Tag: AIS

From UK seafarer numbers to emissions monitoring systems and the role of electronic navigational data in accident investigations, here’s a selection of stories from the maritime world that have caught our eye this week.

Mixed news on UK seafarer numbers - Latest figures from the UK’s Ministry of Transport has revealed a mixed picture when it comes to seafarer numbers.  The total number of UK officers and ratings fell by 10% last year, with an estimated 24,100 British seafarers active at sea.  However, the number of officers cadets in training last year was 2,160, a 19% increase from 2011, with 903 new entrants started under the SMarT scheme in 2012.  The SMartT (Support for Maritime Training) scheme provides financial assistance to shipping companies that provide merchant navy training, in order to support the UK maritime sector, which was recently valued at £32 billion in terms of its total contritbution to the British economy.

It is said that when the late, great Steve Jobs set out to develop the iPad, he described what he wanted to the development team, swore them to secrecy, and left them to it. How it worked was less important than the way it looked, felt and functioned, and that consumers wanted one the moment they saw it.

Comparisons to the shipping industry might be stretching the metaphor but recent SMM show in Hamburg produced one or two moments of revelation. Could we soon be installing an ECDIS so intuitive it needs no manual? Will touch screen navigation be the next big thing for navigation? How does the industry manage the massive retro-fit and compatibility challenge?

From satellite tracking to sniffer bees, 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:

New satellites will track ships & mariners globally – Orbcomm has announced a contract to provide the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) with satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, reports gCaptain. The information is used for ship tracking and maritime navigational and safety work, and the EMSA plans to use it to improve European vessel traffic monitoring. Additionally, Satellite AIS will soon allow not only governments to access historical tracks of ships and people, but will also provide real-time updates across the internet enabling friends and family to receive the latest information on the progress of individual sailors as they cross oceans.

Lou Vest clearly recalls the day he realised he should keep a camera with him at all times.

“I was walking around the docks at Houston on an August day, watching the stevedores working among the trucks, the cranes and the ships. In the middle of all this, an ice cream truck came by and suddenly everything stopped. All these tough stevedores in their hi-vis vests were sitting around eating popsicles and Eskimo pies and I thought that would be a dynamite photograph if you did it right.”

The global maritime industry arrives in Shanghai for Marintec next week at an important time for the host country. China has become the bellwether for shipping just as it is for the global economy: setting trends rather than simply following them.

From shipbuilding to port handling and logistics, China is moving up the value chain. That shift requires that its navigation infrastructure is equipped to handle increased traffic levels safely and leave room for further growth.