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15 Dec 2023

Achieving Digital Transformation in the Marine Industry

Image credit: Siemens

Like so many other industries in transportation, the marine industry is being challenged on multiple fronts—from a shortage of manpower and emerging digital technologies to sustainability requirements. In the face of these growing pressures, ship designers increasingly rely on digital transformation to stay competitive and deliver higher-quality products. Digital transformation offers many solutions across a ship’s lifecycle, from design and crew training to interconnectivity and automation…

07 Sep 2023

Wrong Approach to Protect the Right Whale

© norrie39 / Adobe Stock

Pilot groups and port authorities have worked together to grow East Coast ports in a safe and environmentally responsible way. This growth has happened under strict safety and environmental regulations, including seasonal vessel speed regulations imposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect North Atlantic right whales (NARW). Last year, however, without sufficient scientific or economic impact data, NOAA proposed radical changes to these regulations.

30 Nov 2022

Fugro Expands Geotechnical Vessel Fleet

Fugro Quest - ©Fugro

Dutch offshore survey company Fugro has expanded its geotechnical vessel fleet with the Fugro Quest vessel. According to Fugro, the vessel is equipped with advanced deep-water technology."Fugro uses this type of vessel to determine the exact composition of the soil; the resulting data are essential to establish the optimal location and design of offshore developments, such as wind farms," Fugro explained.The Dutch company also says that the vessel provides increased personnel and operational safety…

07 Nov 2022

New Solution Launched to Track Dark Shipping

© sarymsakov / Adobe Stock

Spire Global, Inc., a provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, unveiled a dark shipping detection solution to track vessels that manipulate their reported position in order to conceal nefarious activities.The Automatic Identification System (AIS) on a vessel helps avoid collisions at sea, track global shipping trends and monitor individual vessel activity; but crew members on board can manipulate the system by turning off the transponder to go dark or ‘spoofing’ the AIS to report false positions.

26 Jul 2022

UKHO to Stop Paper Chart Production in 2026

Copyright dvoevnore/AdobeStock

The death of the paper chart may finally be coming to fruition, as the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) announced its intention to develop options for the withdrawal from global paper chart production by late 2026, as commerical and pleasure boating use of electronic charts continues full steam ahead, and theADMIRALTY Maritime Data Solutions digital navigation portfolio can be updatedin near real-time, greatly enhancing safety of life at sea (SOLAS). The phased withdrawal of paper…

20 Apr 2022

New Product: "Live Fleet" Tool from BSM

Performance Overview is supporting proactive and economically optimal maintenance work and drydock planning of the ship. Image courtesy BSM

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) announced progress in the digitalization of its fleet management, building on its existing LiveFleet monitoring platform with the new LiveFleet tool "Performance Overview", a pioneering support to take informed decisions on maintenance work and drydock planning.LiveFleet is a component of BSM’s class certified smartPAL, a ship management enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. With the release of the new LiveFleet feature, ship owners will benefit from near real-time performance information of their fleet.

14 Dec 2021

U-MING Fleet Management System Takes Digitalization to the Next Level

Right: Mr. Jeff Hsu, Executive Vice President, U-MING Left: Mr. Junichi Kawakami, Regional Manager, ClassNK (Photo: Asa of FEG DRIVE)

ClassNK granted its Innovation Endorsement for Products & Solutions to U-MING Marine Transport Corporation (U-MING)’s Fleet Safety Management(FSM) System, co-developed and coded with the help of Ericsson.In July 2020, to promote the spread and development of innovative technologies, the Society launched Innovation Endorsement as a swift certification service in cooperation with technological front runners to establish appropriate evaluation criteria. Among the certification categories…

01 Oct 2021

Academia’s Climate Change Challenge is Far from Academic

Mesobot, an underwater robot capable of tracking and recording high-resolution images of slow-moving and fragile zooplankton, gelatinous animals, and particles, is providing researchers with deeper insight into the vast mid-ocean region known as the twilight zone. © Evan Kovacs/©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Highlighted in Marine Technology Reporter's MTR100 is the work and technology ongoing in the halls of academia. The most recent report released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasized our warming planet, an expected announcement for many in the scientific community. Faced with the confirmation that human activities have caused an increase in global temperatures, research has turned to seeking answers in the planet’s natural systems. How does each part of the global carbon cycle work and how may it be impacted by the changing climate?

