The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code), and related amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to make it mandatory, marking an historic milestone in the Organization’s work to protect ships and people aboard them, both seafarers and passengers, in the harsh environment of the waters surrounding the two poles.

The Polar Code and SOLAS amendments were adopted during the 94th session of IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), which was meeting at the Organization’s London headquarters from 17 to 21 November 2014.

The Polar Code covers the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training, search and rescue and environmental protection matters relevant to ships operating in polar waters – © Mark Garten / UN Photo

It was announced from Shanghai on 21 November that COSLProspector, the fourth deep-water semi-submersible drilling rig built by CIMC Raffles for China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL), had been delivered in Yantai, Shandong Province. It represents another milestone for China’s deep-water drilling rig going into the global mainstream market.

COSLProspector fulfils ice-class, environment-friendly and low-temperature
requirements

Readers may wish to be aware of this event to be held in MV Pearl Seaways steaming Copenhagen-Oslo-Copenhagen, 27-29 January, 2015

Registration is now open and further details can be found at www.e-navigation.net

The programma of this three day event can be found here.

The European Navigation Conference is an annual event organized under the auspices of the European Group of Institutes of Navigation (EUGIN). Gathering 150 members of the scientific community and more than 300 guests overall, the ENC is a unique opportunity to meet all the key players in the navigation area. It is renowned for its high-level scientific activities highlighted during the conference and the wide range of topics covered.

Call for abstracts submission by December 31st, 2014.

The first report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) of safety trends in Australian aviation reveals that while the nation’s skies remain safe, there are some shifting trends to watch.

Of note in this reporting period was an increase in the rate of airborne collision alert system warnings in high-capacity air transport operations over the past five quarters (since April-June 2013).

Loss of separation incidents involving low capacity air transport also increase in January to June.

In mid-November Tideland Signal Corporation, (Tideland) launched its new PTPS (primary touchdown positioning system) that is designed to provide greater visibility to pilots landing on offshore helideck platforms at night or in reduced visibility by illuminating the landing circle and the “H” (the C&H).

PTPS is designed and engineered to fully comply with the UK CAA CAP 437 standards for offshore helicopter landing areas and also is suitable for Zone 1, Zone 2 hazardous areas.

C & H lights in action at Offshore Energy Amsterdam, 2014

On 12 November the (US) National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an investigative update into the crash of SpaceShipTwo on 31 October in Mojave, California.

The investigation is ongoing and any future updates will be issued as events warrant.

Diagram illustrating shipping traffic in NW European waters. The busiest areas are coloured red. The digits indicate the number of movements recorded in 2012.

• Seven land-based monitoring stations to help ships navigate with signals one million times more powerful than GPS;
• eLoran technology will protect world’s busiest sea lanes from powerful illegal GPS jammers, space weather interference and other causes of GPS loss;
• Technology could backup critical national infrastructure, such as the Grid and City of London in the case of major GPS outage.

Technology to counter the threat of GPS jamming is now available at Dover and along the East coast of the UK, as the nation continues to set a benchmark across the globe.

The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland announced at the end of October the Initial Operational Capability of UK maritime eLoran.

The Trinity House vessel Galatea used on the eLoran trials and equipped for eLoran evaluation.

ACCSEAS is a three year project under the North Sea Region Interreg IVB Programme.

‘Navigating the North Sea Region into the Future’ is announced as the theme of the final ACCSEAS Conference to be held in Rotterdam on 17-19 February, 2015.

The Final ACCSEAS Conference will present and demonstrate the e-Navigation test-bed solutions developed by ACCSEAS to improve accessibility and to help mariners take safe and effective decisions when navigating the North Sea Region.

It aims to build upon the success of the second ACCSEAS Annual Conference held in Edinburgh, earlier this year and will bring together a global audience to explore the implementation of the ACCSEAS e-Navigation test-bed services and present the concluding results of this engaging North Sea Region project.

DIMAR (Colombia’s National Maritime Authority) continues to invest in the safety of its waterways and ports.

The most recent project completed, it was announced on 30 October, was the renewal of the aids to navigation in the access channels to the ports of San Andrés and Providencia located in Colombia’s Caribbean waters. According to local sources: “This is an investment that impacts decisively on the maritime future and economic development of Colombia’s Caribbean islands.”

Works have been carried out by Almarin, a specialist in the manufacture and installation of floating aids to navigation. The scope of the project included the supply, delivery and deployment of more than thirty buoys: twenty lateral marks, one safe water mark and one isolated danger mark in the access channel to the port in San Andrés island, and also eight lateral buoys and one safe water mark in the access channel to the port on Providencia island.

