Radio Equipment News

NYK has delivered Rera As, an NYK-owned crew transport vessel (CTV), to Siemens Gamesa for the Ishikari Bay New Port offshore wind farm.The ClassNK certified vessel is the first CTV owned and operated by the NYK Group and is largest gross tonnage CTV currently in operation in Japan (according to NYK research). NYK Group's Hokuyo Kaiun will manage and operate the vessel.The vessel was completed in Singapore in April, and it was reflaged to Japan after equipment modifications, such as fenders and radio equipment…

In November 2021, GTMaritime published a white paper: “Maritime Communications - A look over the horizon.” The report, available here, is built around three broad Sections – 1. “Basics of marine Communications;” 2. “The connected ship;” and 3. “Special services.”Then, each Section presents a closer look at various topics. The “Basics” section, for example, covers regulatory issues established by IMO treaties and national agencies. It presents the terms and concepts that define satellite systems and networks…

Mercy Ships announced that its newly built hospital ship Global Mercy has completed sea trials leading up to delivery, equipping, maiden voyage and launch into service to sub-Saharan Africa in 2022.The first-of-its-kind 174-meter vessel, designed by Finnish naval architect Deltamarin and built at the Tianjin Xingang Shipyard in China, is the world’s largest purpose-built civilian hospital ship. It has a beam of 28.6 meters, with a design draft of 6.15 meters and gross tonnage of 37…

European ferry operator Stena Line has announced that the first of its three new E-Flexer class ferries destined for the Irish Sea, Stena Estrid has successfully completed sea trials in China’s Yellow Sea.Following three days of extensive testing, the new vessel performed excellently across a wide range of stringent test criteria and is now on schedule to start operating on the Dublin to Holyhead route in early 2020.Stena Estrid is the first of five new Stena Line next generation RoPax vessels that are being constructed at the AVIC Weihai Shipyard in China, three of which will be introduced on the company’s Irish Sea routes from Dublin to Holyhead and Belfast to Liverpool.

Marlink Japan, the Tokyo-based arm of global maritime communications specialist Marlink is celebrating 40 years in business this month. Established in 1978 as SAIT Marine, Marlink Japan is the second-longest serving foreign-owned satcom company in the country, and has been delivering communication services and support to maritime clients in the region for longer than any other company.With deep cultural understanding and local knowledge, Marlink Japan provides Customer Support, Technical Service, and Sales and Marketing for customers based in, or operating in Japan, Korea and Far East Russia.

Intellian, a leading provider of satellite communication antenna systems, announced that Intellian’s FleetBroadband terminals, FB250R and FB500R, successfully received Japan’s TELEC certification. TELEC is a leading Japanese radio equipment certification and testing organization and recently, it has also been broadening its operations in certification and testing for overseas markets, including the EU. Intellian has been given the TELEC Radio equipment conformity certification…

Cohort company EID has been awarded a contract by the Portuguese Navy for the supply of Integrated Communications systems to the Tejo class coastal patrol vessels. The €4.6 million contract encompasses the supply of radio equipment, ICCS, integration engineering and logistic services. The contract also includes additional supplies for the second batch of the Viana do Castelo Oceanic Patrol Vessels, being built by West Sea shipyards in the North West city of Viana do Castelo. “We have been supplying communications systems to the Portuguese Navy ships since 1985.

A cruise ship crew came to the rescue of six men from a leaky Tongan fishing boat, who had not had water for three days. The Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand organized for the German cruise ship Albatros to change course at 5 a.m. Saturday, after the fishing vessel crew set off an emergency rescue beacon 400 kilometers west south west of Tonga. The ship diverted 300 kilometers to help the distressed 11.5 meter fishing vessel. RCCNZ also requested an RNZAF P3 Orion to fly from Whenuapai to the position that the beacon was transmitting from.

