Encs News

Compliance, performance, profitability, sustainability; take the biggest ‘pain points’ for almost any shipping company and watch NAVTOR’s digital ecosystem work wonders. Here Tor Svanes, Founder and CEO, explains how NAVTOR has grown to lead the smart shipping world, why the recent merger with Voyager Worldwide was so critical, and how he hopes to help steer the industry towards brighter, simpler, and more intelligent horizons.“The morning of the announcement I got a text from the boss of one of our biggest competitors…

In a climate of increasing complexity, with new regulations, environmental concerns and commercial considerations, how can owners and operators control their fleets, and futures, from dry land? NAVTOR’s Tor Håkon Svanes believes the answer lies in innovation and integration – developing solutions that evolve in line with the needs of a dynamic global industry.“There are smarter ways to do things.”Tor Håkon Svanes, the NavFleet Product Manager at NAVTOR, is referring to a recent chat with a new customer.The unnamed fleet manager…

NAVTOR  announced a breakthrough revamp of its Passage Planning module. Featured in the latest release of NAVTOR’s NavStation planning software (version 6.3), the new module offers expanded automation and auto-calculations, effectively slashing both administration time and the potential for human errors, compliance with the very latest industry standards, enhanced data utilisation, the ability to revise and update plans (rather than creating new ones after voyage deviations/changes)…

On January 7, 2021, the dry bulk carrier Ocean Princess struck the uncrewed/out-of-service oil and gas production platform SP-83A while operating 24 miles south of Pilottown, Louisiana. Now, some 19 months later,  the National Transportation Safety Board has released an investigation report which showed that poor bridge resource management and a charting error led to the bulk carrier striking the oil and gas production platform.The 24-person crew of the Ocean Princess was drifting overnight in the Gulf of Mexico before going to New Orleans to load a cargo of grain. The master planned to drift throughout the night with the engine on 15-minute standby, keeping clear of traffic and platforms, NTSB said.Area where the Ocean Princess contacted platform SP-83A, as indicated by a red X.

In November 2019, the Office of Coast Survey (OCS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announced the start of a five-year program to “sunset” all raster and paper nautical charts.NOAA has produced electronic navigational charts (ENCs) since 1993. In the 2019 notice, NOAA writes that “ENC sales increased 425% since 2008, while sales of paper charts are now half of 2008 levels.”For NOAA and mariners, a focus on electronic charts and publications promises many advantages. With a singular focus, NOAA can use its resources more efficiently.

A new paper published by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) on Wednesday provides guidance to enhance policies and procedures regarding the safe use of electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS).With more vessels using electronic navigational charts (ENCs) for primary or secondary navigation, there have been several significant navigational incidents over the last decade where one of the contributing factors has been ECDIS-related, the U.K.-based safety association said.The new paper…

ChartWorld announced the latest round of updates to its digital routing service, My Route Appraisal (MyRA). MyRA provides both vessels and onshore personnel with a proposed ECDIS-ready voyage plan. The plan is based on a route network, port databases, bathymetry from ENCs, weather forecasts and the relevant ship model.The MyRA version 1.4 release rolled out in October 2020 includes the following improvements:•    Further simplification of the install process•    Advanced routing algorithm…

ChartWorld has launched MyFleet, a free-of-charge cloud-based tool designed to support onshore teams to check and assess risk in a ship’s voyage plan,Following recent legal decisions, voyage plan due diligence by the vessel owner or ship manager has taken on increased, and urgent importance. Oliver Schwarz, ChartWorld’s Business Development Director, said, “A ship being ‘at sea’ is no longer a viable or legal defense for lack of shore-based oversight. Improvements in communications…

SevenCs, part of the ChartWorld Group, announced the release of ORCA Pilot X software. Originally designed as a primary navigation aid for Pilots, ORCA Pilot X is a tool for professional navigators. ORCA Pilot X is being offered as a free download on the Apple AppStore for iOS tablets.SevenCs has a long tradition of developing bespoke navigation applications for pilots around the world. Following the feedback and input from many  users, SevenCs began the development of ORCA Pilot X as the natural evolution from ORCA Pilot G2.Ralf Lehnert…

ChartCo is expanding its OneOcean digital solution with its new ’Fixed Price Pay As You Sail’ (PAYS) system.The brand-new product will be launched on July 1, 2019ChartCo is expanding its OneOcean digital solution with its new ’Fixed Price Pay As You Sail’ (PAYS) system which is the first such system to allow budgetary certainty and global ENC data for planning and navigation purposes.Vessels using PAYS will be tracked and only charged for ENC permits according to the routes they actually sail.

Global Navigation Solutions (GNS), provider of maritime navigation information for shipping companies, announced that it will sell all digital and paper nautical charts and publications at cost price as part of its innovative Voyager Navigation as a Service (VNaaS) solution.The maritime technology company said in a press release that VNaaS customers will pay an annual software licence fee to access a complete set of software and data analytics tools that enable officers onboard to order exactly the charts and publications they need for each voyage and shore-based stakeholders to control and manage navigation purchasing and compliance more effectively.All the ENCs…

ChartWorld has launched its My Route Appraisal (MyRA) digital routing service. The MyRA concept is built around the digitization and automation of voyage planning procedures, freeing up the bridge team to concentrate on route approval, execution and monitoring.MyRA provides vessels and onshore personnel with an automatically proposed ECDIS-ready voyage plan; this is based on a route network, port databases, bathymetry from ENCs, weather forecasts, and the relevant ship model.