It was announced from Terma’s HQ in Aarhus, Denmark and simultaneous at Euronaval 2014 taking place at Le Bourget, France, on 27 October that Terma has been contracted by French warship builder DCNS to supply two SCANTER radars of the type 6000 for the French Navy’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91), the largest Western European warship, which was commissioned in 2001.

The main task of the SCANTER radars as part of total radar suite aboard the carrier is to serve as a multi-role sensor system to meet requirements for navigation and tactical surface and air surveillance, search & rescue, and helicopter control.

Mr Frank Brenner, Director General of Eurocontrol and Mr Carlo des Dorides, Executive Director of the European GNSS Agency (GSA) sign a new cooperation agreement. – Photo © Eurocontrol

In the presence of the European Commission, the European GNSS Agency (GSA) and EUROCONTROL signed a new cooperation agreement towards the end of September. The objective of the agreement is to jointly contribute to the implementation of European Union GNSS policies as they apply to the field of aviation.

As Europe’s skies and major airports become increasingly congested, there is need for Air Traffic Management (ATM) technologies to evolve from groundbased infrastructures to more advanced systems based on new technologies. EUROCONTROL and the GSA have a shared objective in developing and exploiting European GNSS technology to improve accessibility, efficiency and safety to European operators, pilots and airports.

Concorde’s droop nose mechanism is demonstrated to an appreciative audience at Imperial War Museum, Duxford on 24 October 2014. – Photo © IWM

On 24 October, Duxford Aviation Society (Cambridgeshire, eastern England) revealed newly-restored features on its Concorde, to an audience of invited guests, at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford on the eleventh anniversary of the last commercial Concorde flight.

Following eighteen months of painstaking restoration work, this Concorde now features fully-functional cockpit lighting and the operation of the aircraft’s famous droop nose. This is the only Concorde in the UK with the ability to operate the nose mechanism.

Duxford’s Concorde’s newly restored cockpit lighting. – Photo © IWM

At the end of September the aviation sector joined other business and government groups at the United Nations Climate Summit to announce a commitment on climate action between the ICAO and the aviation industry represented by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG). This partnership expands on work already being undertaken across the air transport sector to reduce emissions from this important global industry.

The agreement was co-signed by Airports Council International, Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, International Air Transport Association, International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations and International Business Aviation Council – representing the various components of the international air transport industry.

Earlier this month ICAO announced from Montreal that the 10th Machinereadable Travel Document (MRTD) Symposium got underway at its ICAO HQ with over 500 participants from every region of the world reaffirming ICAO’s leadership in strengthening the security and efficiency of air transportation.

Having met its 2010 deadline for the introduction of machine-readable passports on a comprehensive global basis, and responding to calls from States on the need to expand the scope of its guidance and assistance to ensure a more robust and secure global travel document regime, ICAO recently began to evolve its MRTD programme to assist States in the establishment of holistic traveller identification management systems.

According to Professor Adam Weintrit, Chairman of the TransNav Conference and Doctor Tomasz Neumann, Secretary of the Organizing Committee there is now an extension of the paper or abstract submission to 8 November for TRANSNAV 2015.

Further details are provided on the website at transnav2015.am.gdynia.pl.

The 11th International Conference on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, TransNav 2015, is being organised jointly by the Faculty of Navigation, Gdynia Maritime University and the Nautical Institute and will be held from 17 to 19 June 2015 in Gdynia, Poland.

It was announced from Aarhus, Denmark, on 20 October that the two companies ISIC A/S and Terma A/S have entered into a strategic partnering agreement. As a result of this agreement, the two companies further strengthen a well-established collaboration. ISIC, headquartered in Brabrand near Aarhus, Denmark, is a leading Danish supplier of computers and monitors for the defence and marine sectors and industrial customers. These sectors require reliable equipment that must operate in extremely demanding environments.

Portland Bill – © Kevin Borg

Trinity House has agreed a lease with The Crown Estate for the former lighthouse keepers’ cottages at Portland Bill Lighthouse in Dorset on the south coast of England. The premises will be rejuvenated to house a new visitor experience themed around the maritime history of Trinity House and its responsibilities providing aids to navigation, charitable support and educational services to the mariner since 1514.

