Container ship operators can use satellite communications and an onboard wireless global system for mobile communications (GSM) network to help track and monitor containers, reducing the risk of losses and ruined cargoes. Shipowners can use the same investment to enhance crew welfare by providing voice communications, e-mail and limited Internet access.
To improve ship-to-shore links, vessel operators can upgrade their satellite communication systems to broadband technology through L-band services, such as Inmarsat Fleetbroadband (FB) or Iridium OpenPort. Or they can install very small aperture terminal (VSAT) technology to use Ku-band services. The choice of which radio frequency to use will depend on the amount of data that vessels need to download and upload from onshore centres. Ku-band can carry more data than L-band, but the coverage is still not completely global and prices are higher. L-band is virtually global, cheaper and less affected by wet weather conditions than Ku-band. Because of the cost factor, the majority of container ships have L-band terminals, but there are a few hundred with VSAT.
Some of the major container lines are using VSAT and GSM technology to track all containers and monitor reefer units. Maersk Line was one of the first to invest in VSAT for container monitoring. Ericsson is installing VSAT on 400 of Maersk Line’s ships to provide real-time communications between the vessels and onshore management. Under a seven-year agreement, the service will also help IT network monitoring, onboard maintenance services and proactive bunker consumption management.
The equipment installed on board the container ships for this project includes the VSAT antennas, control units, modems and network managers. Cobham has a contract to supply the antennas, including the Sailor 900 VSAT, while Comtech EF Data and iDirect are providing the below-deck modems and network managing units. According to Comtech vice president for European sales, Mike Gold, Globecomm Maritime is providing Ericsson with the satellite communications airtime services and Comtech is delivering the Vipersat bandwidth management units.
Mr Gold said that the decision to install monitoring systems came after one of Maersk Line’s vessels delivered a container of ruined tuna to a Japanese terminal and could not account for why, or when, the refrigerated container failed. “Maersk Line then decided it wanted to monitor in real time all data from its containers, especially the refrigerated containers, using a wireless technology from Ericsson,” said Mr Gold. “They needed to constantly monitor the cargo status and therefore lower their insurance costs.”
The investment in GSM and VSAT can also enable seafarers to communicate using their own phones, as well as using voice over IP (VoIP) services for lower cost calls. The broadband pipe can enable more services if used correctly. It can help deliver telemedicine for crew health, voyage planning solutions for reducing fuel costs and e-learning solutions to enhance crew competence.
It is also the conduit for a mixture of crew and operational communications and for sending CCTV images for enhanced onboard security. For example, operators can send CCTV images from vessels to shore bases through the bandwidth link. This can become part of an anti-piracy strategy for use when ships are steaming through crime-risk areas such as off West Africa, in the northern Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, or in the Strait of Malacca. Shipowners may have to consider streaming security video from their vessels to offices to meet some flag requirements. For example, Indian flag ships are now required to equip their vessels with CCTV cameras as part of their anti-piracy measures.
SingTel Satellite has developed a solution for mobile video surveillance for bandwidth-restricted services. The surveillance service can transmit in real time up to four camera signals at a time, using as little as 5 Kbps per signal, said SingTel Satellite’s product director, Song Lee Meng. The link works both ways, which means managers can control CCTV cameras for pan, tilt, and zoom functions.
This is part of SingTel’s new information communication technology (ICT) solutions, which can optimise satellite connectivity and limit the bandwidth used for multiple applications. For example, SingTel’s ConnectPortal will enable onshore managers to control the crew’s Internet usage by implementing a flexi-time allowance. This should minimise the risk of seafarers becoming fatigued from lack of sleep during their off-duty time.
Greek system supplier Navarino has developed the latest version of its Infinity group of services, providing ship operators with a range of tools to manage their bandwidth across FB. This includes crew Internet across multiple networks and several connectivity packages, said Navarino vice president, Christian Vakarelis.
“Infinity can prioritise connections depending on what network is available, with different levels of Internet access. Infinity can link to enterprise response performance packages and most of the common maritime business applications, making it the central hub on board the vessel to virtually consolidate any software and hardware needed for business use,” Mr Vakarelis said. Infinity can optimise crew broadband access by combining file compression, caching and advert removal.
Shipmanager Claus-Peter Offen is installing Infinity across its fleet to provide bandwidth-optimised Internet access over FB, said the company’s head of IT, Ascan Roosen. “On the vessels equipped with Infinity and the Internet, the old crew e-mail is outgunned by private e-mail boxes outside in the worldwide web,” he said.
