Software Tools News

A customer once told me that they had just completed a business continuity analysis and had identified their LMS as their second most mission-critical technology - second only to payroll! Take a moment to consider how much you rely on training technologies to sustain your operations and compliance. How long could you comfortably go without your employees having access to training? How long could you go without access to your compliance records or your employees’ certificates?

Kongsberg announced Wednesday it has acquired Danish software company COACH Solutions, expanding the Norwegian maritime technology company's range of solutions for vessel performance and monitoring.The newly rebranded KONGSBERG COACH Solutions will be integrated within Kongsberg Digital’s Maritime Digital Solutions portfolio, supplying vessel operators, owners, pool managers and technical managers with a suite of software tools for vessel performance, weather routing and noon…

As companies globally are increasingly shifting to remote working to help stop the spread of Coronavirus, Hanseaticsoft has put together a series of tips to help shipping companies keep their business and workforce agile.Some of the biggest companies in the world including Oracle, Apple, Google and Amazon have already restricted travel and asked employees to work remotely[i]. With the situation changing daily shipping companies need to prepare as much as they can to minimize business disruption.

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…

A naval architect and graduate of the Webb Institute, Co-Owner/CEO Chris Allard introduced the engineering-centric approach that has fueled Metal Shark’s growth; driving innovation and transforming the company from a regional builder to a globally recognized industry leader.A member of the ownership team since 2005, Mr. Allard has overseen the expansion of Metal Shark from several employees to over 350. Under Mr. Allard’s direction, Metal Shark has successfully captured over $500…

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.

The provider of software tools for the offshore industry UniSea has agreed to take part ownership of the energy efficiency specialist Yxney.“Yxney is experiencing rapid growth meeting the increasing demand for data-driven energy efficiency solutions in the offshore sector,” said CEO Gjord Simen Sanna of Yxney, which provides operational support and HSEQ (quality, health, safety, environment) to offshore industry.“UniSea is a highly respected player in the industry with a large client base. Yxney already uses UniSea data as the source for our calculations on many vessels. Closer collaboration between the two companies will allow us to provide even more efficient data flows…

Bureau Veritas, Naval Group and Dassault Systèmes has announced that a 3D classification process has been applied to a significant naval vessel for the first time. This marks a major step forward in the design review and calculation modelling required for class approvals in the design and construction of new ships, as well as in the digital transformation of the marine industry.The collaborative project to develop the concept of 3D classification combines the expertise of Bureau Veritas in testing…

To recreational boaters, Aids to Navigation (ATON) are the familiar red and green buoys (and day markers) that line our inland waterways. What they might not be aware of is that buoys have been around since the days of the Roman and Egyptian empires. In the decades following the creation of our country, buoys in every shape and color began appearing in our waterways. It wasn’t until 1850 that Congress harmonized their deployment, thereby encouraging the familiar “Red, Right, Returning” mantra.

General HydroStatics is no longer just about hydrostatics, and will soon offer capabilities in the world of hydrodynamics with the introduction of a long awaited addition to the GHS product family: an optional seakeeping module. Adding a seakeeping module means run files may now include seakeeping capabilities by adding a couple new commands and existing geometry files (.GF) can be used for the seakeeping analysis with little or no modification. Integration with GHS also reduces required user input, getting answers faster while increasing user control.

DNV GL said it has acquired ComputIT, a specialist independent company for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software and R&D. ComputIT develops unique high-end technology for simulating fires, explosions and gas dispersion. “This acquisition brings us world-leading capabilities in the CFD domain,” says Are F. Tjønn, CEO, DNV GL - Software. With its roots in the offshore sector, ComputIT has also served onshore oil and gas, power generation, chemical, transport, maritime, and construction industries. It has been engaged by governmental bodies for investigation of fire accidents.

CMR Group’s chief technical officer, Patrice Flot, considers the current approach to sensing exhaust gas temperature (EGT) on high horsepower engine platforms and the capabilities provided by new digital technology. An EGT sensor measures the temperature of the engine exhaust gas to prevent damage to critical components such as the after treatment system, turbines and cylinder head exhaust valves. It can also be used inside the combustion chambers where hot gases are generated.

Howard Fireman, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, joined the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in 2013. Fireman is responsible for leveraging the latest advancements in technology to drive the development of innovative products and services that promote safety and improve the delivery of class services in the marine and offshore industries. Since joining ABS, Fireman has also served as President of the ABS Nautical Systems Fleet Management Software product line where he has overseen significant advancements in the software and achieved growth in every sector.

