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January/ February 2010

FleetBroadband reaches IN THIS ISSUE 5,000 activations satcoms Parallel acquired by iDirect – 3 Inmarsat’s flagship FleetBroadband system has now passed 5,000 commercial activations since its launch – a faster adoption rate 1,000 OpenPorts now active at sea – 6 than any of its predecessor terminals and an impressive indication of how the maritime industry is embracing the move to broadband Satellite communications spending on the increase despite downturn – 8 Buying VSAT nmarsat has Peter Van de Venne, IT Mr Van de Venne. which is not only cost – an independent announced the activa- director at Spliethoff, says “We have refined our effective but operationally guide for maritime – 10 IItion of the 5,000th that he expects to utilise software program so we more efficient.” FleetBroadband terminal, the 432 kbps system to are now able to routinely Happy Rover is the lat- reaching this figure in just introduce new capabilities check on progress online est of nine Spliethoff vessels over two years since the sys- like remote IT manage- rather than talking on the to adopt FleetBroadband, software tem was first launched at ment, and to improve the phone, which is not only with new vessels from the the end of November 2007. information flow between costly but can often lead rest of the 70-strong fleet of The 5,000th terminal multipurpose vessels, rang- Common Marine Inspection Documents was activated on Happy ing in size from 2,500 to now available electronically – 15 Rover, a 1997-built ship 21,000 tonnes, expected to Maritime e-Learning podcasts get wider owned by Dutch company be similarly fitted in future. BigLift Shipping BV, a distribution – 17 member of the Spliethoff Fastest Turning crisis to Group. adoption opportunity at Exmar Happy Rover is now The 5,000 FleetBroadband operating with a Thrane systems now in service Shipmanagement – 18 and Thrane Sailor FB 500, represent a mix of FB 500, supplied by Radio Holland FB 250 and FB 150 termi- and installed by Stratos, nals, all with commercially electronics and which has managed active SIM cards passing Spliethoff’s communica- BigLift Shipping’s Happy Rover was installed with the operational traffic. navigation tion for over 30 years, from 5,000th FleetBroadband terminal Inmarsat says that the early days of telex all this run rate makes Danish government to use the way through to ship and shore. to misinterpretation or FleetBroadband the fastest FleetBroadband. The company is also misunderstanding.” adopted maritime service space-based AIS – 22 Stratos, owned by looking at the benefits of “This way we check in the company’s 30-year Inmarsat but still operat- slow-scan video to deal with the Captain and then history. ENCTrack available on fixed price basis – 26 ing as an independent with problems like engine connect at a time that The latest member of AIS technology installed company, has been malfunction, cargo damage works for us here in the series, the FB150, com- during International Space responsible for more than and medical emergencies Amsterdam to take over mercially launched in May half of the worldwide “We are particularly the PC. Effectively, we can 2009, already has 500 ter- Station spacewalk – 28 FleetBroadband activa- pleased with the remote ‘mouse move’ across the minals activated – a rate of RIP for Loran-C – Dr Andy Norris – 30 tions to date. maintenance feature,” said oceans, day or night, continued on page 2 “It’s a matter of trust and security” – Bill Caldwell, IT manager of Northern Marine Management © 2009 DUALOG AS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL RIGHTS AS. © 2009 DUALOG With more than 6,000 sea staff and a fleet of 60 ships operating globally, Glasgow-based Northern Marine Management has chosen Dualog as its trusted maritime communication partner.

All Northern Marine-managed ships are being equipped with Dualog® Connection Suite™ to manage and control ship-shore data communication.

“Dualog has been around for a long time and they are renowned for their extensive knowledge of the maritime industry. They listen to us, the customer, providing us with the best solution and support at all times. We know our communications are secure in their hands,” says Bill Caldwell.

Meet us at Digital Ship Cyprus 2010 3-4 February 2010, St Raphael Hotel & Resort Dualog® Connection Suite™ - Take Control p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 2

SATCOMS NEWS

continued from page 1 adoption which is twice that of FB500 and deliver genuine broadband connectivity.” The deployment of the satcom system is FB250 at a similar period after launch. In other news, Fleet Management expected to be completed by the end of “The continued strong growth for Limited Hong Kong is set to follow the March 2010. FleetBroadband shows that it has become Spliethoff Group into the FleetBroadband Many of Fleet Management Limited’s ves- Vol 10 No 5 the de facto standard for modern maritime family having recently agreed a deal with sels are scheduled to call in the Rotterdam communications,” said Piers Cunningham, Dutch company Port-IT to upgrade its area, close to where Port-IT is based, during Digital Ship Limited maritime business director, Inmarsat. onboard satellite communications. the period between now and the completion 213 Marsh Wall “FB150 in particular is beating our The contract provides for the installa- date to facilitate the installation process. London E14 9FJ, U.K. expectations, and no doubt those of our tion of 50 Inmarsat FleetBroadband termi- Implementation of AmosConnect and www.thedigitalship.com competitors too. FleetBroadband is the nals on the company’s ships, where it will secure networking capabilities are includ- only service that is cost effective, reliable, replace existing Inmarsat equipment as ed in the overall deployment package PUBLISHER has a global reach and is optimised to the primary communications method. agreed between the parties. DS Stuart Fryer

EDITOR Rob O'Dwyer: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4940 email: [email protected] Marlink agrees multiple VSAT deals for 2010

CONFERENCE PRODUCERS www.marlink.com using link optimising services, compress- Offshore Service, is for the supply of com- Karl Jeffery: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4935 ing the data to improve speed and min- munications to two of Hornbeck’s Multi email: [email protected] Marlink has announced that it has agreed a imise bandwidth usage. Purpose Support Vessels. Cathy Hodge: Tel +44 (0) 20 7510 4945 number of new multi-year VSAT contracts, Companie du Ponant has, like Viking The HOS Iron Horse and newbuild email: [email protected] with Viking Line of Finland, US company Line, also agreed a five year VSAT agree- HOS Strongline, the third and fourth ves- Hornbeck Offshore Service, and French- ment with Marlink. sels in the Hornbeck fleet to be served by ADVERTISING flag cruise line, Companie du Ponant. As part of the new contract Marlink Marlink, provide deepwater services for Ria Kontogeorgou: Tel: +44 (0)20 7510 4931 Viking Line has entered into a new 5 will deliver and install its Sealink Ku- subsea construction, installation and other email: [email protected] year satellite communications contract band and C-band services onboard three operations mainly in the Gulf of Mexico, which will continue an existing agree- existing vessels, Le Ponant, Le Levant and but can be mobilised to any region of the PRODUCTION ment between the companies, though it Le Diamant, as well as two newbuilds world based on customer needs. Vivian Chee: Tel: +44 (0)20 8995 5540 does include some enhancements for the planned for 2010, Le Boreal and L'Austral. Marlink will provide its Sealink VSAT email: [email protected] current Sealink systems onboard the com- Le Ponant, the company's three-mast systems on either C- or Ku-band for the 36 pany's fleet of ferries. sailing ship, will be the first to be month contract. EVENTS The communications will be upgraded installed, receiving a Ku-band antenna, The system on each vessel will have 16 Diana Leahy Engelbrecht in early 2010 to bring the onboard systems while C-band antennas will be installed voice lines, VLANs for administration and Tel: +44 (0)118 931 3109 on all ships up to the same standard, onboard the remaining four vessels, con- crew, together with content filtering and email: [email protected] while the overall bandwidth will be sub- cluding in May 2010 with the L'Austral. accelerators which compress data to max- stantially increased. The VSAT systems will provide each imise cost efficiency. CONSULTANT WRITER Marlink says that the installations will ship with 256 kbps bandwidth and eight HOS Iron Horse will operate with a Dr Andy Norris (navigation) take advantage of the latest coding tech- simultaneous prepaid and postpaid tele- dual antenna while HOS Strongline will [email protected] nology and satellite routers, with all ships phone channels. have a single antenna system. DIGITAL SHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS to have access to passenger internet "With our cruise ships sailing to popu- Tore Morten Olsen, CEO of Marlink com- GBP £150 per year for 10 issues FreeLAN, the Marlink 'Internet@Sea' lar destinations all over the world, it is mented: "This is an important contract for Subscribe online at onboard public internet WiFi service with imperative that we provide passengers us, not only because it continues to expand www.thedigitalship.com prepaid access control, and prepaid tele- and crew with the facility to stay in touch the business relationship with this fast or contact Stephan Venter on phone services for crew and passengers. with friends and family ashore," com- growing deepwater customer in the USA, [email protected], Company telephone and data commu- mented Pierre Thomas, IT manager, but it also shows how Sealink can be cus- tel +44 (0)20 7510 4937 nications will be provided through guar- Companie du Ponant. tomised to meet the needs of the operator." anteed bandwidth direct lines between "Marlink has been able to provide us "We have worked with Hornbeck for the company headquarters and the ships. with high quality, customised satellite com- some time to ensure all the latest elements UPCOMING CONFERENCES The company LAN data exchange munications solutions to meet our specific of satellite communications are built into DIGITAL SHIP CYPRUS between the Viking Line head office and bandwidth and coverage requirements." the system and are tailored to meet the St Raphael Hotel & Resort the ships at sea will also be upgraded by The final VSAT contract, with Hornbeck specific needs of the client company." February 3-4, 2010 DIGITAL SHIP SCANDINAVIA Thon Hotel Arena, Lillestrom March 17-18, 2010 DIGITAL SHIP HAMBURG Magnushall April 13-14, 2010

Printed by The Manson Group Ltd Reynolds House 8 Porters' Wood Valley Road Industrial Estate St Albans Hertz AL3 6PZ U.K.

No part of this publication may be repro- duced or stored in any form by any mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording or other means without the prior written consent of the publisher. Whilst the information and articles in Digital Ship are published in good faith and every effort is made to check accura- cy, readers should verify facts and state- ments direct with official sources before acting on them as the publisher can accept no responsibility in this respect. Any opinions expressed in this maga- zine should not be construed as those of the publisher. The HOS Iron Horse will operate with dual VSAT antennas

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 2 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 3

Digital Ship

offered the new version free under Parallel’s grown as has the size of networks. The Parallel acquired by iDirect Software Upgrade and Support subscription SatManage development roadmap is a col- scheme for all their existing components. laborative process and the functionality www.idirect.net One of the major enhancements has "When SatManage was originally and performance requirements have been the introduction of a what Parallel launched we were servicing customers evolved significantly." iDirect has acquired UK-based Parallel calls a Turbo Core, which it says has with small networks with only a few hun- "Our software engineers are the very Limited, the developer of the SatManage improved performance of the system by dred network sites being managed," said best in the industry and we pride our- network software package, used in the 500 per cent. Guy Adams, CTO, Parallel. selves in being several steps ahead in the management of VSAT systems. Existing users of SatManage will be "Over time, our customer base has technology race." Through a cash transac- tion, iDirect purchased 100 per cent of Parallel’s equity shares as well as full owner- ship of SatManage. Parallel’s chief technology officer and entire development team will join iDirect’s engineer- ing group. SatManage is a web-based management system used to help satellite service providers manage IP net- works over multiple sites, fea- turing a wide range of fixed and mobile applications. The software integrates and automates different ele- ments of a Network On Board Operations Centre and pro- vides monitoring, predictive response capabilities and and tools to resolve network issues in real-time. A database is also includ- ed to enable service providers In Touch to track and analyse network performance statistics and 3 voice lines use this data to communicate with customers through the high speed data web-based portal. lowest cost Initially, SatManage will be marketed as an extended easy to install software solution to manage iDirect networks, with pole-to-pole global coverage iDirect’s current manage- ment system, iVantage, con- tinuing to be part of the iDirect platform. Following the integration of both companies’ develop- ment teams, iDirect will launch an effort to merge the two products. ® “Through this acquisition, Iridium OpenPort iDirect immediately gains a powerful technology that Enabling communication at sea, everywhere makes our intelligent platform even stronger and equips our partners with the critical tools they need to meet intensifying business demands," said Mary Cotton, iDirect CEO. "This is an important milestone in advancing our mission to help our partners deliver profitable, differenti- ated services.” News of this M&A deal has followed closely on the recent release by Parallel of an updated version of the SatManage system. The new version features more than 1,000 improve- iridiumopenport.com ments over the previous SatManage version 4, as well as a number of new modules – the biggest set of upgrades to the system since it was launched in 2004.

