Archive: May 2012

Admiralty has been travelling the world with its ‘Are you ready for the ECDIS regulations?’ workshops and feedback from attendees has been clear: crew training is one of the industry’s top priorities. This has been the feedback from every workshop that we have held so far; in Hamburg, Mumbai, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore and Connecticut.

It’s not surprising, as the mandatory carriage of ECDIS will fundamentally change the way that we navigate. Comprehensive and early mariner training is vital if the industry is to achieve the full safety and efficiency benefits of digital navigation.

From training simulators to the logistics performance index, we’ve been keeping an eye on all the most interesting stories from the maritime industry. Here’s a selection of articles from the past week:

The Project Horizon study – Project Horizon is a multi-partner European research study, with an aim to provide a better understanding of the way in which watchkeeping patterns can affect the sleepiness levels of ships’ watchkeepers. Factors such as noise, vibration, sailing patterns, port calls, cargo handling and other activities can all reduce the ability of seafarers to gain quality sleep during their rest periods. The full report can be downloaded here.

After a number of popular sessions worldwide, we will be hosting our free Digital Integration Workshops in Athens at Posidonia 2012. Developed in conjunction with Captain Paul Hailwood, a renowned expert on ECDIS and integrated bridge operations, these Workshops are designed to help shipping companies plan for the requirements of the mandatory carriage of ECDIS and provide a clear and comprehensive checklist of actions at each stage of the transition.

The feedback we’ve received so far from attendees to previous workshops has been that training is their key priority on this journey. Interestingly though, at a recent event in Hamburg,  the majority of delegates said legal requirements for the ECDIS Mandate were a top priority. Training and risk were also high on their list.

From eco ships to maritime administration, we’ve been keeping an eye on all the most interesting stories from the maritime industry. Here’s a selection of articles from the past week:

Maritime software drives energy efficiency – Germanischer Lloyd experts recently showed how the increased deployment of the latest maritime software systems can help shipping businesses to reduce emissions to air and sea, enhance their reputation as good corporate citizens and even save on port fees. With a growing number of environmental regulations coming into force, the use of maritime software is on the rise benefiting ship managers and operators. It’s also one area of shipping that is highly underinvested with only 0.7% of the investments that go into new vessels going into software technologies, Safety 4 Sea reports.

From maritime mentoring to training standards legislation, we’ve been keeping an eye on all the most interesting stories from the maritime industry. Here’s a selection of articles from the past week:

Standards of training: During the IMO’s most recent meeting of the Sub-Committee on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) new working groups were set up to consider the standards of training in the maritime industry. Specific focus was put on the development of an e-navigation plan. The session, held at the IMO Headquarters, also aimed to highlight the contribution the shipping industry is making to ensure sustainable development of the global economy. More information on the committee session can be read on Safety 4 Sea here. 

Admiralty ran a series of ‘Are you ready for the ECDIS regulations?’ workshops at Sea Japan. Following the workshops, the Future of Navigation blog caught up with some of the attendees, including Captain Noboru Shiomoto from one of Japan’s largest shipping companies, NYK. We discussed the company’s strategy for installing and operating ECDIS.

NYK Line has accumulated a decade of experience in digital navigation, having installed its first shipboard systems in 2002, according to the manager of its Marine Technical Team, Noboru Shiomoto.

Next in our series of posts looking at the 9 stages of preparation for ECDIS (from Admiralty’s ECDIS guide) is stage 7: individual risk assessment.

The individual risk assessment is the point when the focus turns to specific ships in an owner’s fleet and the ECDIS outfit is given its first real-life test.

From eco-shipping to survival through innovation, we’ve been keeping an eye on the most interesting maritime news. Here’s a selection of green themed articles from the past week:

The next generation cargo ship – The Wind Challenger Project, set up by the University of Tokyo, aims to substantially reduce fuel consumption by large merchant vessels. The key idea is to utilise giant retractable sails, 20m wide by 50m high, to make maximal use of wind energy. DigInfo.tv reports that the group has done simulations for shipping routes, with the results indicating that hybrid ships with sails and engines could reduce annual fuel consumption by about 30% on average.

For the third year running, Admiralty is proud to sponsor the Training Award at the Lloyd’s List Global Awards. The award goes to a company that has shown outstanding commitment to training its employees ashore or at sea, and that has provided training that has improved the firm’s performance, the employees’ well-being or standards across the maritime industry as a whole.

The awards are now open to any individual or firm from the shipping industry worldwide and we encourage anyone that feels proud of their training programme to enter.

Earlier this year we talked to UKHO’s Hugh Phillips about the problems identified by the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB) whereby some, especially older, ECDIS were subject to software anomalies, which might result in some navigation data not displaying correctly.

The IHB developed and issued a check dataset in late 2011 to alert mariners to these problems and last month it issued a further circular advising that of about 500 responses received, only one third of ECDIS units tested functioned completely as expected.