Public Networks News

Sofar Ocean is on a quest to extract and put to use data from the world’s waterways. Co-Founder and CEO Tim Janssen discusses how his team’s hyper-focus on data is helping to improve weather routing via Wayfinder.Tim Janssen and his Sofar Ocean team continue their ‘Epic Ocean Data Quest,’ remaining laser focused on doing its part to help extract and put to use increasing quantities of information from the world’s oceans. For its part, Sofar continues to build scalable networks to gather information premised on its Sofar Spotter buoy.

Recent cyber attacks to the US Government, the IMO, Maersk, amongst others has caused the world to pay attention to criminal cyber activities by foreign states, terrorists, and criminals. The cyber attack against CMA CGM shut down services for close on two weeks. Two days later, on October 30th the IMO was held hostage by a cyber attack. These attacks follow attacks earlier this year against MSC and COSCO.As of January 1, 2021 all vessels that have a safety management system must address cyber security in order to maintain ISM certification.

If autonomous vessels are the future of maritime shipping, then cyber threats may be its Achilles heel. Congested shipping, restricted visibility, limited maneuverability, and intensive docking activities all contribute to port hazards – 42 percent of EU reported marine accidents (injury/death/damage to ships) took place in port areas and 44 percent of workboat fatalities occurred on Tugs. Autonomous shipping should provide numerous benefits including increased safety by relieving crewmembers of unsafe and repetitious tasks.

The IMO January 2021 deadline for shipping interests to incorporate cyber risk management into their existing Safety Management Systems is fast approaching. It is critical that stakeholders understand their vulnerabilities. The IMO has issued MSC-FAL.1/Circ.3 guidelines on maritime cyber risk management that does a good job of outlining the many vulnerable systems within marine operations, including:1.Bridge systems;2. Cargo handling and management systems;3.Propulsion and machinery management and power control systems;4.

General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics, has implemented a NextGen-911 emergency service solution for Morgan County, Ohio. The NextGen-911 solution enables Morgan County to easily accept emergency information from a variety of sources and provides first responders with faster, more accurate details to aid in response. Morgan County's NextGen-911 system is one of the first to be compliant with the National Emergency Number Association's (NENA) i3 architecture standards, which facilitate local and nationwide interoperability. General Dynamics replaced the county's traditional Enhanced 911 (E911) call…

In Finland and Sweden, a large percentage of commercial trade is transported by sea. During the winter months, this presents something of a challenge, as most of the trade routes are almost completely frozen over. Through a joint cooperation, the Swedish and Finnish Maritime Administrations enlist a fleet of icebreakers — nine vessels that travel the frozen waters to clear the ice and allow commercial ships to pass through. Thanks to these icebreakers, ports in both countries can remain open year-round. Communications is key to ensure that the icebreakers do their job, as they must be able to communicate to access up-to-the-minute information on weather forecasts and ice conditions…