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 3 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 19/01/2010 08:59 Page 4

SATCOMS NEWS Inmarsat acquires IP services provider ZMI to install

www.inmarsat.com es and government agencies. from current available liquidity. FB150 Inmarsat will pay an initial considera- For the year ended 31 December 2008, Inmarsat has acquired the business and tion of $110 million, and may pay addi- Segovia reported total revenue of $67 mil- www.stratosglobal.com assets of Segovia, a provider of internet tional amounts depending on future per- lion and net income of $18 million, and protocol managed services to the United formance over the next three years. had gross assets of $29 million. The trans- Zakher Marine International Inc. (ZMI) is States Army and other US military servic- Inmarsat expects to finance the transaction action is expected to close in early 2010. to upgrade its vessels to Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband 150 broad- band satellite service. Stratos, with channel part- ner Monarch Telecom, has already activated the FB150 service onboard six ZMI ves- sels: Zakher Duty; Zakher Pelican; Zakher Eagle; Zakher Supplier; Zakher Atlanta and Zakher Emperor. ZMI vessels provide anchor handling, supply and towage for the merchant marine and offshore oil and gas industries in the Middle East. Reliable Satellite Communication "The data rates provided by FB150 are much faster even during harsh than the Mini-M service we had been using. This will help conditions and heavy seas us get more value from appli- cations that help ensure supe- rior crew communications, business productivity and cost efficiency,” said Wadie Farah, ZMI manager, com- munications department. "The FB150 hardware footprint is also smaller than the Mini-M. These factors, combined with competitive pricing, make FB150 an attractive communications upgrade solution." Along with the FB150 installations, ZMI will also implement Stratos' AmosConnect application to manage e-mail, fax, telex, GSM text, and interoffice communication. “We are confident that ZMI’s upgrade to FB150 and AmosConnect will help the Company meet its produc- tivity goals," commented Stratos CEO, Jim Parm. In other news, Stratos has also launched a new version of its Stratos Dashboard appli- cation, including improved cost-control features. The new Dashboard has a suspend option known as 'Suspend Data', which can be activated manually or as Unpredicted dynamic weather conditions calls for a specific kind of VSAT that is robust and above all reliable for part of the application’s those requiring constant always on communication, without loss of signal. credit control and High C2SAT develops, manufactures and supplies innovative stabilised maritime VSAT antenna systems that provide Volume Usage Metering (HVUM) features. vessels in motion with on-line two-way satellite broadband communication. By adding the forth axis the C2SAT Users have the option to VSAT system solves high elevation problems and enables accuracy and high speed even during dynamic conditions. suspend only the data por- tion of their service - or C2SAT is distributing its products via established solution providers and system integrators. Please do not resume all services other hesitate to contact one of the distributors presented on www.C2SAT.com/Distributors for a quotation. than data - at any time dur- ing a service period. Full Reliable Satellite Communication Visit us at Digital Ship in Cyprus, February 3-4. access to real-time traffic overviews, billing informa- 4-AXES ENABLES HIGH SPEED AND ACCURACY tion and firewall settings is

C2SAT, DALVÄGEN 16, SE-169 56 SOLNA, SWEDEN, +46 (0)8 748 01 40, [email protected] www.C2SAT.com also included.

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 4 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 5

Digital Ship

“While the FCC jurisdiction applies The deal for Telstar 11N transponder FCC approval for KVH only to US flagged vessels and operations space is the latest step in KVH's joint effort in US territory, the FCC's approval serves with ViaSat to offer broadband for ships, www.kvh.com broadband maritime services. as a major endorsement of the viability and other mobile markets. The KVH network is based on ViaSat's and reliability of our global spread spec- The Ku-band capacity of the satellite The US Federal Communications ArcLight Code Re-use Multiple Access trum network for maritime operators over Africa will expand coverage of Commission (FCC) has granted perma- (CRMA) spread spectrum technology, worldwide." KVH's mini-VSAT Broadband service. nent ‘Earth Station onboard – Vessel’ which the company says reduces con- Approximately 500 mini-VSAT "The West African region, with its off- (ESV) licence authority for KVH's mini- tention issues, transmission delays, and Broadband systems have been sold, to cus- shore oil and gas fields, has long been an VSAT Broadband satellite communica- shared transmission bandwidth compared tomers including the US Coast Guard, important part of KVH's plans for expand- tions service. with the Time Division Multiple Access Clipper Marine Services, M.H. Simonsen, ing our mini-VSAT Broadband network," Prior to receiving this permanent (TDMA) technology often used in VSAT and Mowinckel Ship Management. said Brent C Bruun, KVH vice president of licence, the KVH mini-VSAT Broadband networks. The granting of this approval follows sales and business development. service had operated in US waters under "This is a major achievement for the closely on the back of new agreements "However, KVH could not launch a an FCC Special Temporary Authority mini-VSAT Broadband service, which KVH has reached to add T11N African service that met our quality standards (STA) since September 2007. brings the economic and operational satellite coverage to its mini-VSAT service. until Telstar 11N became available. Now This new authority officially approves benefits of VSAT service to large new KVH has entered into a multi-year with Telstar 11N's African beam, KVH has the spread spectrum mini-VSAT service markets of commercial and leisure ves- agreement to utilise the African coverage live coverage, or is under contract to pro- and 24-inch TracPhone V7 antenna as sels,” said Martin Kits van Heyningen, of Telesat's Telstar 11N satellite at 37.5 vide such coverage, to virtually every meeting the FCC's latest regulations for KVH CEO. degrees West. major maritime region on the globe."

Furuno has established the Furuno tributor for Thrane & Thrane since 2005. Broadband Service Centre (FBS), for the Xtra-Link provides FleetBroadband and development, expansion and maintenance VHF / UHF radio among its communica- of Furuno’s maritime satellite communica- tions offerings. tions, including Inmarsat and VSAT sys- World-Link Communications, tems. The FBS will be located at the an Inmarsat service provider (SP), has Furuno Denmark offices in Copenhagen. achieved Gold Service Provider status in SeaMobile Europe has been award- the mobile satellite operator’s new ed Gold Partner status by Inmarsat, as accreditation scheme. part of Inmarsat’s accreditation program for service providers. SeaMobile Europe, www.seamobile.com previously Geolink, has been a service www.inmarsat.com provider for Inmarsat since 1991. www.furuno.co.jp Xtra-Link has been appointed as a www.xtra-link.com KVH current (purple) and future VSAT coverage – now supplemented by the T11N satellite SAILOR Select Distributor for Thrane www.thrane.com & Thrane, having been a master dis- www.wlnet.com

Communications you can rely on

Welcome to MarlinkMa The world’s preferred satellite communications provider. Marlink provides VSAT and MSS solutions for any size or type of vessel or maritime operation. Backed by the industry’s most trusted support network, Marlink provides global coverage with always-on or pay-as-you- use systems. We offer solutions that provide our customers with world class communications within their budget.

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Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 5 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 6

SATCOMS NEWS 1,000 OpenPorts now at sea Gulf Offshore in

www.iridium.com and communication costs more efficiently.” expressed his satisfaction at the company 3-year VSAT deal Euronav is dedicating two of the three having reached 1,000 commercial sub- Iridium Communications has announced voice channels to crew calling, with the scriptions to the OpenPort service in little the activation of the 1,000th Iridium third phone line on the bridge for ship’s over a year since the first terminals were www.caprock.com OpenPort marine satellite terminal, business, according to Ian Robinson, CEO shipped in October 2008. aboard the Euronav tanker MV Fraternity. of AND Group. “Since we completed sea trials of beta CapRock Communications has The system was installed and commis- The crew calling phones are located in units and commenced full-scale delivery announced a three-year contract with sioned by AND Group, and the vessel will telephone booths, permitting two off-duty of production units in the first quarter, the Gulf Offshore (a wholly owned sub- use AND’s IPSignature communication crew members to simultaneously talk with product has received a positive response sidiary of GulfMark Offshore) to deploy software for the management of voice calls their families or friends at home, without from early customers, many of whom its broadband maritime service, and data. queuing for a single public phone. have committed to install Iridium SeaAccess Communications, onboard Fraternity is a new double-hull Greg Ewert, executive vice president, OpenPort on additional ships across the Gulf’s fleet operating in the North Sea Belgium-flagged 159,000 dwt tanker deliv- global distribution channels, Iridium, fleet,” he said. and along the coast of Africa. ered to Euronav from the Samsung Heavy GulfMark will use the VSAT service to Industries shipyard in South Korea. It is extend its corporate IT network and appli- the thirteenth Euronav vessel to be fitted cations to its vessels and provide onboard with Iridium OpenPort, and the company crew welfare services. is currently installing the Iridium satcom A combination of Ku- and C-band terminals on 20 more ships. services will be deployed based on “We are outfitting our tanker fleet with whether the vessel will be operating in Iridium OpenPort to provide a cost-effec- the same region or traversing between tive higher-bandwidth solution for our different regions. ship-to-shore communications,” said Under the terms of the agreement, Victor Kaidatzis, IT manager, Euronav. CapRock will provide Gulf Offshore's “We chose Iridium OpenPort because of Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) and gen- its flexible, multi-line capabilities for voice eral support vessels with a managed and data, and its low capital acquisition and turnkey service enabling VoIP, internet monthly usage costs, when compared to access, e-mail service and corporate other maritime satellite systems. We are also networking capabilities for the real- impressed with AND’s powerful time exchange of reports and monitoring IPSignature calling software, which helps us of data. to manage our voice, e-mail and data traffic Crews will be provided with internet The tanker MV Fraternity was installed with the 1,000th active OpenPort terminal access and crew-calling options with what CapRock says are "competitive" phone tariffs. Orange launches maritime VSAT service “As we continue to grow our fleet and enter into new energy-producing regions, www.orange-business.com a converged IP environment. solution to include DVB-S2 (Digital Video we need a communication service Five classes of service will be available, Broadcasting - Satellite - Second provider that can scale with our opera- Orange Business Services has launched a which include guaranteed performance Generation) technology provided by tions and provide support wherever we new Maritime Satellite Service, incorpo- levels for voice and real-time video. iDirect’s new Evolution platform, which may go,” said Gulf Offshore general man- rating technology from C2SAT, iDirect C2SAT will provide hardware systems aims to use the available bandwidth as ager Jim Bradford. and Parallel into a VSAT product specially for the service, supplying its 4-axis efficiently as possible. “CapRock’s SeaAccess service grows designed for the shipping market. maritime VSAT antenna which it says The new maritime VSAT product can be with our vessels’ increasing bandwidth The new offering integrates satellite reduces instances of dead angles that typ- controlled using 'My Service Space', a portal demands and supports our expanding and terrestrial services so that any site on ically cause high-elevation problems with based on SatManage software from Parallel fleet. Regardless of where our vessels are land or sea can be connected directly to a 3-axis antennas. used for network management and direct located, CapRock can provide local instal- secure IP VPN, and is designed to work in Orange has also upgraded its satellite performance monitoring of the satellite links. lation, connectivity and support.”

Satellite operators association launched FleetBroadband for the USCG

www.inmarsat.com It is anticipated that this electronic Data www.stratosglobal.com capabilities to operate globally in all www.intelsat.com Centre will become operational in 2010. weather conditions. www.ses.com “Inmarsat is committed to support this The US Coast Guard (USCG) is to deploy Stratos says that it has already success- important initiative along with Intelsat Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband mobile fully deployed similar prototype Satellite operators Inmarsat, Intelsat and and SES,” said Inmarsat chairman and broadband satellite service on up to 50 FleetBroadband services on selected SES have founded a new non-profit com- CEO, Andrew Sukawaty. USCG vessels. USCG vessels. pany, the Space Data Association (SDA), “The establishment of the Space Data Installations will be performed by Stratos' The agreement includes installation dedicated to sharing critical operational Association is a significant milestone that Government Services (SGSI) division, a support, training, Multi-Protocol Label data in support of satellite operations, and will contribute to an improvement overall supplier to the US Department of Defense. Switching interconnectivity, monitoring, preserving the space environment. of our day to day satellite operations and I Under the agreement, FleetBroadband engineering, and support. USCG also will Established in the Isle of Man, the SDA expect that many other satellite operators will be deployed on USCG High use Stratos control and monitoring servic- will have Stewart Sanders of SES, Tobias will soon join the SDA.” Endurance Cutters and Medium es to manage the FleetBroadband usage. Nassif of Intelsat and Ruy Pinto of Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade also com- Endurance Cutters, enabling them to inter- SGSI president Bob Roe said, "This Inmarsat as directors. mented: “With the creation of the Space connect with the USCG data network to contract award represents a critical com- ManSat, another Isle of Man company, Data Association, global satellite operators exchange operational ship traffic, including ponent of USCG’s technology upgrade will provide administrative services for have signalled their intention to play a SIPRNET (Secret Internet Protocol Router and transition to an IP-based communica- the association, which will be open to all leadership role in increasing the safety of Network) and NIPRNET (Nonsecure tions architecture." satellite operators and other participants. space operations and preserving the space Internet Protocol Router Network) data. "Stratos has been providing highly reli- The SDA will establish a Satellite Data environment for future generations.” The installations form part of USCG’s able Inmarsat satellite communications Centre to provide a means for participants “This organisation will create an efforts to upgrade technology onboard its solutions to USCG for more than a decade. to share key operations data, with the aim important forum for sharing critical infor- ships as they migrate from Inmarsat-B We consider it an honour and a privilege to of enhancing the management of satellite mation among the member operators and lease services to an IP-based architecture. have been entrusted with this responsibili- conjunction analysis and mitigation of between those operators and interested The upgrade is designed to increase the ty, and we are grateful for the opportunity RF interference. governments.” vessels’ communications throughput to expand our relationship with USCG."

