same time, prices must reflect therather high costs involved in this com-plex setup."
"MSN and similar services will contin-ue to develop, resulting in a more realisticvirtual presence, but require new solu-tions to make this work over the relativelylimited bandwidth that is available overthe satellite-link."
DFDS has also confirmed the start ofMCP HotSpot/WLAN trials on its shipssailing in Scandinavia.
Iridium-based tracking from Global Satellitewww.globalsatellite.us
Global Satellite USA has launched its newPOLARIS system, a position-reportingdevice for monitoring and surveillanceover the Iridium satellite network.
The POLARIS device can be used fortracking moving assets, such as maritime ves-sels, through the transmission of GPS coordi-nates via satellite to a PC on a timed basis,from every 20 seconds to every 24 hours.
The interval between transmissions canbe changed remotely. Geo-fencing can alsobe enabled to raise an alert should the
device leave a pre-defined region.The device works on battery power or
external power, and is capable of sendingapproximately 4,000 position reports onone battery charge - the equivalent ofevery half-hour for 80 days at sea oralmost 14 days at 5-minute intervals.
Global Satellite CEO, Martin Fierstone,commented: "The low transmission cost,rapid deployment and economic pricemeans that even for small equipment thatwouldn't normally consider this high leveltype of tracking, POLARIS provides avery attractive solution."
Inmarsat dialling codes to change from 2009
The POLARIS system sends GPS position data over the Iridium link to the shore office
DFDS and MCP extend GSM deal
Zynetix MBO nears completion
Welcome to our worldwide Partnership
Network solutionsConnectivityGoing global with Eutelsat@seaFor further information please contact us at: [email protected]
All y
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Digital Ship December 2008 page 8
SATCOMS
experienced are mainly based around the'pay per usage' model that Inmarsatemploys, as opposed to the fixed rate, 'allyou can eat' available with VSAT
"This is still a new technology, andthough the cost on the voice calls is muchlower than the Fleet 77, the costs on thedata transfer are higher," he said.
"Uncontrolled internet is not recom-mended as costs are prohibitive. TheVSAT has the option of a fixed monthlycost for unlimited usage, and since thisoption is not available with theFleetBroadband you could run up hugebills if not controlled."
"Restricting access to voice services likeSkype is not possible, as the restriction isbased on IP, so a Firewall or Proxy serveris required on the vessel to control inter-net surfing."
Despite having to deal with theseissues, Mr Amudan is convinced that high-speed maritime connectivity is likely tobecome the industry standard.
"Broadband communications is defi-nitely the thing of the future, and will openthe ships to a lot of facilities, information,services that can be achieved with accessto the internet," he said.
"Bringing vessels into the company net-work is something that is on our wish-list- but at the moment costs are prohibitive."
Mr Amudan, like most in the shippingindustry, is hopeful that cheaper megabyteswill be the next great evolution in the mar-itime broadband story, strengthening thelinks between the ships and the shore.
VV arun Shipping, India's largestLPG operator with a fleet of 20vessels, has been working with
broadband communications on its shipsfor some time, having used high-speedregional Ku-band VSAT systems for someof its business communications.
However, with the launch of Inmarsat'sFleetBroadband at the end of 2007, thecompany was curious as to how the newtechnology would compare with its exist-ing systems, and decided to install theFB500 aboard one of its vessels to find out.
"Varun was looking for a solution thatwould provide a high speed internet con-nection on a vessel in high sea along withvoice, fax, streaming, etc. in a singledevice," explains S A Amudan, senior gen-eral manager, systems, personnel andadministration, Varun Shipping.
"We were looking for a solution, butactually had already had experience withVSAT on one of the vessels before looking
at FleetBroadband. However, we wantedan on demand system, instead of a highfixed monthly subscription as the vessel ison Spot business."
Varun contacted Inmarsat distributionpartner Stratos and progressed with theinstallation of the system, with high-speedconnectivity of 432 kbps available via the50 cm antenna.
"We needed a solution which could becontrolled/managed from the office, andfelt that FleetBroadband is the technologyof the future, which was able to providethese features," said Mr Amudan.
"It has been implemented onboardAHTS 'Suvarna' operating in the NorthSea, and allowed us to remove the hugeVSAT antenna and put in a smaller anten-na instead."
"Installation of FleetBroadband, chang-ing it in for a Fleet 77, for us was done in aday. The antenna is smaller and henceeasier to install."
Varun has so far been using the systemalmost exclusively for business data trans-fers, and has been pleased to see that thetechnology is operating well and provid-ing the high level of bandwidth advertised.
"We have found that the bandwidthspeeds we have experienced with the sys-tem have lived up to Inmarsat's specifica-tions," said Mr Amudan.
"The FleetBroadband is used for e-mail,chat, ftp, restricted internet surfing, and allof these things, but it also allows for theconcurrent use of phone, fax, streaming,data. The vessel is now also usingFleetBroadband for online chart correc-tions effectively."
Varun has worked with Stratos to intro-duce new crew calling options, though thecompany has been careful to limit thecrews' access to the system.
"At Varun, we have provided the crewwith chat cards from Stratos to be able tospeak to their family whenever they wishto," said Mr Amudan. "The same cost isthen recovered from their salary."
Mr Amudan notes that the company hasalso looked at other communications optionsthat might come online in the future.
"Skype and web e-mail access for crewsis not provided as of today, but we dobelieve that they will be a morale boosterand a good HR initiative provided thecosts are within acceptable limits."
"However, since the cost of data transferis very high, access to internet has not beenprovided right now. We are still lookingfor a cost-effective solution for (crew inter-net access)."
Benefits and challengesHaving installed the FleetBroadband sys-tem as a replacement for an existing VSATinstallation, Mr Amudan has seen a numberof benefits in employing the technology, butnotes that there are also still a number ofissues to deal with, as with any technology.
"FleetBroadband is a very good toolprovided additional hardware/software isalso installed to monitor and control itsusage," he told us. "However these addi-tional tools are also very expensive and itsdifficult to arrange for technicians everytime a problem is faced on board vessel."
"FleetBroadband's ability to scale upwhen the business requires attracted us, forthings like the PMS, remote IT, crew wel-fare, telemedicine, etc. We are very particu-lar about the frequency of data transfers."
"There are also no settings changerequired when changing operating region(as there were with the VSAT). Global cov-erage (from March 2009) will be an advan-tage, and that is one of the main reasons forgoing in for FleetBroadband."
The 'downsides' that Mr Amudan has
'FleetBroadband allowed us to removethe huge VSAT antenna and put
in a smaller antenna instead' - S A Amudan, Varun Shipping
FleetBroadband or VSAT - the high-speed choice
LPG carrier Varun Shipping recently embarked on a project to implement a FleetBroadband system to replace anexisting VSAT installation. Varun’s S A Amudan told Digital Ship about his experiences with the two technologies
DS
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tem through the installation of a newbroadband connectivity service.
The first step in this process involvedan initial installation of a new satellite sys-tem onboard the M/T Primula, a Vadero17-tank vessel carrying a wide range ofpetroleum and chemical products.
The Primula has a diverse communica-tions suite onboard that includes InmarsatC, mini-M, and GSM systems. However,Vadero was looking for a supplementarysystem that could be configured to pro-vide telephone service in all areas of theship while also capable of providing busi-ness communications between the shipand the office on shore.
Following discussion with its existingsatellite communications provider,Vadero chose to install the TracPhone V7with mini-VSAT broadband service fromKVH to provide this connectivity.
Based on its experiences so far with thetechnology the company says that it hasbeen pleased with what broadband canoffer, and is looking into the possibility ofexpanding this capability to further ves-sels in its fleet.
"We had thought about VSAT for sometime and received a mailing from (satcomprovider) Cordland Marine AB on thisproduct, performance, size, and so on,"explains Eddie Kristensson, personnel/purchase manager for Vadero.
"After discussions, we knew that wecould get delivery quickly and that theequipment would be running and clear atthe time of delivery. The installation wasso simple to carry out that we could do itourselves in a normal port peak."
The KVH TracPhone V7 mini-VSATsystem features a reduced size antenna,measuring 69.5 cm in height and 66.5 cmin diameter, and weighing 27 kg, whichwas useful in reducing the amount of time required for installation of the communications.
KVH notes that this makes the antenna85 per cent smaller by volume and 75 percent lighter than most standard Ku-bandVSAT antennas.
The broadband service available withthe system offers data rates up to 256 or512 kbps (dependent on location) for ship-to-shore uploads and 2 Mbps for shore-to-ship downloads, on a regional basis.Vadero has been using the system forroutes in and around Europe, while cover-age is also available around NorthAmerica, and in the North Atlantic andNorth Pacific.
Set-upOne of Vadero's criteria in choosing mini-VSAT was to have a system that could beinstalled and operational as quickly aspossible, with minimal vessel downtimeand disruption, so the 'mini' nature of theantenna appealed in this regard.
"We chose the TracPhone V7 based onthe size of the antenna, simplicity ofinstallation, and competitive price for both equipment and airtime," said Mr Kristensson.
"The installation was performed by thevessel's chief engineer and electrician.Since the antenna is so small, we were ableto install and commission it during thevessel's normal operation. We had it deliv-ered and activated onboard in less than 48 hours."
Working with its communications sup-plier, Vadero was then able to get the sys-tem running to an operational level almostimmediately.
"Cordland Marine was very quick insetting up and testing our equipment(and) KVH arranged a speedy activation,"said Mr Kristensson. "Less than a weekafter the equipment was ordered, it wasup and running onboard."
"The phone and internet connectionshave been working to our satisfaction,(and) our regular supplier of computers,software, and so on, has reviewed ourvirus protection in connection with that."
Vadero also worked with CordlandMarine to integrate the TracPhone V7 withthe ship's other systems in a way thatwould satisfy the need for a telephoneservice that is available from any place onthe Primula.
"The IP phone is a DECT (DigitalEnhanced Cordless Telecommunications)
with a slave sender in two positions in thevessel's staircase," Mr Kristenssonexplained.
"This makes it possible for the Master toalways stay in contact, even if walkingaround in the superstructure. It does notmatter if he is on the bridge, in the messroom, or even in the engine control room."
The company has used this system tomove away from its reliance on GSMroaming when within reach of shore-basedmobile phone networks, which were notalways reliable when called upon.
"Earlier, we had only GSM and it neverworks, for example in the control room.With a standard cordless phone, we cannow telephone via the VSAT facilityregardless of where we are on board," saidMr Kristensson.
"This gives us a very flexible systemthat can also be used by the chief engineerto obtain technical assistance via telephonefrom the control room, where no GSMphone will ever work."
As well as the IP telephone set-up, allbusiness e-mail and data communicationsare carried over the new link, and may inthe future also be incorporated into a crewcalling service.
"We use it to (transmit) the VPN trafficand (for all of the needs) we have today,"said Mr Kristensson.