31 Mar 2021

NOAA Launches West Coast, Gulf of Mexico Coastal Models

© Alexandre / Adobe Stock

NOAA on Wednesday announced two new coastal condition forecast models intended to help enhance decision making for mariners along the West Coast and Northern Gulf of Mexico. The models provide continuous quality-controlled data on water levels, currents, water temperature and salinity out to 72 hours.Forecasts from both models are used by commercial and recreational mariners, fisherman, emergency managers, search and rescue responders, and National Weather Service marine weather…

17 Mar 2021

Nine New Pilot Boats to Be Equipped with AST's Monitoring Tool

(Photo: AST)

AST said it has secured an order to supply its iRAMS monitoring systems for Norfolk, U.K. boat builder Goodchild Marine Services, to install on nine new ORC fast pilot vessels being built for British ports.The Pantocarene-designed launches were ordered in November by Associated British Ports in a £9 million deal. Construction of the first vessel has already begun and it is expected to be delivered to ABP’s Humber region in 2021. In total, ABP has commissioned five vessels to serve its Humber ports…

08 Mar 2021

NATO Tests Maritime Security Drone

(Photo: NATO)

NATO Maritime Air (MARAIR) Operations team carried out a communications test flight with the NATO Alliance Ground System (AGS) during its flight on February 25, 2021.As the AGS was flying over the Central Mediterranean, MARAIR based out of NATO Maritime Command headquarters in Northwood, U.K. was able to establish a communications link to the AGS operators in the Sigonella Airbase, NATO Air Command and Combined Air Operations Center Torrejon.MARAIR was able to cross-reference the AGS sensor data with their automatic identification system (AIS) picture…

15 Feb 2021

Subsea Defense: Navy Deepens Commitment to Underwater Vehicles

Senior Chief Mineman Abraham Garcia (left) and Aerographer's Mate 1st Class Joshua Gaskill, members of the Knifefish Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) test team, man tending lines during crane operations as part of an operational test conducted by members from Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OPTEVFOR). Knifefish is a medium-class mine countermeasure UUV designed for deployment off the Littoral Combat Ship. OPTEVFOR is the Navy’s sole test and evaluation organization for surface, air, and un

The U.S. Navy uses unmanned and robotic underwater vehicles for a multitude of functions, including environmental sensing, mine hunting, and salvage. The Navy plans to evolve an unmanned systems operating concept that is platform agnostic and capable of operating in highly complex contested environments with minimal operator interaction.The most recent edition of the Navy’s Unmanned Systems (UxS) Roadmap was issued in 2018, and a new version is expected in the near future. The 2018 document states that UxS will operate in every domain…

26 Jan 2021

Ship Repair: Inside the $60m Refit of RV Roger Revelle

The R/V Roger Revelle pictured at sea for a 10-day commissioning and calibration cruise following its midlife refit. Photo Copyright: Scripps Institution of Oceanography

This month MR dives inside the $60 million refit of RV Roger Revelle, a project which leverages a treasure trove of ‘lessons learned’ from recent refits in the academic research vessel fleet and highlights the value of slimming the vendor list.Research vessel (R/V) Roger Revelle is back at work after a midlife refit involving upgrades from top to bottom, bow to stern. The ship is owned by the Office of Naval Research and has been operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego since 1996. It is one of the largest ships in the U.S.

10 Nov 2020

Four New Dual-fuel Bulkers to Support U-Ming Charter Deal

© Maksym Dragunov / Adobe Stock

U-Ming Marine Transport Corporation, Taiwan’s largest publicly listed bulk carrier company, secured a 10-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel dry bulk charter contract with global mining company Anglo American.A fleet of four LNG dual-fuel Tier III 190,000 DWT bulk carriers measuring 299 by 47.5 meters each will be built by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding (SWS) to support the charter. The new ships are expected to be delivered through 2023.The ships will be fitted with MAN Energy Solutions’ high-pressure ME-GI engines.

17 Jun 2020

Oceaneering Launches Maritime Data and Tracking Service

© kosssmosss / Adobe Stock

Oceaneering International launched a new business aiming to eliminate waste and increase transparency within the bulk commodity cargo logistics industry, the Houston-based company announced Wednesday.OceanSMART Cargo Logistics and Maritime Technology will be led by Managing Director Bryan Phillips, who comes to the team with over 25 years’ experience in the marine shipping and cargo logistics industry, most recently as chief innovation officer at Inchcape Shipping Services. He is joined by another maritime industry stalwart with over 30 years’ experience…

04 May 2020

High-tech Solution Helps Track Illegal Vessel Activity

ICEYE radar satellite image from the Pasir Panjang container terminal of Singapore, taken on December 20, 2019. Image shows the container ports, several anchored cargo vessels, and a vessel maneuvering alongside the port. (Image: ICEYE)