HydroComp PropElements 2017 – the propeller “design for performance” code from HydroComp,Inc. of Durham NH USA – is the latest build of the company’s commercial software for marine propeller design and analysis. Propeller specialists will find it an essential addition to their software tools, and also tackles the component-level hydrodynamic needs of naval architects. Why PropElements? Still an uncharted domain for many naval architects, propeller design is an iterative process following a typical design spiral – from initial sizing through detail design. System-level propulsion design and analysis tools (such as HydroComp NavCad) are used in early design stages to identify principal propeller parameters (e.g.…

Last month we were offered an in-depth discussion on marine salvage with Captain Gregg W. Baumann, U.S. Navy, Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving. Captain Baumann and his team have a long history regarding difficult missions accomplished, including most recently the location and filming of the lost TOTE containership El Faro. What is the scope of the responsibility of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving; Director of Ocean Engineering? The responsibilities of the Supervisor of Salvage & Diving…

Common Structural Rules Software LLC, (CSRS) a joint venture company formed by Lloyd's Register (LR) and ABS, has released new software tools for meeting the requirements of the IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR), which entered into force on 1 July 2015. Developed from the technical strengths of LR and ABS, version 2.5 of the CSR Prescriptive Analysis and the new CSR Finite Element (FE) Analysis software, allow assessment of whole vessel structures, including new bulk carrier and oil tanker designs. Both class societies will use these new tools to evaluate new designs to the CSR. "I am pleased that the strategy laid out more than a decade ago is achieving our objectives," says LR’s Marine Director Tom Boardley.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Washington Department of Ecology will host a spill preparedness conference May 20-21 at the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle. The two-day seminar is an opportunity to discuss the latest in spill-recovery theory and technology. The sessions focus on topics including remote oil sensing technology, sinking oils, software tools and best practices. "In the response business, there is no room for complacency,” said Capt. Robert Pearce, chief of response, Coast Guard 13th District. “Knowing about the latest game-changing technology is important. Opportunities are everywhere. The marine environment that dominates the Pacific Northwest is essential to the high quality of our lives.

The introduction of the IACS Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers (CSR BC & OT) makes support from advanced rule calculation tools more important than ever. The latest releases of DNV GL’s integrated calculation tools Nauticus Hull and Sesam GeniE offer designers and yards increased calculation speed and efficiency in design, CSR BC & OT rule calculations and the approval process. “We were one of the first classification societies to integrate support for the common structural rules into our tools,” says Vebjørn J. Guttormsen, Head of Section Calculation Tools at DNV GL – Maritime. “Since then, our tools have been used successfully in many newbuilding projects by yards and designers, especially in Korea, China and Japan, and the new versions build on this experience.

DNV GL has honoured three engineers for their scientific research with the DNV GL Award for Young Professionals. Presented by DNV GL – Maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen at the Posidonia trade fair, the award is designed to find innovative ideas for increasing safety, efficiency and sustainability in shipping. As well as seeking out the best new research, the award aims to support young professionals in the maritime field. Overall, 24 people took part in the competition. “Young professionals are a driving force in developing innovative solutions to the challenges shipping faces today and in the future. This award was created to honour the brightest among tomorrow’s industry experts and it is very interesting to learn more about this year’s winning projects…

Transas Marine introduced new software solutions for voyage planning and fleet management at SMM 2014 as a step towards becoming the forerunner in the development of e-Navigation technologies. Among new launches is Transas Navi-Planner 4000 on a touch screen display. The Navi-Planner 4000 touch screen offers a new way of voyage planning on a 46 inch multi-touch display. The large display makes the voyage planning easier due to the extensive overview and easily accessible layers of information. Navi-Planner combines ENC’s, weather data, digital publications, Notices to Mariners, piracy updates, fuel monitoring and much more to help you optimize your port-to-port voyage.

The tube bending machine innovator Unison said it is moving the technology forward again, with the completion of a groundbreaking all-electric machine that is capable of bending tubes and pipes up to 9 inches/225 mm in diameter. The availability of all-electric machines at this new size level brings the benefits of instant set-up and right-first-time precision bending to many new applications in sectors including shipbuilding, powergen and oil, gas and chemical processing. According to Unison…

Ecoships introduced a customized version of the Six Sigma DMAIC approach to process and performance evaluation in order to optimize the energy-efficiency of the vessels under its management. The technique has already resulted in Ecoships’ managed ships benefiting from up to 15% greater fuel efficiency, resulting in substantial reductions in CO2, NOx and SOx emissions. “We specialise in eco-friendly and fuel-efficient shipping tools, techniques and technologies,” said Capt. Aykut Yilmaz, GM. “Our three primary goals are safety, fuel efficiency and minimum ecological impact.

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) awarded its highest technical honor, the David W. Taylor Medal for notable achievement in naval architecture or marine engineering, to Howard Fireman, ABS Senior Vice President, Asset Performance Management (APM). "Howard is recognized as a technical leader in naval architecture," said ABS Chairman and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki. "His insight and guidance in design and energy efficiency are valued by the industry in great part because of his ability to provide real-world practical solutions.