Weathernews Inc. and NAVTOR have come together on a mission to enable enhanced simplicity, safety, and efficiency for forward-thinking shipowners and operators worldwide. The newly launched DOSCA DX / NavStation 5.3 marks the start of a voyage into the future of a smarter, more sustainable shipping industry.

“Simplicity is the key,” he states and WNI Executive Officer Hidenori Iwasa follows: “If we can simplify tasks we can help shipowners and operators unlock efficiencies, improve safety (with less potential for human error and non-compliance), save money, and deliver better environmental performance. By digitizing and, where possible, automating processes we can achieve this. And by working with leading partners like WNI we can integrate further expertise and user-relevant services, adding huge value.“ DOSCA DX /NavStation 5.3 is the epitome of that drive.”

Powerful partnership
WNI and NAVTOR started working together in 2018. While NAVTOR serves a global fleet of around 6,000 customers with advanced e-Navigation products and services, WNI provides weather data and route optimization solutions to around 10,000 vessels globally. The attraction, it seems, was instant:
“For collaborations to work each partner has to bring something distinct to the table, something the other party (or parties) can leverage and develop through their own specialisms,” notes NAVTOR CEO Tor Svanes.
“In this case the synergy was clear – we could combine our navigational expertise with their leadership in weather to deliver compelling benefits; helping customers achieve competitive advantage. It was an excellent foundation to begin building on.”

Integrating excellence
NAVTOR launched NavStation in 2014 as the world’s first digital chart table. This unique software platform collects all the information navigators need for optimal decision making and passage planning in one place, at their fingertips.

The latest ENCs sit at the core of the solution, with further data (such as Admiralty Digital Publications (ADP), Admiralty Electronic Nautical Publications (AENP), NavArea warnings, Environmental Regulations, security alerts, regulatory information, vessel traffic, and much more) ‘layered’ over the charts for complete operational awareness.

In the WNI corner, Captain DOSCA debuted to the maritime market over a decade ago and has gone on to build a position as a globally renowned system for Optimal Weather Routing, helping customers enhance safety, save fuel, reduce emissions and cut OPEX.

By working together the two parties have combined their individual offerings, integrating an updated version of Captain DOSCA into the established NavStation platform. The result is the freshly unveiled DOSCA DX, as it will be marketed to WNI customers, or NavStation 5.3, for NAVTOR users.

But this isn’t about branding, it’s about benefits. And plenty of them.

Optimum benefits
Captain DOSCA’s success was, in part, driven by WNI’s Optimum Ship Routing (OSR) Service, whereby users feed planned routes to an onshore function that optimizes them in accordance with the very latest, detailed and trusted weather data. This allows vessels to sail safe, efficient, and economical routes.

By combining those functionalities (amongst many others) onto a single platform, vessels now have a greatly streamlined process with one comprehensive planning station. There is no longer any need to plan on one system and optimize routes on another, transferring data and (with USB sticks as the standard bridge between computers) introducing cybersecurity risk. Everything is integrated, streamlined, and efficient.

Connecting to quality
Both partners agree that the benefits of using just one system, regarding cost and time efficiencies, are huge, but it’s the combined functionality and user-friendliness that are probably the real selling points. DOSCA DX and NavStation 5.3 take the navigators from berth to berth, with no need to piece together routes and collect data from different sources, in one seamless procedure. There’s less room for human errors, one clear process for meeting operational and environmental objectives (saving fuel, costs, and emissions), enhanced quality control, and better security and compliance.

What’s more, having OSR within NavStation’s and NAVTOR’s connected e-Navigation ecosystem allows for greater data sharing between vessels, fleets, and onshore management teams. This means companies can now monitor optimum routes, assess fuel savings, and implement improvements business-wide based on greater data insight.

“It is connected, it is efficient, it is smart.”

Future focus
And that is a critical point for WNI as NAVTOR’s partner. They see smarter data empowered services as the key to unlocking more sustainable shipping for its customer base – maximizing performance while minimizing environmental impact. Hidenori Iwasa says both firms share this vision, as well as the desire to serve their respective (and now combined) customer bases with quality solutions that meet operational needs.
DOSCA DX is the embodiment of that ambition.

