The International Chamber of Shipping has announced that it will be making its publications on best practices for shipping companies available as eBooks.
ICS will be using the eReader technology developed by Witherby Seamanship Group (WPG), which is now being widely used by many other bodies producing maritime publications, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The ICS publications to be made available as eBooks from April 2013 will continue to be published on behalf of ICS by Marisec Publications and will only be available from maritime booksellers.
The initial ICS publications to become available as eBooks will be the ICS Bridge Procedures Guide (4th edition), the ICS Guide to Helicopter/Ship Operations (4th edition) and the ICS/ISF Guidelines on the Application of the ISM Code (4th Edition). Other ICS publications will be made available as eBooks when new or revised editions of print versions are published.
The ICS eBooks will be available as single user versions (with the same recommended retail price as the existing print editions) or as network versions whereby a customer will have access to five copies of the eBook for just twice the cost of the single user version.
Full details of prices can be obtained from maritime booksellers.
Many ICS publications on best practices are an essential complement to international maritime regulations adopted by IMO, and are required reading by companies and seafarers involved in maritime operations.
ICS Director External Relations, Simon Bennett, explained: “As well as responding to the demand from shipping companies to produce ICS publications as eBooks, we believe that by using the proven WPG system it will be helpful to ship operators for our books to sit alongside IMO regulations, as well as useful advice produced by other maritime bodies, in electronic form.”