Marine Press News

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has acquired OneOcean, a supplier of voyage compliance, safety and environmental solutions, from European mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe.The addition of OneOcean will expand LR’s existing digital solutions portfolio, which already includes fleet management (Hanseaticsoft) and vessel performance and optimization (i4Insight, C-MAP Commercial and Greensteam).OneOcean was created by the merger of ChartCo, in which Equistone first invested in 2016, and Marine Press in 2019.

Another year has passed since our last mapping of the maritime software landscape, and it is once again time to review the latest developments and trends in this space.Overall, 2019 was another turbulent year for most shipping markets, overshadowed by preparations for the IMO 2020 sulfur regulations, rising geopolitical tensions, the trade war between the USA and China, as well as natural disasters disrupting global supply chains. This article provides insight into the changes seen in the maritime software landscape under these turbulent conditions: On a high-level…

ChartCo and Marine Press, both leaders in global digital navigation solutions, have announced their merger. The move will result in the creation of a new company called OneOcean which will offer the largest range of navigation and compliance solutions into the maritime sector.Martin Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of ChartCo, announced the merger, saying: “Following the success of three recent acquisitions, we have been looking to further expand our business. We identified Marine…

Navigation solutions provider Marine Press, environmental product and services company Total Marine Solutions and maritime software and technology firm Brenock have partnered to advance digital transformation in the maritime industry.In an exclusive arrangement announced today at Marine Money, Marine Press will offer Total Marine Solution’s Ocean Guardian as an embedded software in its SeaPassage suite of integrated e-navigation solutions.“Bringing Ocean Guardian to Marine Press clients is a significant step forward in transforming the industry. It creates the most comprehensive digital navigation and voyage planning tool on the market – a seamless product that simplifies onboard decision making and voyage planning…

Mariners and the boating public have a wider choice of options and special services when they purchase NOAA paper nautical charts, thanks to NOAA's expanded "print-on-demand" chart production and distribution system. Coast Survey has certified eleven chart printing agents who have the flexibility to offer different color palettes, various papers, a cleaner margin, and a range of services. Under the program, NOAA's paper nautical charts are printed when the customer orders them - or "on demand." NOAA creates and maintains the charts…

The availability of paper "print-on-demand" nautical charts continues to expand, as NOAA's Office of Coast Survey has added three more printing companies to its roster of certified agents for paper charts. "The most recent printers to join the NOAA paper chart program represent the enduring connections between maritime tradition and progress," said Capt. Shep Smith, chief of Coast Survey's Marine Chart Division. "Companies with histories going back decades, and even centuries, support a firm foundation for the continuing production and delivery of U.S. Iver C. Weilbach & Co.

It won't be long before mariners and the boating public will have a wider choice of options and special services when they purchase NOAA paper nautical charts, thanks to NOAA's expanded "print-on-demand" chart production and distribution system, Coast Survey officials announced today. This week, Coast Survey certified new print-on-demand chart printing agents, and gave them the flexibility to offer different color palettes, various papers, a cleaner margin, and a range of services.

Having served as the editor of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News for more than 20 years, it is my running joke that Jim Rhodes, president, Rhodes Communications, Inc., is the first person I see at every trade show I attend, anywhere I attend, around the world. This, I think, is testament not to dumb luck, rather to Rhodes, who this month celebrates the 30th Anniversary of his self-named PR firm, as an astute and always-present PR machine. Rhodes Communications, Inc., an international public relations and marketing services company based in Norfolk, Va., celebrates its 30th year of business this month. Founded in 1983 by Jim Rhodes, the company originally focused primarily on the commercial and recreational segments of the marine industry.

Germany based ChartWorld International has launched a new micro-site (http://www.ecdis-as-a-service.com) to mark the introduction of its unique "ECDIS as a Service™" concept for supplying ECDIS and digital chart data services to the SOLAS shipping market. Eye catching and informative, the new micro-site not only provides visitors with information about ChartWorld's overall eSeries "ECDIS as a Service™" concept and its specific service components, such as the eGlobe® type-approved ECDIS…

Having released version 4.0 of its Digitrace software, Marine Press of Canada is focusing on Europe with the creation of a new position as sales manager for the European market. Johan Sunnberg, born in Sweden, comes from a management position at Scandinavian Airlines’ Cargo division, and will in this role focus on establishing new business, as well as setting up a distributor network. During October 2001, distributors were also appointed in Germany, Sweden, Finland and Italy. The German market will be the responsibility of SevenCs who is a well- established company in the development of ECDIS charts and S-57 Kernels. Nautic Center in Gothenburg and Troil Marin in Helsinki are long established chart agents representing the UKHO.

P&O Nedlloyd has decided to further expand the relationship with chart agent Marine Press of Canada. All charts, publications and electronic charts for the fleet of over 40 container vessels will now be supplied by the new chart agent. P&O Nedlloyd already use the chart correction system Digitrace from Marine Press onboard all vessels. “Digitrace is working very well onboard, so this move was natural for us. We will now achieve a much more streamlined process by getting both the physical product and the corrections/updates from one single source” confirms the P&O Nedlloyd Manager Nautical & Audits. “We were looking for a reliable system for the chart supply and we are certain we will now receive exactly this from Marine Press of Canada.

Every four years the excursion vessel segment of the commercial marine industry stages one of the largest festivals in the United States, yet except for the vessels that participate in it, little is known about this event. It overshadows the Workboat Show but receives little attention in the marine press. From an attendance standpoint, if this event were the World Series of Baseball, the Workboat Show would be T-ball for five-year olds. The event is called Tall Stacks and is held on the Ohio River every four year in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 2003 event was the fifth such Tall Stacks event and was attended by over 800,000 people during a five-day period in mid-October.

There has been a steady stream of bad news recently in the marine press regarding the health of the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of this bad "press" is fueled by boat operators who are trying to do a "Rope-a-dope" on their competitors. That is by "talking the industry down" they are trying to convince competition that "better days" may be years out, hoping they may not be ready when the turnaround comes. All indications are that the industry will indeed drill itself out of the current malaise - sooner than later. And the indicators for such a turnaround are right in front of your face if you know where to look. In general, people who follow intensely the oil and gas industry all agree that a significant rebound is on the way.

Container line P&O Nedlloyd has decided to install Digitrace fleet-wide – providing a system of digital Notice to Mariners and tracings. P&O Nedlloyd chose to implement Digitrace after a few months of successful trials onboard two vessels. “Our decision was not cost driven in the first place – The main reason was to reduce the administrative workload both onboard the vessels but also in the office.” says Stephen Bligh, General Manager Fleet of P&O Nedlloyd. “The vessels are impressed with the speed of information, the tools for working with corrections for charts and publications as well as the service from the supplier. Important to note is that the total cost of the service – including communication costs, etc – is actually lower than our previous paper system.

Japan’s NYK, with Tanker ship management offices in Japan and Singapore, has decided to install Digitrace – digital Notice to Mariners – after successful trials. Captain Shiomoto, head of Tanker Management Team,Tanker and Gas Carrier Management Group, says “Our vessels were very happy with the Digitrace product during the six month trials. We now have a quality tool to further improve the management of chart corrections and publications as well as staff efficiency. It is more efficient and helps us achieve a higher level of reliability. Each vessel now gets the necessary corrections both earlier and every week, instead of only when they come to certain ports”. One of the captains of the trial vessels also added “Digitrace reduced their workload thirty minutes every week.