He continues: “Without question, DOSCA DX is our most important development to date; a state-of-the-art​ solution tool, combining WNI’s high-quality weather data and best-in-class ship routing visualization and optimization with NAVTOR’s leading e-navigation solutions in a seamless user experience”.“This will help our users meet challenges and achieve business objectives – today, tomorrow, and far into the future. It is, we believe, a game-changing innovation.”

The road ahead
DOSCA DX and NavStation 5.3 launch this month – a culmination of successful collaboration, but only the first step on a greater journey.
“We have developed an excellent mutual understanding and, as respective leaders in our fields, can offer unparalleled experience and expertise to share with one another,” Hjøllo concludes. “That will help us drive new developments and continually improve the service and products we can offer to the world fleet, delivering ever greater advantages.

“Because that’s what smart shipping is really about – finding innovative solutions that provide business and environmental benefits, impacting positively upon all industry stakeholders.”
And that, at the end of the day, sounds like an optimal route forward into the future for everyone…

Source: maritimeprofessionals

YANTAI, China, Aug. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — In China’s coastal areas, there has been a saying that “the best Chinese ocean ranches are in Shandong, while the best Shandong ocean ranches are in Yantai”. Yantai City, located on the coast of Bohai Sea in Shandong Province, is vigorously accelerating its building of ocean ranches, and continuously promoting the transformation and upgrading of ocean ranching. According to the International Ocean Information Center, up to now, Yantai has 30 ocean ranches at or above provincial level, of which 14 are at the national level, accounting for one eighth of the total number in China; with its ocean ranches covering a total area of over 700 km2, the city boasts an industrial chain of ocean ranching with an annual output value of over CNY 50 billion.

Yantai has a sea area of 26,000 km2, nearly one tenth of which is suitable for the construction of high-quality ocean ranches. In the 1970s and 1980s, Yantai, as one of the first pilot areas in China, carried out experiments on artificial reefs and conducted activities of stock enhancement and releasing of Chinese prawns, becoming one of the cities in China that launched the construction of ocean ranches and the city with the largest number of national-level ocean ranches.

In recent years, Yantai has enhanced its level of technological innovation and integrated application of ocean ranching, organized nearly 100 enterprises and scientific research institutions to establish the Yantai Strategic Alliance for Technological Innovation of Ocean Ranching Industry, and set up an investment fund totaling CNY 1 billion for the development of marine industry to help extend the industrial chain of ocean ranching. The fund is mainly used in ocean ranching, marine engineering equipment, marine science and technology, seafood farming, fresh product processing, etc. At the same time, they have been integrating ranch data resources, improving the online monitoring of ocean ecological environment, ocean ranch observation and the monitoring network of marine economic operation, and building a big data platform for comprehensive ocean management, so to achieve the “visual, measurable, controllable and early-warning” management of ocean ranches.

In May last year, the “Changjing No.1” deep ocean intelligent net cage was put into operation in Changdao, Yantai. “Changjing No.1” is the first domestic deep-water sit-on-bottom intelligent net cage, which is researched and developed by Yantai CIMC Raffles. It is 66m long, 66m wide, with an upper ring height of 34m and an effective breeding water body of 64,000 m3, equivalent to 100 ordinary net cages. The net cage is equipped with automatic equipment for baiting, underwater monitoring and net cleaning, as well as a sewage treatment system, a desalination system and a solar power generation system. It is the world’s first deep-water sit-on-bottom aquaculture net cage and the first large cage to achieve automatic net-lifting function.

In July of this year, “Genghai No.1”, China’s first large-scale complex platform of intelligent ocean ranching, was put into operation in Yantai. It has a total diameter of 80m and a total breeding volume of 30,897 m3, equivalent to the water volume of 14 swimming pools of international standard, and is composed of three identical and rotating sub-cages, like three petals blooming at sea. “Genghai No. 1” has made multiple innovations in terms of the movable sit-on-bottom structure, the new material netting, the intelligent equipment, etc., and is expected to produce 150,000 kg of fishes and receive 50,000 tourists annually.