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 6 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 7

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ATHENS | HAMBURG | HOUSTON | LONDON | MIRAMAR | PARIS | SEATTLE | SINGAPORE p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 8

SATCOMS Satcom spending up despite downturn

The shipping industry has felt the full force of the economic downturn – however, though revenues are falling across the board, spending on satellite communications in the industry is on the rise, writes Reinhold Lueppen, Vizada

t is hard to think of a global industry tivity, with crew using phone and email to that has escaped the economic tur- communicate to shore. IImoil created by the global financial Today, the drive towards remote moni- crisis of the last 18 months, and the mar- toring and sophisticated automated con- itime industry is no exception. nectivity linked to terrestrial systems Yet while traffic levels at sea have has led to the design and deployment of remained relatively stable, the number of complete on-board Internet Protocol (IP) ships in operation has fallen by 15 per cent infrastructures. as it is cheaper for shipping owners to A ship used to be an 'IT island'. Now it leave vessels in dock than run them at is connected to a vast array of systems and a loss. data sources: corporate networks; the These conditions have inevitably put internet; third-party applications such as pressure on the maritime industry to mapping chart updates, live weather serv- streamline its operations, with many ices, cargo management and customs gate- delaying new builds, scaling back big IT way systems; and purchasing systems for projects, or cutting them completely. spare parts - all of which are automated Despite this, there is one area of growth and connected 24/7. which bucks the negative economic trend. 'Always-on', remote maintenance Even while operational activity has fallen, and reliability are all crucial components the demand for satellite communications of a first-class maritime communications (satcoms) services has steadily increased system. in the corresponding period. So what is However, these are complex and chal- driving that demand? lenging systems to run; the most astute Remote access to onboard IT systems can improve operational efficiency – and lower costs Shipping organisations are increasingly shipping owners realise that can be advan- recognising the strategic importance of tageous to put them in the hands of satcoms satcoms to support two key challenges: experts, leaving them to concentrate on The ability to squeeze additional cost tional efficiency satcoms can deliver is by firstly, to improve operational efficiencies; what they are best at - running their fleets. savings by streamlining day-to-day providing automated access to operation- and, secondly, to improve recruitment and It takes experience to integrate anti- processes is attractive to shipping owners critical information. retention of skilled crew by offering the virus, firewalls, and broadband routers; whatever the state of the economy. It For example, ship managers can down- best possible welfare when they are at sea. building sophisticated IP-based systems, becomes especially important when high load electronic charts to inform route Savvy shipping owners recognise that and ensuring they run in a way which bunker costs are placing demands on planning, or rely on regular updates to while communications comprises a very supports the crew that rely on them every budgets and resources, or when maintain- Electronic Chart Display and Information small proportion of their overall costs – day, requires not just an expertise in the ing a competitive advantage in the market, Systems (ECDIS) on board ship (vessels on-board and ship-to-shore communica- technology but a strong understanding of or simply ensuring business survival, are are mandated to run two independent tions often account for less than one per the operational processes that satcoms at stake. ECDIS systems to counter the failure of cent of daily running spend – it can signif- will support. Satcoms can play a key role in improv- one) to provide continuous position and icantly improve operational efficiency. ing a shipping fleet's operational efficiency navigational safety information. Satcoms providers have responded to Communications by supporting the remote outsourcing of Electronic routing systems – delivered these challenges by developing a range of outsourcing functions that are too costly to undertake through satcoms – can inform the best voice and data solutions that are flexible I will turn first to the operational efficien- on board, such as dedicated HR support. possible route to follow, taking into enough to meet every existing and emerg- cy challenge and how outsourcing com- Satcoms can also streamline core opera- account information on the location of ing communication requirement. munications can help save money and tional tools on board vessels. Improving submerged vessels, for example, thereby Just two years ago the key communica- improve the running of a single ship or an on-board routing systems can optimise giving ships the essential information tions needs were voice and email connec- entire fleet. fuel consumption and these routing sys- needed to avoid incidents at sea. tems require data communications to underpin them: access to live weather Crew Welfare data; the latest mapping systems; and Let me now address the second key chal- optimising cargo deliveries. lenge for shipping owners: crew welfare. It is now possible to automate the Even during an economic downturn, this remote management of on-board planned presents a considerable challenge for the maintenance systems which would have maritime sector as people are reluctant to previously required constant attention by stay at sea for months in a row away from crew members. their families and friends. Think about the cost challenge posed in Even with shipping down by 15 per replacing core engine parts, for example. cent at present it can still be challenging to There is an optimum time at which to recruit staff on board – especially at a update or maintain those parts, which can skilled or management level – so shipping be monitored remotely, flagging up essen- owners recognise the need to provide tial maintenance or repairs so that engi- reassurance through access to communi- neers replace parts only when absolutely cations to give crew a lifeline to home, necessary - not too early, not too late. wherever they are in the world. In addition, the capability exists to There is a genuine willingness to pro- monitor the condition of a ship's hull, or mote this by shipping companies at pres- the performance of its engine, so that trou- ent. Traditionally, the focus has been on bleshooting - if required - can be tackled at ship-to-shore voice calling to help crew the earliest possible point. All of this can stay in touch but, while this still represents be done via remote monitoring, supported the main means of contact, there is a grow- Onboard maritime GSM services are proving popular with crews by satcoms. ing demand for staff to access the same Another example of the kind of opera- services they are accustomed to back at

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Digital Ship

home: email; web browsing; and SMS – for integrated with land systems via ‘always- towards broadband systems which will be Innovation will continue to evolve from example, at present Vizada handles on’ connectivity. flexible enough for use by both low-end the ever-evolving needs of the market as 150,000 SMS messages each month. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, and high-end users, and 'always-on' much as the technology supporting it. DS Increased demand for broadband we expect shipping companies to remain online communications will grow in use, bandwidth on land is also reflected at sea; cautious about their financial outlays, but in turn driving higher data consumption. About the author staff want access to the same video- caution needn’t necessarily mean trim- While innovation will be driven by new Reinhold Lueppen is a director, Vizada streaming sites and audio-visual content ming costs - especially if there are opera- technological advances made by satcoms Solutions, for satellite communications they would access at home. tional gains to be had. providers, the vessels themselves form the provider Vizada Managing the costs of staying in touch There will be a continued trend best possible R&D testing ground. is now much easier than ever before. It is particularly important as staff move away from relying solely on voice connections to stay in touch, supplementing this with the convenient forms of communications they are accustomed to on land. Increased demand on data rates has a cost implication for both individuals and shipping companies; some ships with access to mobile satellite systems on board restrict access to certain data- hungry sites, but the range of ways to pay for and access communications is develop- ing rapidly. For example, ships can offer pre-paid data cards with fixed amounts of credit per megabyte that can be bought by crew for private communications use – which takes the responsibility for costs out of the ship manag- er’s hands, and new web compression tools which manage the transfer of data more cost-effectively have also increased value for money. It is also possible for crew to use their own mobile phones at sea via on-board GSM picocells which help them to avoid the high roam- ing costs that terrestrial mobile network operators can charge for use away from home. New developments As shipping owners become more aware of the benefits of satellite communications in driving operational efficien- cy gains and crew recruit- ment and retention, satellite communications will contin- ue to respond to new chal- lenges and developments in the market, and innovations will continue to improve operational efficiencies. Compared to just a few years ago, when ships set sail from harbour as an isolated, moving ‘island’, today’s communications capabilities mean that vessels are now simply the physical delivery elements of a supply and trade network built on the global exchange of electronic information. A ship’s systems are increasingly connected and

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SATCOMS Buying VSAT – an independent guide for maritime

Maritime companies that are interested in upgrading their satellite communications to VSAT will be faced with a wide range of different choices and options as to the potential system they could deploy. Knowing the ins and outs of the technology is critical in ensuring you make the best decision, writes Alan Gottlieb, Gottlieb International Group

f you are a ship owner or IT manager, was satisfied with the trial may experience Often included under the Terms choosing a VSAT service is a critical a significant decline in performance due to and Conditions of Sale, these clauses IIdecision. Since vendors typically excessive Over-Subscription, a condition essentially give the provider the discre- require commitments of 2-3 years, select- that occurs when more users join the net- tion to downgrade the quality of your ing the wrong vendor can be a career-jar- work that it can adequately support. service should you run applications or ring mistake resulting in significant losses Consequently, buyers should also be transmit excessively large amounts of and inadequate service. wary of testimonials from early stage data which, in their estimation, over- If you are unfamiliar with the technical- subscribers. loads the network. ities of satellite broadband communica- A popular but deceptive sales tech- The more restrictive of these clauses tion, purchasing a maritime service can be nique is to recruit such subscribers to prohibit the transmission of large files, as dangerous as sailing into unknown author complimentary articles or speak at web conferencing and many other activi- waters. conferences. Always ask about the dura- ties, restrictions that would be intolerable In choosing a service, potential buyers tion of their experience on the Network for the commercial user. face a seemingly unfathomable series of and what applications they are running. Keep in mind that on typical container issues including choice of L-, C- or Ku- However, while trials are of questionable ships and tankers, unrestricted usage can band, coverage areas required, antenna value and testimonials can be deceiving, easily exceed 20 gigabytes per month, pos- sizes, types of available satellite hub plat- there are ways to guarantee performance. sibly violating such policies. forms, modulation schemes, how much So, if you are considering a fully con- bandwidth will be required to run their Contention Ratios tended service, understand the limitations applications, constant IP Addresses, and Committed imposed by these Policies. Know how VPNs, Committed Information Rates, IP Information Rate (CIR) much capacity you are permitted to use switching platforms, and blockages. Contention Ratio and Committed and insist on a way to monitor usage. If that’s not enough, in addition to all of Information Rate (CIR) are the criteria by Beyond the Fair Access issue, one of the this the buyer needs to look at software which a VSAT network can be measured. areas most prone to misunderstanding is platforms for bandwidth management, Contention Ratio indicates the number the difference between platforms. security, how to limit internet sessions and of subscribers who typically share or con- web site access, pricing, Contention tend for a fixed amount of bandwidth. Careful consideration of all the facts L-band vs C-band vs is required before you install Ratios, backup systems and remote main- CIR or Committed Information Rate is one of these on your vessel Ku-band with backup tenance and Fair Access Policies, etc, etc. the amount of bandwidth always avail- Until recently, vessels seeking global IP As an independent consultant in the able and is guaranteed under contract connectivity were limited to two choices: field of maritime VSAT, Gottlieb (Service Level Agreement). Time sensi- Committed Rate increases, contracting for C-band or L-band (Inmarsat or Iridium). International Group is pleased to present tive services such as voice, Video more CIR then you need can be a costly. For very large vessels, such as cruise impartial advice and to expose some of the Conferencing, or remote PC maintenance Vendors tend to offer CIRs ranging ships, VLCC class oil tankers and certain fallacies encountered in the VSAT selection typically require minimum bandwidth from 32 kbps to 256 kbps, or more. To types of oil service vessels, C-band based process. Here, in excerpts from our new E- levels. determine how much you need, the best systems were and have been the preferred Book, ‘An Independent Guide to Buying Because dedicated bandwidth is solution is to model your applications in a option. Advantages of C-band include Maritime VSAT’, we target some of the expensive, most of the services offered to laboratory environment. fixed priced service, global coverage (+70 most frequent areas of misunderstanding. the maritime VSAT market are to some Considering that the contractual obli- degrees north to -70 degrees south), and degree contended services. This means gation for VSAT services under a three- resistance to Rain Fade. The Value of Trials any amount of bandwidth that is not year contract could easily exceed $100,000 However, the principal disadvantage Trials have become a popular way to test guaranteed will be shared and subject to per vessel and that simulation is readily with C- is the need for a 2.4 metre sta- new VSAT systems. Eager to win large availability. available at reasonable cost, the minimal bilised antenna, a system component that fleet contracts, many vendors are offering In theory, this is a sensible arrangement investment in this service makes good weighs over a thousand kilograms, takes free trials in the hope of generating sales. since it assumes that all of the subscribers business sense. up an inordinate amount of deck space Unfortunately, such trials are relatively will not use bandwidth at the same time, Always keep in mind that high capaci- and costs nearly $100,000. Hence, C-band useless in evaluating the long-term per- and it keeps costs down. However, if too ty services with CIR are more expensive tends to be reserved for a limited market formance of a service. many subscribers are sold services, net- than fully contended services. with very specialised needs and large Sophisticated buyers know it is easy for work quality may suffer. While some vendors of fully contended budgets. a vendor to allocate additional bandwidth Degraded service is typically experi- services can deliver adequate bandwidth Alternatives to C-band include L-band to a trial vessel, thereby creating the enced in commercial services when the by limiting the number of subscribers, based Inmarsat FleetBroadband, Iridium impression of a favourable trial outcome. Contention Ratio or the number of sub- such restrictions also limit profit. Such OpenPort and Ku-band services. Given the possibility of winning a scribers sharing a fixed bandwidth vendors face a delicate balancing act to While L-band offerings utilise much three-year, 50 to 100-ship contract worth resource exceeds 10:1. maintain service levels while meeting smaller antennas than C- and Ku-, they are $5 to $10 million, the incentive for such Since the number of vessels contending their financial objectives. pay-by-the-byte services sold with vol- ‘bait and switch’ tactics does exist, espe- for the use of a single beam varies consid- In general, fully contended services are ume-based pricing, possibly making cially in a highly competitive market. erably as a vendor’s subscribers transverse offered at low prices and characteristically access to the Internet cost prohibitive. Even if the trial vessel is not allocated the globe moving from beam to beam, the employ moderate to very strict Fair Access At per megabyte charges of $3 to $8, preferential network access, service only way to assure that you will always Policies. usage costs could soar into the high five providers in the early stages of deployment have an acceptable level of service is to figures if left completely unrestricted, are likely to have few subscribers, resulting contract for a Committed Information Understanding Fair especially when accessing the Internet or in excellent bandwidth availability and a Rate (CIR). Access Policies transmitting large files. stunningly deceptive performance. Determining how much CIR you need When evaluating a vendor, pay special As a potential alternative, fixed-priced Once the vendor’s network is more fully is a tricky affair. Since services with CIR attention to the company’s Fair Access Ku-band services are now available over populated, however, the customer who are considerably more expensive as the Policies. most major shipping routes.

