Maritime Hydrographic Agency News

The Nor-Shipping Exhibition concluded June 6, 2003. Following were some of the major announcements during the week in Oslo. Kongsberg won a contract for the control systems for four LNG tankers scheduled to be built in Japan. The ships will carry LNG from the Snohvit field to the U.S., Spain and France. Two of the ships are being built for Hoegh shipping lines at Mitsubishi Shipyards, while the other two are being built at the Mitsui and Kawasaki shipyards. Kelvin Hughes was awarded type approval for its ECDIS-based Track Control System. This is the first Approval of its type to be granted by LR and covers the integration of the company's ECDIS and Autopilot products into a system meeting the new IEC 62065 track control performance standard.

STN Atlas Marine Electronics’ European Wheelmark-accredited Debeg 3400 UAIS has also now been type-approved for GPS operation by the German Maritime & Hydrographic Agency (BSH), enabling it to be connected to all standard navigation equipment for provision of 12-channel Differential GPS data – at no additional cost. The device is reportedly the first UAIS to be accorded full type-approval as a positional sensor without any necessity for additional equipment. The Debeg 3400 is also capable of automatically accepting high-accuracy DGPS correction data via VHF in port, coastal and other areas.