Top Maritime Trends of 2020: Tackling the Scourge of Containership Fires
The proliferation of serious fires onboard container ships in recent years has shocked the shipping industry. Here we examine the causes and impact of such fires and the urgent efforts being made by a wide variety of stakeholders to solve this seemingly intractable problem.Over the last decade there has been a 70% fall in ship total losses[1]. This has been widely credited to long term improvements in ship safety management and loss prevention programs. Counter to this trend, there has been a substantial increase in the number of fires in containers carried onboard container and RoRo ships.
1-Stop, Bestshore Team-up for European entry
1-Stop Connections (1-Stop) and Bestshore Business Solutions UK Ltd (Bestshore) announce a new strategic alliance to bring their productivity solutions to the European and Indian-sub continent port community. Through the partnership with Bestshore, 1-Stop assures that their products and solutions are represented by trusted advisors and experts in the shipping industry. 1-Stop’s flagship product, the Vehicle Booking System (VBS), is the premier system for the Terminal to Landside interface. The VBS is active in 13 terminals across Australia, New Zealand and most recently, the Philippines. Throughout the Philippines the VBS is known as the Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) and has achieved a 20% increase in truck throughput…
Embracing Technology Key to Shipping Industry’s Future Success
UK Chamber CEO Guy Platten blogs about how the technologies and innovation associated with intelligent transport systems can deliver benefits to the shipping industry. It is a commonly held perception that the shipping industry has traditionally been slow to embrace new technologies. A perception that is so surprising because it has been technological advance has made the shipping industry what it is. Without technology, it simply would not be possible to move 90% of the world’s internationally traded goods in an efficient way. For centuries, millennia even, ships were powered by wind and paddle. Then coal, then oil and now in many cases it is natural gas.
VAVE Promises New Digital Reality
Maritime Communications Partner (MCP), the Telenor-owned on-board communications specialist, has announced the launch of VAVE, a unique digital business enablement platform for the cruise and ferry industry. The news follows the successful completion of an eight-month technical trial on the Corsica Sardinia vessel Mega Express Five. VAVE (Value Added Voyage Experience) has been conceived to bridge the digital divide between land and sea mobile behavior. By utilizing a vessel’s GSM signal and Wi-Fi network it creates a ship-wide onboard cloud that all mobile devices (smartphones…
Hogia Continues Expansion
The Algerian ferry company Entreprise Nationale de Transport Maritime de Voyageurs (ENTMV), operating traffic between Europe and Algeria under the brand Algérie Ferries, is going to replace its in-house developed booking system, which has come to the end of its road. The ENTMV has chosen the BOOKIT system delivered by Hogia Ferry Systems to replace the old system and to enhance the company's distribution. With the ENTMV (Algérie Ferries) as its latest customer in North Africa, Hogia Ferry Systems continues to strengthen its foothold on the Mediterranean market. Today Hogia Ferry Systems supplies booking systems for several ferry companies operating in the region.