Relying on its ocean ranching platforms, Yantai has begun to explore the building of a new model of recreational fishery development that combines “ocean ranching + marine engineering equipment + tourism” and “leisure sea fishing + yachting”, to promote the deep integration of fishery with tourism and sports industry. Last year, Yantai achieved an output value of CNY 5.1 billion in its recreational fishery industry, with a year-on-year increase of 13.5%.

Zhang Shuping, Secretary of Yantai Municipal Party Committee, said that the city would continue to leverage its building of ocean ranches as the main driver for the transformation and upgrading of marine fishery, and adhere to the development path of scalable, engineering, intelligent and green ocean ranches, in accordance with the principle of “ecology first, land and sea integration, and sustainable use”.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=369252 
Caption: “Changjing No.1” is sitting firmly in the sea area of Daqin Island, Yantai

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=369256 
Caption: “Genghai No.1” complex of ocean ranching

SOURCE International Ocean Information Center

Wärtsilä e-navigation developments are part of the industry’s drive to implement just-in-time (JIT) port arrival to improve voyage planning and execution, reduce fuel consumption and emissions and optimise port operations.

Wärtsilä Navi-Port has been approved by class society Bureau Veritas and tested in a ground-breaking pilot in 2019. Wärtsilä collaborated with Hamburg Vessel Co-ordination Centre (HVCC) and Carnival Maritime to test JIT concepts. Carnival modified voyages on its cruise ships AidaSol and AidaPerla to match requested arrival times and berthing capacity in the Port of Hamburg, reducing bunker costs and emissions throughout the route.

The next step is to conduct further trials with other shipowners and ports, says Wärtsilä general manager for ship traffic control and management solutions Dmitry Rostopshin.

“We have improved the functionality for digital communications between ports and ships,” he says.

“Now Hamburg is looking to add more ships to participate in this project,” Mr Rostopshin continued. “We are working with shipping companies to add to this idea. But it is a chicken and egg situation – ship operators want more ports and ports want more ships in the project.”

Wärtsilä could work with other stakeholders such as pilots and towage to get a critical mass for its implementation.

Ships added to JIT projects need to have ECDIS compatible with this data format. If they already have Wärtsilä ECDIS, only a software upgrade would be required in many cases. Mr Rostopshin says this investment would be paid back in terms of lower fuel costs. “Our customer cases demonstrate shipping companies can save up to 10% on each voyage and ports will have clarity of vessel arrivals, so there are opportunities for better resource information for stakeholders,” he says.

Wärtsilä Navi-Port is a solution hooked up to Wärtsilä’s Fleet Operations Solution (FOS) platform. This connects different stakeholders, shore centres and ship automation systems. Some of the FOS benefits come from shipowners gaining a better understanding of vessels and managing their operations from shore, says Wärtsilä solutions director Kay Dausendshoen.

“For example, when a ship sails through an area that has restrictions under Marpol, there could be prohibited operations,” he explains. “FOS would then lock certain valves to prevent waste disposal or send notifications if it is in a whale protection area.”

The latest FOS fleet rollout to date is with Anglo-Eastern Shipmanagement, which operates a fleet of more than 600 vessels with over 60 owners.

Wärtsilä provides automatic voyage planning and weather routeing tools through its ECDIS. “They are the most advanced and heavily automated with more data and analytics,” he says. They also have the highest levels of shore support for voyage planning.

“We can create optimised routes according to weather information and share this on a cloud server,” says Mr Dausendshoen.

These plans are then available to the bridge teams and navigation equipment on board.

“Our speed and track pilots can carry out the voyage automatically and this would be weather and operationally optimised,” says Mr Dausendshoen.

For weather routeing, Wärtsilä uses Weather News International forecast, hindcast and nowcast information. “This is distributed through the cloud and ship satellite communications to shipboard systems and shore,” he explains. This information is combined with regulatory, port and flag data, then used for automatic route calculation onshore and on ships.

“Once a planned route is in the cloud, our system will select the required ENCs and electronic publications needed for that particular voyage,” says Mr Dausendshoen. “The system will pull what is needed – it is all automated.”