"We are also looking into installing acard phone system, so that the crew cancall home at all times, knowing that theyare charged correctly, and they can easilyfollow their own costs."
CostsThe KVH mini-VSAT system is availablewith a number of different airtime pack-ages, with varying costs based on band-width speeds and voice and data usage.
The most basic fixed rate packagefeatures 128 kbps, for both upload anddownload, for $1,270 per month, wherethe user can have unlimited data usageand 2 VoIP lines. These packages increasein cost as speeds increase, up to $5,270 for512 kbps ship-to-shore and 2,048 kbpsshore-to-ship.
'Pay per usage' plans are available for$4.99 per megabyte, for 512 kbps upload
and 1,024 kbps download speeds, or for$1,495 for a 500 MB package and $2.99 perMB after that. A 12-month contract isrequired in all cases.
The hardware cost is probably the mostfinancially prohibitive aspect of installingthe system, coming in at between $30,000and $40,000 for the antenna, modem andall associated equipment, so a companywould certainly need to do a thoroughcalculation of its own communicationsspending before deciding if this was a costeffective system for its needs.
In Vadero's case, it is currently using afixed rate package with speeds up to 128kbps, but notes that this may be increasedin the future if the system is to support bothofficial use and crew communications.
The company says that it has managedto decrease its monthly communicationscosts by implementing the system. Withthis in mind, Vadero is currently lookinginto the possibility of extending the serv-ice to further vessels.
"We have already made our secondinstallation on one of our other ships,Vadero Linnea, and everything has workedin the same simple way," Mr Kristenssontold us.
"The single biggest advantage was thatwe could easily install in a normal portand not have to do it at a shipyard. It camecompletely plug and play, with cables,and then the antenna is so small and light,it was easy to do."
"We have our new vessels being built,with expected delivery dates in late 2008or 2009, and we are also consideringequipping each of them with mini-VSATbroadband."The mini-VSAT has only limited coverage at present (left), though KVH intends to expand this over the next 18 months (right)
Mini-VSAT at Vadero Ship ManagementHaving examined a range of new options to upgrade its satellite communications, Vadero Ship Management has installed a mini-VSAT system from KVH onboard one of its tankers, with an antenna of less than 70cm.
Eddie Kristensson of Vadero told Digital Ship about his experience with mini-VSAT
The antenna is 69.5 cm in height, 66.5cm in diameter, and weighs 27 kg
• Context and presence informationUsers can see who is online and available for contactClient software available for PC’s, laptop, mobilephones, Blackberry’s, PDA’s
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NEW RAPIDOMAIL 5.0NEW Advanced features• Instant automated retrieval of mail received into ships
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moving data within 3 seconds• Antivirus – with automatic updates, average size 20kb
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our web-portal• Detailed service usage billing reports available online• Enterprise class fully hosted email servers• Email Spam and virus filtering• Sophisticated email filter rules with whitelist / blacklist
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Digital Ship December 2008 page 12
SATCOMS
AA s part of the final push to bring fullglobal coverage for its high-speedFleetBroadband service, Inmarsat
has planned a repositioning schedule for itsconstellation of Inmarsat-4 (I-4) satellitesthat aims to close the current hole over thePacific Ocean and optimise the networkgoing forward over the next decade.
The repositioning programme will alsonecessitate service outages for users ofFleetBroadband in certain regions of theworld for up to 25 days, as coverage dis-appears while the spacecraft travel to theirnew homes.
While this may be inconvenient forsome broadband users, Inmarsat says that the measure is a necessary result ofthe evolution of the broadband family ofproducts (including land mobile BGANand SwiftBroadband aeronautical servic-es), and is designed to improve perform-ance for all users once complete.
"The whole I-4 portfolio business casehas changed dramatically from the time wedecided to build the satellites," explainsRichard Denny, Inmarsat's vice president,satellite and network operations. "It's a situ-ation that's been evolving for eight yearsnow. We signed the contract to build thesatellites in 2000 and at that timeFleetBroadband wasn't even intended."
"BGAN was originally designed to be aland product, and we built three satellitesin case one didn't make it up there, as youcan cover 86 per cent of the world’s landmass and 98 per cent of the populationwith two satellites in their current loca-tion. But once the programme got under-way we saw that there were all sorts ofopportunities to develop these capabilitiesin the maritime and aeronautical sectors,which weren't in the original plan."
"To do that, firstly we'd need threesatellites, so we needed two successfullaunches for the first two. After that hap-pened it meant a whole new way of think-ing, developing the FleetBroadband andSwiftBroadband services, and optimisingthe network on a global basis for theseproducts. The repositioning is one of theelements that came out of the wholereview of these capabilities."
With the three-satellite fully-global net-work a possibility following the successfullaunch of the third satellite in August ofthis year, Inmarsat then began to look athow to organise the new constellation toachieve maximum performance for allusers, on land and at sea.
"(Repositioning) gives us benefits onthe whole portfolio of the I-4 satellites,"explained Mr Denny. "Land is at the heartof it, but there are benefits for the otherservices, like FleetBroadband."
"We can achieve a better global optimi-sation of all of our satellites because of theway that the spectrum gets utilisedaround the world, so we can actually haveincreasing capacity as a result of this. Thatwill benefit the maritime sector, they willhave more capacity in the future."
"One of the problems we have for land atthe moment is that mountain ranges and soon can get in the way, as people at the edgeof coverage tend to be at a lower elevation.FleetBroadband already has the advantagethat ships on the oceans don't have anythingin the way in terms of visibility to the satel-lite, so that doesn't really affect maritime,but this will also allow us to optimise thetotal broadband portfolio for the end users."
Mr Denny is keen to point out that thecompany has not taken the decision tomove these satellites, and the subsequent
service outages, lightly, and is convincedthat the benefits will be worth the effort.
"When we first mooted the idea ofrepositioning the I-4s the automaticresponse was 'why do you want to dothat?', but there were historical reasons forpositioning the satellites where they werein 2005, and in 2008 we have a whole dif-ferent way of looking at the global deliv-ery of broadband services. It's been verymuch an evolutionary process," he said.
Piers Cunningham, head of maritime atInmarsat, notes that the evolving nature ofthe industry over the past few years hasnecessitated this acceleration in plans for amaritime broadband service, which werebarely conceived when the developmentof these I-4 satellites first began.
"At that point we hadn't even launchedFleet into the market, so it shows whatkind of crystal ball you need, in the mar-ket," he told us.
"The maritime terminals are unaffectedby the relocation of the satellites, they'retype approved down to the edge of cover-age so whether the satellite is over land orthe oceanic areas, to a maritime terminal itmakes no difference at all. But optimisingthe overall architecture is important, thewhole idea is that it will benefit everyone."
ScheduleGetting to grips with the Inmarsat schedulefor the repositioning takes a little patience,and a good memory for codes and acronyms.
The key elements are the I-4, orInmarsat-4, satellites. The I-4s are Inmarsat'slatest generation of technology, and havejoined the Inmarsat-3 (I-3) and Inmarsat 2 (I-2) generations in orbit above the Earth. TheI-4s are the satellites that are required tooperate the FleetBroadband network.
Three I-4 satellites are now circling theplanet, with Flight 1 (F1) launched inMarch 2005, Flight 2 (F2) launched inNovember 2005, and Flight 3 (F3) enteringorbit in August of 2008.
The I-4 F1 and the I-4 F2 have been car-rying FleetBroadband traffic within theirown footprints since the service waslaunched in November 2007, and will,after repositioning, be joined by the I-4 F3to offer global coverage for the first time.These satellites have also been utilised, toa small extent, by existing legacy services,such as Fleet and mini-M.
The planned repositioning will also meana re-definition of the traditional Inmarsatocean regions covered by the three satellites.
Currently, the two active I-4 satellitesare the I-4 F1 in the Indian Ocean Region(IOR) and the I-4 F2 in the Atlantic OceanRegion West (AOR-W), with I-4 F3 havingrecently been launched and completedtesting before being situated above theAmericas at 98°W.
Following repositioning, I-4 F1 willhenceforth offer coverage over the Asia-Pacific region (ASIA-PAC), I-4 F2 will coverEurope, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA),and the I-4 F3 will remain positioned overNorth and South America, covering theirsurrounding oceans (AMERICAS).
It is in this shift in regions that servicegaps will appear, starting in January 2009,Mr Denny explains.
"On the seventh of January we'll betransferring all of the E&E (existing andevolved) services, things like Fleet 77, 55and 33, mini-M, these types of services.They'll all be coming off the I-4 (F2) andgoing onto I-3 F4 (one of Inmarsat's previ-ous-generation satellites)," he told us.
"Once we've got all of the traffic off thesatellite we start it on its way, and this iswhen we'll have the first service outage, totake it (I-4 F2) to its new home over EMEA."
All FleetBroadband traffic, which cannotbe carried by the I-3 generation of satellites,will be moved onto I-4 F3 (AMERICAS) -which is situated to the west of I-4 F2, thusleaving a coverage gap over the western-most part of Africa, and areas of theAtlantic from north to south includingIreland, Iceland and north-western UK (seered shaded area in diagram, left).
"At that point of time the I-4 F3 satellitewill be providing BGAN andFleetBroadband services, and the IOR (I-4F1) will be running as it is at the moment,"said Mr Denny.
"From the current coverage provided bythe AOR-West satellite, the only area that willlose coverage is the red shaded area (previ-ous page), while we're moving the satellite toits new home. That area will go withoutFleetBroadband coverage for about 25 days,starting from the seventh of January."
As soon as the first satellite has been suc-cessfully repositioned Inmarsat will thenbegin its second scheduled relocation, andthe final part in the network jigsaw.
"The next outage occurs from the sixth
Inmarsat satellite repositioningIn preparation for global coverage of FleetBroadband in 2009, Inmarsat is about to embark on a satellite
repositioning programme that will involve service outages in different regions during January and February.Digital Ship spoke to Richard Denny and Piers Cunningham, Inmarsat, to find out more
A FleetBroadband service outage will occur in the red shaded area from January 7 2009, for 25 days
ing in the affected areas during the outageperiod."
"But once this is done, a 19 to 25 dayperiod out of the next 20 years, it's incon-venient but a small price to pay for thebenefits that it will bring long-term tothose users. The 2020 lifespan is still intact,we have the technical expertise and fuelaboard the spacecraft to have an unaffect-ed lifespan of the satellites."
As Mr Denny points out, this movemerely represents a sign of the times in thechanging market for satellite communica-tions, and an attempt to evolve to meetthose needs.
"We had a previous configuration thatmet the business needs and technology asit existed at the time," he said. "This is real-ly setting us up now for the future."
"The world has moved on, and we'repositioning ourselves to move with it andbe there for the future with the latest andgreatest technology in the right locations.There's a bit of work to do, but it's goingwell and we're on schedule."
SATCOMS
of February, as we transfer traffic off I-4F1, and this gets to its final location justbefore the 24th of February," said MrDenny. "So by the last week of Februaryit's all going to be in place."
