Over the last decade we have seen computer technology evolve in a way we would never have expected. Faster processors, huge hard drive systems and large screens (in High Definition, 3D, Plasma and LED) all provide an ideal opportunity for simulation companies to design an ideal ship bridge in a designated room.

The benefits of simulation are obvious – don’t forget airline pilots train in simulators and so do (would be) bridge officers, pilots and students offering a modern and realistic training experience. Perhaps I don’t have to point out that training is key to avoiding accidents in ‘real-time’ and accidents in real-time are costly. Also, training on a real ship costs a lot of money compared to a couple of computers running a software programme.

VSTEP

As stated before computer simulation is big business. Not only is the hardware expensive, hours of developing the tailor-made software is something not to be sniffed at! But as always where there is a will to have a state-of-the-art simulation centre there is a way to achieve this.

At the beginning of October the Technical University of Varna in Bulgaria officially opened its new state-of-the-art simulation training centre during a high profile opening ceremony at the university premises. The opening of the simulation centre consolidates TU Varna’s position as a leading maritime university on the Black Sea. The centre incorporates multiple VSTEP NAUTIS and RescueSim simulators and will be used for both maritime and incident management education and training.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of the Technical University, the Dutch Vice-Ambassador and officials of the municipal government of Varna. The ceremony was concluded with the official signing of the NAUTIS and RescueSim simulator acceptance forms by TU Varna Rector Professor Azarya Farhi, Head of simulation Centre Professor M Shterev and Pjotr Van Schothorst, Director of simulator developer VSTEP.

Simulation developer VSTEP was selected as simulator contractor for the centre and has delivered two NAUTIS Bridge Simulators, including a 360 degrees Full Mission Bridge Simulator delivered conforming to DNV Class A specifications, as well as five Engine Room Simulators and a full classroom with desktop Navigation Simulators for maritime training. In addition, a VSTEP RescueSim simulator was also delivered for incident management training.

VSTEP also installed a NAUTIS full mission bridge simulator system at UK-based ECDIS training and consultancy. The full mission bridge simulator with a 315 degrees viewing capability was taken in to service at the end of October. It will primarily be used for Bridge Team training but has been fitted with 4 different ECDIS systems all integrated with the NAUTIS software. The Bridge Simulator is to accompany the 6 smaller NAUTIS simulators already used for visual channels during the IMO 1.27 Model ECDIS Course. The Bridge Simulator has been setup with 2 Radars and 4 ECDIS systems including OSI, Kelvin Hughes, JRC and Transas which are all fully integrated.  However it can also be integrated with other ECDIS manufacturers as required by clients. The system is capable of displaying Radar, AIS and ARPA overlays onto the ECDIS giving an extremely realistic experience for the mariner.

Transas

Another provider of simulation systems is Transas who is continuing to have success with their Navigational NTPRO 5000 – a next generation simulation system.  Earlier this month, Eric Friend, Director of Training for the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) and the Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI) announced that the Institute has completed a USD1 million upgrade to full-mission bridge simulator No 2. The integration of full-mission simulators No 1 and No 2 – as well as the institute’s tugboat simulator modules providing a more realistic training experience. MITAGS now has the capabilities of integrating up to ten, full and part task simulators into one simulation exercise. “The NTPRO 5000 images are clearer and brighter, and the contrasts are enhanced due to the increased lumens from the most advanced projectors that are available for our theatre dome,” said Friend. “Additionally, the software allows the integration of the two full-mission bridges so that multiple vessels can be included as components of the training and evaluation process. The software includes the multi-functional displays and has improved environmental interaction with the database and ship models.”

The Navigational NTPRO 5000 encompasses the geometry of objects, their relative position, and reflection capability of materials, three-dimensional motion and the earth’s curvature. It has impressive integration capabilities, improvements in mathematical models, modern built-in VHF, intercom, voice communications and enhanced instructor station along with CCTV, which allows for synchronized playback for debriefing.