Having FB 500 terminals on board the container ships provides Offen with more than just crew welfare. “FB is essential to our vessel performance and energy efficiency monitoring and IT support for the ships. With FB we get real-time data from the vessels,” said Mr Roosen.
“As the demand for accurate numbers from vessel operations is growing we vitally depend on FB. It is the basis for our new purchasing and plant maintenance software. We can also supply 24/7 support on the vessels’ computers and servers whenever this is needed. We can treat our vessels more like side offices rather than as just sailing ships.”
Offen’s bandwidth requirements are driven by the company’s purchasing and plant maintenance systems. It has to send manuals, guidelines, the safety and quality documents, energy efficiency management and commercial reports to and from the ships.
For crew e-mail communications, Offen uses Amos Connect and Amos Mail from Inmarsat. Some of the features used by both applications are useful for cost and bandwidth control, such as file compression, address book management and attachment stripping. “We got a lot of positive feedback from the crew on the mail system. It provides an easily manageable and separate account for each crew member,” said Mr Roosen.
In the third quarter of this year, Thuraya Telecommunications introduced a new maritime broadband (MBB) service with a range of data options. Thuraya MBB provides standard IP connections at bandwidths of up to 444 Kbps from the company’s L-band satellite service. The package includes a Thuraya IP broadband terminal and a Spacecom IP321 antenna. Thuraya said it minimises traffic congestion in areas of high demand, such as in major ports and shipping lanes, by using dynamic beam resource allocation.
Service partners can include their own value-adding services, such as optimised e-mail and web browsing, virtual private networks, VoIP, instant messaging and machine-to-machine applications. “MBB offers a flexible solution, regardless of whether users are looking for high or low volume usage, or for a reliable back-up,” said Thuraya director of marketing, Sanford Jewett. The service is not global, but covers Asia, Africa and Europe.
Thuraya has also unveiled a new way that seafarers can use their own phones over the L-band satellite network. This is a sleeve that goes over an iPhone that has an antenna linked to Thuraya’s network. “There are a significant number of mariners using their own handheld mobiles on coastal networks. But once outside these networks what can they do?” asked Thuraya director of market developments, Kyle Hurst. “Our satellite sleeve means they can use their personal devices to send and receive e-mails and messages over the network from a ship deck. This means an iPhone can become a satellite phone.”
In May, Astrium Services released an update for its SkyFile Mail software with improved programs for communications through FB terminals and over Inmarsat’s I4 satellite constellation. The update was needed to enable seafarers to use their own mobile devices over L-band and reduce operating costs. One of the improvements to SkyFile Mail v8.25 is the ability of crew to send and receive e-mails using their SkyFile accounts over a vessel’s WiFi network.
Another feature is the enhanced I4 device controller, which allows users to start the FB connection and dial in directly from SkyFile Mail. Astrium said that this means there is no need to keep the IP session open continuously, reducing the risk of costly unwanted data usage. The I4 device control also has a message notification feature with keyword definitions, which can initiate automatic dial-ins. This allows vessel officers to receive important messages promptly, without waiting for the next manually activated dial-in, Astrium said.
For security connections there is an upgrade to the antivirus program within SkyFile Mail. The antivirus monthly updating replaces the previous manual updating method, which involved an engineer visiting each ship on a quarterly basis to update the onboard system. Incremental updates can be done online on receipt of the automatic notification.
Satcoms enables telemedicine
Telemedicine is another service that operates over a broadband connection. Diginonymous and the Department of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University (GWU) have launched a new telemedicine service that they claim provides real-time affordable video and audio teleconferencing for ships. Doctors at GWU will be on call to diagnose crew members’ injuries or illnesses and recommend treatment.
The service leverages the DigiGone secure encrypted communication software, which optimises bandwidth for video transmission over satellite channels, said Diginonymous head of global marketing, George Spohn. “The thin client software of half a megabyte in size can be e-mailed to the ships. They can then do video conferencing using as little as 40 Kbps,” he explained.
“The bandwidth is controllable. Ship operators can improve the video quality by using more bandwidth for more precise viewing requirements. They can increase the bandwidth for a short period, then return to a low bandwidth.” The system works over VSAT and L-band services, such as FB and Thuraya, while audio works well over Iridium, said Mr Spohn. “It works on any IP camera or webcam and on any operating system – such as Apple, Android or Windows.” The first user of Diginonymous is Maersk Line, which has rolled the service out to all of its US-flag container ships. CST
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