Release of VOYAGER Hub enables GNS to meet growing demand for improved user experience and ship and shore cost savings and efficiencies.

GNS has unveiled VOYAGER Hub, an applications platform designed from the ground up to make using maritime software on board vessels easier and to help protect against cyber threats.

Built around the desire to deliver the tools that mariners need most, VOYAGER Hub provides a focussed suite of applications, optimised for information sharing. and integrated for a better all-round user experience.

“Shipping companies are generating more data and operating in an ever more complex business and regulatory environment, but many are still learning what the potential of all of the available data might be,” said Paul Stanley, GNS CEO.  “The VOYAGER Hub ecosystem is harnessing big data and delivering exciting new digitally-led efficiencies and safety improvements to a wide range of stakeholders both ashore and on board.”

GNS and a handpicked group of VOYAGER Hub partners have created a suite of innovative software applications and content ranging from navigation to voyage optimisation to weather and non-navigation related services, all designed to help shipping companies enhance safety, improve efficiency and reduce costs. GNS is also developing cyber-security solutions to protect customers from the inherent risks of increasing the interconnectedness between ship and shore.

“The maritime industry is making a transition from running on paper to using digital systems, and at the moment crews may still spend upwards of 30% of their time on administration and other low value activity,” added Mr Stanley. “GNS employs more than 50 qualified mariners and uses that experience to design software with real mariner workflows in mind, so that tools can streamline navigation and other operational activities and allow shipping companies to focus on maximizing the value of their most valuable assets – their people and their ships.”

Among the VOYAGER Hub applications is GNS’s new V-Drive which simplifies the process of transferring ENCs, ENC updates, permits and route files from the back of bridge computer to the ECDIS while, at the same time, helping to protect against the transfer of malware. Users plug the V-Drive into the USB socket of their PC, an on screen window shows progress and, when the file transfer is complete, the user simply plugs the V-Drive into their ECDIS USB port to upload all the files it needs.

Another application within the Hub is the Witherby eBook Reader, which provides access to 600 nautical publications all in one place. Using the eBook Reader, users easily access IMO, Intertanko, SIGTTO publications and many other titles, use a global search facility to find the information they need quickly and efficiently and download new editions, making it easier to stay compliant while saving thousands of dollars on carriage costs every year.

The Witherby eReader is provided free of charge as part of VOYAGER Hub. Users can opt for a GNS fixed price technical publications bundle, tailor-made to each vessel type and Flag, or can self-select titles to fit their company requirements.

Other Hub services include the Admiralty eBook reader which provides access to the UKHO’s eNP library, a choice of weather routing solutions from companies such as Meteo Group, a tool to manage technical library compliance and an application that generates a passage plan for routes planned using GNS’s VOYAGER Planning Station. The Hub also provides the ability to monitor usage of ENCs purchased via GNS’s Voyager Open Permit pay as you sail and fixed price bundle services and a tool that checks the cyber health of the back of bridge PC on which the Hub sits and identifies potential weaknesses and issues. Further services are scheduled for launch later in 2017 and early 2018.

VOYAGER Hub requires no additional hardware outlay; users can download it for free directly onto their on board computer or opt for CD-ROM or USB options – and start exploring its powerful potential immediately.