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 10 p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 11

Our power. >>> Your progress.

Today more of the world’s maritime satellite networks are powered by iDirect. Our advanced VSAT platform allows our global network of operators to provide flat-rate, always-on connectivity services to meet the diverse and growing requirements of maritime applications. Better, reliable

communications that lead to greater operational efficiency, more productivity,more progress.

Visit idirect.net/maritime or call +1.703.648.8000 to learn more.

Advancing a Connected World Advancing a Connected World p1-13:p1-14.qxd 15/01/2010 17:26 Page 12

SATCOMS

Ku-band offers high capacity service essential Internet access. vey, supply of and management of critical required to service the antenna across a and relatively unlimited broadband access With this in mind, here is what firmware upgrades, excellent support and large block of transponder space thereby at fixed-priced rates. Because it operates at we found when we evaluated the two attractive discount pricing. reducing the power required and resolv- a higher frequency than C-band, it can services. Conversely, sub-distributors at the ing the Interference problem. utilise much less expensive and space effi- While OpenPort offers compelling edge of the dealer network tend to For the vendor, however, employing cient 1.2 or 1-metre antennas. advantages in terms of three channel charge more, and offer inconsistent Spread Spectrum requires a huge up-front However, unlike C-, it does not offer simultaneous crew calling, lower data support, sometimes resulting in a poor cost and risk. Providers must lease large full global coverage and is susceptible to and voice charges, Polar Region access user experience that is not typical of amounts of bandwidth and sometimes Rain Fade. and a convenient rugged and low cost OpenPort. entire transponders. To achieve rapid In order to take advantage of the low antenna, from our experience users tend So if you are considering the Iridium ramp up and fill the transponder space, fixed-cost of Ku systems, they are typical- to prefer the voice quality of the Inmarsat service, shop around. We believe that both providers typically offer low cost services ly deployed with Iridium OpenPort or service although, given time, most users Iridium OpenPort and FleetBroadband with higher Contention Ratios. FleetBroadband backup and a least cost find OpenPort voice quality more than represent excellent options for a VSAT So, if you are seeking voice and basic routing device that switches between IP acceptable. back up service. internet and are not contemplating a services as required. In terms of transmission speed, sophisticated fleet wide networking This arrangement facilitates the full Inmarsat’s FB 150 enjoys a slight Small Antennas vs application with ever increasing global coverage required by many ship- advantage with its standard 150 kbps Large Antennas bandwidth requirements, then Spread ping companies. Several manufacturers offering. Until recently, to obtain 128 Understanding antenna size is one of Spectrum based services can be an excel- supply such devices, as software or hard- kbps services on OpenPort required users the most critical considerations in select- lent choice. ware based systems. to commit to a high-end pricing package ing a VSAT service. Make no mistake, However, if you are a high end user, and pay a premium for either 64 kbps size matters. you need to weigh the advantages of a 1- Backup – OpenPort service or 128 kbps. Satellite professionals will tell you that metre or larger antenna units. vs FleetBroadband However, Iridium has just announced while there are some very significant Although up-front hardware and When using a back up L-band service, that the need to subscribe to a high-end advantages to sub 1-metre antennas in installation costs are greater, a larger keep in mind that both OpenPort and plan for 128 kbps service has been elimi- terms of pricing and installation cost and antenna has greater surface area and FleetBroadband are pay-by-the-byte nated, along with any surcharges while, reduced deck space requirements, these requires less transponder space and services. unlike Inmarsat, slower speeds will be services typically require more transpon- power. This means that services relying on While suitable for voice, e-mail, SMS available at discounted pricing. der space and power and consequently the larger aperture can operate with and very limited data usage, their high So, in general, we find that in terms of cost more to operate than 1-metre or Conventional Modulation rather than usage costs generally rule out unregulated features, the two services compare larger units. Spread Spectrum. web browsing, large file transmission, favourably. In terms of end-user satisfac- In some cases where satellites operate Unlike Spread Spectrum, Conventional video conferencing or other bandwidth tion, OpenPort’s rating varied signifi- in close proximity, the use of small anten- Modulation running under iDirect or intensive applications. cantly depending on the chosen service nas can create Adjacent Satellite Vipersat platforms facilitates a business In fact, many ship owners even limit vendor. Interference. To avoid this problem, VSAT model where transponder space can be the size of e-mail attachments to one Top notch, Tier 1 OpenPort vendors at service vendors with small antenna offer- purchased in small increments and capac- megabyte or less. So, when Ku- VSAT is the top of the distribution chain provide ings often employ a technique known as ity increased along with the number of unavailable, you need to limit use to software to control and restrict usage, Spread Spectrum. subscribers, thereby reducing vendor up- voice and e-mail and ‘lock out’ all but installation services, the critical site sur- Spread Spectrum spreads the energy front investment risk.

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Digital Ship

In addition, because larger antennas new and progressively more attractive can deliver more bandwidth utilising less service offerings, making vendor selection Alan Gottlieb is CEO of Gottlieb International Group, which transponder space, there is no Adjacent even more difficult. specialises in assisting ship owners and managers with evalua- Satellite Interference problem. Hence, ven- Prospective buyers need to exercise tion of satellite service offerings and helping service providers dors have high power capability and can caution. The market is rife with miscon- structure appropriate product offerings. The company’s E-Book, offer high-end users the option of ceptions and misunderstandings, and we ‘An Independent Guide to Buying Maritime VSAT’, can be Committed Information Rates. often find even the most sophisticated of ordered from www.gottliebinternationalgroup.com. It is also important to consider buyers lost in the confusing claims of com- E-mail: [email protected]. that usage will likely increase significant- peting vendors. DS ly over the life of a VSAT service contract. For this reason, some vessel owners may opt for even larger 1.2 or 1.5 metre antennas with a view toward an increase in system capacity. In the end, we find that large fleet owners with fleet-wide networking aspi- Satellite communications. And more.™ rations have a preference for 1-metre and larger antennas in global service applications, and they often insist upon a minimal amount of committed band- width or CIR. On the other hand, some customers with less critical needs may find the lower- priced, Spread Spectrum services perfectly adequate FleetBroadband. for their needs. Get More with Vizada Solutions™ Full service vendors When you buy a VSAT serv- ice, seek out vendors who take responsibility for the total system, including hard- ware and software mainte- nance. You should have a single point of contact for all system related issues. When choosing a vendor, Solutions keep in mind that the components of a successful VSAT solution include the Sail your vessel into the IP-era with cost-effective, global broadband data correct antenna, bandwidth and voice communications. Inmarsat FleetBroadband enables simultaneous and CIR, surveying the broadband data and voice through compact antennas to access emails, surf installation site and choos- the internet and run your operational systems. ing the best position to install the antenna to avoid blockages and providing Get more from Inmarsat FleetBroadband with Vizada Solutions™, our unique the appropriate L-band range of value-added services. Available exclusively through Vizada Service back-up service (Inmarsat Providers, Vizada Solutions™ are designed to enhance your communications or OpenPort). by delivering: Vendors should also pro- vide software to monitor and • Security: End-to-end IP Sec encryption, personalized firewalls control costs, crew access, and anti-virus software and an onboard system that • Crew welfare: Prepaid services for voice and data can reboot Network compo- • Traffic control: Onboard cost control in real-time nents automatically and pro- vide remote maintenance Inmarsat FleetBroadband is available through Vizada, the leading access via the backup L-band network. independent provider of satellite communications services for users at sea, Never before has the on land and in flight. For more information contact Vizada Customer Care maritime VSAT market or visit us at the Digital Ship Conference in Cyprus. been more competitive. Numerous new VSAT serv- ice vendors are rushing to market and Ku-band satel- Vizada EMEA & Asia Email: [email protected] lites with coverage over the Phone: +33 (0)5 61 28 89 99 oceans are rapidly filling to capacity – all despite the dif- Vizada Americas ficult economic conditions in Email: [email protected] the shipping industry. Phone: +1 301 838 7700 As providers become www.vizada.com more desperate to fill their leased transponder space, the market will abound with

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 13 p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 1

Today Globe Reinvents FleetBroadband!

Complete. Competitive. Compelling.

For mariners, by mariners.

You have seen the rest, now here it is, the latest Inmarsat distribution partner launches the most compelling, complete and competitive plans, built to satisfy your crew, manage your budget and control your costs. Contact your local sales office and find how there really is no other choice. We think you will agree that today Globe reinvents FleetBroadband.

www.globewireless.com Phone: +1 (321) 308-0112 [email protected] p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 2

SOFTWARE NEWS Digital Ship IMCA’s e-CMID now available Seagull training system goes online

www.imca-int.com In the electronic version the inspector www.seagull.no company-specific CBT modules, crew will not be able to leave blanks or pro- evaluation and ability profiling. The International Marine Contractors vide insufficient information - when the Seagull is launching an online version of No software is required to use the sys- Association's (IMCA) Common Marine inspector answers 'no' to certain ques- its Seagull Training Administrator (STA) tem, just internet connectivity and a Inspection Document (CMID) is now tions, a description of what is lacking crew training software, offering access to Microsoft or Firefox internet browser. available electronically as e-CMID, must follow. Seagull’s full computer-based onboard “We have responded to the needs of cus- along with a secure online database for "We believe the electronic version will training library via the internet. tomers by developing what is an intuitive the reports. be easier and quicker to complete for the The system will give shore staff the online package that is both easy to use and Registration and use of the e-CMID inspector," said Mr Williams. opportunity to check on STA training offers a comprehensive training suite,” said is free to all, both members and "He should have certain information records and statistical reports, as well as Seagull managing director, Roger Ringstad. non-members of IMCA alike, at pre-populated which improves speed opening up access to all 149 of Seagull’s “STA Online includes a choice of CBT www.imcacmid.com. and accuracy. He should be able to cre- Computer Based Training (CBT) pro- training that adheres to the IMO model for The 'traditional' form of the CMID ate the report quickly whilst on the ves- grammes from anywhere in the world. STCW titles, with onboard training cours- was updated earlier this year by a cross sel. Any time saving at this point is very The majority of STA functionality will es including ECDIS, Ship Security Officer, industry workgroup, with input provid- important to the vessel operator who, in be available within STA Online, including and Safety Officer. Most courses are ed by contractors (vessel operators) the past, had to spend a lot of time personnel administration, competence approved by Flag States worldwide.” charterers (oil companies through their whilst in port escorting inspectors round training requirements and status reports, “All training results can be accessed association OGP), consultants (inspec- their vessels.” both on screen and in printed reports, and tors) and other interested parties. “A more accurate report can also training modules can be run fully online, Updated guidance for the new sys- improve the likelihood of an existing so that results can be stored in the cus- tems is already being prepared, which report being accepted and thus a new tomer’s database. Users can start STA will cover how inspectors should assess report not being commissioned - another Online from a single link and do not have elements and complete their report; and saving." to install any software, while multiple then how it can be integrated with the e- The e-CMID is the necessary precur- users can enter STA Online at the same CMID and database. sor of the database which will store time from different offices.” Downloadable guides for vessel oper- the reports. The online package will also include a ators, inspectors and clients; FAQs for A number of users had previously range of graphical reports, tracking fleet the CMID database website, e-CMID reported that CMID reports were circu- Seagull’s training modules can be trends, individual vessels, or individual application, and CMID report content; lating with inaccuracies in them, which accessed from anywhere via a web browser personnel by rank. and easy methods for reporting prob- the vessel operator could not correct, lems and providing feedback to IMCA and that updates to vessel equipment will be made available. status could not be included. Vizada weather solution updated "The launch of e-CMID marks a major There were also indications that sev- milestone in the development of the eral versions of reports could be in cir- www.vizada.com such as Inmarsat FleetBroadband and CMID, which was initially developed in culation at the same time. Iridium OpenPort. 1999 to provide an industry format for It is hoped that the new electronic Vizada has released a new version of its The new version of SkyFile Weather vessel inspection reports and to reduce system will help to remove most of SkyFile Weather solution, based on the lat- also enables customers to superimpose a the number of inspections carried out on these issues and improve accuracy in est edition of the Navimail2 software from forecast on its charts in order to determine individual vessels," explains Hugh the future. Météo-France. the optimal route for the ship. Williams, chief executive of IMCA. "The new system allows the inspector The release of the new system coincides A monthly subscription option for the "Back then, vessels were subjected to generate a list of findings to discuss with a renewal of the commercial agree- service will be introduced at the beginning to repeat inspections each with a with the vessel master before leaving the ment between the two companies to partner of 2010, enabling customers to download slightly different format because there vessel," said Mr Williams. in providing digital weather information up to three weather files per day for a was no acceptance of other clients' "It also ensures the vessel operator and software to the maritime community. fixed amount, as opposed to paying per inspection results and no common has the opportunity to provide com- SkyFile Weather provides seafarers file download. approach available.” ments and updates on the inspector's with customisable weather information, “We have worked with Météo-France "Over the past ten years the CMID, findings report before, and after, it is high resolution satellite images and other for ten years to develop an industry-lead- and the consequent standardisation of lodged on the database.” data such as sea surface temperature, ing meteorological service for seafarers,” vessel inspection, has had a most benefi- “Clearly only one version of the wind and swell. said Jean-Marc Duc, Vizada product man- cial effect on efficiency, vessel quality report can exist on the database which The new version delivers this meteoro- ager, SkyFile. and operational safety. However, we addresses the feedback we received. logical information to crews through a “Through listening closely to their could not afford to rest on our laurels Better quality reports and better access direct internet connection established via requirements, we have constantly evolved and, taking on board feedback from to them, both provided by the [electron- the onboard mobile satellite terminal. SkyFile Weather so that today it includes users of CMID, the launch of e-CMID ic system], will be an improvement for Vizada says that the service applies some of the most practical and sophisticat- was the logical step to take to ensure the all parties concerned - vessel operators, equally to all new generation IP-based ed features on the market, including http document's continued usefulness." clients and inspectors." services typically found on board ship, compliance and meteorological routing.” Bhagwan Marine to install crew safety system on 30 vessels