What used to take seafarers up to four hours can be done in 30 minutes, “and with increased accuracy, while reducing the workload on the crew and costs of ENCs and e-publications” he says. It is computer-driven, and shore managers can make suggestions, but the ship’s master retains 100% control.

Source: rivieramm

Bulk carrier MARS HARMONY ran aground at 387 kilometer mark, Parana river downstream from Rosarion, at around 1000 UTC May 15, while proceeding downstream with cargo of maize and soy beans, according to Alpemar Agency. As of 1700 UTC the ship was still aground with tug at her stern.

FleetMon Vessel Risk Rating: https://www.fleetmon.com/services/vessel-risk-rating/

Source:
https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2020/29649/bulk-carrier-aground-parana-river/

The master of a container ship that lost about 50 containers overboard has faced a Queensland court over allegations of poor cargo loading.

Mohamad Zulkhaili Bin Alias’s matter was briefly mentioned in Wynnum Magistrates Court on Monday.

Alias, 43, is charged with two offences relating to the discharge of garbage into the sea and failing to ensure a vessel is operated so as not to cause pollution or damage to the Australian marine environment.

The Singapore-flagged ship was en route to Melbourne from China when rough seas caused some 50 shipping containers to topple overboard off the coast of Sydney on Sunday, May 24.

The court mention comes as the unloading of damaged containers from the APL England continues.

The vessel is under detention in the Port of Brisbane.

It will not be released “until its serious deficiencies have been rectified”, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement on Monday.

The unloading is expected to take several days.

AMSA laid the charges – which carry maximum penalties of more than $300,000 – against Alias on Friday.

It was a decision not taken lightly, AMSA operations general manager Allan Schwartz said at the time.

“This and other incidents remind us of the important role the ship’s master has in ensuring the ships that ply our waters are operated safely and do not damage our marine environment,” he said in a statement.

AMSA also ordered $22 million from the ship’s insurers under the Protection of the Seas Act, which must be paid before the ship will be released from detention at the Port of Brisbane.

This money covers estimated clean-up and remediation costs.

Containers and other debris have washed up on NSW beaches since the ship lost some of its load.

NSW Maritime acting executive director Alex Barrell said last week 21 of the containers lost at sea were empty while the ship’s manifest indicated the remainder held no dangerous or hazardous goods.

Source: https://7news.com.au/

Australia authorities have brought charges against the captain of the APL England and took actions to ensure that the owners and operators would take financial responsibility for the damages resulting from the containers that fell off the ship in the waters south of Sydney, Australia.

These actions came just one day after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced that they were detaining the APL England after having found deficiencies that they believed contributed to the accident.

The captain of the APL England is being charged with offenses related to pollution and/or damage of the Australian marine environment as a result of poor cargo loading. AMSA is also seeking $22 million in financial security from the ship’s insurers to cover the estimated cost of the remediation and cleanup.

The cargo load on the APL England was damaged during a high seas incident on May 24 that resulted in the brief loss of power on the ship and containers falling overboard. The number of containers that fell overboard has now been increased to 50 from the previous estimate of 40 containers lost overboard in addition to 74 containers that were damaged but remained aboard the APL England.

“This and other incidents remind us of the important role the ship’s master has in ensuring the ships that ply our waters are operated safely and do not damage our marine environment,” said Allan Schwartz, AMSA General Manager Operations.

In addition to bringing charges against the captain, AMSA also took additional steps to ensure that the owner, APL Singapore, operator, ANL, and its insurer, Steamship Mutual, would take responsibility for the remediation efforts.

“As of today, AMSA has placed an additional requirement on the owner of the ship under the Protection of the Seas Act which must be met before the ship will be released from detention,” said Schwartz.

Australia inspectors, who boarded the ship after it docked in Brisbane, determined that the lashing arrangements for cargo were inadequate and found heavy corrosion on the securing points for containers on the ship’s deck.  As a result, the APL England was officially detained at the port and according to the local authorities will not be released until the serious deficiencies have been rectified.