"The EMEA satellite (I-4 F2) will arriveat its new location on about the second ofFebruary. On the sixth of February we'regoing to transfer all of the traffic off theIOR (I-4 F1) satellite onto the EMEA satel-lite, and move the IOR."
"As a result of that, the second red shaded area will lose coverage forFleetBroadband (see diagram, right). It is a large geographical area, with a concentra-tion of FleetBroaband users, and it's an areawhere we'll be working very hard to min-imise the outage."
The scheduled outage for this Asiancoverage area is 19 days, 6 days less thanwill be experienced in the Atlantic, asInmarsat will be trying to keep the down-time to a minimum by moving the space-craft as fast as possible.
"Though the ASIA-PAC satellite ismoving physically the same distance asthe other one, because of the concerns oftrying to restore services as quickly as pos-sible we're actually burning more fuel todo it more quickly, as we have a lot of fuelon the vehicle," said Mr Denny.
"We'll switch the final satellite on abouta day before it reaches its final position, toget everything up and running, and thenwhen it reaches its location there'll besome fine tuning. But the object of theexercise is to minimise the outage, and wehave a high degree of confidence that allthat will be required at that stage is mini-mal fine tuning."
If all of that seems a little complicated,the summarised version is that the currentI-4 satellites at AOR-W and IOR are to berepositioned and joined by a third I-4, cre-ating the new regions AMERICAS, EMEAand ASIA-PAC. This will cause a 25 dayFleetBroadband service outage fromJanuary 7, and a 19 day outage fromFebruary 6.
Vessel effectsIt is important to note that the outagesdescribed during the satellite repositioningapply to FleetBroadband only - all otherexisting Inmarsat services, be they Fleet,Inmarsat-C, mini-M or anything else, willnot lose coverage in the above mentionedareas and will continue as normal.
"There has been some confusion as to
'what does this really mean for the tradi-tional terminals, the Fleet family andeverything else out there?'," said MrDenny. "Really, it means nothing."
"Having the number of satellites wehave in place has afforded us the flexibili-ty to do this without impacting on theother services. For our E&E services thiswill have almost zero impact, and to do allthis and keep to a small impact on servic-es, while creating a significant enhance-ment of the user experience going for-ward, is great."
One minor change that will occur forexisting services will be a loss of someextra spot beam capability in the south ofthe Atlantic Ocean that had been tem-porarily available to older Inmarsat anten-na systems when the services were transi-tioned to the I-4.
"When we go from the I-4 back to (the pre-vious generation satellite) the I-3, we will losesome of the spot beam coverage that thoseservices had gained," said Mr Denny.
"However, to compensate, we're goingto illuminate some additional beams onthe I-3 that we previously didn't have on,and that will significantly minimize theloss of coverage."
Mr Cunningham is keen to point outthat Inmarsat's backbone emergency and
distress communications will not sufferany detrimental effects during the reposi-tioning schedule.
"Core elements, like safety services pro-vision, are gold plated and completelyunaffected, things like Inmarsat-B, Fleet 33,55 and 77, mini-M, Inmarsat-C," he said.
"All of those services are unaffected. Wehave advised users that do haveFleetBroadband that this would occur, so ifyou do have vessels trading in those areasbe sure that you have a redundant commu-nications fit to see you through that period."
"It's never good to assume, but particu-larly as safety services like Inmarsat-C aremandatory, it's highly likely that tradingvessels will have another form of Inmarsatcommunications onboard."
Inmarsat also stresses that news of thismove is not a surprise being unveiled toFleetBroadband users as the programmedraws near.
"We've been completely transparentsince the beginning that this would occurand what the effects would be," said MrCunningham.
"We have been talking to the users thathave adopted FleetBroadband about thissince just after the launch of the service tomake people fully aware that if this is theirsole communications device then they willneed to have an alternative if they are sail-
DS
The FleetBroadband service outage in the red shaded area will occur for 19 days, from February 6 2009
Digital Ship December 2008 page 14
Inmarsat users wishing to learn moreabout the effect of the satellite reposition-ing and service outages should contacttheir Inmarsat distribution partner, orvisit the Inmarsat web site atwww.inmarsat.com/coverage.
Brodospas Head Office in Split andonboard the Brodospas Alfa and BrodospasBeta, two AHTS 6615 vessels on order atthe Damen Shipyard.
Anchor Handling Tug Supply vesselAHTS 6615 is one of the latest designsfrom the Damen offshore series, whichwill be in service around the middle ofnext year. Before the delivery, SpecTecwill develop a Maintenance and Purchase
database for these two vessels and helpBrodospas to integrate its Quality andSafety manuals into AMOS.
SpecTec's order from Viking Line is toinstall its latest newbuild, the VikingADCC, with AMOS M&P and AMOSQ&S. The vessel, a fast ferry currentlybeing built at Astilleros de Seville in Spain,is planned to be in operation during theautumn of 2009.
Digital Ship December 2008 page 15
FuelTrax type approval from ABS
www.fueltrax.com
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)has awarded a type approval certificate to Nautical Control Solutions, for itsFuelTrax Marine Fuel Management system.
Introduced in 2006, the FuelTrax sys-tem connects to various flow meters, sen-sors, and operating devices to capture fueltransfers, report tank levels, monitor con-sumption, track engine condition, andshow vessel location so fleet owners canoptimise performance.
Crews can use the data to check throttlesettings for more economical operationbased on current conditions, using actualengine run times or fuel usage to planmaintenance schedules, with the aim ofdecreasing costs and increasing vesselavailability.
Operations can examine fuel trends tocompare routes, crews, and technologies,and ultimately connect fuel consumptionto the actual work performed by a vessel.
"This type approval is recognition thatwe are capable of consistently producing aproduct in compliance with applicablemarine specifications," said AnthonyGeorge, CEO of Nautical ControlSolutions. "Each product is extensivelytested to verify that it will perform reliablyin the marine and offshore environment."
"This is a rigorous process and one thatwe enthusiastically completed. It showsour commitment to this industry and toour customers' success."
www.shipdex.com
Software development company CORE-NA has signed a strategic partnershipagreement with SpecTec to jointly providesolutions supporting the Shipdexexchange protocol.
SpecTec is one of the founding mem-bers of Shipdex, an exchange protocol fordigital documentation that is based on theS1000D standard used by the airlineindustry.
In addition to making its core product,Life*S1000D, Shipdex compliant, CORE-NA will develop additional Shipdex mod-ules for manufacturers, ship owners andship operators. The Shipdex modules willbe marketed by SpecTec as part of theAMOS Business Suite for the shippingindustry.
"It is a pleasure to observe that theS1000D standard, which Shipdex is builtupon, is being adopted in more and moreindustries," says Toralf Johannessen, CEOand president of CORENA.
Giampiero Soncini, CEO of SpecTec,added: "Our joint Shipdex solutions willcomplement SpecTec's AMOS SolutionSuite and will significantly contribute toreduced costs, increased quality and mak-ing accurate technical data available onboard the ships."
In other news, SpecTec has signed anagreement to supply software systems toBrodospas and Viking Line.
The first contract includes the supply ofAMOS Business Suite to Brodospas, ashipping company based in Split, Croatia.The software licence includes theMaintenance and Purchase (M&P) andQuality and Safety (Q&S) modules.
Initially AMOS will be installed at the
CORENA and SpecTec in Shipdex development dealSOFTWARE NEWS Digital Ship
www.q88.com
Intertanko has revised its industry stan-dard Questionnaire 88 (Q88), to mark the20th anniversary of its publication.
In February of this year, Intertanko'svetting committee revived the'Questionnaire 88 Working Group' underthe chairmanship of Captain AshleyCooper, to review the Q88.
Captain Cooper, marine manager atScorpio Ship Management, notes that:"The revised Q88, with incorporation offurther and up to date informationrequired for the ship assessment decision,will prove more user friendly and shouldfind greater appeal within the industry."
The Q88 was last revised in 2004, andthe new version takes into account newquestions and changes to the document'sformat which makes it much easier toview.
The working group also tried to makethe Q88 easier to transfer between various
parties' internal systems by publishing anXML version of the questionnaire.
Intertanko marine director, CaptHoward Snaith, said: "KeepingQuestionnaire 88 up to date and relevantto today's industry's needs is all part of thecontinuous improvement approach
Q88 updated by Intertanko for 20th birthday
The Q88 website has been updated to keep up with recent developments, and also includes an XML version of the questionnaire
tem, Oracle Financials.IMOS will handle all voyage operations
for Fednav, Canada's largest dry-bulk shipowning, operating and chartering group,concentrating on the transportation ofbulk and breakbulk cargoes.
Fednav had previously used separatesystems to run its front and back offices,with minimal communication betweenthem. From there the company did moveon to a full scale Oracle Financials imple-mentation, though it initially continuedwith the existing legacy system for char-tering and operations before moving to IMOS.
"Our management team chose Vesonbecause IMOS will help us make better
business decisions; but also because Vesonwas a great fit with Fednav's culture andapproach," said Valerie Cordemans, proj-ect manager for Fednav Group Limited.
"Veson's long term commitment andmanagement 'hands on' methodology wasvery important and similar to our own."
John Veson, president of VesonNautical, added: "Teaming with FednavLimited to understand and meet theiroperational requirements has been arewarding experience for us. Fednav isone of the most highly regarded, estab-lished organisations in the worldwideshipping market, and has invaluableinput that we are incorporating intothe product."
FedNav to implement IMOS softwarewww.veson.com
Fednav Limited of Canada is to imple-ment the full complement of Veson
Nautical's Integrated Maritime OperationsSystem (IMOS), to manage its charteringand operations departments worldwide aswell as link to its present accounting sys-
The IMOS system is integrated with Fednav's Oracle Financials package
undertaken by our members."This work has been carried out with the
assistance of Heidenreich Innovations,which operates the web site,www.Q88.com.
Fritz Heidenreich, president ofHeidenreich Innovations, commented:
"We e-mailed our subscribers to find outwhat additional information would be themost beneficial to include in the new ver-sion. We received an overwhelmingresponse and this helped us enhance the information which is contained in the Q88."
SOFTWARE NEWS
Digital Ship December 2008 page 16
www.spectec.net
Odessa National MaritimeAcademy (ONMA) hassigned a contract withSpecTec to conduct an annu-al 'AMOS Competition', thatwill include awards forcadets showing a high levelof skill in the use of the mar-itime software.
The award ceremony forthis year's competition tookplace at the CentralAcademy hall, with firstplace going to cadet HaraVladislav.
The ONMA managementnoted that it believed "theAMOS system is a vital toolfor any shipping company,and ONMA cadets havedeveloped the knowledgeand skills as a result of work-ing with AMOS BusinessSuite, necessary for work onboard with AMOS."