www.mobilarm.com In the event of an incident it automati- installation survey completed, is ear- cally provides a GPS waypoint, range and marked for the next install and commis- Western Australian marine operator bearing in order to facilitate a quick rescue sion of Crewsafe within the Bhagwan fleet. Bhagwan Marine has confirmed that it is of the person in the water. Crewsafe also "If you happen to save one person then to roll-out the Mobilarm Crewsafe crew offers additional security and communica- the company's objectives are achieved," management system across its fleet of 30 tion functionality, such as a covert alarm said Bhagwan Marine managing director, oil and gas vessels following successful capability, crew paging, First Aid training, Loui Kannikoski. installations in November 2009. and rescue asset and safety equipment "I've worked in the commercial marine Crewsafe is a wireless safety system management. industry since 1974 and have experienced designed to reduce the risk of injury or The system in currently being installed first-hand that prevention is the key to death through man overboard by using on three Bhagwan Marine vessels, includ- ensuring your crew are safe. Following the crew location monitoring and automatically ing its newest vessel the multi-purpose successful trials I can see Crewsafe will initiating a network-wide alert to all person- utility catamaran, the LAURI - J. The offer all our crew an extra level of safety Instant alerts will warn of emergencies nel within seconds of an incident occurring. Samson Explorer, which has had a pre- which will help to save lives."

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 15 p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 3

SOFTWARE NEWS Wed-based software from MarineCFO

www.marinecfolive.com sonnel, jobs, billing, maintenance and Maintenance Live, and Vessel Live. schedules without the need to install The operations module is used to man- MarineCFO has released MarineCFO servers and software. The user pays a age areas like certifications, vendors, Live!, a web-based software solution for monthly subscription fee based on the size invoicing, logging, safety, and incident the marine divisions of enterprise organi- of the fleet for access to the service. and regulatory reporting, while the per- sations and workboat companies. The application consists of four mod- sonnel functions are used to control differ- Marine CFO Live! combines various The system can be used to manage per- ules: Operations Live, Personnel Live, ent aspects of crew management. functions into a single interface

Maintenance Live allows users to design and manage custom maintenance solu- tions, with features includ- ing maintenance schedul- ing, outside service control, and capacity planning, while Vessel Live is an on- vessel solution with the capability to capture and manage electronic logs, report on incidents and manage ongoing mainte- nance orders. The launch of MarineCFO Live! has also been bolstered by a new agreement with Echo Towing Service / Echo Marine, to use the system throughout its company. “We chose MarineCFO Live! because it was a full- featured, cost-effective solu- tion that didn’t require servers and complex IT requirements” said Tommy Echols, president of Echo Towing Services / Echo Marine. "More importantly, we were able to start using it right away and our people absolutely love it." “We are extremely excit- ed about launching MarineCFO Live!,” added Joe Galatas, president of MarineCFO Inc. “The small and mid- sized marine company can now take advantage of a cost-effective solution with- out the need for new servers, software, or IT. MarineCFO Live! will enable organisations to streamline their business processes by eliminating manual and inefficient pro- cedures while only requir- ing Microsoft Internet Explorer.”

Digital Ship Scandinavia Thon Hotel Arena, Lillestrom March 17-18, 2010

To discuss available positions and rates, contact Ria Kontogeorgou, Tel +44 207 510 4933 Mob: +44 7815 481036 e-mail [email protected]

www.thedigitalship.com

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 16 p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 4

Digital Ship Maritime e-Learning podcasts added to broker portal

www.shipbrokerportal.com Material on subjects such as dry cargo website and iTunes. with a total of over 150,000 downloads chartering, insurance and tanker charter- “We have found the podcasts to be worldwide during Q3 2009, and making SDSD, the developers of the Strategic ing and maritime law is condensed into a extremely widely used," said James these available as a gadget on the Dataworks shipbroking software system, has 10 minute audio track, downloadable Tweed, Coracle managing director. Shipbroker Portal will certainly improve announced the availability of Coracle pod- from The Shipbroker Portal, the Coracle "We have produced over 450 episodes, their uptake still further." casts on The Shipbroker Portal, its free online resource for the shipbroking community.

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Don’t miss a shot of the 2010 Finals! NEW for 2010! Worldwide TV Satellite Library for Unmatched Convenience!

‘Over 450 shipping podcast episodes have been produced’ – James Tweed, Coracle

Podcasts will be available as a standard gadget on the portal homepage, delivering content from Coracle Online to all registered users. Coracle operates online resources for the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, and offers education and eLearning systems in the form of podcasts, iPhone and BlackBerry applications, webinars and tutor support. The shipping podcasts are developed in partnership with content providers such We want to reward our crew

as The Baltic Exchange, and “ with a front row seat to this year’s

are currently sponsored by DFWLRQSDFNHG IRRWEDOO ðQDOV PDGH ShipServ. possible through the TracVision M9“ that has been installed on sixty of our vessels operating globally. Chevron Corporation has completed the launch – Sergey Minakov, Electrical Engineer Superintendent, Unicom Management Services of Navarik’s Inspection software system at its Houston, San Ramon, London and Singapore offices. Navarik Inspection is a web-based cargo inspec- tion application that auto- For the captain who insists on quality and reliability, there’s mates nomination and only one way to bring home theatre-quality TV onboard – inspection workflows, TracVision. See the full line of systems for any size vessel at: tracking the quantity and quality of oil shipments. www.tracvision.com

+6(%UROPE!3s+OKKEDAL)NDUSTRIPARK"s+OKKEDALs$ENMARKs4EL s&AX s% MAILINFO KVHDK © 2009 +6()NDUSTRIES )NCs+6(AND4RAC6ISIONAREREGISTEREDTRADEMARKSOF+6()NDUSTRIES )NCs3PECIFICATIONSSUBJECTTOCHANGEWITHOUTNOTICE www.navarik.com 4HEUNIQUELIGHT COLOREDDOMEWITHDARKCONTRASTINGBASEPLATEISAREGISTEREDTRADEMARKOF+6()NDUSTRIES )NCs?+%?46-?7ORLD#UP?#OMM?$IGITAL3HIP

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 17 p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 5

SOFTWARE Turning crisis to opportunity at Exmar

‘Do less with more’ – IT managers across the maritime industry may be familiar with slogans similar to this one, as budgets are slashed and costs cut. Christophe Vanneste and Ivan Renette, Exmar Shipmanagement, told Digital Ship about how they turned this ‘mission impossible’ into IT opportunity

he year 2009 will be remembered and upgrades are really needed. Someone “The result of this new accounting struc- sitting next to the PMS team who is an TTas a time of chaos in the global told me they would volunteer to test the ture was more transparency in costs, and expert in servers and hardware. It has economy, with companies and new version of Windows – I mentioned getting the rest of the company more linked improved our efforts to keep everything organisations around the world having to what the price would be to upgrade and to the IT and making them feel more running just by having those guys togeth- learn to deal with massive contractions in they were shocked.” involved in what the cost of IT actually is.” er and improving communication.” business, downturns in revenues and The bottom line in every department’s This transparency was also heavily The support network has also been bol- restrictions in their access to credit. operation, as far as the company’s man- linked with another of the Group’s major stered by the introduction of a ‘Follow The With its position as the circulatory sys- agement was concerned, was that they ‘do initial goals – improved performance Sun’ system, where help is available from tem keeping international commerce flow- more with less’. measurement. different regional offices 24 hours a day. ing, the maritime industry is especially “Is ICT able to answer these questions? “We implemented a measuring instru- “Under the Follow The Sun concept, we prone to such changes, and has been I believe we can,” said Mr Vanneste. “We ment for the ICT financials, for example, start in Singapore where they do an eight severely hit by developments over the last take these questions and generate oppor- including the resources, costs, etc,” said hour shift, they hand over to Antwerp, 18 months (as noted in the article on page tunities by applying changes.” Mr Vanneste. and then we hand over to Houston, before 8, shipping is down approximately 15 per “The IT manager is trapped between “Performance measurement is impor- the cycle starts again,” said Mr Vanneste. cent across the board). two extremes – getting less capital for new tant, and the real target behind this is effi- “This has been excellent for support Exmar Shipmanagement, part of the investments but also needing to ensure a ciency. So we first need to know what we services, and this is what our vessels Exmar Group, is facing these challenges more flexible infrastructure to work in are doing before we can act on it.” deserve. It also brings the travel costs head-on, and the company has, over the changing market conditions. It’s not mis- “We are doing this for the communica- down, if you have to send an IT guy to a course of 2009, looked to reorganise the sion impossible, but it’s not really mission tion costs, for example, looking at what vessel in Asia somewhere it costs money. way it conducts its business and make its easy either.” exactly is our cellphone usage, what exactly And it’s faster.” overall operation more efficient. “We have been checking what invest- is our ship to shore communication, where Modifying the ICT structure of the ment we can do that will save us money in does it happen, why is the cost that high. Six Sigma Group was a fundamental part of the pro- the end, and came up with some projects Then afterwards we can think about alterna- Another project the company has begun gramme, and one of the key factors in which we are implementing right now.” tives like VoIP, BlackBerry mail, and so on.” work on is implementing Six Sigma making this a success was to look on the methodology, an initiative originally economic crisis as an opportunity rather Restructuring Support developed by the Motorola company in than a disaster, explain Christophe One of the first projects undertaken was A critical element in this restructuring of the 1981 with the goal of minimising variabil- Vanneste, ICT director, and Ivan Renette, an internal restructuring of the ICT IT system and department was a focus on ity in business processes. PMS project manager, Exmar department within Exmar creating redundancy in knowledge and skill “Six Sigma is a methodology that aims to Shipmanagement. Shipmanagement, and a migration of IT sets, to make sure that any improvements reduce variation and eliminate waste – we “I still remember when my CEO men- elements from other parts of the group introduced would be resilient enough to are combining those two elements in a lean tioned at the first meeting of the year – ‘by into this new structure, to create a more survive if different people were unavailable. Six Sigma project, where the goal is reducing the way, I’m cutting 10 per cent of your comprehensive singular system across the “I don’t want to have one guy running both at the same time,” said Mr Vanneste. budget, I don’t know how you’re going to company. around in the department who holds all “That may sound like a business project the knowledge, I want this guy to be able rather than an IT project, and it is, but IT is to take a vacation at some stage, so we’ve very involved in the data gathering and trained a second person, and then went on exact measurement. There’s lots of data ‘training the trainer’ down the line,” said and IT is definitely needed for the project.” Mr Vanneste. “We do the visualisation of that data – “We need to do that to guarantee service, a graph or a picture says more than a thou- and we did it with all of the skill sets with- sand words. We also provide analytical in the IT department. We always have two tools for data drilling, and check on guys who can go to the vessels, two guys trends, like, for example, on server per- doing the PMS stuff. There are more people formance and service performance, to involved of course, but we make sure that keep track of things ourselves.” there are two with the basic knowledge.” With all of these projects the ultimate “We split the help desk with a first line goal was to demonstrate how the ICT and a second line, where the second line function within Exmar could work as a guy is also the server specialist, and anoth- value driver for the business, with a solid er person is able to cover the second line, return on investment. and so on.” “‘ICT in control’ is an internal IT project Extra training is a pre-requisite for this where we implemented ticketing systems, kind of redundancy to be achieved, but problem management, change manage- while that will require additional invest- ment, all to get better control of the whole ment it is likely to reduce costs in the long ICT department,” said Mr Vanneste. “That Two Exmar LNG vessels performing a ship to ship transfer – run, says Mr Vanneste. way efficiency can be made possible from off-hire of these vessels is unacceptable for the company “Training is so important, and creating within the department itself.” the right mindsets of the guys going to the “But, at the end of the day, the main do it, but just do it’,” recalls Mr Vanneste. “Formerly we used to only do the IT for ships,” he told us. reorientation we did was to make the IT a “Budget cuts, headcount freezes, ques- Shipmanagement, but we are now doing “They’re experts in combinations of business enabler instead of a cost centre. tions about whether you really need all of the ICT for the entire Group,” said Mr communications, SQL, and all of that stuff. We are working with the business and those people in your team, what exactly Vanneste. “We created a new domain, If you don’t train these people you need to talking about IT and business together.” they are all doing. Things like controlling new platforms, and new servers.” send two people onboard, one for SQL “We can help the business by selecting cell phone usage, instructions on cutting “For accounting and budgeting, we and one for communications. If you good applications and tools, and not have travel, questions on whether training linked it more into the company structure remove that it creates your cost savings.” everyone using Excel for everything. you’re providing is really needed – these and generated a price per unit that we “The key element is to have all of the Better usage of the IT systems will make were all looked at.” could charge to internal customers – so it people working together. We have a func- the working of the IT department more “They ask if newer versions of software became ‘pay per usage’.” tional mix within the team, there’s a guy efficient – this is key.”