“We welcome ANL taking responsibility by engaging contractors to undertake shoreline clean-up and retrieve some of the floating containers this week, but the impacts of this incident could take months, if not years to remediate and we expect these efforts to be sustained for however long it takes,” concluded Schwartz.

In the past, AMSA has taken aggressive actions against other shipping companies. In 2018, the container ship YM Efficiency lost 81 containers overboard in a similar incident near Newcastle, Australia. The retrieval of those containers was recently completed while AMSA is continuing efforts to recover the costs associated with the clean-up from the vessel’s owner Yang Ming and it’s insurers Britannia P&I.
Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/

The vessel APL England has been detained in Australia over inadequate lashing, after losing 40 containers overboard off the coast of Sydney on Sunday.

After the vessel docked in the port of Brisbane, an inspection by the the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) revealed lashing arrangements for cargo were “inadequate” and securing points for containers on the deck were “heavily corroded.”

AMSA general manager of operations Allan Schwartz said: “These findings constitute a clear breach of a requirement under SOLAS to ensure that a ship and its equipment are maintained so as not to present a risk to the safety of the ship itself or anyone on board.

“The detention will not be lifted until these serious deficiencies are rectified. That is now a matter for the ship’s owner, American President Lines (APL), and operator to rectify.

“These findings will form part of AMSA’s ongoing investigation and, while we do not want to pre-empt the outcomes of that investigation, it is already clear that the risk of this container loss occurring could have been reduced.”

While the 5,510 teu APL England is owned by APL/CMA CGM, subsidiary ANL is its charterer and operator.

ANL said the ship had suffered a brief loss of propulsion approximately 40 nautical miles off the Gold Coast, having nearly completed its voyage from Ningbo to Melbourne. The loss of containers resulted in cargo, including face masks, washing-up on popular Sydney beaches this week and some boxes still floating out at sea, while a further 74 were reportedly damaged.

Mr Schwartz said AMSA expected the shipowner and its insurer, Steamship Mutual, to “take full responsibility for remediating any impacts of this incident”.

He added: “We’re pleased to hear today that the insurer is engaging contractors to retrieve some of the floating containers.”

Frazer Hunt, partner with law firm Mills Oakley, which represents local marine insurers, told The Loadstar the incident was similar to other recent stow collapses where “other factors than poor weather will almost certainly be involved”.

Given the vessel’s detention, Mr Hunt said it was “hoped and anticipated that carriers will settle claims for lost or damaged cargo at an early stage”.

Comparisons have been made to an incident involving the YM Efficiency, which lost 81 containers in Australian waters during heavy weather in June 2018.

However, Peregrine Storrs-Fox, risk management director at TT Club, said while weather had been a key factor with YM Efficiency, the ultimate findings pointed to failures in stowage planning and control, particularly container stacking.

This, said Mr Storrs-Fox, would be “quite different” to APL England’s inadequate lashing arrangements, “if indeed that is ultimately found to be the cause of this latest incident”.

“The complex range of ‘moving parts’ in containership operations have the consequence that similarities and differences in incidents are difficult to piece together in order to formulate coherent solutions,” he explained, noting TT Club’s involvement in creating the SOLAS VGM regulations on cargo mass declarations.

“Such cargo specific matters inevitably interact with shore- and ship-based processes related to stowage planning that themselves link to issues of physical lashing.

“Then there are operational decisions, such as weather routing, general seamanship and mechanical variables. These represent some of the lines of enquiry that are likely to be followed in seeking to establish causation,” added Mr Storrs-Fox.

In January, a row over who undertakes lashing operations at European ports broke out between dockworkers and European feeder and shortsea operators, with the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) arguing that seafarers should not be involved due to safety issues.

Source: https://theloadstar.com/

Charges have been laid against the master of the APL England, which lost about fifty containers off the coast of Sydney. The offences relate to pollution and/or damage of the Australian marine environment as a result of poor cargo loading.

The Singapore-flagged ship of 5780 TEU lost its cargo on Sunday 24 May after it had temporarily lost propulsion on rough seas southeast of Sydney. The crew finally managed to restore propulsion and to reach the port of Brisbane. In addition to the approximately fifty containers lost, another 74 were damaged.

