Products: Marine Electronics
Brittany Ferries Outfits Ships with Sodena ECDIS
With 2.7 million passengers carried each year, and harbor entrances that are often difficult to negotiate, Brittany Ferries set out to find a particularly safe navigation solution. The company has equipped its full fleet with a personalized version of the Sodena GECDIS navigation system. "Harbour entrances involve difficult manoeuvres: in some places, the channel is 90 metres wide, for ships 180 m long that cruise at 18 knots. We had to find a solution showing us exactly where the ship is, in real time, because there can be considerable drift in strong currents,' explained Captain Yves Le Reun of Brittany Ferries. To make channel navigation easier, Sodena added a specific element to its GECDIS navigation solution for Brittany Ferries: the software provides a
dynamic zoom depending on the ship's position. The narrower the channel, the closer the zoom: "We thus always have the most suitable view to maneuver the ship, without having to adjust the scale during difficult moments," added
Brittany Ferries. GECDIS even goes a bit further. A second dedicated window shows the ship, its route and its environment, taking into account the tides and the ship's draught. Brittany Ferries currently runs services to four Western
European countries (France, Ireland, England, and Spain). The shipowner, based in Finist�re, carries 2.7 million passengers and 200,000 trucks on its eight ships every year. It is the largest operator plying the central and western reaches of the English Channel. The company has an equally strong presence in the passenger and cargo transport fields. Brittany Ferries runs 7 daily links with several rotations.
Sailor 250 FleetBroadband Terminal
Thrane & Thrane received Inmarsat Type Approval for its SAILOR 250 FleetBroadband terminal and expects to ship the first units before the end of January 2008. The Inmarsat FleetBroadband service went live officially on November 19, 2007. Thrane & Thrane was a key partner in the building of the network infrastructure for FleetBroadband. SAILOR 250 FleetBroadband offers data speeds up to 284 kbps with an antenna that is smaller than today's Fleet33 system, with a diameter less than 30 cm and weighing 5 kg.
For more information, visit www.thrane.com
Radio Holland Commissions Fleet Broadband
In December 2007 Radio Holland installed and commissioned the first Fleet Broadband terminal on MOV Van Kinsbergen. Radio Holland Netherlands was contacted by Stratos to arrange the installation of a Thrane & Thrane SAILOR-500 Fleet Broadband terminal on board Royal Netherlands Navy ship. The installation is part of a field test into the new maritime broadband service. The Royal Netherlands Navy was selected by the Inmarsat distribution partner Stratos as one of the first customers in a worldwide test of the new maritime broadband service. As Radio Holland Netherlands is a Thrane & Thrane agent in The Netherlands and a Stratos business partner, Stratos contacted Radio Holland to perform the installation and commissioning of the SAILOR-500 with the world's first activated simcard. Radio Holland also realized the integration with the AmosConnect e-mail system.
For more information, visit www.www.radioholland.be
Transas Supplies ECDIS to Svitzer
Svitzer confirmed supply of Transas Dual NaviSailor 3000-I ECDIS for three additional tug boats; Freja, Sigyn and Skuld. Svitzer is a company within the A.P.Moller-Maersk Group, and a leading provider of marine services with more than 500 tug boats in operation around the globe. Transas has previously installed Dual ECDIS in two Svitzer vessels, Fenja and Frigga, and early next year the above-mentioned units will be installed.
For more information, visit www.transas.com
Magnolia Adopts Workboat Navigator
Magnolia Marine Transport will deploy Jeppesen Workboat Navigator across its fleet of 19 towboats and 70 barges. "Magnolia Marine is proud to implement Workboat Navigator across our fleet," said Stan Humphreys, Magnolia Marine's senior vice president. "The state-of-the-art charting and information management system demonstrates our commitment to provide our captains with the best navigation technology available." Based in Vicksburg, Miss., Magnolia Marine moves asphalt and other petroleum products throughout the Mississippi River system and intracoastal waterways of the Gulf of Mexico. With its young fleet of doubleskin, heated tank barges and technologically-advanced towboats, Magnolia Marine is well positioned to safely move and preserve the integrity of its customers' valuable products. Jeppesen Workboat Navigator is an information service that provides mariners with a combination of detailed vector-based digital marine charts, location-based data, such as Notices to Mariners, and input from onboard sensors, such as GPS, radar, AIS, heading sensors, and onboard cameras. Jeppesen Workboat Navigator brings together numerous information sources for unparalleled situational awareness
Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
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