Portland Bill Lighthouse has been popular with visitors for many years but their experience to date has been limited to ascending the lighthouse; the new centre will engage visitors in the history, workings and importance of aids to navigation such as lighthouses and fog signals and the people who made it all work. The displays will demonstrate the nature of modern aids to navigation and demonstrate why as an island nation – dependent on the sea for trade – they remain of critical importance to the safety of the mariner and to a growing maritime leisure community.

On 16 October the European Space Agency (ESA) reported that a pair of fully functioning Galileo navigation satellites had recently been delivered to its operators, as preparations got underway for the next round of launches.

On 27-28 September, the two satellites launched on 22 August were handed over from ESA’s Space Operations Centre, (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany, to the Galileo Control Centre at Oberpfaffenhofen, also in Germany. Here they will be cared for pending a final decision on their use.

It is understood the satellites are in excellent health and working normally.

Galileo satellite – © ESA

A large fleet of warships from NATO’s Response Force (NRF) sailed from ports across Europe on 13 October to take part in the maritime component of Exercise NOBLE JUSTIFICATION in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, which will encompass the anti-submarine and the electronic warfare components.

NOBLE JUSTIFICATION will prepare and test the highest levels of readiness for rapid response to any NATO contingency. It also develops force integration, multinational interoperability and enhance readiness by building joint capability and deployability through a high density, high threat scenario in which NATO will respond to a threat to its integrity and the sovereignty of its member states.

The European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is a major industrial project developed by eight UNIFE (the European Rail Industry Association) members: Alstom Transport; Ansaldo STS; AZD Praha; Bombardier Transportation; CAF; Mermec; Siemens Mobility and Thales in close co-operation with the European Union, railway stakeholders and the GSM-R industry.

There are two basic components of ERTM: the European Train Control System (ETCS) an automatic train protecting system (ATP) to replace the existing national ATP systems. In addition there is GSM-R, a radio system for providing voice and data communication between the track and the train based on standard GSM using frequencies especially preserved for rail application with certain specific and advanced functions.

Real-time metocean data transmitted by a Fugro SEAWATCH Wavescan buoy is enabling energy industry construction expert Technip to plan its operations more effectively, leading to improved safety and cost-efficiency, it was reported on 7th October.

Work is well underway on Technip’s largest UK North Sea contract to date. Located West of Shetland, BP’s Quad 204 project involves replacing the existing Schiehallion production facility with a new, purpose-built FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading facility) and installing extensive new subsea infrastructure.

Wavescan buoy ready for deployment on board Fugro Symphony

Fugro Wavescan buoy deployed in BP’s Quad 204 project

On 7th October Transas Marine Pacific and its local partner Mercuries Data Systems (MDS) announced that they had secured a valuable contract for the Taiwan Coast Guard Administration for installation and commissioning of the National Coastal Surveillance System.

This mission-critical system is based on the Transas Navi-Harbour software employing advanced features for accurate detection, tracking and identification of small and high-speed targets. Taiwan Coast Guard will be provided with real time data on any activities occurring in a coastal zone thus ensuring full control over those waters.

PDG Helicopters (subsidiary Irish Helicopters) EC 135 Helicopter carrying out mobilisation of materials at Ardnakinna Lighthouse (Co. Cork) in preparation for planned lighthouse maintenance. Ardnakinna Lighthouse is owned and operated by the Commissioners of Irish Lights.

The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the UK and Ireland have announced a £13M seven-year contract to PDG Helicopters for the provision of helicopter services to cover all three Authorities.

Provision of one helicopter supplier across the GLAs will deliver significant cost savings of around £7.9M to the General Lighthouse Fund, which pays for the safety critical work of the GLAs to provide a reliable, efficient and costeffective marine aids to navigation service around the coast of UK and Ireland.

Until now each authority has contracted its own helicopter service provider and co-ordinated its own activities. The decision to award a single tri-GLA contract for helicopter services is a first for the participating authorities, who established a cross-GLA project team to manage the procurement process.

It was reported by the US Federal Aviation Administration on 28th September that air traffic controllers who normally work at the FAA’s Center in Chicago En Route Center in Aurora, Illinois are now working at other surrounding FAA air traffic facilities to help safely maximize the traffic flow in and out of the Chicago-area airports while the FAA and its telecommunications contractor, Harris Corporation, repair damaged communications equipment at Chicago Center. Some Chicago Center controllers also are travelling to other high altitude air traffic centres near Minneapolis, Kansas City, Indianapolis and Cleveland to assist controllers at those locations and minimize disruptions for travellers.