Transas Marine has received RINA and Lloyds Register approvals to perform Radio Communication equipment survey and VDR/SVDR Annual Performance Testing. The RINA certification authorizes Transas service engineers to perform inspections of vessels’ Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) communication equipment and annual performance test of Voyage Data Recorders (VDR/SVDR). The renewed Lloyds Register “Approval of Service Supplier” includes survey, performance testing and maintenance of Radio Communications equipment, AIS, LRIT and SSAS; and annual performance testing of VDR/SVDR. With these approvals Transas Marine can offer combined VDR APT and Radio Survey, which will result in cost and time saving for our customers.

ASD Tug 2810 Hybrid cuts fuel and emissions by at least 20%. Damen Shipyards has launched its first ever hybrid tug - the ASD Tug 2810 Hybrid - and is proud to announce that Iskes Towage & Salvage will be the launching customer. The signing ceremony took place today (October 23), at Offshore Energy in Amsterdam. The pioneering Dutch shipyard group is believed to be the only yard worldwide building hybrid tugs for stock. The second hybrid vessel will be available from stock end-2013.

Carrying an estimated 90% of world trade and billions of passengers every year, international shipping represents the life blood of the global economy. Safety, always a major concern for seafarers, has made huge advances in the last century. However, the massive increase in traffic in recent decades requires, among other things, new or better global communication and navigation solutions resting on internationally-agreed standards to maintain and improve safety levels. Shipping was among the very first industries to adopt widely implemented international safety standards.

Bay Electronics Inc. announced they have been awarded a subcontract from Fincantieri's Marinette Marine Corporation shipyard in Wisconsin. Bay Electronics Inc. will provide design services, equipment and technical support for an Integrated Bridge System, Navigation System, Radio Communication System and Master Clock System. Bay Electronics was one of three Suppliers that competed for this project in the construction of a new fisheries survey vessel. This $1.3 million dollar contract is for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hull FSV-6, currently under construction at the Marinette Marine Shipyard. The ships mission is to provide scientific data from weather forecasts and climate monitoring, to fisheries management, and to support marine commerce.

Bay Electronics Inc. announced they have been awarded a subcontract from Fincantieri's Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard in Wisconsin. The company will provide design services, equipment and technical support for an Integrated Bridge System, Navigation System, Radio Communication System and Master Clock System. Bay Electronics was one of three Suppliers that competed for this project in the construction of a new fisheries survey vessel. This $1.3 million dollar contract is for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hull FSV-6, currently under construction at the Marinette Marine Shipyard. The ships mission is to provide scientific data from weather forecasts and climate monitoring, to fisheries management, and to support marine commerce.

1905-"To evaluate its use in lighthouse work, radio equipment was installed experimentally on Nantucket Lightship in August of 1901. On December 10, 1905, while riding out a severe gale, Lightship No. 58 on the Nantucket Shoals Station sprang a serious leak. There being no recognized radio distress signal at that time, the operator could only repeatedly spell out the word "help". Although no reply was received Newport Navy station (radio) intercepted the call and passed it on to the proper authorities. The lightship tender Azalea was dispatched to the assistance of Lightship No. 58, and upon arrival at the scene passed a towline. The long tow to a safe harbor began, but after a few hours it was quite evident that Lightship No. 58 was sinking.

On 19th March the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship Navarra was dispatched by the Force HQ (ITS ETNA) to assist an Iranian dhow that had sent out a distress call. The Iranian fishing dhow, named UAID 400, with 13 crewmembers, had suffered a pirate attack some days before and had been left without food, water or sufficient fuel to return to shore. After a high speed dash, the Navarra’s helicopter located the dhow early the following morning, 60 N Miles from its last known position. The crew were seen on deck waving their arms and making desperate signs for help as the helicopter approached them.

1905-"To evaluate its use in lighthouse work, radio equipment was installed experimentally on Nantucket Lightship in August of 1901. On December 10, 1905, while riding out a severe gale, Lightship No. 58 on the Nantucket Shoals Station sprang a serious leak. There being no recognized radio distress signal at that time, the operator could only repeatedly spell out the word "help". Although no reply was received Newport Navy station (radio) intercepted the call and passed it on to the proper authorities. The lightship tender Azalea was dispatched to the assistance of Lightship No. 58, and upon arrival at the scene passed a towline. The long tow to a safe harbor began, but after a few hours it was quite evident that Lightship No. 58 was sinking.