The system has proven to be popular with many academies around the world with Batumi State Maritime Academy (BSMA) upgrading its simulator complex by integrating a news engine room simulator into their existing NPRO 5000. According to a spokesperson for the Academy the main goals of establishing this advanced training facility is to educate qualified specialists who will join the maritime commercial fleet and maritime transport infrastructure and provide a learning process that adheres to modern requirements and educational programs, which will help students to receive the knowledge and professional skills necessary for their profession.

The project included installation of a full mission engine room simulator ERS 5000 that simulates MAN B&W 6S50MC-C Diesel Engine Product Tanker Ship Model. The system is integrated with the existing navigational simulator NTPRO 5000 and provides for joint training of engine room and bridge teams. The simulator replicates the operation of product tanker machinery, bridge and power systems which will enable BSMA to train marine technicians in realistic situations, without risk to people or vessels.

In a second phase of the project, BSMA was equipped with an ECDIS simulator to meet the demand for ECDIS training. The Transas ECDIS simulator has been designed in accordance with all current and related regulations, ensuring that BSMA students will be able to receive mandatory generic ECDIS.

Another customer that took delivery of a NTPRO 5000 is Costamare Maritime Training Services in Athens, Greece. In October, Transas Hellas supplied the simulator complex consisting of a Full Mission Bridge Simulator (the NTPRO 5000) with 240 degrees of visualisation, ECDIS Class and Debriefing Area. The full mission bridge will be used for training and certification of watch officers and chief officers in ship handling. ECDIS class will enable Costamare Maritime Training Services to carry out conventional ECDIS training and issue certificates of competency in full compliance with STCW 2010.

While in September, Transas Marine upgraded the training complex at the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna, Bulgaria with a full mission bridge simulator upgrade to the latest NTPRO 5000 software and a new version of the GMDSS simulator TGS 5000. In July, Transas Marine signed the contract with the Academy for the extension and upgrade of the Transas Navigational and GMDSS simulators that included a long-term update/upgrade, service, support and maintenance programme for the next 3 years.

In addition to the upgrade, visualisation of the Main and Secondary Navigational Bridges was improved, while the visualisation screen of the Main Bridge was extended to 300 degrees with a 5m screen radius, which makes it one of the largest simulators installed in Bulgaria. The Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) simulator was also upgraded to its latest version which allows imitation of the VTS functions and creation of various navigational situations. Before the end of 2012, the Academy also plans to upgrade their Engine Room Simulation
.

These specialised vessels, which unload their own cargoes by a variety of methods, can save shippers time and money, but only if there is something to ship. Some of the big names in the business – Grieg Star Shipping, Gearbulk, and Saga Forest Carriers – have little to say when it comes to how the business is faring and what the prospects are for the future.

It is possible that the major players might still be smarting over the successful entry of South Korea’s STX Pan Ocean into the world’s wood pulp transportation market with a mind-boggling USD5 billion, 25-year contract with Brazil’s Fibria Cellulose. That contract for specialised vessels was signed in October 2010, and since then in October 2011, STX Pan Ocean signed an additional transportation contract worth another USD246 million. STX already has a formidable fleet handling for break bulk cargo, including steel products, coal, lumber, fertilizer, equipment and machinery, but is pulling out all the stops for its new South America service and is not afraid to take a pot shot or two at its European-based rivals in the process. When it held a christening ceremony marking the deployment of its first open hatch general cargo carrier the STX Arborella, which will be involved long-term on the Fibria contract, its official newsletter later reported the following: “The STX Arborella was optimally designed to suit the characteristics of wood pulp freight which is carried by STX Pan Ocean. The ship is expected to contribute to Fibria being able to maintain its distribution competitiveness, leading the market in the future and present and present an opportunity for STX Pan Ocean to strengthen its status as the leading maker of specialised shipping vessels.”

Sideswiping

And there was a jab at the competition, too. “The South American wood pulp transportation market is known to have been almost exclusively monopolised by shipping companies from Northern Europe. Under such circumstances, having signed a long-term carriage contract for 25 years and being the first among the Asian-based shipping firms to launch itself into (the) wood pulp market, fortifying its status as a leading company while sideswiping existing European shipping companies, STX Pan Ocean has become capable of securing an advantage in order to expand to further expand its scope of business in future.” That’s a long and somewhat awkward way of saying to its rivals “gotcha” or “watch out, here we come.”