ChartWorld launched its next generation eGlobe G2+ ECDIS, reported by the company to be the world's first 4K ECDIS..“ENCs and ECDIS, like paper charts before them, are at the heart of modern navigation," said Steven Schootbrugge CEO, ChartWorld, in a press release on the product. "One of the great advantages of digital navigation is our ability to navigate more accurately and update charts quickly as more detailed, or even specific, information becomes available.”ChartWorld’s…

For more than 20 years, numerous digital chart producers (Hydrographic Offices, Waterway Authorities, and other organizations) have used SevenCs validation tools for quality control and quality assessment of digital charts such as ENCs, IENCs, and AMLs against the relevant standards.At SevenCs, we have been working hard to improve our validation solutions and now the new 7Cs Analyzer Version 4.0 is available. The new Analyzer is based on SevenCs latest S-100 Kernel technology and provides the most comprehensive validation tool on the market.

Norwegian maritime industry completed the project of the world’s first purpose-built krill harvesting vessel  that has taken two years and included 40 Norwegian vendors.A press release claimed that Antarctic Endurance, the custom designed new-build is a one of a kind, energy efficient krill harvesting vessel that showcases the very best of Norwegian maritime engineering expertise and innovation.E-navigation specialist NAVTOR  said that its NavBox solution was chosen by Antarctic Endurance for e-Navigation services."The NAVTOR team are both proud and humbled that our NavBox solution was chosen to make sure she always have latest charts and publications available as it embarks on the 2019 harvesting season…

GNS, the maritime technology company, has been awarded the contract to supply the fleet of Singapore-based Epic Gas Ship Management and its shore-based marine team with a complete navigation solution.GNS won the contract following a competitive tender during which Epic Gas ran extensive sea and shore-based trials over a six-month period evaluating solutions from three vendors. Key evaluation criteria were intuitiveness of the software and simplicity of the end-to-end service, which includes everything from route planning and monitoring through to the efficient transfer of ENCs to ECDIS for voyage execution.Capt. Martin Brzuska, Head of Group Marine Assurance, DPA at Epic Gas said: “The most important thing for us is safe transportation of our cargoes globally.

E-navigation specialist NAVTOR said it has set its sights on the U.S. shipping market with a new office opening in Seattle. The Norwegian business, which has built a global network of facilities since forming in 2011, has, until now, serviced the territory from its Egersund headquarters. However, growing demand Stateside for the firm’s product portfolio has prompted the team to establish NAVTOR USA Inc. NAVTOR launched its ENC service to market in 2012 and, since then, has built a global client base on the back of its mission of making life simpler for navigators…

Almost three-quarters of cargo ships over 20,000 gross tonnage (GT) are already compliant with the SOLAS-mandated Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) deadline of July 1, 2017, according to the latest figures published by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). The UKHO estimates that a further 3,828 cargo ships over 20,000 GT are yet to make the transition to using an ENC (Electronic Navigational Chart) service and therefore do not yet meet SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations on ECDIS carriage.

Global maritime software solutions provider Nautisk has announced that it is working with MarineMTS to provide automatic ENC updates to vessels sailing with ECDIS. Marine MTS will provide both the hardware and the protocols needed to access the ECDIS with Nautisk providing the content and software. The new system will be available for the customer’s own ECDIS system and will harmonize with NaviPlanner, Nautisk’s new voyage planning software which will launch later this month at Norshipping. “Our products and services are truly unique, based on a solid foundation of testing and development. Nautisk has been supplying maritime charts and publications to the merchant marine since 1896, with a strong focus on the shipping market since its beginnings as the chart division of NHST.

DNV-GL has issued an official certificate for PC Maritime’s Navmaster ECDIS after the company passed all the tests. Navmaster ECDIS is up-to-date against all current standards including the new IEC 61174 Edt. 4 and the IHO Presentation Library Edt 4.0. This means PC Maritime’s ECDIS will meet carriage requirements from August 31, 2017 when the IHO withdraws support for version 3.4 of its Presentation Library. Existing ECDIS must be updated by then to meet carriage requirements. PC Maritime said it will offer upgrades to its customers to ensure that they are compliant in time to meet the August 2017 deadline.

ORCA Pilot Chart Mapper is a new tool for SevenCs PPU software, ORCA Pilot G2.   The product is developed to make Pilots more independent, flexible and up to date, when it comes to high precision charts in local areas. Chart Mapper is a tool to create an optional chart layer with high density depth information for display in a PPU within seconds.   ORCA Pilot Chart Mapper reads xyz point cloud data and processes it to create S-57 high density bathymetry layers – e.g. bathymetric ENCs.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is to release five new Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) for the expanded Panama Canal. The new ENCS are produced by the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) and provide end-to-end coverage of the Canal at a scale of 1:10 000. They contain new survey data and up-to-date information for the expanded Canal, which will receive its first official transit on June 26. Jason Scholey, Senior Product Manager at the UKHO, commented: “The Panama Canal serves a vital purpose for international shipping and world trade.

Marine electronics group Navico, a literal ‘house of brands’ for the recreational, sail, power and commercial marine markets, is making a strong push in the commercial sector with its Simrad brand. The ascension of Navico in recreational marine electronics business – an estimated $1 billion market globally – was fast and furious, growing from roughly 7% of the global market in 2005 to nearly 30% in 2007, standing steady at about 35% today, fueled by a strategy built on the acquisition of strong brands mixed with organic growth.