Hagenuk Marinekommunikation GmbH (HMK), a subsidiary of Atlas Elektronik, is also equipping the 3rd combat support ship (EGV) of the German Navy with its communication system. A contract to this effect was signed recently with the consortium for the Class 702, 2nd batch. HMK will be responsible for the complete integration, installation and setting-to-work of the integrated communication system for the Class 702 replenishment ships; this includes the entire radio equipment for external radio communications as well as the internal communication system. The communication system features the latest technologies, such as HF broadband antenna systems, adaptive radio techniques, on-board network (LAN) and wireless internal communication.

Broadband Antenna Tracking Systems, Inc. (BATS) has successfully demonstrated an industry-first ship-to-ship wireless broadband communications tracking system integrating its BTS-2500 units with two wireless broadband radios. The demonstration was conducted on the Sea of Marmara for a customer that is seeking a cost-effective communications tracking system with high bandwidth and low latency that can cover great distances for its fleet of ships. The BATS tracking systems were mounted on the main mast of each ship at a height of 16 meters above the sea. The live demonstration involved ships simultaneously moving at speeds up to 13 knots and at distances up to 44 kilometers apart. The RSSI was around -50 when the distance between the ships was under 20Km and -60 between 20-40Km.

The U.S. Coast Guard issued a Notice that it intends to prepare a Supplemental Program Environmental Assessment (SPEA) for its National Distress and Response System Modernization Project. The SPEA will examine reasonable alternatives for the deployment of dual-mode VHF/UHF radio equipment to either an existing national distress system antenna tower site, antenna tower space leased from a commercial provider, or new construction of an antenna tower site. Comments relating to this effort should be submitted by June 24, 2002. Source: HK Law

For the past twenty-five years Water Weights, as part of the IMES Group has been supplying products and services to the crane industry. This experience has given the knowledge first hand of the operation and requirements of different types of crane equipment. Building on the experience, we are able to design and build user-friendly Crane Load Systems of top quality. The unique approach allows cost effective systems to not only be reliable, but also easy to install, calibrate and maintain. Water Weights has made breakthroughs in state of the art digital electronics. No longer is it necessary to load and unload a crane many times in order to set all of the system parameters.

Transas has delivered a comprehensive equipment set to the first of two P-960 project tankers to be built at the Brodosplit Shipyard, Croatia. The equipment contract for the two 108,000 tons displacement tanker new buildings was signed in November 2002. M/T “Sakhalin Island” is supplied with a complete Transas Navi-Sailor 3000 ECDIS, designed in compliance with the latest IMO regulations for UAIS interface, and is enhanced with navigational consoles, ARPA/Radar and Navi-Conning display.

NORAC, a supplier of marine interior systems, has decided to expand its offerings into marine furniture by securing a majority stake in Nordic Marine Furniture, a quality furniture and fittings company dedicated to merchant shipping and offshore installations. Nordic Marine Furniture (NMF) has signed an agreement with Philippine-based furniture and interior company, T&H Furnishing Industries, owned by the Japanese corporation, Tsuneishi Heavy Industries, for the supply of standard and customised products. Additionally, NMF has established NORAC as the global, exclusive distributor of its product line. NMFs product line includes mess tables…

Transas’s Vessel Traffic Management and Information System (Navi-Harbour VTMIS) is being supplied for port Giurgiulesti, Republic of Moldova. This project will allow port to conform to all current demands made of international hub ports, especially in areas with the intensive maritime traffic. In Moldova Transas supplies integrated system including monitoring software, radar sensors, VHF radio equipment, and AIS transponders. Navi-Harbour allows the electronic chart to display combined radar data received from several radar sensors…