On 28 May, Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced the container ship had been temporarily detained in Brisbane, Australia. Inspections by the port authorities on board the ship had shown that there were flaws in the lashing systems, including corroded fastening points. This was followed up by an announcement that charges had been laid against the ship’s master. If found guilty, he risks a fine that could exceed 300,000 US dollars.

AMSA General Manager Operations Allan Schwartz said laying charges against the ship’s master was not undertaken lightly. ‘This and other incidents remind us of the important role the ship’s master has in ensuring the ships that ply our waters are operated safely and do not damage our marine environment.’

He adds that these ‘actions should not detract from the responsibility of the ship owner APL Singapore, insurer Steamship Mutual, and operator ANL who remain accountable for remediation of any impacts of this incident.’

Violation of Solas

According to Schwartz, the investigation findings so far ‘constitute a clear breach of a requirement under SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) to ensure that a ship and its equipment are maintained so as not to present a risk to the safety of the ship itself or anyone on board the ship.’

According to the authority, the ship shall remain detained until the deficiencies have been rectified by the owner and operator of the ship. The results of the inspection will be taken into account in the ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the AMSA accident.

‘While we do not want to pre-empt the outcomes of that investigation, it is already clear that the risk of this container loss occurring could have been reduced,’ says Schwartz.

Clean-up

AMSA conducted an aerial survey on Wednesday to locate the ship’s cargo. During this search, five containers were found, four of which were locked together. Some of the contents have now been washed ashore on the coastline of the Australian state of New South Wales. It mainly concerns medical equipment and mouth caps.

ANL has engaged contractors to undertake shoreline clean-up and retrieve some of the floating containers this week. Although welcomed by Schwartz, he expects the impacts of this incident ‘could take months, if not years to remediate.’

Because of this AMSA has placed an additional requirement on the owner of the ship under the Protection of the Seas Act, which must be met before the ship will be released from detention. Schwartz: ‘This action seeks financial security from the insurers in the order of 22 million US dollars. This provides a commitment that they will remediate all impacts of this incident. That 22 million covers estimated costs including that of a clean-up.’

This is the second time that the APL England has lost containers off the coast of Australia. The first time was in 2016, when 37 containers went ashore in the Great Australian Bight, south of the Australian mainland.

Source: https://www.swzmaritime.nl/

APL England, a Singapore-flagged 5,780 TEU containership, which lost around 40 containers in heavy weather off Sydney last week, has been detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Inspections of APL England have found inadequate lashing arrangements for cargo and heavily corroded securing points for containers on the deck, AMSA said.

“These inspection findings are a clear breach of requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS),” the authority explained.

“The APL England is currently being detained in the Port of Brisbane and the detention will not be lifted until these serious deficiencies are fixed. This is a now matter for the ship’s owner, American President Lines (APL), and the operator to rectify.”

AMSA expects the ship owner and its insurer to take full responsibility for addressing any impacts of this incident.

“We have heard today the insurer is already engaging contractors to retrieve some of the floating containers,” AMSA said on Thursday.

The incident with the APL England happened just after 6.10 am AEST on May 24, when the ship experienced a temporary loss of propulsion during heavy seas about 73 km south east of Sydney.

At the time, the ship was on a journey from Ningbo, China to Melbourne, Australia.

AMSA surveyors conducted a seaworthiness inspection to establish the structural and operational condition of the ship following the collapse of container stacks on the deck.

Shortly after, the vessel was escorted into Moreton bay by two harbour tugs, one container salvage response vessel, two Queensland water police vessels and a Maritime Safety Queensland pollution response vessel.

AMSA said that no dangerous goods appeared to be in cargo in the affected areas. There have been reports that some medical supplies, such as face masks, had been washing up between Magenta Beach and The Entrance.

AMSA’s Challenger jet has continued its search with an aerial survey of the New South Wales coastline to assist in locating and identifying semi-submerged containers in the water.

“The search identified two targets which we now know are five containers, including one set of four containers locked together,” AMSA said in the latest update.

Source: https://www.offshore-energy.biz/