SpecTec has already in thepast sponsored licences ofAMOS Business Suite soft-ware modules for ONMA,the largest maritime academyin the Ukraine, but will nowadd to the existing education-al programme by includingan additional course on thenewly released AMOS2Enterprise Management soft-ware system.
AVEVA has announced that it hasagreed four major contracts for AVEVAsolutions, valued at over $3 million, withMalaysia Marine and HeavyEngineering (MMHE), SimeDarby Engineering, MTBEMalaysia and PACC Ship Design.
Veson Nautical has announced theaddition of four new employees to thecompany's Boston headquar-ters office, with Haorong Lito become director of profes-sional services; Mikhail Elkinjoining as a software engi-neer; Suchit Patel as a QAengineer; and BrennaVenkatesh as marketing andevents associate.
Sergey Komarchev ofBernhard SchulteS h i p m a n a g e m e n t ,Germany, has received the20,000th certificate of com-petence issued forSeagull’s onboard ECDIS
keting and operations in shipping andport infrastructure.
Following on from a previous agree-ment for the installation of AMOSMaintenance & Purchasing on 11 newbuildings, COSCO Dalian has con-tracted with SpecTec to install AMOSon 8 additional new building tankers in2009 and 2010.
Training technology companyVideotel reports that it has updated its'Over and Under Pressurisation of Tanks'title with new graphic animationsequences to illustrate the complexities oftank pressure management. The companyhas been updating and expanding itsrange of programs since the introductionof TMSA2 in July of this year.
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Computer-Based Training (CBT) course.The University of the State of
California, Long Beach (CSULB)has reached an agreement with SpecTecwhereby Contship La Spezia andtechnology company Sitep will host,every year, students from the Universityon a 5 to 6 month long internship. The stu-dents will receive formal training in mar-
ONMA to run AMOS
competition
SOFTWARE
Digital Ship December 2008 page 18
SS hipdex is a standard protocol forelectronic documentation for ships,launched in February 2008, which
aims to improve the data available to ship-ping companies in their maintenance andpurchasing systems.
Better data has the potential to lead tobetter maintenance, more accurate pur-chasing and better communications withsuppliers, leading to happier seafarers,better ship maintenance, lower costs, apotential longer lifetime of the ship andimproved safety.
Nobody questions the potential longterm benefits of Shipdex, but over theimmediate and shorter term, the path isless clear.
Suppliers ask: How many shippingcompanies want this? How much will itcost? Will there be another standardalong in a few months time, and howshould we pick which one to back? Will itmake it easier for my competitors to gettheir hands on our data? Can we just stayas we are?
Shipowners ask: Should I invest in sys-tems which can use electronic documenta-tion? Will suppliers ever provide it?Should I try to push suppliers to provideit? Are the savings worth the effort?
All of these questions were discussed atDigital Ship's second Shipdex forum, heldrecently in Oslo, Norway. The answers arenot all entirely clear yet, but the discus-sion, reported below, may help you tobuild your own opinion about whether ornot Shipdex is right for your company,and the maritime industry.
The shipowners’ viewAfter listening to the morning's proceed-ings, Christer Bruzelius, senior vice pres-ident of ship management withFinnlines, an operator of 36 ro-ro vessels,declared that he was "very impressed."
"I see some clear benefits by standardis-ing this," he said. "There is a clear longterm benefit."
"In the long run, this will lift our maintenance. We will maintain our shipsbetter, we will get better information tothe crew."
"But it will be a struggle," he warned."We have to invest a lot as shipowners tobe able to take this. We have [lots of dif-ferent] systems for document manage-ment. But we do need standardisation."
Mr Bruzelius noted that shipping com-panies will have to be ready to demandShipdex documentation from their suppli-ers if they want to have it.
"It comes down, in the end, to the cus-tomers," he said. "If they say it has to beShipdex, suppliers have to supply it. Ithink shipowners can play a big role inthis by pushing this, definitely."
Shipowners have not had much lever-age over their suppliers for the past fewyears, but things are changing, MrBruzelius emphasised.
"In the last few years - we've beenalmost begging to engine manufacturers,please give us an engine before 2011. Butwe've come to another time now."
Kari-Anne Larmerud, IT business ana-lyst with Høegh Autoliners, pointed outthat although the mid term benefits are
fairly clear, in the short term considerableeffort is needed. "I think companies are abit scared about starting this process," she said.
Shipdex was initiated by shipping com-panies Grimaldi Naples, a company whichoperates 95 ro-ro, multipurpose and carcarrier vessels, and Intership Navigation,a company which owns and manages 50bulk carriers, tweendeckers and lakers,and provides crew management servicesto a further 70 vessels.
Grimaldi's purchasing directorGiancarlo Coletta estimates that theimmediate savings to shipping companies
of using Shipdex are Euro 27,000 a year nomatter how many ships they have, savingaround Euro 15,000 a year by not havingto employ someone full time to managepaper documents, and saving Euro 12,000from not needing a physical library tostore them. There is also an immediatesaving of the Euro 15,000 per vesselGrimaldi currently spends to create itsplanned maintenance database frompaper documents.
Less quantifiable, but potentially biggerbenefits, are the cost savings from havingeasier to use and purchasing maintenancesystems, with better data, says Mr Coletta.
Mr Coletta believes that Shipdexshould be a 'win-win situation for every-body'. "We wish to make the life of every-body easier," he says. "You can make thelife of the vessel better."
In order to get started with Shipdex,shipowners should try to put a line in theircontracts with their suppliers, saying "alltechnical documents should be deliveredin accordance with Shipdex," he said.
Intership NavigationPawel Bury, IT manager of IntershipNavigation, one of the companies whichfounded Shipdex, said his company has alot of headaches with manuals. "Technicalmanuals are sometimes poor quality, oreven wrong," he said. "Making maintenanceevery 5000 hours is not the same as every500 hours - and that's just a typing error."
Intership is currently trying to per-suade its shipyards in China to provideShipdex documents with new vessels it isbuilding. "I rate our chances of gettingShipdex data from China at 80 per cent,"said Mr Bury.
Shipdex - predicting the costs of electronic documentation
Digital Ship’s second Shipdex conference in Oslo included detailed discussion about the adoption costs ofelectronic documentation for ships, replacing the paper manuals and drawings carried onboard. The medium term
benefits of the system seem clear - but what costs and potential hurdles need to be overcome in the short term?
Leading the maritime industry towards electronic documentation: Giancarlo Coletta, purchasing director, Grimaldi Naples (left) and
Pawel Bury, IT manager, Intership navigation (right).
Delegates at the Shipdex conference had a lot to think about - we can all see the medium and long term benefits, but how do wepersuade our colleagues and partner companies to adopt this in the short term?
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The company builds 90 per cent of itsvessels in China, and has senior staff outthere, keeping an eye on the newbuild-ings. But they end up spending a lot oftheir time just typing in equipment num-bers, because they are wrong in the manu-als, Mr Bury explained.
The company has sometimes fallen intothe temptation of thinking that two identi-cal ships can share manuals, only to findthere are small differences in the systemsfitted on the ships and it doesn't work.
"They are almost sister ships but theycould have some differences, so a goodverification is needed after making acopy," said Mr Bury.
An additional problem with papermanuals is that the final version is gener-ally only delivered to the office at sometime after the ship is delivered; it takestime to get all the data onboard electroni-cally, which means there is a time whenthe ship is sailing without good informa-tion onboard.
Having problems with manuals is par-ticularly frustrating when you know thatthe equipment suppliers have good datasystems of their own, but they don't makethem available to shipping companies.
In today's times of crew shortages, it isvery important to have the best toolsonboard as possible, said Mr Bury. "Anofficer with experience knows exactlywhat he needs to do - but a newly quali-fied engineer needs all the information hecan get."
Today's shipping companies need tomanage their resources for maintenance aswell as possible, including available man-power, skilled personnel and spares - andto do that means they need good data, he said.
Mr Bury believes that some of theobstructions to take-up of Shipdex havebeen egos and a competitive mentality, orbig suppliers resisting being 'pushedaround', who say that they have systemswhich are good enough for them(although they have systems which can't
work with anyone else's), so they don't seethe benefits of adopting something whichcan help the whole industry.
"Can we forget about competing for awhile?" he asked. "Can we think about onetool for everyone and leave our egobehind?"
The suppliers' viewOn the suppliers' side, MacGREGOR, AlfaLaval, MAN Diesel and Yanmar arealready committed founding members ofShipdex.
As well as MAN Diesel, the conferencewas attended by representatives of enginemanufacturers Wärtsilä and Rolls Royce,both saying they are currently consideringwhether or not to get involved.
For a supplier, to provide Shipdex doc-umentation takes a bit of time and invest-ment, as Alfa Laval's Mats Ottossonstressed. "It's not just pushing a buttonand Shipdex falls out."
Equipment supplier MacGREGOR,expected to be the world's first supplier to
produce Shipdex documents, is complete-ly upgrading its entire internal softwaresystems to move from paper / Word doc-uments to an XML based system, in orderto generate Shipdex output.
The software has so far cost Euro500,000, just for the cranes department,said Katarina Munter, MacGREGOR'smanager of technical documentationservices.
However MacGREGOR anticipatesmany benefits to the company other thanbeing able to produce Shipdex documents- not least the ability to produce manualsfor all of its customers in higher quantitiesand quality.
After moving to electronic documenta-tion, German shipyard HDW found that itgot much cheaper to create in-house docu-ments, said Kay-Michael Goertz, current-ly SpecTec's operations manager forGermany, who was head of logistic proce-dures and IT at German ship and subma-rine builder Howaldtswerke - DeutscheWerft GmbH (HDW) until May 2008.
It also becomes possible for shipowners
and suppliers to streamline their sparepart databases, because if different subsuppliers provide equipment with thesame spare part, it should use the samepart number, said Mr Goertz.
Shipyards and suppliers will find itmuch easier to collate manuals for theircustomers from the materials sent to themby sub suppliers if it is all done electroni-cally (rather than by collating paper).They will also be able to send furtherupdates directly to their customers, andwill benefit from their customers havingmuch better databases, so they alwaysorder the right parts.
Suppliers will also be able to offer a bet-ter after sales service, something whichboth shipyards and service suppliers oftenhave enormous problems with, saidHerman de Meester, deputy secretarygeneral of the European CommunityShipowners' Associations.
Suppliers can set up a new revenuestream, selling electronic manuals forequipment they have sold in the past
SOFTWARE
Digital Ship December 2008 page 20
"It's not just pushing a button and Shipdex falls out" - Mats Ottosson,
Strategic Project Manager, Alfa Laval Parts & Service Equipment
MacGREGOR will be the first supplier tomake Shipdex documents - so everyone
else can get the benefit of MacGREGOR'sexperience, said Katerina Munter,MacGREGOR's head of technical
documentation.