Not that the European competition is exactly quaking in its boots. Norway-based Grieg Star Shipping, for example, which took delivery of the last four of its K Class ships in April 2010, only months later contracted for up to 10 new build open hatch special crane vessels with South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard. It’s the largest new build program in the history of the Grieg Group. These new 50,000 deadweight tonne selfunloading vessels will incorporate ideas to lessen energy consumption and make them more efficient. Deliveries began in 2012 and will run through 2014. As well as enhancing its selfunloader fleet, Grieg Star has signed an agreement to buy two supramax 58,000 dwt dry bulk vessels now being built at the Chinese Yangzhou Dayang Shipbuilding yard and to be delivered this year. Grieg Star’s current fleet is an impressive 46 vessels totalling about 2 million dwt.

Naming

Early in October, Grieg Star Shipping held a naming ceremony for the latest of its open hatch vessels, the Star Lima in Vancouver, B.C. in Port Metro Vancouver, where the shipping line has been calling for almost 50 years. The vessel is the first of the 10 new builds under construction to go into service and Grieg Star President & CEO, Tom Rasmussen, took the chance to let rivals know his company was gearing up for future competition. “After more than 40 years of servicing this coast, Grieg Star is growing to better serve our partners to gain access to markets they require,” he said in Vancouver. “We continue to demonstrate our commitment to providing competitive break bulk services to Western Canada.” Self-proclaimed No 1 in the open hatch gantry crane (OHGC) or jib crane vessel fleet is another Norway-based company, Gearbulk, which specialises in forest products handling and non-ferrous metals. Gearbulk has said little if anything about the new competition in public. However, it is ready for the STX challenge as its sixth generation new builds that came into the fleet in 2009-2010 are big at 72,860 dwt.

More new builds

And the third Norway-based contender is Saga Forest Carriers, part of the Hesnes Group, which currently has a fleet of 24 OHGC vessels offering a world-wide service through medium and long-term contracts with the international shipping industry. Saga isn’t sitting on its hands, either. Through its Saga Shipholding (Norway) AS (a 100% subsidiary of Nippon Yusen Kaisha) it has agreed with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd in South Korea to build five 55,000 dwt OHGC vessels for its selfunloader fleet. These new ships will be delivered from October 2012 through August 2013. And that’s not all. Saga Shipholding has also agreed on two more 55,000 dwt OHGC vessels with Oshima Shipbuilding Co Ltd, of Japan, for delivery before year’s end and in 2013. And it doesn’t sound as if Saga is backing away from the STX Pan Ocean challenge. According to Lars Traaseth, President & CEO of Saga: “The Saga fleet is fully utilised and Saga needs to expand its fleet in order to be able to offer its customers more capacity and to improve the overall flexibility and efficiency of the fleet.” There’ll be much excitement in the highly competitive waters for selfunloading vessels in the years ahead.

