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SatCom Sending Screws, Pistons and Lube Oil via Satellite In just a few years, the Schepers shipping line communications have evolved from telex punched tape to a super-fast and easily operated communications system By Dr. Klaus Neugebauer At the Rudolf Schepers shipping line based in Elsfleth in the Oldenburg region, shipping is a business with tradi- tions. While the owners' grandfather sailed on inland waterways, 50 years ago their capacity was expanded by the addition of some coastal motor vessels up to 150 tons. Since the 70s, the com- pany's core competence has become the worldwide chartering of container ships to big shippers like Maersk or CSAV. The cargo space is made available and the ships have been subjected to techni- cal refits and the crews increased. Together with the Heinrich Schepers company within the same line, the fami- ly concern now operates 12 container vessels of 1.100 to 2,500 TEU. "Our ships are everywhere. North and South America...South Africa... the Near East...the Caribbean. Because we go everywhere, we have to be obtainable everywhere," explains Rudolf Schepers, the company's senior boss. However nowadays this is no big deal. Up to the middle of the 90s at Schepers, a telex system with its punched tape was responsible for contacts between the ships and the headquarters. From 1995, initially on a trial basis, the Inmarsat satellite communications system has been in use. In the beginning the system was run by DeTeSat through its own ground station, but now France Telecom is in charge. "At that time the ships reported their positions every two days," reminisces Jan Schepers, the junior boss of the line. "Nowadays we get in touch with each vessel two or three times per day, by e- mail." Since 1999 this has been the job of the SkyFile 3.0 program, which the operators can download free-of-charge from the Internet, or simply install from a CD-ROM. Above all communications have become simpler, and don't involve much work. Just a few years back Volkert Stoll, the superintendent of the shipping company, and his staff used to spend up to six hours per workday to deal with a six-week commission, which arrived on board by fax. About 15 pages of text were generated. "Our inspectors then cut the lube oil order out with a pair of scis- sors, then the electrical order, then the order for paints." These cuttings were then pasted on to a page bearing the company heading, and faxed on to the various suppliers. Today all that is unnecessary. You just select the Excel files from the incoming e-mails, and copy them into the e-mail messages for the suppliers. This cuts down the work to about an hour. Reports of damage on board are also faster and simpler to make now. The ships used to be equipped with instant cameras. For unusual break- downs, like a faulty piston in the diesel engine, photographs had to be taken. These pictures, which weren't of partic- ularly good quality, arrived in Elsfleth three weeks later by marine mail. LES Aussaguelfranct Maritime inmarsat Terminals • Simultaneously expensive phone calls had to be conducted - if this was at all feasible. Nowadays all the ships have digital cameras. The engineer on board photographs the technical fault or the damage to the cargo, and transmits the shots by E-mail to the shippers' head- quarters. These visual documents state the place, the time, and even describe the weather conditions, and are prompt- ly forwarded to the supplier or the insur- er. The partners can react immediately and order replacement parts, maybe pumps, whole systems and so on. This wasn't always the case. With the previ- ous Inmarsat units the staff selected the land earth station themselves, and dialled the number. For Schepers this was an enormous advance on the elabo- rate telex procedure. Nowadays these transmissions function completely auto- matically and take just a few seconds. "There was no need for any training." comments Wolfgang Kalus, the marine inspector at Schepers. "It was all very simple. We installed the system on board ourselves, and the software too." Circle 6 on Reader Service Card www.maritimereporterinfo.com SeaWave Makes Maritime Communication Seamless SeaWave LLC's marine communications suite includes SeaWave Navigator 2.0 and SeaWave Integrator, the latter is a hardware device that comes bundled with SeaWave Communicator 3.0. SeaWave Navigator 2.0 is Windows based software bundled with a DSP modem and works with most exist- ing SSB radios specifically for low bandwidth use. SeaWave's proprietary HFVelocity, utilized in both products, provides enhanced data compression and state-of-the-art signal processing, Auto Connect and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE). SeaWave software continuously scans all available HF fre- quencies during periods of inactivity. When a communication task is initiated, the system automatically tunes the radio to the optimal frequency to route e-mail and download forecast infor- mation so it is waiting for the user on their PC. SeaWave Navigator 2.0 can obtain data rates comparable to some satellite providers for a lower cost, allowing mariners to send and receive e-mail and retrieve weather information. SeaWave Navigator 2.0 with proprietary HFVelocity retails for under $1500. Arriving in January is the SeaWave Integrator (pictured), a full service marine communications system that incorporates satel- lite, GSM, HF and Internet technology. SeaWave Communicator 3.0 is Windows-based software that comes bundled with the SeaWave integrator hardware device. Least cost routing and HFVelocity based ALE simplify shipboard administration for voice and data, are designed to reduce both communication and administrative costs. SeaWave Integrator hardware and SeaWave Communicator 3.0 software can determine the least expensive way to send a message, whether via satellite, GSM or HF. A number of factors determine how a message is sent, signal strength, cellular range, message size and satellite availability to name a few. The SeaWave Integrator bundle will cost about $3000. SeaWave makes it easy to bill crew for usage, traffic is meas- ured as it passes through the Integrator and the end result is a consolidated and easy-to-read hotel-style invoice. SeaWave can even reconcile the charges from the different satellite carriers into their advanced billing system. SeaWave Navigator 2.0 and SeaWave Communicator 3.0 are launching pads for value-added marine software applications such as MaxSea, a leader in maritime navigational software. MaxSeaWeather has been optimized for use with the SeaWave platform and allows for wireless retrieval and overlay of weath- er data on to charts. Other applications include sea surface tem- perature, wind and wave, weather maps, text forecasts, and N0AA weather buoy information. Circle 43 on Reader Service Card www.maritimereporterinfo.com January, 2003 19
