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March 2011 www.marinelink.com 53 FLAGSHIP-HCA: Hull Condition Forecasting FLAGSHIP, the Pan-European maritime transport project part funded by the EU, has developed software that is designed to forecast the condition of a ship’s hull over time to help improve the efficacy of surveys and reduce the amount of time a ship is out of service. FLAGSHIP-HCA (Hull Condition Assessment) is de- signed to accurately predict the condition of a vessel’s structure, coating and components, enabling ship own- ers and operators to schedule maintenance in a more ef- ficient manner and thereby reduce maintenance costs while improving safety at sea. The principal economic objectives of FLAGSHIP- HCA are to extend the life of the existing fleet of Tankers and Bulk Carriers by up to five years, with a 10% to 20% reduction in service repair costs for ships throughout their life-cycle. In this respect a primary con- cern for ship owners and Class societies is that of cor- rosion of the ship’s structure and this is the primary focus of FLAGSHIP-HCA. http://www.flagship.be/ SeaKits Releases V3.0 SeaKits, the developer and provider of the Marine Maintenance System (MMS), has released Version 3.0 of MMS Fleet Solutions providing expanded function- ality for workboat fleets, including passenger, tow and service vessels. MMS Fleet Solutions V3.0 provides Port Engineers, Maintenance Managers, and company executives with fleet-level visibility of all planned and corrective maintenance activities including maintenance schedules/forecasts, work orders, and inventory levels. MMS Fleet Solutions leverages Cloud Computing and is available as Software-as-a-Service, requiring no local IT infrastructure or support of any kind. Boston’s Best Cruises (BBC), an early adopter of MMS Fleet Solutions will be using the new fleet-level work management and inventory management features of V3.0. With a fleet of 20 vessels located in Boston and Ft. Lauderdale and personnel leveraged between loca- tions, fleet level parts and work activities provides a dis- tinct advantage in vessel reliability. BBC’s Maintenance MESPAS Launches R5.13 MESPAS AG released version 5.13 of its fleet man- agement software mespasR5. With more than 80 new functionalities and modifications, this software upgrade is the most complex and largest ever released by MES- PAS. The most important innovations, according to the developer, relate to the mespas Cube and mespas Re- porting Engine. The mespas Cube, installed on board the ships, is a small offshore server. It acts as the hub between the vessel’s PCs and the central database ashore. With the Cube, the vessel client architecture was changed from a “single user/single PC” to a “client/server” architecture, which is fully network and multi-user capable. This means, the software can be run on multiple PCs on board the ship, without impinging on the software’s ability to synchronize and work with the central database ashore. Since everything is pre-installed and pre-configured on the mespas Cube, there is no IT knowledge or intervention needed on board the ships to ensure the safe and robust running of the software. (Cour tesy of PORTLINE) The mespas Cube