Tough on lakes

However, on the Great Lakes in Canada and the United States, the situation is more sombre. Of the five vessels currently idle and owned by Lake Carriers Association members, four are selfunloaders which have not sailed this year. Lake Carriers Association Vice President of Corporate Communications, Glen Nekvasil, blames the weak North American construction market, which has depressed demand for aggregate, plus the diminishing demand for coal since the Ontario Government has declared its intent to close down all of its coal-fired power stations used to generate electricity. The only good news is that the iron ore market on the lakes has rebounded. Looking back, however, 2011 wasn’t that bad. US flagged lakers hauled 93.8 million tonnes of dry bulk cargo last year and that was up 5.75% on 2010. Iron ore led the way, up 12.4%, stone was up 5%, but coal was a drag, dropping 6%. Through August 2012, overall tonnages were in slight decline at 54.3 million tonnes, with coal once again being the culprit, down a massive 18% over the same eight months of 2011 and iron ore trailing the same period a year earlier by 2%. One of the few bright spots was limestone, which was ahead by 15% over 2011 year to date. Waterborne commerce is still the most cost-effective mode of transportation in the Great Lakes region.  The US Army Corps of Engineers estimates Great Lakes shipping annually saves its customers USD3.6 billion in transportation costs when compared to the next least costly alternate way of transporting goods. But, that news hasn’t exactly caused a scurry of excitement to take advantage of Great Lakes ships and currently there are no new builds underway, says Nekvasil. About the only action ashore involving the fleet came in May 2012, when a new 844-foot long tug/barge unit, the Ken Boothe Sr/ Lakes Contender joined the Lake Carriers fleet. Built in Erie, Pennsylvania, the tug/barge is operated by the American Steamship Company and is active in the iron ore, stone, and coal business. In October, a tug/barge unit that formerly worked the Gulf of Mexico trade was due to start its lakes career as the Defiance/Ashtabula in the ore, stone and coal trade.

Innovation

One of the biggest shippers on the Great Lakes, the Algoma Central Corporation – the largest Canadian shipowner and operator of domestic lakes vessels with 19 selfunloadin
g dry bulk carriers plus nine gearless bulk carriers and seven product tankers – is installing fresh water, exhaust gas scrubbers on six new vessels that will remove 97% of sulphur oxides emissions generated by vessel engines. Through Wartsila Ship Power, Algoma is adding the environmental scrubber systems to its Equinox Class new builds now under construction at the Chinese shipyards of Nantong Minde Heavy Industry Co for a total cost of USD12 million. The first of the Equinox vessels is due to arrive in Canada in the first half of 2013. Of the total of six vessels involved, four are selfunloading bulk carriers and two are gearless bulk carriers. The Algoma order is the first for Wartsila’s new, integrated, fresh water, exhaust gas scrubber design which will clean the exhaust gases of the vessel’s main and auxiliary engines, as well as the oil-fired boiler. It meets all of the more stringent environmental regulations due to take effect over the next three years.

According to Algoma Central’s President & CEO, Greg Wight, the scrubber systems will allow shipowners to use lower cost, heavy fuel oils, while at the same time meeting the new Emission Control Area sulphur limits established by the International Maritime Organisation and adopted by Canada and the United States for the Great Lakes and coastal waters. Without the new technology, Wight says shipowners would have been forced to convert vessels to burn more expensive diesel oil. And he says a major advantage of the Wartsila fresh water scrubbers is that they can operate in a zero discharge mode, which means that there is no effluent (waste product) from the scrubber discharged into the lake water. In fact, the treated, clean effluents would be held in a holding tank for discharge at an appropriate location. Solid contaminants are disposed of at reception facilities in port. Algoma has four separate business segments and all four showed an improvement in 2011 over 2010, but the news has been harder to stomach since then with a net earnings loss of USD10.6 million in the six months ended June 30 2012, although revenues were up slightly.

Today, with ships patrolling the shipping corridor in the Gulf of Aden and present in front of the Somali coast, the Task Force remains ready to prevent successful pirate attacks. Since then two merchant ships have been attacked by pirates however neither were successful. This represents a significant decline compared to previous periods. More importantly, no merchant ships have been hijacked by pirates since May. This does not mean that the pirates don’t try. On two occasions over the summer, they managed to hijack a dhow which could have been used as a mothership from which to launch attacks. On both occasions the pirates were disrupted by the NATO warships, HNLMS Evertsen and HNLMS Rotterdam but they still hold seven ships and 177 crewmembers hostage.

During September as the weather improves and fishermen go back out to sea, this is the time that the pirates resume their activities. By using calm seas and forcing dhows to move them to and around their hunting grounds, the pirates continue to seek opportunities to stalk and attack the many merchant ships that transit the vital shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa.

 Lieutenant Commander Mac de Jong, staff officer on board the NATO flagship, HNLMS Rotterdam, is very happy with the declining success rates of the pirates. “We are not there yet, the success is still reversible. Therefore we need to seek ways to maximise the pressure. We are making considerable progress, we must now maintain the momentum.”