With an electronic documentation system,it becomes much cheaper for a shipyardto create in-house documentation - KayMichael Goertz, operations manager -
Germany, SpecTec
- 3rd Digital Ship Conference Tuesday February 10th, 2009, Maritim Hotel, Reichshof, Hamburg
New standards in electronic ship documentation
Digital Ship will run its third Shipdex conference inHamburg on February 10, 2009, about a new standardfor exchange of ship technical information betweenequipment manufacturers and shipping companies,potentially leading to the end of paper documentsonboard ships, and shipboard maintenance and purchasing systems being easily populated with accurate and complete data.
We hope to be able to provide reports from the firstShipdex pilot projects with the first equipment suppliers at our Hamburg conference, as well as newsabout how Shipdex is being incorporated into new maritime software packages, and reports from otherindustries about their experiences moving from paperto electronic documentation.
See the latest program and register online at www.thedigitalship.com/shipdex.htm
with paper manuals.Mårten Storbacka, general manager
engineering, ship power technology,Wärtsilä Finland Oy, said that the compa-ny has already developed its own XMLinternal document management systems,but it may be able to provide output inShipdex format.
When asked if Wärtsilä might be join-ing Shipdex, Mr Storbackasaid "I think it will need a lotof marketing internally, butyes, I can see it as a possibili-ty."
One of the biggest chal-lenges with this is persuad-ing Wärtsilä's sub suppliersto also provide their docu-mentation in XML, he said.
Suppliers can expect acontribution towards thecosts of creating Shipdexmanuals from their cus-tomers who demand it. "Wedon't expect Shipdex docu-ment free of charge - weexpect some charges forthis," said Pawel Bury, ITmanager of IntershipNavigation.
Alfa LavalAlfa Laval, expected to pro-duce Shipdex documentationnext year, already has aninternal XML documentationmanagement system; it willnot be replacing it but it willbe installing software whichcan convert the output fromits existing system toShipdex, where customersrequest it.
The company has startedby looking at providingShipdex manuals for separa-tors, which are the pieces ofequipment which need themost frequent maintenance.
Alfa Laval sells the sametechnologies - separation,heat transfer and fluid han-dling - to many differentindustries, and it would liketo continue using the samesystem to create manuals forall of them.
It is putting together soft-ware scripts which can con-vert the output from its exist-ing software into Shipdexformat. The investment inthis software is "quite high"to begin with, said MatsOttosson, strategic projectmanager, Alfa Laval Partsand Service Equipment, butthe cost will reduce overtime.
It is very important forAlfa Laval to maintain theflexibility to produce docu-mentation in a variety of dif-ferent formats in future asdemanded by customers indifferent industry sectors,and by having a consistentinternal system together withconversion engines is the bestway to achieve this, he said.
MacGREGORMacGREGOR, a company which manu-factures heavy equipment for vessels andports, made a bold decision to move all ofits documentation systems from a paperbased system to Shipdex.
The company has encountered a fewproblems with Shipdex so far, and expectsto have more problems, but this is mainly
because it is the world's first supplier totry to produce Shipdex documents - whichshould make life easier for the next sup-pliers to attempt the move to Shipdex, saidKatarina Munter, MacGREGOR's man-ager of technical documentation services.
The company is installing new softwareto manage its manual production processinternally, which will also be able to out-
put Shipdex data. It anticipates producing50 per cent more manuals and improvingtheir accuracy as a result of having thesoftware. "We will have less cost andfaster response," she said.
MacGREGOR particularly likes theway that Shipdex will be able to facilitatecommunications with the end user, some-thing which is very difficult currently.
Digital Ship
Digital Ship December 2008 page 21
"It is almost impossible to get updatesout to the customer," she said. "Today,every document we send goes through theyard, and it's a big possibility that it staysthere."
"We can collect information aboutequipment performance and will be ableto respond to spares enquires faster."
The company's first opinion of Shipdex,and its method for putting together docu-ments, was that it was not terriblyimpressed. "We thought it was a bitbureaucratic and hard to use," said MsMunter.
However the company was persuadedby the benefits of Shipdex over time, par-ticularly because it was already cus-tomised for use in the maritime industry.
The costs of developing its own 'docu-ment type definition' system (method ofdescribing the documents) was estimatedat Euro 160,000; the costs of Shipdex areEuro 3,000 (for annual membership), andthe costs of implementing a free / opensource system, estimated at Euro 1,000.
MacGREGOR's cranes and ro-ro divi-sions are working on Shipdex separately."Cranes have come a bit farther than roro,"said Ms Munter.
MacGREGOR wanted a software sys-tem which would enable the company tokeep its options open, because it willalways need to be able to deliver manualsin other formats.
The company found that some of itsequipment, particularly port equipmentfor land, did not have codes in Shipdexthat it could use, so it is developingnew codes.
One standard?One question which shipowners and sup-pliers will want answering when consider-ing a move to Shipdex is whether it is, andwill always be, the only standard for shipdocumentation systems, or if there will beanother in the future and they might endup backing the wrong one.
The Shipdex team believe that theanswer is simple - although there aremany standards in the world for taggingdocumentation, there is only one standardin the world for documentation of trans-port equipment, called S1000D.
S1000D is a highly complex standarddeveloped initially for documentation formilitary aircraft; its use has since beenextended to commercial aircraft and othermilitary equipment. It is used internation-ally by companies including Boeing andAirbus.
The founders of Shipdex, Grimaldi andIntership, thought that they would have atough time demanding that their suppli-ers provide documents in S1000D format,because it is so complex, so they commis-sioned their software company, SpecTec,to write a simplified version, reducing thenumber of pages from 2600 to 180 includ-ing business and writing rules.
SpecTec hired Marco Vatteroni, whowas developing electronic documentationsystems at Italian shipyard Finncantieri, toperform the complex task.
Shipdex is a simplified version ofS1000D, but is fully compatible with it.The electronic documentation needs ofaviation and military are similar to themaritime industry, but more demanding,because data needs to be more accurate,data changes need to be propagated morequickly, there is more demand for securi-ty, and space is at more of a premium.
The Shipdex team have had a meetingwith the co-chair of the S1000D council,and decided that there would be an nfor-mal co-operation between Shipdex andS1000D, which should lead to a more for-mal integration. Shipdex was also present-ed by Marco Vatteroni during the S1000DUser Forum (sponsored by ASD, ATA andAIA) in Budapest in October.
Keeping a parallel to S1000D shouldalso make it easier to update Shipdex tonew technologies, because S1000D willhave already done the work.
SoftwareIt is important to stress that using Shipdexdoes not mean that the user is forced touse the products of any one company(something which would certainly putpeople off).
So far maritime software companiesSpecTec, Danaos, and ABS NauticalSystems have discussed making softwarewhich is Shipdex compatible, and the oth-ers will probably follow as the marketgrows.
SpecTec already offers a range of differ-ent services associated with Shipdexincluding consultancy, providing manualauthoring tools, content managementtools, manual publishing tools, and offer-ing services to convert manuals from oneformat to another.
There is also an emerging market forcompanies which have previously workedwith S1000D, or who provide documenta-tion services for the maritime industry,who are starting to offer services provid-ing Shipdex documentation, or helpingconvert other systems to Shipdex.
Danish document management compa-ny Corena is one of the first to see a busi-ness opportunity creating Shipdex manu-als (see page 15); the company alreadyprovides document management servicesfor aerospace, automotive, energy and themaritime industry and works withS1000D.
Corena recently helped one bigNorwegian defence technology companyimplement S1000D for all of its technical
publications and SCORM for its trainingsystems, replacing Microsoft Word andAdobe FrameMaker software.Subsequently, it can produce operator andmaintenance manuals in 3 weeks insteadof 6 months.
Corena also recently implemented asystem for a Swedish military aviationcompany using S1000D, also incorporat-ing S1000D data from its aeroplane manufacturer.
Control of the dataThe issue of ownership and control of theelectronic documentation data is likely tocontinue to be a hurdle. Suppliers arealways afraid of detailed informationabout their products getting into thehands of their competitors.
In the paper document era there was anunderstanding and contractual agreementbetween shipowners and their suppliersthat shipowners would not lend theirmanuals to rival suppliers to make photo-copies, although there was nothing totechnically prevent them from doing so.
In the electronic document era it ismuch easier to transfer informationaround, which could lead to suppliers'fears of their data getting into competitors'hands being heightened.
SpecTec's Kay-Michael Goertz arguesthat these fears are overstated, becausepeople are as free to communicate elec-tronically as they were with paper - nomore and no less.
"We say, your rights are the same asbefore," he said. "We are as good, or asbad, as paper. With paper, there was noth-ing preventing the shipowner from shar-ing it. Paper can be printed, copies andsent somewhere. We stick to the same pro-cedure as before."
Mr Ottosson also noted that the datamodules are created uniquely for eachindividual ship - and so they are only real-ly useful for that ship.
Katarina Munter from MacGREGORnoted that if the trust between supplierand shipowner about passing around doc-umentation is violated, "we'll stop."
However Stephen Mulvaney, cus-tomer support specialist with RollsRoyce, who previously led efforts to helpRolls Royce's aviation division move toelectronic documentation, suggested thatmaybe concerns about data control shouldbe taken seriously.
There is a difference between intellectu-al property which is just being viewed ona screen, and intellectual property wheresomeone can access the raw data - save it,manipulate it or e-mail it, he said. This issimilar to the difference between usingWindows and having the source code.
Computer systems have been devel-oped which can restrict which individualscan access different drawings, or restrictwhat drawings can be e-mailed or savedonto portable hard drives; although thiscould cause a lot of trouble, not leastwhen someone needs access to certaininformation in a hurry.
"We could have a mechanism wherepeople need special keys - but it's a night-mare," said SpecTec's Kay-Michael Goertz.
TimelineThe protocol is currently written andready to use, although it has not yet beenused in a live project.
The first live project, withMacGREGOR Cranes, should be under-way by the end of 2008, followed by bothMAN Diesel and MacGREGOR Ro-Ro inthe first quarter of next year.
Alfa Laval and Yanmar are both expect-ed to provide Shipdex data in 2009, andRaytheon, which is providing navigationequipment to Intership's new vessels, isalso invited to provide Shipdex data.
At the moment Shipdex only providescapability for one way communication(supplier to shipping company), but func-tionality for the shipping company to sendcomments back to the supplier will short-ly be added.
Shipdex and classShipdex could help to streamline the com-munications between shipyards, shipown-ers and classification societies.
Most of the classification societiesalready have systems in place for com-munication of electronic documents(such as drawings, surveys, audit reports,calculations, manuals, specifications andcertifications) but Shipdex could makethis easier.
SOFTWARE
Digital Ship December 2008 page 22
Shipdex can help streamline the flow ofinformation between shipyards and class,
reckons Alessia Vergine, team lead of basicand applied research, RINA marine division
Data security: there is a differencebetween suppliers allowing customers toview their data on a screen, and allowingthem to manipulate, store and e-mail it,
said Stephen Mulvaney, customer supportspecialist with Rolls Royce
Shipdex author Marco Vatteroni, SpecTec,reduced S1000D from 2,600 pages to
Alessia Vergine, team leader of basicand applied research with the marinedivision of Italian class society RINA,said she believes that Shipdex will helpstreamline the flow of informationbetween shipyards and class, leading tobetter data management, improved trans-parency and traceability.