Finnish startup ICEYE launched its global Dark Vessel Detection solution to help governmental maritime security customers monitor their waters for illegal vessel activity.The high-tech solution, which combines synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite data from ICEYE and automatic identification system (AIS) data from vessels, is used as a source of actionable information for governments monitoring their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), day and night, and even through cloud cover.“Dark…

27 Mar 2020

MBARI Works at Unlocking Ocean Biology

MBARI researchers head out into Monterey Bay to deploy a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LR-AUV), an underwater robot that is programmed at the surface and then travels underwater for hundreds of miles, measuring water chemistry and collecting water samples as it goes.  Credit: Brian Kieft (c) 2015 MBARI

Greater understanding of what goes on in the ocean is starting to become a reality – thanks to growing use of unmanned surface and underwater vehicles and developments in biological sensing. Elaine Maslin takes a look at what a team at MBARI has been doing.Gathering biological data from the oceans remains a significant challenge for oceanographers. Now, an increasing range of unmanned vehicles that are able to work together is becoming available, as is an ability to collect biological data using them.It sounds straight forward…

19 Feb 2020

Measuring the Hostile Ocean Beneath Hurricanes

Fig.1: A Slocum glider from Teledyne Webb Research, en route to deployment. Credit: Rutgers University.

Unmanned Vehicles Collect Data for Improving Storm ForecastsThe influences of ocean conditions and currents on living environments are now more widely appreciated—from the Earth’s climate and severe weather conditions to fisheries and biodiversity. Sustained and widespread measurements are needed to provide essential clues for understanding the oceans, for effective monitoring of environmental changes, and for helping to clarify the long-term effects of global warming.To meet this challenge, ocean researchers have invented various types of unmanned observing platforms.

23 Jan 2020

Ørsted, US Unis to Study Whales in OWP

Danish developer Orsted U.S. Offshore Wind has signed a research partnership  with Rutgers University, the University of Rhode Island and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to support academic research activities related to offshore wind.The group is set to launch the Ecosystem and Passive Acoustic Monitoring (ECO-PAM) project.Ørsted signed an initial memorandum of understanding with Rutgers University in May 2019 to support academic research activities related to offshore wind. The ECO-PAM project will be in addition to this initial funding agreement.The company plans to apply the project’s learnings to develop tailored processes and procedures to better protect the North Atlantic right whale during survey, construction and operation phases of their U.S. offshore wind farm portfolio.

11 Dec 2019

Verizon Lights Up U.S' First 5G Shipyard

Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband service is now live at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) in Newport News, VA.HII is America's largest military shipbuilding company and its Newport News Shipbuilding division turned to Verizon to explore how 5G can enhance the shipbuilding process as part of their digital transformation."We are excited to partner with Verizon on our digital journey and be one of the first complex manufacturing businesses in the US to have 5G on-site," said Bharat Amin, executive vice president and CIO of Huntington Ingalls. "Adding this capability to our infrastructure will allow our workforce to have the right information…

07 Oct 2019

VDRs for Inland Vessels? Does It Make Sense?

It just might. And, you’ve got options.The Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) carriage requirements apply to all passenger ships regardless of gross tons or year of build, and to all cargo ships 3000 gross tons or larger built after 2002. A simplified VDR (S-VDR) is allowed on older ships built before 2002. The performance standard was updated in 2014. That said; a full type-approved VDR is not a requirement for inland vessels under 3,000 GT. Nevertheless, a good case to be made for installing a (less costly) data recording device on such vessels, ideally with remote access and reporting as part of an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to monitor the vessel and its installed equipment.

14 Oct 2019

Wrangling Big Data Into Actionable Intel

Photo by Randy Montoya

Social media, cameras, sensors and more generate huge amounts of data that can overwhelm analysts sifting through it all for meaningful, actionable information to provide decision-makers such as political leaders and field commanders responding to security threats.Sandia National Laboratories researchers are working to lessen that burden by developing the science to gather insights from data in nearly real time.“The amount of data produced by sensors and social media is booming — every day there’s about 2.5 quintillion (or 2.5 billion billion) bytes of data generated…

20 Nov 2019

VDRs for Inland Vessels: Does It Make Sense?

It just might. And, you’ve got options.The Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) carriage requirements apply to all passenger ships regardless of gross tons or year of build, and to all cargo ships 3000 gross tons or larger built after 2002. A simplified VDR (S-VDR) is allowed on older ships built before 2002. The performance standard was updated in 2014. That said; a full type-approved VDR is not a requirement for inland vessels under 3,000 GT. Nevertheless, a good case to be made for installing a (less costly) data recording device on such vessels, ideally with remote access and reporting as part of an Internet of Things (IoT) solution to monitor the vessel and its installed equipment.