NATO’s Task Force has used the past monsoon period to gather information on areas where pirates may venture out at sea. Using surveillance by aircraft and ships along the coast where the seas allowed pirates to operate, NATO has built up a good picture of what has been happening along the coast of Somalia.

As NATO warships patrol off the coast of Somalia, it presents an excellent opportunity to invite local elders and community leaders to meet NATO at sea. Commodore Ben Bekkering explains: “By meeting village elders and explaining to the villagers what we do and why, we hope to build trust, exchange information and ensure that the improving maritime safety and security will also benefit them.”

From these meetings it is clear that the local populations strongly oppose piracy and will do all they can to work with the international counter piracy effort. Bekkering adds, “I am sure that in the villages we found new partners. They can play a vital role to put more pressure on the pirates. If we can drive the pirates out, it will have a positive effect on the development of the region.” NATO is working alongside EUNAVFOR, Combined Maritime Forces and individual nations to tackle acts of piracy. By joining forces, counter piracy efforts are more effective and can achieve more than any one ship, navy, organisation or country working alone. NATO has contributed to the international counter piracy effort off the Horn of Africa since December 2008. T

In Focus – The Big Three Counter-Piracy Task Forces

NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield, European Union Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151) – known as the big three – have called upon the shipping industry to continue to take anti-piracy measures despite the current downward trend in piracy events.

In a recent report published by the International Maritime Bureau it was announced that there was a 54% drop in global piracy during the first half of 2012. One of the key contributors to this welcome development was the fall in both Somali hijackings and attacks. There are many factors which have led to this, two of which were the work of military forces in the region and self-protection measures taken by commercial shipping.  Cdre Bruce Belliveau, NATO’s Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) said “attacks have been minimal during the monsoon season but in the past the end of the monsoon generally heralds an increase in the number of attacks on merchant vessels. We have seen a steady downward trend in pirate successes which is due in part to the vigilance of naval forces. We call upon merchant vessels to do what they can to ensure they continue to make it as difficult as possible for pirates to board and take control of their ships.”

By joining forces, counter piracy efforts are more effective and can achieve more than any one ship, navy, organisation or country working alone. Even with all this military presence, the efforts of our naval forces cannot guarantee safety in the region. It is for this reason that CTF 151, NATO and the EU remind all ship-owners, operators and managers to continue to educate and train their mariners in both the threat and how to mitigate it.

Photo caption

Left to right: CMF Commander Rear Admiral Anho Chung; EU NAVFOR Force Commander Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino; NATO Commander Commodore Ben Bekkering

The port reforms that were proposed in France a couple of years ago were not welcomed by the port sector and French port workers responded fiercely by taking strike actions that almost crippled the country. But by the time the reforms – the transfer of port workers and cargo handling equipment from government owned authorities to private operated companies – became reality the majority of the French port industry accepted these changes.

Since May 2011, the Port of Marseilles ‘transferred’ more than 410 port workers (28% of the total workforce) to privately owned terminal operators. Cargo handling equipment – both container and bulk – were handed over to the relevant companies as well.

This transfer has had a major impact on productivity in the port which is split in two basins – the Western basin (Fos port industrial area) caters for international traffic and is located around 70km away from the centre of Marseilles while the Marseilles basin (within the centre of Marseilles) is intended for handling European-Mediterranean traffic.

At Fos, the waiting period for ships was reduced to zero at the container terminals while container throughput averaged a total of 84,600 TEU a month reflecting a growth of 10% (an additional 7,600 TEU a month) compared to before the port reforms.

As a result the port is confident that it will pass the 1 million TEU this year, in fact, it is forecasting that it will hit a throughput of 1,073,000 TEU, thus breaking a new throughput record (the port achieved its highest container throughput of 1,003,000 TEU in 2007).

Although the port has identified an increasing trend of more containerised cargo going to South America, most of the containers are coming from the Far East, exports to North America and the Eastern Mediterranean and are all handled at Fos.