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 18 p14-19:p15-25.qxd 15/01/2010 17:49 Page 6

Digital Ship

Planned Maintenance Mr Renette says that Exmar is now using “Internally we are now implementing System its PMS to produce KPIs and do reporting Document Manager (into the Task One good example of how the Exmar team for its technical marine department, pro- Assistant) onboard the vessels, we have has approached this ‘IT as business viding information that is helping to successfully updated our system and will enabler’ concept has been the evolution of improve efficiency and reduce costs – put that on all of the vessels to provide one its Planned Maintenance System (PMS) turning the PMS into a business enabler platform for everyone,” he said. over the last 15 years, as Ivan Renette, rather than a cost centre. “That will also reduce the need for train- PMS project manager, explains. One way that this is achieved is by the ing as people will know the system, and “We started introducing planned main- system keeping accurate records of the will allow them to access the company pro- tenance with our own in-house built sys- components stored and in use throughout cedures whenever they need to, for manu- tem in 1995, a system which was running the Exmar fleet. als, check lists, and measurement reports.” in Sybase and programmed in Following trends in the required levels “In the near future we will integrate a PowerBuilder that we implemented sim- of different available and purchased com- drydock specification generator and con- ply because we wanted to replace the ponents can help the technical department tinue our reporting of KPIs for the techni- Excel sheets onboard,” he said. to understand where breakdowns in differ- cal department and marine department, “We started by implementing it in the ent systems and equipment may be occur- which will hopefully eventually then also office and then moving on to, at that time, ring, a valuable piece of information when be fed to external services.” ‘The PMS needs to be a business enabler, 56 vessels. After it was implemented, man- it comes to managing overall fleet uptime. Exmar’s new found drive for efficiency not a cost centre’ – Ivan Rennette, Exmar Shipmanagement agement began to realise that the system “This is something that we feed back to since the onset of the economic crisis has was not as it should have been – it was not our newbuilding division to enable them reflected, to some extent, a wider issue in class approved, it had a lot of problems to make the correct choice on the equip- the maritime industry, whereby compa- systems. That is why we did this.” with security, no user log-in, and so on.” ment that they are going to put on the new nies were performing so well that the Having seen the benefits of a lot of the “We had no clue which equipment was ships,” said Mr Renette. focus on promoting efficiency was lost, hard work and large structural changes common throughout the fleet, and this “Another thing is that we are now able notes Mr Vanneste. necessitated by the changing fortunes of was one of the main reasons why we need- to really fine-tune and optimise the work- “We’ve all been busy on different the global economy, Mr Renette and Mr ed to go and look for other systems. So we flow. In the purchasing department, for investments and there hasn’t really been Vanneste are confident that they turned started to look around in the market to see example, we now know which spare parts an opportunity to look back and see how that potential adversity to their advantage. which system could really help us and fit we need the most, which stores we need much money was being spent on systems “Is the crisis an opportunity or a disas- our company.” the most, and we can go to the manufactur- – if they worked then it was ok,” he said. ter for the ICT department? I think we ers and force them to give us fixed pricing.” “If there were problems we’d just add have seen that it has been very much an “This reduces the cost and prevents us more people, they could swing by and opportunity for us,” said Mr Vanneste. from spending money unnecessarily. solve the problem and it would go away – “That is what we have done in 2009, Stock is money, we have to reduce it, mak- but the root cause wasn’t really solved.” and I’m sure we’ll move forward with ing sure that there are enough spares on “If we orient the IT more towards being plenty more projects in 2010.” board but not too many. This is something a service rather than just solving problems “The key really is reorganising the IT to that we are able to track and take out of then we will be checking on how the IT be a business enabler rather than a cost. In our current system with the PMS.” works within the company, and the root crisis times, reliable and good quality Mr Renette notes that the system causes. In the end that will create reliable managed vessels will get the cargo.” DS improvements have even created noticeable improvements at the basic level of purchas- ing and distributing the parts and stores. “Our vessels are around the world, seven days a week and 24 hours a day. Where are the spares, will they be in time, will they be correctly processed?” he said. “We now have a complete status report of where the spares are. We are providing our suppliers with information telling ‘I still remember when the CEO said them about where exactly we have break- he was cutting 10 per cent of the downs in our real life systems.” IT budget’ – Christophe Vanneste, “Feeding back that information makes Exmar Shipmanagement sure that they can provide us with better equipment, less breakdowns, and reduced This search led to Exmar choosing the risk of us going off-hire – and off-hire is Task Assistant system from maritime soft- something that you don’t want to say out ware provider Ulysses Systems to run its loud within the company.” planned maintenance, beginning the This overall drive for efficiency then implementation process in 2004. feeds back into the company’s quest for “Today we have our complete fleet up Six Sigma, to make sure there is less waste and running with Task Assistant planned in the business process. maintenance systems, and it’s completely “Based upon our complete underlying fully integrated with our accounting sys- planned maintenance structure, and how tems and with our data warehouse sys- we have organised the components within tem,” said Mr Renette. that system, we are now able to provide “Currently we have a complete data the necessary information to different population team in Manila which is in departments within the company to make direct communication with the Captains. I sure that they can work in an efficient don’t want to read about why a Captain way,” Mr Renette said. needs a spare part, I just know that he needs it, so let him contact the data popu- Future improvements lation team directly to get the correct With Exmar having used the economic information where he needs it.” downturn as a driving force to improve “To give you an idea of what we’re efficiency and value creation in its IT sys- talking about, our office library containing tems, the company now expects to carry the components, now has around 50,000 on and introduce further additional generic components. We have around improvements over the coming years. 600,000 spare parts, and around 50,000 One goal which Mr Renette is currently store items.” working towards is improved standardis- ation in information management across Business enabler the company’s vessels and offices.

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 19 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:00 Page 1

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS

ER Offshore extends Enhanced radar launched by Kelvin Hughes positioning agreement

www.kelvinhughes.com radar this enables the operator to continue "We have also found that navigators www.veripos.com using the radar in the normal way, with appreciate the clarity provided by remov- Kelvin Hughes has launched new the addition of a simultaneous advanced ing unwanted clutter and by painting mov- Hamburg-based ship management organ- Enhanced Target Detection (ETD) features detection view available on the secondary ing targets in a different colour. The overall isation ER Offshore has extended its long- as an improvement to its MantaDigital PPI without cluttering the main display. effect on the screen is almost a 3D or term working agreement with positioning range of wide-screen radars. Controls are provided to enable the embossed view of details such as waves, technology company Veripos. The company says that the new tech- operator to change the weightings vessel wakes and coastlines while still The agreement, an addition to a previous nology significantly enhances the display between fixed and moving targets to maintaining an exceptionally clear picture." deal in early 2008, covers the provision of of slow-moving or stationary targets, achieve the best possible picture in vary- "Customer response to the ETD mode positioning services, delivered via the Veripos without interfering with the normal radar ing conditions. has been very encouraging. One customer, LD2 integrated hardware platform and utilis- appearance or operation. "We originally developed the mode for a barge operator on the Rhine, was ing the Verify DP graphical user interface. ETD treats stationary and moving detecting ice but have found it is equally amazed that he could even spot dogs run- Veripos currently provides services and returns differently, highlighting the useful for detecting small targets, such as ning on the river banks!" support facilities for six of ER Offshore’s UT755 moving ones by displaying them in a dif- buoys, which might otherwise be seen The ETD mode is available as a software LN Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) operating ferent colour. only intermittently or not at all," said upgrade to the standard MantaDigital in Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea. Combined with the dual PPI (plan posi- Spike Hughes, Kelvin Hughes director of Radar or Chart Radar products, with no The new extended contract covers the tion indicator) mode available on the sales and marketing. additional hardware required. provision of identical satellite-based posi- tioning services, equipment and software for a further two new DP2 UT776 PSVs and a series of six new DP2 anchor-han- dling tug supply (AHTS) vessels. The first of these, ER Vittoria, is due to begin service at the end of 2009, with the remainder of the fleet expected to be com- missioned throughout 2010 and 2011. “We looked hard at what we required on both our existing and future vessels,” said Ian Perrott, managing director of ER Offshore. “From our experience of working with Veripos to date, we felt that the best service and option for us was to remain with the company. We are therefore pleased to have strengthened our relationship through the The normal radar image (left) and satellite image (centre) are combined in the enhanced display mode (right) extension of our existing agreement.”

M in

Know where you’re going

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Fugro Seastar AS, Oslo, Norway Tel: +47 21 50 14 00 Fax: +47 21 50 14 01 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.fugroseastar.no

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 20 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:01 Page 2

Digital Ship

avoidance system in a simple and easy to New AIS display system from Vesper install package,” said Jeff Robbins, co- founder, Vesper Marine. www.vespermarine.com Once identified, the system automati- data including course, speed, heading and “Gone are the days of complex set up cally displays target information for satellite status, expanding its functionality and concerns over proper operation. By Vesper Marine has launched the latest ver- potentially dangerous vessels including as a second-station GPS display. eliminating the need for a separate black sion of its new collision avoidance display, name and call sign to aid in inter-vessel “Our AISWatchMate RX is an exciting box receiver, users simply plug in a VHF the AISWatchMate RX, for use with onboard communication. addition to our AISWatchMate product antenna and connect the unit to a GPS Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The device displays GPS navigational line, offering a sophisticated collision device and they’re up and running.” The AISWatchMate can be used with any external receiver or transponder, with the new version of the stand- alone safety display system including an internal parallel two-channel AIS receiver. The device displays class A and class B vessel position; voyage data; navigation aids; AIS safety messages; and meteorological and hydro- graphical information, where available, including real-time wind, current and tidal data. The AISWatchMate RX also includes additional fil- tering capable of removing non-converging vessels and a target prioritisation algo- rithm allowing it to plot crossing situations and illus- trate target vessels that pose the greatest collision risk. AIS-SART rules change for 2010

www.lr.org

Lloyd's Register has issued a bulletin to notify stakehold- ers of changes in regulations affecting AIS SART search and rescue locating devices. It notes that a number of amendments have been made to MSC regulations 256(84), 259(84), 260(84) and 246(83), to allow the use of AIS search and rescue transmitters (AIS-SART) as an alternative to survival craft radar transponders (GMDSS-SART). Lloyd's Register notes that the SOLAS Convention and the HSC Codes current- ly require two GMDSS SART that respond to navi- gation radar on each side of the ship (though only one is required for ships between 300 gt and 500 gt). The above amendments allow the use of either GMDSS-SART or AIS-SART, and are applicable to ships constructed on or after January 1, 2010, or ships hav- ing equipment replaced from this date. All AIS-SART equipment to be installed must be type approved under perform- ance standards set out in MSC 246(83).

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 21 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:01 Page 3

ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS

Adams Offshore switches to Jeppesen Primar for ENCs ChartCo reaches

www.jeppesen.com Adams Offshore’s technical partner, up and primary ECDIS. Since then, chart 4,000 www.primar.org Mobile Marine Technology, identified the management has run smoothly.” problem as difficulty downloading and Adams Offshore installed the Jeppesen www.chartco.com Adams Offshore reports that it has obtaining chart licences from the ENC Primar ECDIS Service on DPSV Adams installed the Jeppesen Primar ECDIS provider. Challenge in October, and Mr Kumar says ChartCo has agreed an additional sub- Service on one of its dive support and off- “We had technical support on the ves- that since then the system has been opera- scription deal with Iino Marine Service shore supply vessels, and is considering sel for a week. At the end, we concluded tional and problem-free. Company Ltd, helping the number of ves- implementation of the solution across its that the supplier had a problem with its Based upon this experience, Adams sels now taking services from ChartCo to fleet worldwide. database in the Gulf region,” said Adams Offshore chose to equip both of DPSV break the 4,000 barrier. Adams Offshore uses a Microplot 7 Offshore technical manager, R Rajeev Adams Challenge’s ECDIS systems with ChartCo Broadcast, which uses the ECDIS on the DPSV Adams Challenge, a Kumar. the Jeppesen Primar ECDIS Service, and to Inmarsat point to multi-point service, has 2009-built offshore support vessel. This sys- “Then, we tried the Jeppesen Primar install the same service on its DPSV been operational since January 1999. Since tem ran into problems with the installed ECDIS Service as a back-up while we tried Adams Aquanaut offshore support vessel. this time the company has supplemented ENC/ECDIS Service and with licence to resolve the problems. Eventually, the Mr Kumar says that the company now its services with ChartCo Select, which renewals in the Gulf of Mexico, where the vessel’s captain and I decided simply to plans to use the Jeppesen Primar ECDIS offers data delivery through broadband or vessel was on assignment for EPIC. use the Jeppesen service on both the back- Service across its fleet. dial-up internet access, as well as e-mail. “This instance shows the value of a Information available through the sys- service that is reliable and easy-to-use. tem has also expanded over the years It is this commitment to users’ needs beyond core items like chart corrections that lies behind our service and all of and Notices to Mariners to include news, our solutions,” said Jeppesen Marine weather, virus updates and others. marketing and communications manag- Toshio Araki, general manager IT pro- er, Willy Zeiler. motion with Iino Marine Services, com- “In this case, it seems that the customer mented on the deal, saying: “With such a was wrongly informed about Jeppesen diverse range of vessels it is essential that Primar ECDIS Service being an official we have suppliers that can react quickly to source of ENC chart data.” our requirements and are capable of satis- “We are happy to see that a growing fying our wide range of data services." number of serious operators, including "Ensuring our vessels are up to date Adams Offshore, now understand that with chart corrections leads to greater Jeppesen provides official ENC chart data, safety whilst an added value of the enabling easy operation, including simple ChartCo service is its cost effectiveness downloads, pay-as-you-go licensing, and comprehensive user software, online updates and value-added informa- enabling savings to be made in terms of Adams Challenge’s dual ECDIS are both installed with the Jeppesen Primar ECDIS service tion like weather and route planning.” both money and labour.” Steve Mariner, ChartCo manager, added: “We are very pleased that such a well respected company as Iino Marine Denmark to use space-based AIS has consistently chosen to fit the ChartCo system on board their vessels.” www.exactearth.com Arctic region, as well as improving Search "We are very excited to have signed our “They have been a customer of and Rescue operations. first international government customer," ChartCo for many years and are typical of Space-based AIS company exactEarth has "We are very interested in the potential to said Peter Mabson, president of exactEarth. the type of high quality ship operator that entered into an agreement to provide its augment our existing sources of data on "DaMSA has long been a pioneer and a chooses to fit ChartCo to ensure that their exactAIS data service to the Danish maritime traffic through exactEarth's unique leader in the use of AIS technology, and vessels carry up to date maritime data." Maritime Safety Administration global coverage and very high detection we are pleased to have their endorsement "We are also immensely proud that these (DaMSA), on a paid trial basis. rates," said Omar Frits Eriksson, head of in hand as we continue to pursue addi- latest orders mean that ChartCo now pro- Under the agreement, DaMSA will be DaMSA's innovation and project division. tional customers." vides data to over 4,000 individual vessels." provided with an AIS data feed and value- "We hope to use the trial data to "We are seeing strong interest in our trial added services for a limited time, com- advance our knowledge of space-based programme, which is designed to enable mencing with the launch of exactEarth's AIS capabilities and develop expertise customers to experience the benefits of Veripos adds Falklands first operational satellite in the second which we can ultimately pass on to other exactAIS for a relatively small financial quarter of 2010. nations that share our goals." commitment. We are confident that most, if GPS reference station DaMSA intends to use the data to exactEarth says that it is currently mak- not all of these users will sign on for longer- enhance its global ship tracking abilities, ing its exactAIS trial programme available term service contracts once they have had www.veripos.com maritime risk assessment and Aids to to a limited number of maritime authori- the chance to work with our service and Navigation planning, particularly in the ties around the world. develop their own concepts of operations." Positioning company Veripos has added new reference station facilities in the Falkland Islands to enhance its multi- source Differential GPS service. The new reference station will improve positioning services for the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean regions, supporting offshore positioning and survey tasks by delivering augmentation on the 98W and AORW Inmarsat communication satellites. User guidance on how to manually add the Falklands station to verifiable station listings are located at the ‘Knowledge Base’ section of the Veripos online support system (VOSS). Commenting on the development, Bobby Johnson, technical director of Veripos, said that the new ref- erence station has been installed in response to increases in offshore activity within the South Atlantic and Southern AIS detection from space can give a wide scale view of international shipping traffic Ocean regions.

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS

Compact bridge system from Sperry US Nationwide AIS passes review www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com package includes three-node con- sole/display units and steering stand, as www.ngc.com rised government operators to enhance Sperry Marine has introduced a new com- well as all necessary subsystems and sen- maritime situational awareness. pact integrated bridge system (CIBS) sors, including gyrocompass, speed log, The US Coast Guard and Northrop The CDR was intended to demonstrate designed to reduce installation costs for echosounder, AIS, VDR, GPS, steering con- Grumman (parent company of Sperry that the design of the system is appropri- onboard navigation. trols and self-tuning adaptive autopilot. Marine) have successfully completed a ate to proceed with full-scale fabrication, The new CIBS is based on Sperry “The smaller footprint and standardised Critical Design Review (CDR) of the core assembly, integration and testing, and has Marine’s VisionMaster FT technology, and equipment packaging will reduce the costs data exchange capability that will serve as now determined that the technical effort is uses its TotalWatch multifunction dis- of acquisition and installation for ship own- the foundation for the US Nationwide on track to complete the development and plays to allow users to customise display ers and shipyards, and will bring the bene- Automatic Identification System meet mission performance requirements screens to meet operational requirements. fits of state-of-the-art CIBS technology to (Nationwide AIS). within the identified cost and schedule The high-resolution widescreen display ships of all types and sizes,” said J Nolasco Nationwide AIS is to be introduced to constraints. consoles provide a 25 per cent larger view- DaCunha, vice president of Sperry Marine. enhance maritime security, marine and "By collaborating closely with the Coast ing area than standard screens. “The scalable system architecture means navigational safety, search and rescue Guard, we were able to complete the Standard operating modes include con- that the CIBS can be easily expanded with efforts and environmental protection. Nationwide AIS program critical design ning information display, radar only, chart field upgrades to add new features and The two-way maritime digital commu- review three weeks ahead of schedule, radar and ECDIS, with Sperry Marine's functions, including Sperry Marine’s next- nication system will query incoming ves- and within budget," said Mike Twyman of iView 3-D picture for underwater contours generation performance-based navigation sels to check vessel identity, position, Northrop Grumman's information sys- and hazards an optional extra. capabilities for improved ship efficiency speed, course, destination and manifest tems sector. The standard VisionMaster FT CIBS through greater ship-shore integration.” and cargo data. "We will continue our focus to bringing This information will then be combined forward this key capability that ensures with other government intelligence and greater security and more efficiency for surveillance data and shared with autho- our nation's ports and waterways."

ACR to supply AIS for Dutch project

www.acr-europe.com Netherlands Inland Waterway initiative for vessels active in the corridors which ACR Electronics has been awarded two are longer than 20m, or commercial ves- contracts amounting to €1.25 million to sels shorter than 20m. build, ship and install complete inland ACR’s NAUTICAST Inland AIS Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) in transponder, a dual mode SOLAS and the Netherlands. Inland AIS transponder designed specifi- The contract has been awarded as part cally for inland waterways, represents the of a pilot project being run by the Dutch bulk of the tender, which in total accounts Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Ministry of for hundreds of AIS units. Transport, Public Works and Water These will be outfitted through four part- Management. ner companies: Autena, De Wolf Products, The 'Corridor 895' project is part of the Huisman Maritiem, and Shiptron. The combined system could reduce installation costs for shipyards

Comark Corporation has introduced services manager with Kelvin Hughes. the Marine Panel Magic Elite series of Hatteland Display has signed a panel mounted marine displays and com- three-year extension of its cooperation puters. The computer features a range of agreement with Sperry Marine for the processing architectures, from Celeron M supply of high-resolution colour displays. to Core 2 Duo Mobile, up to 4GB RAM, This is the fourth such extension between and compact flash up to 32GB, while the the companies, with the first dating back LCDs feature full-dimming capability, to 2000. Sperry Marine also serves as an with sunlight readable or standard bright- authorised service agent for Hatteland ness options. Display. Telemar UK has appointed Sally Cust Ships Electronics Services as business development manager. Ms Cust (SES) has been appointed by SeaView has previously worked as sales & market- Europe as the exclusive UK distributor ing manager for AMI and as a customer of its radar and communications mount- ing brackets. Shanghai Maritime University (SMU) and DNV have signed a strate- gic partnership agreement to establish the SMUDNV International Cooperation Centre, with the aim of cooperating in Hatteland has agreed a deal to continue supplying screens to Sperry Marine the areas of competence development, training, and maritime research and development. Mackay Marine, a division of Offshore drilling company Dolphin Mackay Communications, has www.hatteland-display.com AS is to install dual ECDIS from expanded its operations with the opening www.sperrymarine.northropgrumman.com MARIS, with official ENCs, for three of two new marine-electronics service www.telemar.co.uk fourth-generation semisubmersible locations in Corpus Christi, Texas and www.ses-marine.com drilling units: Borgland Dolphin, Bideford Panama City, Panama. www.seaviewglobal.com Dolphin and Bredford Dolphin. Rune Radio Holland Group has opened www.comarkcorp.com Trondsen, marine superintendent at a new service office in Port Elizabeth, www.dnv.vom Comark’s latest display features sunlight Dolphin, commented that the decision to South Africa. This will be the 63rd office in www.maris.no readable or standard brightness functions implement dual ECDIS was taken to pro- the Radio Holland Global Network and www.mackaycomm.com mote safer navigation. the sixth office in South Africa. www.radiohollandgroup.com

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 24 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:01 Page 6

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS ENCTrack made available on fixed price basis Cybit accepts

www.datema.nl acquisition terms

Electronic chart distributor Datema of the www.cybitholdings.com Netherlands has been appointed as an IC- ENC Value Added reseller (VAR), and Tracking company Cybit and Cyberspace will be offering a modified version of its Bidco Limited, an acquisition vehicle con- ENCTrack service from early 2010. trolled by investment funds affiliated This version of its chart licensing and with Francisco Partners, have reached distribution system will allow the compa- agreement on the acquisition of Cybit ny to offer official electronic charts from Holdings. both IC-ENC and Primar for a fixed price. The terms of the cash acquisition value Using ENCTrack a vessel’s usage of the entire issued share capital of Cybit ENC licences is automatically determined Holdings PLC, listed in London, at by a tracking system, installed on board. approximately £23 million. All available ENCs are held on board and Cybit provides telematic tracking and updated as required. positioning solutions for both maritime “We are very pleased to make this step,” and land-based applications, with its said Datema director, Willem Amels. “It is Bluefinger brand offering vessel monitor- proof of our technical competence and our ing and tracking. The company is also A full release of the ENCTrack system will depend on further changes in ENC licensing commitment to making innovative solu- involved in fisheries management for a tions for the distribution of ENCs.” number of EU governments. “The appointment as VAR means that across hydrographic organisations, which only pay for the charts of the areas they Francisco Partners is a technology- we will have a closer relation to the pro- in turn is essential to the delivery of con- travel through. focused private equity fund with approxi- ducing hydrographic offices, which will sistent, high quality, integrated services.” However, this re-launch will be mately $5 billion under management. The help to introduce new innovative solu- Following the launch of the ENCTrack dependent on closer alignment in the dis- firm has invested approximately $4 billion tions like ENCTrack.” fixed price option, Datema says that it tribution policies of the IC-ENC and of equity capital in over 50 technology “IC-ENC plays a central role in ensur- plans to eventually re-launch the original Primar RENCs during 2010, and the par- companies since its founding in 1999. ing that ENC data quality standards and concept of ENCTrack whereby a user can ties reaching a deal on further amend- The investment by Francisco Partners distribution policies are made consistent view an entire world folio of ENCs, but ments to licensing policies. will allow Cybit to further expand into new markets across Europe, operating under the same management team. "While Cybit is already on firm footing AIS vessel tracking on the iPhone financially today, the additional invest- ment and security provided by Francisco www.gcaptain.com 'heads-up' view of the marine traffic Partners will be invaluable to our compa- around the user. ny moving forward," said Richard The mariners at gCaptain.com have Clicking on a vessel provides addi- Horsman, CEO, Cybit. teamed up with Maritime Information tional information, such as ship's desti- “We believe this investment will pro- Systems (MIS), a provider of vessel track- nation, job function, and navigational vide substantial capital for future organic ing solutions, to launch 'gTrax', a vessel status. growth as we look to expand our offering tracking application for the iPhone. Targets can be sorted by vessel name of products and services.” The gTrax system uses the MIS net- and function and by type, including cargo, “In addition, as the telematics market is work of Automatic Identification System tanker, passenger, and others. The system currently quite fragmented and overall (AIS) antennas to gather information can also track smaller vessels equipped penetration still low, Cybit will be in a directly from commercial vessel transmis- with AIS-B transmitters. strong position to consider opportunities sions at various harbours. Locations currently supported by for acquisitive growth both in the UK as Once processed through the MIS gTrax include San Francisco, New York, well as across the European continent.” server, the information is pushed out Baltimore, Beaumont (Texas), Boston, The announcement of the proposed to the iPhone and the location of each the Great Lakes, Miami, Seattle, Tampa acquisition is the first step in a process ship is plotted on the app's built in and Shanghai, with more regions expected which, if taken to its successful conclusion, Google map. to follow. will see Cybit de-listed from the London Each ship is colour coded according to The gTrax application can be down- stock market and placed into private own- its speed and oriented by course, giving a loaded from the Apple iTunes App Store. AIS? There’s an app for that ership early in 2010. IBS for Intership bulkers

www.raytheon-anschuetz.com The IBS will include NSC radars with chart radar, anti-clutter and collision Raytheon Anschütz has been awarded a avoidance functions, as well as a complete contract to supply its Integrated Bridge set of sensors and radio stations. System (IBS) to two new bulk carriers to NSC ECDIS with automatic route plan- be built for Cyprus based shipping com- ning functions will also be integrated, and pany Intership Navigation, a member of trackpilots and manual steering control sys- the German Hartmann Group. tems are similarly to be included in the IBS. The bulkers will be built at New “The awarded contract results from a Times Shipyard in Jingjiang, China, with satisfying relationship to Intership delivery scheduled for August and Navigation, who have chosen our bridge October 2011. systems also for former projects,” com- The new bulkers, each with a capacity mented Sven Dreyer, sales director at of 176,000 dwt, will be equipped with full Raytheon Anschütz. integrated bridge systems installed under Raytheon notes that it has now sold the combined supervision of Raytheon more than 600 Integrated Bridge Systems, Anschütz Shanghai and Raytec Marine with approximately one third of them Co, a subsidiary of Intership responsible being delivered for installation at Chinese One third of all new Raytheon IBS systems have been delivered to Chinese shipyards for the technical service of vessels. shipyards.