It can help put together checklists forsurveyors, and update systems aboutcomponents' status, she said.
"Shipdex will allow for a better man-agement of class information and the clas-sification process in general," she told us."It will help speed up data management. Itwill also help facilitate application of con-dition monitoring techniques."
Computer based trainingElectronic documentation could be usedas a basis for creating computer basedtraining, something the aviation industryis already doing with S1000D.
"With electronic technical information,you can easily build computer basedtraining to send everywhere - electronictraining courses you can supply to yourcrew managers," said Grimaldi's Mr Coletta.
Sylvia Schwab, senior systems engineer with CORENA Norway, acompany which provides S1000D docu-mentation systems for the aerospaceindustry, explained that the aviationindustry needs to immediately updateboth its manuals and training systemsafter there are any changes to the aero-plane equipment.
A system for web based learning hasbeen developed called 'Shareable ContentObject Reference Model' (SCORM), pub-lished by an organisation run by the USDepartment of Defence, which can accessdata from S1000D.
Improved purchasingOne important benefit of Shipdex is that itwill help shipping companies keep theright inventory of spare parts onboard andalways purchase the right spare parts atthe right time, because their databasesshould be much improved.
Poor data quality is proving quite animpediment to electronic commercebetween shipping companies and suppli-ers, said Alfa Laval's Mats Ottosson.
Shipping companies might have goodparts databases when they have justbought new equipment, but the problemsarise further along the equipment's lifecy-
cle, when new parts are introduced andolder ones retired, because it is very hardfor a manufacturer to ask shipowners toupdate their databases.
Shipdex could facilitate data communi-cation between shipping companies andtheir suppliers, to keep their databases upto date for new equipment.
"As a manufacturer we can put qualityin when we start, but it is a joint challengeto maintain it throughout the life cycle,"said Mr Ottosson.
There was a discussion about dataquality at the recent InternationalMaritime Purchasing Association (IMPA)conference in London, he added. "E-com-merce companies said, we can help main-tain quality. Can they? I'm not sure, notwithout involving both the buyer and thesupplier."
Shipdex ownershipThere have still been a few gripes about theway ownership and copyright of Shipdexhas been set up, with copyright over theprotocol currently retained by the twofounding companies, Grimaldi Group andIntership, and a steering committee includ-ing all the founder members (Grimaldi,Intership, Alfa Laval, MacGREGOR, MANDiesel, SpecTec and Yanmar).
Mr Coletta of Grimaldi Naples arguesthat this process has been put in place tohelp manage the development of the pro-tocol - several similar initiatives havefoundered because there were too manymembers which made it too hard to makedecisions.
Mr Coletta said he would be happy topass copyright onto another independentorganisation in future which could man-age it.
The members have agreed that theywill open up the protocol maintenancegroup to other companies from next sum-mer onwards, although new members willbe voted in by the existing members, andmay be limited to one company in eachsector (eg one software company, one clas-sification society, one shipyard and so on).
All members of Shipdex can apply forany changes they want to see to be madeto the protocol, which will be discussed bythe maintenance group.
Shipdex structureShipdex is a kind of language whichdescribes the equipment, tagged so thatdifferent computer systems can under-stand what the different pieces of text anddata mean.
Shipdex data can include text abouthow to operate the equipment; informa-tion about how to do maintenance; trou-bleshooting information (solving prob-lems); information about spare parts (withillustration); and information about howto provide changes to documentation,explained SpecTec's Marco Vatteroni,author of Shipdex.
Each spare part needs to have a uniquenumber, so it can be used for computersystems for managing spare part invento-ry and ordering new spare parts. Optionaldata includes the equipment serial num-bers; a recommended quantity to beincluded onboard; and whether or notthey are subject to Marpol Annex VI (IMOair pollution regulations).
Shipdex is a standard way of manag-ing technical information for ships(such as manuals, drawings and spareparts lists), so it can be communicatedbetween suppliers, shipyards, ship-ping companies and ships electroni-cally, rather than on paper, as it istoday.
This means that shipboard computersystems can automatically serve up theright piece of technical information atthe right time, completely accurately,with no searching for paper. It meansthat shipboard maintenance systemsand purchasing systems always havethe right data in them, and that compa-nies no longer have to deal with theinconvenience and cost of storing paperdocuments.
It gets much easier to link up themaintenance software, creating workorders, to the documentation - so (forexample) a vessel engineer can get a listof today's maintenance tasks, and allthe relevant documentation about howto do them, in his inbox.
Shipping companies will receive allof their manuals from their suppliersand sub suppliers in a standard formatand structure.
This should lead to maintenance on
ships getting much easier - leading toships being better maintained and last-ing longer, something which will makea big impact on every shipowners' bot-tom line over the long term.
It will also lead to improved pur-chasing, if companies always order theright parts because their systems havethe right data in them, and shippingcompanies will be able to use Shipdexto put together better reports to sendauthorities and class societies.
In order to use Shipdex, you have tojoin the Shipdex organisation; the feesfor this are Eur 2,500 for initial registra-tion and Eur 500 for annual member-ship renewal.
Anyone can join and use Shipdex,including shipping companies, equipment suppliers and softwarecompanies.
Although the maritime softwarecompany SpecTec played a big role inthe establishment of Shipdex, users arenot committed in any way to usingSpecTec software; they can use anysoftware which is compatible with theprotocol, the details of which are open-ly available to Shipdex members.
Shipdex is an XML standard - that is,it is a way of labelling the chunks of
text, data and drawings which areincluded in manuals and catalogues, sothey can be automatically movedbetween different computer systemsfluidly.
So (for example) a shipyard's docu-ment management system can auto-matically provide the data for a newvessel including all of the equipmenton it; the data can be imported into theshipping company's documentationsystem, and linked to its maintenanceand purchasing system.
Then you end up with a systemwhich can (for example) provide workorders (instructions of what mainte-nance tasks need to be done today),alongside the instructions of how to dothe maintenance.
It is important to stress that Shipdexis not about PDF documents; PDF doc-uments are just an electronic version ofpaper. To illustrate the difference,imagine trying to set up a database ofspare parts for your purchasing system.If the list was provided to you on paperor a PDF document, you would need totype it into your purchasing system lineby line.
If the list was provided as Shipdexdata, you could import it automatically.
About Shipdex
Digital Ship December 2008 page 25
Digital Ship
There was plenty to discuss in the coffee break
DS
You can use electronic documentationsystems as a basis for computer basedtraining modules, said Sylvia Schwab,senior systems engineer with CORENA
Norway
ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS
Digital Ship December 2008 page 26
McMurdo is renowned as a world leading manufacturer ofmarine safety equipment for both SOLAS and non-SOLASFishing vessels, providing a range of distress beacons andsafety equipment for both crew and vessel.
www.mcmurdo.co.uk
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FASTFIND PLB RANGEThe new Fastfind Maxbrings addeddimensions to safetywith 48 houroperational batterylife at temperatures aslow as -20°C. FastfindPLUS and Fastfindallows a minimum of24 hours operation intemperatures as lowas -40°C.
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McMurdo, Silver Point, Airport Service Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5PB UK Tel: +44 (0)23 9262 3900 Fax: +44 (0)23 9262 3998 [email protected]
Schiffselektronik GmbH will offerthe complete range of products and sys-tems manufactured by Kelvin Hughesincluding radar, electronic chart systems,and simplified voyage data recorders(SVDR), while also offering repairs andservicing.
McMurdo has appointed GarminIberia to handle its distribution through-out Spain. Formerly Trepat, the distribu-tor was taken over by Garmin last year,and so has streamlined its brands to thecore Garmin product range plus the addi-tion of a number of compatible brandsincluding McMurdo.
The UK Maritime andCoastguard Agency has approved thefollowing organisations as AuthorisedTesting Application Service Providers fortesting shipborne LRIT equipmentonboard the relevant UK vessels:Transas Telematics Ltd; Polestar;Thrane & Thrane; Securewest;Fulcrum Maritime Systems; andSELEX Communications Ltd. TheUK Ship Register will also have a dedicat-ed LRIT page for further information:www.ukshipregister.co.uk.
Comar Systems, a UK based manufac-turer of AIS (Automated IdentificationSystem) Class B transponders andreceivers, has appointed MilltechMarine as its US distributor. Milltechwill handle the complete range of Comarproducts which are available with imme-diate effect.
Hatteland Display has announcedthat Trond K Johannessen is to becomethe company's new president and CEOfrom the 1st February 2009, taking overfrom Knut Vidar Lauritsen, who willremain in a management role. MrJohannessen was previously senior vicepresident at Tomra Systems ASA.
Hatteland Display has beenselected by energy management compa-ny Marorka to provide the marine displays and computers for its onboard
fuel efficiency and emission reductionsolutions.
Dickson Company has releasedits new Digital Display Temperature and Humidity Data Loggers, for moni-toring temperature and humidity inshipping containers. The Loggers featureboth push-to-start and push-to-stopfunctions. A temperature-only version isalso available.
UK-company C A Clase has recentlyintroduced SatPro's LRITpro D200 andthe LRITpro L800 to its commercialmarine distribution range, which enableships to send Automatic Position Reports(APR) to LRIT data centres, in accordancewith IMO LRIT regulations. The systemscost approximately £1600.
Kelvin Hughes has appointed anew distributor in Germany. Lammers
McMurdo's range of marine electronics willbe available through Garmin Iberia in Spain
Trond K Johannessen (left) is to take over from Knut Vidar Lauritsen at Hatteland
Jeppesen agrees Chile dealwww.jeppesen.com
The Hydrographic and OceanographicService of the Chilean Navy has signed anagreement with Jeppesen Marine for the useof Chilean data in Jeppesen-derived products.
The Chilean Hydrographic Office (SHOA)and Jeppesen Marine have also agreed inprinciple to work together on the develop-ment of the first product version of MarinePilotage Charts (MPCs) for Chilean waters.
The development of the Chilean MPCswill include other stakeholders, such asthe Chilean Maritime Authority and thePilot Association of Chile, who will collec-tively contribute to the development of
these procedural charts. "This agreement is the first step in a true
partnership between the highly respectedChilean HO and Jeppesen Marine," saidMichael Bergmann, director maritime indus-try safety-affairs-services, Jeppesen Marine.
"The forward looking attitude of theexecutives at SHOA, combined with astrong Jeppesen Marine team, will bringnew navigation services to life. We believethat MPCs will be the first of these newservices and offers an innovativeapproach which will improve navigationsafety for mariners, including both thenavigators of the vessels as well as thehighly-respected Chilean pilots."