Here you will find the two new multi-user terminals – Portsynergy (a joint venture between CMA CGM and DP World) and Seayard (a joint venture between MSC and Maersk), with a combined surface area of 135 hectares, a 2.4km long quay with a depth of 16m alongside, and are capable of handling up to 5 vessels at any one time. The terminals are equipped with 4 Super Post Panamax container cranes, 6 Post Panamax cranes and 9 Panamax cranes and average 23 moves per hour per crane. Fos also offers straightforward and direct access to the sea without tide or locks making it an ideal position as the southern entrance to Europe.

The port has also signed a contract with international terminal operator and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) for the Fos 4XL project. The project scheduled to be completed in 2020 will provide the port with an additional 54 hectares container terminal and an annual container capacity of 1.5 million TEU. Although the year 2020 seems a long time away the port has assurance from HPH that if additional capacity is needed in the port it will move the completion date forward.

Hinterland connections

Geographically Marseilles is well located as a southern entry point into Europe and the port points out that it could not only be a strategic location for shipping lines that exercise the slow steaming strategy it also benefits from well connected rail and river connections.

Last year, both rail and river modes represented more than 16% of the pre- and post shipments of maritime containerised goods. This equates to a 1% increase, due to a rise in the number of containers transported on the inland waterways and compared to 2010 the port has seen an increase of 12% in this sector.

At more than 3 million tonnes, river traffic shows an increase of 13% in 2011 compared to the year before. During the first three months of 2012, while overall traffic decreased by 10%, traffic in miscellaneous goods grew by 36% with, in particular, an increase of 23% in the number of containers. The port expects that in 2012 it will break another record by exceeding the benchmark of 70,000 TEU – the previous record was 66,634 TEU in 2011.

In 2012, the port also signed a preliminary agreement concerning a high speed rail link with Greenmodal, Colas Rail, Luxemburg State Railways, Louise Dreyfus Shipowner and the Circle for Optimodality in Europe to provide a high speed rail link with shuttle trains from Luxemburg to the port. A new intermodal hub within the Marseilles basin is also on the cards.

Port information system

The port is operating AP+, an electronic cargo community system that connects more than 250 companies and over 1500 users in the port logistic chain and improves the competitiveness of all the stakeholders.

Through the automation of procedures and the elimination of inefficient processes 80% of the goods arriving in the port of Marseilles are released within 2 days after their arrival (sometimes sooner). All participants including shipping agents and handlers are provided with reliable information in real time. This means that 100% of the customs declarations for both Marseilles and Fos can be submitted and cleared in the system. In fact, the port is proud to announce that it is a paperless port! By using the system members have seen an 80% increase in productivity through the reduction in operating costs (document management, access to information, movements, etc.). The AP+ cargo community system, designed and maintained by Marseille Gyptis International (MGI), handles almost 1 million containers each year and more than 1 million EDI messages a month. MGI has also developed an Inland+ module for their AP+ system. Inland+ enables large-scale rail and barge operators, inland terminals and inland customs to optimise their physical and commercial operations related to goods and to facilitate their customs processing and to connect to Marseilles Port Authority.

Outlook

The port reforms in the country might have worked well for the terminal operators as this has resulted in some strange allocations of cargo handling equipment. One of these combinations is the Med Europe Terminal within the Marseilles Basin. The terminal has an annual capacity of 350k TEU, a 950m quay length, 4 Panamax container cranes (one is out of action) and 13 straddle carriers. The terminal has been operating at 50-55% capacity resulting in handling 175k TEU a year. Perhaps you can argue that a terminal operating 175k-200k a year might not need four container cranes or was better off to work with mobile harbour cranes simply because of the financial investment if this was a start-up business. But the port of Marseilles is making huge strides in their efforts. Since the reforms they have seen 5 shipping lines leaving the port following the disruptions, but they have now all returned and the port has welcomed an additional 6 container shipping or mixed ro-ro lines. Over the period May 2011 till September 2012 8 services calling at the port have also increased their service capacity from 20 to 50%. So the future looks bright for the port of Marseilles.