2023's top stories in Maritime Optimisation & Communications

One of the stand-out themes among the most-read stories of 2023 in our communications-related content is the advancement of satellite communications technology, internet access for shipping and offshore assets, and the offices and seafarers that work with and on them.

New satellite networks in low-earth orbit and multi-layered orbits, and the uptake of the Elon Musk-owned Starlink -- a recent market entrant on a stratospheric trajectory -- were among the favourites.

But our stories this year, as with last year’s most-read stories, spanned many of the subjects central to shipping’s emerging digital revolution. Maritime Optimisation & Communications readers were keen to understand the latest breakthroughs in autonomous shipping, are wary of the business impacts of cyber attacks while also watching digitalisation slowly change age-old paper practices and centuries-old companies.

To read each story in full, click on the headline, the image or the link at the end of the text.

---

Sign up for Riviera’s series of technical and operational webinars and conferences in 2024:

• Register to attend by visiting our events page.
• Watch recordings from all of our webinars in the webinar library.

---

 

1. Anglo Eastern deploys Starlink for fleet connectivity

Global ship management group Anglo Eastern intends to test connectivity over a network of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites before a broader roll-out in the coming months. Flat-panel antennas linking to Elon Musk’s satellite constellation will be installed on 12 vessels of various ship types and trading patterns, so the service can be fully trialled. Anglo Eastern expects at least 200 installations across its fleet by the end of this year, with more to follow in 2024.

Read the story

 

2. DNV: ’all users back online’ two months after ShipManager cyber attack hit 1,000 vessels

"Following the cyber attack, the ShipManager server environment had to be rebuilt, and while users are back online, the work to resume full scope of service is ongoing," DNV said. "The ShipManager servers are isolated from the rest of DNV’s IT infrastructure. The forensic investigation conducted by global IT security partners confirmed no other parts of the DNV IT infrastructure was affected as part of the attack. DNV user accounts, emails and all other services were not affected by the incident." 

Read the story

 

3. Digital navigation prepares to claim the crown from paper charts in the sub-ECDIS sector

There are growing calls in the maritime sector for the development of international regulations and/or standards for electronic navigational charts (ENCs) for sub-ECDIS vessels. There are moves to introduce national standards for ENCs to improve navigational safety, but there is a growing wave of interest in international parity, as exists with ECDIS. All this comes as hydrographic offices are either considering or implementing end dates for paper chart production.

Read the story

 

4. Wärtsilä looks at ’maximum of 300’ job cuts in restructure

Wärtsilä is shifting parts of its Voyage division and Marine Electrical Systems to the divestment-driven Portfolio division. The company said it has begun a formal process to reduce its workforce by a "maximum of 300 positions in the current Voyage organisation". Wärtsilä also said it will be creating approximately 150 new positions. Wärtsilä began the ongoing internal reconfiguration in October 2022, when the company announced Wärtsilä Voyage would be moved under the umbrella of the Wärtsilä Power division, citing ’severe’ impacts from the Covid pandemic and the shuttering of Wärtsilä’s operations in Russia. 

Read the story

 

5. Autonomous vessels: legislating for a new generation of ships

Several trials and pilot projects have been carried out using autonomous and remote-controlled vessels in the past five years, but no national and international legislation is yet available. This lack of regulatory clarity is currently being addressed by IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee, which has approved a road map to develop an international goal-based instrument in respect of maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS), to be adopted H2 2024. 

Read the story