The newcomers move forward

Satellite broadband ‘disruptor’ OneWeb has a $500 million fund-raising from a consortium including Intelsat, Coca-Cola and Airbus. One Web plans a constellation of low earth orbit satellites to provide high-speed, low latency satellite internet access to the maritime and other markets.

OneWeb backers include India’s Bharti Enterprises, Hughes Network Systems, the Virgin Group and Qualcomm. The company said the money will allow it to develop the technologies needed for its proposed global broadband service, including solar powered user terminals.

Intelsat is among the established satellite companies targeting the maritime market and has signed a commercial arrangement which will see it partner with OneWeb to use the LEO satellites platform to complement its own Ku-band geostationary orbit satellite services.

Meanwhile Elon Musk’s SpaceX has moved closer to its own global satellite broadband network, having made a formal filing with the US Federal Communications Commissionfor a licence to begin a test programme starting in 2016.

SpaceX says it plans to deploy a large constellation of small satellites for low-latency, worldwide, high-capacity internet service ‘in the near future’. The company has already stated that its network will ultimately include as many as 4,000 satellites – more than three times the number of active satellites currently in existence.

No end to piracy threat

Lobby group Oceans Beyond Piracy says it identifies a ‘clear and re-emerging threat’ to seafarers from piracy in its latest report. The study found that piracy had a total economic cost of $2.3bn in 2014 and at least 5,000 seafarers were affected in Southeast Asia, the Gulf of Guinea, and Western Indian Ocean in 2014.

90% of the reported attacks resulted in pirates successfully boarding target vessels, and 800 seafarers were involved in incidents in South East Asia alone where violence or the threat of violence was specifically documented.

In the Gulf of Guinea, the number of reported attacks remained within historic patterns. However, the region faces a variety of challenges related to chronic under-reporting of incidents and an absence of prosecutions.

Director of the International Maritime Bureau Pottengal Mukundan said OBP had observed that up to 70% of piracy-related incidents in the Gulf of Guinea are never reported. “We currently lack a complete understanding of the problem [and] this also makes it difficult to assess the extent of the threats seafarers face in this region”

Big data the differentiator

CEO of satellite communications provider KVH, Martin Kits van Heyningen told the DigitalShip Maritime CIO Forum at Nor-Shipping that maritime operators should utilise big data in order to remain competitive.

Managers should make big data a priority and it was vital to adopt this mindset, even if the company did not think of itself as a ‘data company’, he said. “Data is becoming a resource in its own right, and offers incredible possibilities for understanding every aspect of your business better.”

Van Heyningen noted that the maritime industry has been slow to adopt big data even though it faces many challenges for which data capture and analysis can be used.

“The maritime industry has spent the past 20 years trying to limit the amount of data going on and off vessels, while the rest of the world has been doing the exact opposite in adopting big data,” he said.

Tankers still not ECDIS-compliant

The saga of ECDIS compliance drags on with new data from the UK Hydrographic Office which claims that while 54% of tankers are equipped to comply with the 1 July deadline, more than 4,000 tankers are not yet using an ENC service.

Of the more than 8,750 tankers in the global fleet required to comply with the SOLAS regulations, 54% are now using ENCs on ECDIS. Progress towards compliance has been made in recent months – from 42% in September 2014 – but this leaves a large minority without the technology installed.

The data also reveals a number of disparities in the adoption of ECDIS between different elements of the global tanker fleet, with 83% of LNG tankers using ENCs, compared to 70% of crude oil tankers but only 36% of product tankers.

InterManager bets on digital

Shipmanagement Association InterManager has identified the ‘paperless ship’ as a priority item for the future along with a focus on minimum manning levels.

InterManager plans to draw up guidelines aimed at reducing the amount of paperwork required onboard ship and will look at helping vessels to operate without requiring the current number of paper reports. Its executive members are keen to seek ways to reduce the paper burden and improve the flow of form filling.

InterManager president Gerardo Borromeo said the burden of administration for seafarers is significant. “Surveys have indicated that the volume of red tape is one of the factor’s adversely affecting recruitment. InterManager aims to improve this situation not just for today’s seafarers but also for tomorrow’s.”

Also on the association’s list of priorities is an investigation of minimum manning levels for different types of vessels, trading on different trade routes and carrying different cargo types.

BIMCO to lead KPI initiative

Trade Association BIMCO has taken ownership of the Shipping KPI System previously led by InterManager which has promoted data points as a means to compare the efficiency of ships against industry and sector averages.

Shipping KPIs are based on 64 key performance indicators and the data collected is anonymised to protect commercially sensitive information.

BIMCO will now take ownership of the system, manage its ongoing development and attempt to convince more of the industry to adopt a system which it says needs to take into account the broader needs of shipowners and operators, as well as managers, as part of its expansion of the KPI standard.

“The shipping KPI system is unique and valuable to our industry – and we will ensure it continues to be run by industry for industry,” said Angus Frew, secretary general of BIMCO. “We will seek to ensure that it becomes the indispensable and trusted tool of all ship owners, operators and managers, allowing them to benchmark and monitor their company and ship performance to drive improvements – without compromising their commercial data.”

IMO issues updated guidance on migrant rescue

The IMO has issued updated and revised guidance on rescue of refugees and migrants by ships. Available in six languages, the guide includes details on legal provisions, practical procedures and on measures to meet migrants’ specific needs, particularly in the case of refugees and asylum seekers.

The guide has been prepared jointly by the International Maritime Organization, the International Chamber of Shipping and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said the ‘noble tradition of search and rescue enshrined in SOLAS and UNCLOS’ must be maintained. “However, at the same time, it has to be recognized that our system is not designed for rescuing hundreds of thousands of people. We need to prevent the large flow of maritime passage on board unseaworthy craft or we need to rescue them by specifically arranged rescue facilities.”

The guide is intended for use by ship masters, ship operators and Governments and can be downloaded from: www.imo.org/MediaCentre/HotTopics/seamigration/Pages/default.aspx