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION NEWS AIS technology installed during ISS spacewalk

www.esa.int

A recent space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has brought the European Space Agency’s Columbus module a step nearer to begin- ning an ambitious experiment to track global maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) traffic from space. Astronauts Michael Foreman and Randolph Bresnik installed the AIS anten- na on the outside of Columbus during a six hour, eight-minute spacewalk, as part of the STS-129 mission at the end of November. This VHF antenna is designed to pick up signals from standard AIS transponders. The antenna was installed on the Earth- facing starboard side of Columbus, and is connected to a pair of receivers inside. The installed equipment for the COLAIS (Columbus AIS) system features both a NORAIS and a LUXAIS receiver. The NORAIS receiver was developed by the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment with the support of Kongsberg Seatex, while the LUXAIS receiver was supplied by LuxSpace. Astronaut Randolph Breznik with the unfurled AIS antenna, to be used for experimental ship tracking. Credit: NASA (S129-E-007770) Once the COLAIS experiment is ready, the receivers will operate alternately, This is sufficient for coastal tracking or return to Earth with STS-127 in July 2009, it upload constraints for ESA payloads.” switching every three months. Both ship-to-ship monitoring, but means that was refitted to serve as a data relay for the The ERNObox has been built by receivers were delivered to the ISS by traffic on the open ocean disappears into COLAIS experiment, and will return to the Astrium Space Transportation in Japan’s HTV-1 supply ferry in September vast blind spots. AIS signals do, however, Station once a flight is available, though not Germany. Astrium is also responsible for 2009. reach much further in the vertical direc- earlier than February 2010 depending on the overall system integration of COLAIS. The internationally mandated AIS sys- tion – all the way up to the 400 km orbit of tem enables port authorities and coast the ISS. guards to track seagoing traffic, but the The aim of this project is to demon- Strategy changes following McMurdo takeover required onboard transponders only have strate space-based ship monitoring tech- a horizontal range of around 74 km. niques using Columbus as a test platform, www.mcmurdo.co.uk McMurdo will continue to support the as a first step towards an operational AIS- existing distribution networks of both monitoring service based on constellations Following Orolia’s successful completion brands, with McMurdo products to be dis- of satellites for worldwide coverage. of the acquisition of Kannad and tributed via the existing McMurdo net- The final element needed to begin the McMurdo over the last three months, work and the Kannad Marine products via two-year COLAIS experiment is forming Orolia’s new Positioning the existing Kannad network. 'ERNObox', a prototype computer based Division, the company has announced “This strategy is intended to bring clear around a new generation of ESA-devel- that a new strategy has been implemented benefits to the customers and users of both oped processor chips, its name coming for both units which will change the McMurdo and Kannad Marine prod- from the German for ‘modular computer McMurdo's offering to the marine market. ucts. The pairing will enable us to ensure in low Earth orbit’. From 1st January 2010 McMurdo’s core that their important distribution networks “The ERNObox has already flown focus will be on producing emergency are continuously supplied with innovative aboard Columbus as what is known as a location beacons for marine and outdoor market leading products,” said Jeremy SSTO – Space Station Test Objective – markets, meanwhile Kannad’s original Harrison, president and CEO of McMurdo. from February 2008 to July 2009,” said operation will focus separately on the avi- “The product offering will continue to Horst Koenig, Head of ESA’s System ation and tracking sectors. respond to the growing demand for safety Engineering section. McMurdo will offer two different ranges products compatible with the opportuni- “Its original purpose was to assess a of branded products, namely the existing ties afforded by advancing technologies, new processor and other technologies in McMurdo range plus the products of its and which are compliant with increasing The AIS antenna, prior to installation the space environment. Following its newly branded division Kannad Marine. international legislation.” HITT to provide Chinese VTMS GLONASS added to

www.hitt.nl Surveillance Information Services) SkyWave terminals server to collect and integrate relevant Dutch company HITT reports that it has shipping information by linking with www.skywave.com who are mandated to use GLONASS but agreed a deal to supply vessel traffic new and existing systems within the do not want to incur the costs and reliabil- management system (VTMS) technology country. SkyWave Mobile Communications has ity issues associated with the use of an to ports in China. The system will also offer an internet announced the availability of GLONASS external GLONASS module. The contract with the Zhejiang application with access to real time infor- navigation capabilities on its DMR-800L “The DMR-800L with GLONASS/GPS Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) mation on shipping movements. satellite data communication terminal. allows fleet and vessel owners to address includes the modernisation, expansion The deal is reported to have a value of The DMR-800L with integrated current asset tracking and monitoring and new construction of VTMS for the approximately €3.3 million. GLONASS is able to compute its exact needs with a low cost, reliable and port group at Ningbo, Zhoushan and The Zhejiang province is located south location using either or both the GLONASS-compliant solution,” com- Hangzhou Bay in China. of Shanghai, with Ningbo an important GLONASS and GPS positioning systems. mented David Sward, vice-president of As part of the project for the MSA, port for petrochemicals and one of SkyWave says that this dual navigation marketing and business development at HITT will provide an ISIS (Integrated China's major container ports. capability will be useful to fleet owners SkyWave.

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ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION Loran-C – RIP

A recent US government decision to discontinue operation of its Loran-C stations over the course of 2010 is sure to lead to the death of eLoran as a credible backup to GPS, writes Dr Andy Norris

he death knell of the US Loran-C One marked advantage of Loran-type part of SOLAS Chapter V. Today, it would reckoning or celestial techniques. system was announced in the Fed- transmissions is that its low frequency help prevent groundings, which still occur Many mariners are proud of their celes- TTeral Register on 7 January 2010. The high power signals are more easily when poor bridge teams over-rely on tial navigation abilities. Indeed, accuracies phased decommissioning will commence detectable than GNSS transmissions and faulty GPS equipment. of about 1NM can be achieved by a skilled on 8 February and all stations are expected do not rely on a clear line-of sight between It would also help prevent potentially person in good conditions. to cease transmitting by 1 October 2010 the transmitter and receiver. However, more extensive problems if GPS availabil- However, the fact remains that the The 2010 budget proposed by the accuracy can still be significantly compro- ity is unexpectedly denied over a large ‘availability’ of such fixes can be very poor Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mised in difficult reception conditions. area. To date, this has been a very uncom- compared to that of electronically derived and signed by President Obama on 28 Despite these advantages, eLoran mon and generally brief experience and positions, simply because conditions of October 2009 included the proposal for the remains a generally inferior system to has probably not led to any accidents. restricted visibility can make the taking of termination of Loran subject to “certifica- celestial sights impossible over periods of tion from the Commandant of the Coast many days. Guard that it is not needed for navigation and from the Secretary of DHS that it is A future without eLoran not needed as a backup for GPS. ” The US decision to abandon eLoran was Unsurprisingly, this created a storm based on there being existing alternative among those in the US and elsewhere who solutions available as a backup to GPS. have been promoting the use of eLoran, an For instance, in the marine world, radar enhancement of Loran-C, as the accepted is already a very effective high availability backup to GPS and other satellite based positioning source, when used in coastal positioning and timing systems. waters. It can offer accuracies of several Despite the protestations and lobbying, tens of metres, approaching ten metres the January announcement has confirmed when used at shorter ranges. that the certifications have now been made. It is greatly helped where there is good Within the supplementary information racon coverage but is not restricted to of the announcement it is stated that: such areas. “Backups to GPS for safety-of-life naviga- In fact, the mandating of some additional tion applications, or other critical applica- facilities could considerably ease the process tions, can be other radionavigation sys- Inside one of the 625-ft towers at the Carolina Beach Loran Station - the facility's of position determination by radar. In par- tems, or operational procedures, or a com- 650,000-watt radionavigational signals will cease transmission by October 2010 ticular, it is possible to dream up enhanced bination of these systems and procedures.” racon/radar infrastructures that could make It goes on to say: “With respect to trans- GNSS in two quite important ways. There is a strong argument, however, this process automatic and have potentially portation to include aviation, commercial Firstly, it has a significantly poorer that occurrences of GPS/GNSS service increased accuracy, especially when using maritime, rail, and highway, the accuracy to that capable from GNSS and denial will become ever more probable solid-state spread-spectrum radars. Department of Transportation has deter- secondly, it cannot be considered to be a into the future. Properly implemented, an enhanced mined that sufficient alternative naviga- global system, even if the US had support- On the other hand, it is correct to argue radar/racon system could form a very effec- tion aids currently exist in the event of a ed its introduction. that current marine navigational practice tive alternative for eLoran in coastal waters. loss of GPS-based services, and therefore To get useful accuracy, eLoran relies on does not rely on ship’s electronically In ocean regions, the use of increasing- Loran currently is not needed as a back-up a set of transmitters, typically spaced at derived position being always accurate or ly effective and automated estimated posi- navigation aid for transportation safety- around 1,000 NM, and a complementary continuously available. tion techniques is a goal of many, with or of-life users.” set of differential stations, perhaps with a Mariners are therefore trained to be without eLoran being available. It does recognise, however, that contin- spacing of around 100 NM for coastal nav- wary of electronically derived position and It is quite possible that such systems will ued work needs to be undertaken to assess igation purposes. The actual spacing to check position by all available means, become a carriage requirement, as part of a whether a “single, domestic system” is would be influenced by the detail of the such as by visual and radar sights and by future Integrated Navigation System. needed as a GPS backup for critical infra- coastal terrain. using estimated position techniques. Systems may be able to benefit from structure applications requiring precise Using differential stations, a reasonably This dictum is unwavering, particularly affordable inertial technology, especially time and frequency, though it categorical- good accuracy of 10 metres or better has when ECDIS is being used as the main when aided by the ship’s gyro. Mid-ocean ly states that “the continued active opera- been demonstrated. However, this per- charting facility – however, it is clear that absolute accuracies measured in a small tion of Loran-C is not necessary to formance is only obtained by effectively not all mariners properly observe such number of nautical miles are likely to advance this evaluation.” treating eLoran as a local service, far good practice. become feasible removed in concept from the global capa- IMO is keen to promote higher integrity For the SOLAS sector, it is seen that Pros and cons of eLoran bility of GNSS. in electronic positioning, for example, by although eLoran would be beneficial, it is Supporters of eLoran point to a long list of Even when the US was expected to con- the increased use of Integrated Navigation certainly not an essential system, simply its advantages, which mainly arise tinue with Loran, it was likely that many Systems. Also, its eNavigation programme because there are other ways of improving because of its totally different architecture countries would not have wanted to invest is somewhat predicated on the availability positional integrity. to satellite-based positioning systems. It is in its infrastructure. of high integrity positional information, The reality is that, now that the US has this independence that is so valued. In fact, some countries appear to be which clearly would have been benefitted rejected eLoran, its successful adoption in In particular, degradation of GNSS fundamentally against such investment by the parallel use of eLoran. other regions, including Europe, is in severe position accuracy or service denial because of general fears associated with It has been estimated that even in mid- doubt. If it was adopted just in a small num- because of L-band jamming and interfer- the operation of high power transmitters ocean, thousands of miles from Loran ber of regions, it is extremely difficult to see ence, satellite and control segment fail- in populated areas. transmitters, positional accuracies of that IMO would mandate its carriage. ures, satellite shadowing and freak levels With the US decision, it can be expect- around 1 NM could be achieved, which is Unfortunately eLoran is well and truly of extraterrestrial radiation, such as from ed that global interest is likely to disap- easily good enough for safe navigation in dead, and other work now needs to pro- the sun, will all have zero or minimal pear rapidly, despite its currently strong those areas if GNSS fails and a marked ceed to enable the goal of improved posi- effect on eLoran performance. support in some European countries, improvement from having to use dead tional integrity. DS Of course, eLoran can also suffer from including the UK. signal degradation effects but these will Dr Andy orris has been well-known in the maritime navigation industry for a generally be quite independent to those Marine use of eLoran number of years. He has spent much of his time managing high-tech navigation affecting GNSS reception, underlining the There is no doubt that if eLoran was avail- companies but now he is working on broader issues within the navigational real integrity enhancements that eLoran able over significantly large regions of the world, providing both technical and business consultancy to the industry, gov- can give. globe, then IMO would mandate its use as ernmental bodies and maritime organizations. Email: [email protected]

Digital Ship January/February 2010 page 30 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:01 Page 12 p20-32:p26-32.qxd 15/01/2010 18:01 Page 13

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