OSG to implement Datatracwww.datatrac.co.uk
Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) is toimplement two systems from Datatrac toassist in the capture of onboard vessel datain electronic format, following a 12-monthtesting period.
The Envirotrac system will be used totrack the integrity of the vessel wastestream systems, while the EERL servicewill allow the electronic generation ofengine room logs.
The applications are now beinginstalled across the OSG fleet.
The EERL system reduces the paper-
work associated with traditional handlingof engine room logs by collecting digitaldata in a PDA. Data entry is timed andPIN secured.
The hand held readers used by the sys-tem operate in association with electronictags fixed within the engine room; touch-ing these cues the user to relevant ques-tions, with answers provided on the built-in screen.
The Envirotrac system allows for themonitoring, recording and audit of envi-ronmental tags, fitted to waste handlingpipe work, associated valves and flangesto ensure the integrity of the system.
Digital Ship
Digital Ship Ship December 2008 page 27
VTMIS upgrade for Bintuluwww.kongsberg.com
Kongsberg Norcontrol IT is to upgrade theexisting VTMIS (Vessel TrafficManagement and Information Service) atBintulu Port, Sarawak, East Malaysia, andwill be responsible for the delivery andcommissioning of new VOC5060 comput-er hardware and software, user training,and maintenance until 2013.
The upgrade package also includesthree C-Scope Radar Extractor & Trackers,which aim to improve the port's radar per-formance without upgrading the radarhardware. This is achieved through theuse of advanced signal processing tech-niques to extrapolate a clearer image fromthe raw radar signal.
VOC5060 is a VTS operator worksta-tion and is used as the primary interface toa VTMIS. In addition to providing VTSoperators with access to all the informa-
tion available in the system, together withthe ability to control system functions, italso allows for sharing of VTS related datawith other applications such as a PMIS(Port Management Information System).
Bintulu Port first installed a KongsbergNorcontrol IT system over twenty fiveyears ago with the delivery of a VOC80package in 1982-83. This was followed upby a VOC5000 solution in 1994, with thelatest contract awarded to upgrade theexisting system from another manufactur-er that was installed in 2003.
The installation of the new VOC5060solution will take place in November 2008.
"We are particularly pleased to be backas the main VTMIS supplier at Bintulu,considering the long history we have withsupplying domain awareness solutions tothis, one of the busiest ports in South EastAsia," said Inge Flaten, president,Kongsberg Norcontrol IT.
www.hatteland-display.com
Hatteland Display has received an orderfor 290 Electronic Chart Display andInformation System (ECDIS) displays forinstallation on the US Coast Guard buoytender fleet.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG)Command and Control Centre inPortsmouth, Virginia, procured the displaysthrough a contract awarded to CHI Systems.
The current Coast Guard platform usesfive video display stations; one in a con-sole positioned on the forward centre ofthe bridge, two mounted to the overheadon the port and starboard bridge wings,one mounted in a console in the chartroomand one backup system mounted on thebulkhead in the chartroom.
"This is a significant order for us as itreflects our ability to meet the standardsrequired by an organisation that is com-pletely committed to security in everythingit does," said Brede Qvigstad, director, navaland defence division, Hatteland Display.
"Orders from military and governmentdepartments are extremely important tous in their own right, but they also demon-strate to our civilian customers that wehave the quality and ability to deliver forlarge and nationally important projects."
www.imso.org
A new LRIT Services Agreement has beensigned between the International MobileSatellite Organisation (IMSO) and theDirectorate General of the MaritimeTerritory and Merchant Marine(DIRECTEMAR) of Chile.
The model LRIT (long range identifica-tion and tracking) Services Agreement setsout the public duties and obligations ofeach entity participating in the LRIT sys-tem, and also contains provisions relatingto payments to IMSO for performing LRITaudits and reviews.
IMSO director general Captain EstebanPacha-Vicente noted that the organisationis currently in the process of negotiating anumber of similar Service Agreementswith other LRIT data centres and theInternational LRIT Data Exchange.
DIRECTEMAR director general, viceadmiral Edmundo González Robles, com-mented: "Following the successful prelim-inary visit by IMSO to our data centre inValparaiso, I am delighted that Chile isnow ready to play a full part in the inter-national LRIT system, as recognised bythis ground-breaking agreement."
Chile is the first country to sign an LRITServices Agreement with IMSO.
The VTMIS at Bintulu Port, in Sarawak, East Malaysia, is to be upgraded by Kongsberg
USCG order for Hatteland
Chile in LRIT agreement
Free sensor network trial from CargoTraxwww.cargotraxsingapore.com.sg
CargoTrax Singapore is offering free trials of its MESH Wireless SensorNetworks (WSN) technology, for trans-mission of data from both ReeferContainers and Dry Containers, betweennow and February 2009.
The free trial will be valid until Friday27th February and is mainly aimed at thecold food supply chain, such as thoseexporting meats, fruit, vegetables andpharmaceuticals.
Those interested in taking advantage ofthe offer can download an applicationform from the CargoTrax Singapore website, at www.cargotraxsingapore.com.sg.
The technology can be used to monitora number of container variables, with sen-sors available to measure temperature,light, CO2, O2, gas, vibration, door tam-pering, acceleration and radiation, provid-ing data in real-time.
The data is accumulated on a laptop-server on the bridge, which can then beused to transmit the information packetsat predetermined intervals via the ship'ssatellite system to monitoring and controlcentres on land.
Alternatively, WSN Gateway Nodesmay be deployed in container farms andports to directly deliver a continuousseamless audit and information on thecontainer traffic.
Space-based AIS agreementswww.orbcomm.com
ORBCOMM reports that it has signedeight new test and evaluation agreementswith prospective VARs, distribution part-ners and potential end-users in connectionwith its satellite-based AutomaticIdentification System (AIS) services.
In addition to a recently announcedagreement with the US Coast Guard, ORB-COMM says that it has concluded a num-ber of further agreements to provide test-ing and evaluation of AIS data provided
by the company's space-based network. The company hopes that these agree-
ments will lead to a number of direct andindirect contracts that will become thebasis of an initial world-wide distributionnetwork for AIS services.
ORBCOMM says that it has includedwithin this group of potential new part-ners organisations such as US govern-ment agencies, corporations engaged inproviding services to foreign govern-ments, and those engaged in transporta-tion and logistics.
www.transas.com
Transas has announced that it has reachedagreements to install ECDIS systemsonboard a number of newbuild and exist-ing vessels for Danish shipowners Tormand Norden.
Eleven Dual ECDIS (elec-tronic chart display informa-tion system) Navi-Sailor 4000units will be supplied to Tormnewbuilds, with installationsto take place as construction iscompleted in China between2009 and 2011.
For Norden, four singleECDIS units with 23-inchmonitors will be installedonboard the vessels Norden,Nord Ocean, Nord Empathy,and Nord Whale.
All units will be installedby Transas Scandinavia tech-nicians during the vessels' drydockings between now andJanuary 2009. Transas hasalready supplied ECDIS forfive vessels in Norden's fleet,as well as SVDR (simplifiedvoyage data recorder) systemsfor four vessels.
In other news, Transasreports that its T 214 AIS BaseStation has been awarded atype-approval certificate fromthe National Agency ofTelecommunications of theRepublic of Brazil, and can
now be supplied and used within thecountry.
It has also released a new 3D VTS(Vessel Traffic System), which visuallyrepresents a 3-dimensional view of thenavigational situation in the VTS area.
Danish ECDIS deals for Transas
Shipowners Torm and Norden are to install TransasECDIS aboard their vessels
ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS
Digital Ship Ship December 2008 page 28
www.kongsberg.com
Kongsberg Maritime has developed a newsystem it calls the Multiflex Panel, a flexi-ble touch-screen that will be used for itsPolaris simulation systems and can beconfigured with different panel functions.
As a result of the implementation ofthis technology training institutes usingthe system will now be able to offer awider range of training on their Polarisfull mission simulators, without increas-ing costs.
Over 70 different panel functions areavailable, with the system having beendesigned as a replacement for equipmenthardware by replicating the same panelsin a touch sensitive graphical format.
During an exercise, students can easilyswitch between different functions (e.g.Doppler log and Echo sounder) on thesame panel.
The instructors can choose between awide range of panel functions to be madeavailable to the students via the MultiflexPanels from the Instructor-PC, or simplyuse pre-configured training scenarios for aspecific ship class, which will automatical-ly present the panels required.
"Our new Multiflex Panels will provideour customers with enhanced flexibility andenable them to re-configure their bridgeinstrument set-up to meet their own cus-tomer training requirements," said TerjeHeierstad, product and technology manag-
er, simulation, Kongsberg Maritime. "This will provide them with much
more flexibility in the training scenariosthat they present on their full mission sim-ulators, as new scenarios do not requirehardware to be swapped out."
Kongsberg also reports that it has
www.reson.com
Servico Hidrografico y Oceanografico de la Armada de Chile (The ChileanNavy Hydrographic and OceanographicService, or SHOA) has taken delivery of a new Reson sonar system, the secondsuch system the organisation has implemented.
The complete system will be installedon the vessel Albatross, and will aid theChilean Navy with the development ofnew nautical cartography for ChileanWaters, including electronic charts.
The total system comprises a Sea Bat
7125-E high resolution multibeam sonar, aNaviSound 410 Deepwater hydrographicand broadband echosounder, and aPDS2000 software package.
The SeaBat7125-E provides high-resolution bathymetry and imagery data in real time for 3-D representationsof underwater features and seabed conditions. It has an operational depth of 400m.
The NaviSound 410 Deepwater hydro-graphic and broadband echosounder hasan enhanced hydrographic echosounderthat supports single channel operation,with a ping rate of 20Hz.
Touch-screen technology for Kongsberg
Sonar to aid in Chilean chart productionKorea to launch maritime satelliteSouth Korea's Ministry of Land, Transportand Maritime Affairs has announced thecountry's intention to launch a new mar-itime communications and weather satel-lite during the middle of 2009.
The Chinese government press agencyXinhua reports that the satellite, sched-uled for launch in June 2009, has beenjointly developed by the KoreaAerospace Research Institute (KARI) andFrench aerospace company EADSAstrium, with the European partnerresponsible for the development of themaritime monitoring technology to beused on the spacecraft.
Astrium-constructed components havebeen shipped to Korea, where the satellitewill be assembled by KARI using locallyproduced satellite technology.
The approximately 356 billion Wonsatellite, weighing in at 2.5 tons, will belaunched from South America and moni-tor maritime developments over a 2,500square km area, centred above Pohang onthe Korean east coast.
The satellite is expected to provideinformation on marine life and fisheries,as well as weather and communicationsfunctions, following commencement ofoperations, until at least 2016.
www.primar.org
Primar reports that its new ECDIS Onlineservice has secured its first commercialvessel user, following its adoption by thehigh-speed craft Norwegian Vingtor.
Providing daily Norwegian fast ferryservices between Bergen and Stavanger,HSC Vingtor carries an Adveto ECDIS-4000system linked to a GPRS/3G connection,with data speeds of 384 kbps and above.
The Primar ECDIS Online service willallow the ECDIS (electronic chart displayinformation system) to receive real-timeENC updates directly from the Primardatabase and thereby have the very latestnavigational data at all times.
The system is offered free of charge toend users via authorised distributors ofthe Primar ENC (electronic navigationalchart) service, and has been developedand tested over the past year in close coop-eration with Swedish ECDIS manufactur-er Adveto, the first Primar distributor tofully implement the system.
The results of the development projectshowed that ENC updates could be in usewithin minutes of being released by ahydrographic office.
"We believe passionately in workingclosely with all elements of the maritimeindustry," said Gerry Larsson-Fedde, theNorwegian Hydrographer.
"We're working with other ECDIS manufactures to expand the service."
First commercial userfor Primar ECDIS
Onlineapplied the technology to a new touchscreen based Engine Room Simulator con-figuration, the Neptune MultiTouch,which is now in use at the GeorgianCollege, Ontario, Canada, and has alsobeen chosen for installation by the ÅlandUniversity of Applied Science.
The touch screen technology allows users to switch between different panels on the same display
www.pcmaritime.co.uk
PC Maritime reports that ithas launched the UnitestMED3D, a new 3D engineroom simulator that can runon a standard PC for trainingstudents in modern comput-er-controlled engine roomoperations.
The system simulates a 4-stroke medium speed mainengine, three diesel genera-tors and a controllable pitchpropeller, together with sim-ulation of a number of otherrelevant systems.
Multi-channel digitalsound effects include enginesound correlated withengine speed, a diesel gener-ator starting and running,open indicator valve sound,alarms and machine tele-graph buzzers.
The MED3D simulator isan addition to PC Maritime'sexisting suite of Unitest sim-ulator systems, whichinclude steam engines, slowspeed, medium speed andturbo diesel engines.
The engine models arebased on generic engineroom equipment, rather thanbeing type specific, to pro-vide broader training, and allare supplied with instructorsoftware so they can be usedin stand-alone mode, or insupervised mode interactingwith an instructor.
Anne Edmonds, PCMaritime's marketing direc-tor, commented: "MED3D isthe most advanced 3D PC-based engine simulator to bereleased. Its innovative visu-alisation and zoom tech-niques allow quick and easyaccess to basic engine roomoperation, such as openingand closing valves or settingswitch positions."
"The 3D visuals are inter-active and fully integratedwith the mathematicalmodel of the engine and allits associated systems."
nature data collection specification, over a48 hour period during a routine mainte-nance period at her home base of LaSpezia, Italy.
Training on the Mimic system, alongwith the associated hand held vibration data
collector, was also conducted at that time.JF Mimic says that NURC has opted to
use the software vibration modules for thevessel, with the option of future upgradesto include electronic logsheets, oil analysisand online monitoring.
www.jfmimic.co.uk
JF Mimic reports that it has recently com-pleted the installation of its MimicCondition Monitoring software onboard aNATO research vessel managed by Anglo-Eastern Ship Management.
The NATO UnderwaterResearch Centre (NURC) isone of three research andtechnology organisations in
NATO, conducting maritime research insupport of NATO's operational and trans-formation requirements.
The research vessel Alliance was select-ed for the installation, which was complet-ed, with a full asset list and vibration sig-
Digital Ship December 2008 page 29
NATO installs Mimic condition monitoringDigital Ship
3D simulationfrom
PC Maritime
but it will indicate gross errors and alertthe bridge team to the take appropriatecautionary actions.
Celestial positioning is also a possibili-ty for those wanting to show off their skillsbut in many areas of the world the pooravailability of sights makes this a veryunreliable method for regular verificationof GPS position.
GLONASS Greatly improved positional integritymonitoring of both ocean and coastalroute segments is possible using theGLONASS satellite navigation system. Itnow has 17 operational satellites, givinggood accuracy over a considerable propor-tion of the globe.
The present coverage is certainly goodenough to justify fitting it to SOLAS ves-sels as a position sensor independent ofGPS. Over half of the present satelliteshave been launched since the beginning of2007 and the expectation is that truly glob-al coverage is achievable in relativelyshort timescales.
Fitted equipment should be certified tomeet IMO standards but these may be dif-ficult to procure at present. Non-approvedsystems may interfere with other bridgenavigational equipment and may not meetall IMO requirements.
Ideally, there should be an automaticintegrity monitoring process continuouslycomparing the GPS and GLONASS posi-tions and generating an alert if the posi-tion differs by more than a user-setamount.
Despite automatic checks, the OOWshould still perform manual integritychecks on the actual difference and, incoastal and harbour waters, continue tocheck position visually and with radar,particularly to gain the benefits ofincreased situational awareness.
By the middle of the next decade GPSand GLONASS will be joined by othersatellite navigation systems, such asEurope's Galileo and China's Compass.
It is also possible that eLoran will be inuse in some coastal areas by then. It hasthe advantage that its failure mechanismsare very different to that of satellite sys-tems, further increasing the quality ofintegrity monitoring.
Detection of othervessels
Comparison of visual, radar and AIS datashould be made on all vessels that are, ormay become, significant to navigation.
Consistency in all three methods givesgreat confidence in the integrity of theinformation concerning that target.Differences should ring mental alarmbells.
Correlation in two out of the threemethods, providing the prevailing circum-stances are consistent with any inaccuracyor unavailability of the third, should alsogive the OOW good confidence in theintegrity of the plot.
However, all three main methods ofdetecting vessels and other floating objectshave common problems.
For instance: visual data is easilyimpaired in poor conditions; radar data isconsiderably affected by sea clutter andrain; not all vessels have AIS fitted and onthose that do erroneously transmitted datacould affect the perceived position of thetarget and create other anomalies.
If there is only one indication of a targetfrom the three possible sources, great careis needed in assessing the necessaryrequired action, as the indication could beerroneous. However, in general, it is likelyto be valid - almost certainly in many con-ditions, if visual - and appropriate avoid-ing action should be taken.
Consistently missed radar targets couldindicate a radar equipment fault or that itis badly set up. If many ships are notexhibiting AIS data or are wrongly dis-played it is likely to indicate a fault withown equipment, which should be urgent-ly checked.
A poor antenna connection is a common cause of problems with dis-played AIS targets. If so, it is likely tomean that own-ship's transmissions willbe compromised.
Unfortunately, most ships cannot yetdisplay AIS data on radar, making propercomparison an unwieldy task. However, anumber of specific checks during a watchthat compare specific AIS targets from theMKD with radar data are still worthwhile,at least to check for possible ownshipequipment errors.
As technology gradually improvesthere is likely to be a time when the navi-gation solution does not need to bechecked by the OOW for integrity.
However, until we enter an even moredistant point in time when technologycould completely take over, the humanOOW will always need to retain situation-al awareness in order to make appropriatenavigational decisions. Continuing tocheck integrity is an excellent way of help-ing to achieve this.
Digital Ship Ship December 2008 page 30
TT he phrase integrity monitoring isincreasingly used in the navigationworld. It has been commonly
applied to processes within advanced elec-tronic navigational equipment but is nowbeing used to describe essential aspects ofthe human involvement in navigation.
Integrity monitoring within equipmentalerts the user if the navigational accuracyhas become suspect, and that the systemshould be used with caution or not at all.
For instance, IMO requires all GPSunits to have Receiver AutonomousIntegrity Monitoring (RAIM) to immedi-ately detect and inform the user if thepositional accuracy has been compro-mised by a signal from a faulty satellite.
Also, Integrated Navigation Systems(INS) conforming to IMO requirementsmonitor integrity by evaluating inputsfrom several sources and giving timelyalerts if a problem is detected.
In the past, when navigation was amainly manual task, mistakes were easy tomake and were therefore common, con-stantly reminding the mariner of the needfor validation of all navigational processes.
Today, because of the increased use ofelectronics, navigational errors have sig-nificantly reduced to a point on manyships where there is no regular reminderthat things can go wrong.
The increasing reliability and effective-ness of equipment tends to give a falsesense of security. However, we are a longway from ship's navigation equipmentbeing able to be considered as intrinsical-ly reliable.
Because the human is becoming far lessinvolved with the detailed process ofestablishing the navigation solution, itperhaps becomes too easy to accept whatis seen on a display. As ECDIS replaces theuse of paper charts, this becomes an evengreater problem.
It is therefore essential that the OOWcontinues to maintain a constant check onthe integrity of the displayed navigationalsituation.
Manual checkingManual checking of integrity firmly linksthe user into the navigation process andexposes problems before a failure leads toa dangerous situation.
Integrity checking is not just a matter ofconfirming position. It also needs to coverall navigational data, including own ship'sspeed, heading and course, the movementand current position of other vessels sig-nificant to navigation, and the proximityof charted features and hazards.
Establishing integrity is all about check-ing the perceived navigational situationwith reality. Fundamentally, therefore, itacts to significantly improve overallawareness.
Although manual integrity checking isbased on establishing whether there is a
fault in any equipment or system, its spin-off benefit in improving situational aware-ness is of even higher significance, simplybecause most collisions and groundingsare caused by inadequate situationalawareness.
Positional integrity can be enhanced incoastal waters by taking visual bearingson conspicuous charted objects, transfer-ring the bearings to the chart and checkingthat appropriate tie-up has been obtained.
Traditional three point fixes can betaken but frequent single bearings can beeven more useful in many circumstances,especially on ECDIS. The latency can bevery short and therefore even relativelysmall errors in the electronically derivedposition can become apparent from a goodvisual fix.
Transferring radar conspicuous groundfixed objects to the chart, again very easyto do if using ECDIS, will identify posi-tional inaccuracies. These could be due toproblems in the positioning system, theradar or the gyro. The most likely errorsource is easy to determine from a series ofmeasurements if an initial discrepancy isfound.
The echo sounder output should alsobe used as a consistency check with chart-ed data. Differences may indicate posi-tional problems, faulty equipment, aninaccurate chart or a failure to compensateproperly for tidal difference.
For ocean waters, the options for moni-toring positional integrity have been quitelimited. However, a reasonably effectivemethod is to compare the current GPSposition with an estimated position basedon the GPS position of an earlier time.
It is necessary to include leeway, tidalstreams, ocean currents and surface driftbut the act of determining these addsgreatly to situational awareness.
Of course, the accuracy of such an esti-mated position will not match that of GPS
Improved technology can reduce the number of errors in navigational accuracy - but does it also reduce awarenessthat the potential for errors still exists? Dr Andy Norris looks at the issue of navigational integrity
Balancing technology and integrity
Dr Andy Norris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industryfor a number of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-technavigation companies but now he is working on broader issues within thenavigational world, providing both technical and business consultancy tothe industry, governmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]
It is essential to manually check the integrityof data from navigational technology
DS
ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION
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