For training of its Sigma Class Corvette bridge personnel, the Indonesian Navy and Ministry of Defence selected VSTEP to supply two Class A NAUTIS Full Mission Bridge (FMB) Simulators for its Kobangdikal marine training facility in Surabaya it was reported by VSTEP from Rotterdam and Surabaya on 18th April 2013.

The Seventh Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) was held in Beijing, China from 5 to 9 November 2012. The meeting was hosted by the Government of the People’s Republic of China. IAIN was represented by Elisabeth Fischer (OVN).

The Seventh Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite
Systems (ICG) was held in Beijing, China from 4 to 9 November 2012, to continue
reviewing and discussing developments in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and to allow ICG members, associate members, and observers to address recent developments in their organizations and associations with regard to GNSS services and applications.

It is with regret that we report the passing of Captain David T Smith OBE FNI RN, Elder Brother of Trinity House, who died in Malta on 23rd March 2013, after a short illness at the age of 86. He was sworn as an Elder Brother in 1976 and retired from employment, in February 1992. However, he remained actively engaged with the Corporation’s work and aims as a member of the Court until his death.

HMS Trincomalee, berthed afloat at Jackson Dock, within Hartlepool’s
Maritime Experience.

It was announced from Montreal on 27th March by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) formalization of a new project with Indonesia, aimed at improving the management and reduction of its aviation carbon emissions.

The large-scale Environmental Measures Project will be undertaken between Indonesia’s Ministry of Transport and ICAO’s Technical Co-operation Bureau (ICAO-TCB). This reflects Indonesia’s determination to meaningfully address the environmental performance of its air transport sector over the near- and
longer-term, while additionally supporting recent Presidential Decrees on greenhouse gas emissions.

It was reported on 27th March that the Swedish Maritime Administration has initiated an extension of the ongoing MONALISA project, called MONALISA 2.0 through a renewed application to the European Commission’s TEN-T programme.

MONALISA 2.0 takes its point of departure in the results and experiences from
the current MONALISA project, co-financed by TEN-T under the Motorways of the Sea and which has received very positive feedback from stakeholders, international bodies and the European Commission.

The EUGIN website publishes details of links to forthcoming events.

The minutes of the IAIN General Assembly that took place at 1500 hrs. on September 30, 2012, in the Zurich Room of the Concorde El Salam Hotel, Cairo, Egypt, as part of the IAIN World Congress.

The minutes of the IAIN General Assembly that took place at 1500 hrs. on September 30, 2012, in the Zurich Room of the Concorde El Salam Hotel, Cairo, Egypt, as part of the IAIN World Congress.

A strong run of orders for MARIS has culminated in a 30-system deal covering the delivery of its ECDIS900 system to Turkish customers, it was reported from Nøtterøy, Norway on 22nd March.

This deal highlights the longstanding relationship between MARIS and wellknown marine electronics distribution and service specialist STT International Ltd. It covers existing and future STT requirements to deliver MARIS ECDIS900 to Turkish owners and shipyards. STT reports that the first systems are committed to general cargo vessel newbuildings due for delivery to Yildirim Group from the Marmara Shipyard before the end of 2013.

Ralf Pluch, MARIS Director Sales Europe

A recent upgrade to AtoBviaC’s end user applications for the BP Shipping Marine Distance Tables now means that users can adjust routes and obtain distances to match their own operations. The changes make it possible for the user to produce deviation reports following changes in voyage destinations.

Tanker owners, operators, charterers and shipmasters are often faced with evaluating changes in trading patterns due to geo-political events and oil supply and demand imbalances. They are used to relying upon AtoBviaC’s BP Shipping Marine Distance Tables to provide accurate and viable distances, based on actual routes, to estimate true costs and to maximise potential profit.

Lisa Beaty, Executive Director of the (US) Institute of Navigation announces with sincere regret that the Institute of Navigation (ION) Military Division must cancel this year’s Joint Navigation Conference (JNC) in Orlando, Florida, originally scheduled for 10th to 13th June 2013.

Apparently this decision has not been taken lightly, but due to the Department of Defense recent policies detailing actions to be taken to prepare for drastic budget cuts, the curtailment of travel, fallout from a scandal with GSA conferences this past year, the current sequestration, and possible furloughs for federal employees, it is no longer possible for ION to ensure the JNC will be
able to maintain a high quality technical program and sufficient networking opportunities that makes the JNC so valuable to Department of Defense / Department of Homeland Security employees and their supporting organizations.

Stephan Mayer, President of the Austrian Institute of Navigation, OVN, reports high interest of the navigation community in the ENC. More than 150 oral presentations and 50 poster presentations will be featured in 32 sessions.

It was announced from Brussels on 5th March that the Pan European Network Service (PENS) is now the operational network for the exchange of coordination messages between the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Centres of NATS in Swanwick (UK) and the Maastricht Upper Area Centre (MUAC) in The Netherlands. PENS allows ATC Centres to exchange flight information data securely and efficiently by using IP (Internet Protocol) Version 6 (IPv6) as required by the Flight Message Transfer Protocol (FMTP) Implementing Rule.

Information exchanges between flight data processing systems are established between air traffic control units for the notification, co-ordination and transfer of flights as well as for civil-military co-ordination.

These information exchanges need appropriate and harmonised communication protocols to secure their interoperability – and PENS provides this service.

Taking a cue from how ESA controls satellites, Spanish railways now have their own high-tech upgrade to keep travellers abreast of when the next train is going to arrive.

Drawing on sophisticated software that keeps satellites on track, the system was developed by a group of Elecnor Deimos engineers who had worked extensively on ESA projects. The outcome of this technology transfer is that up-to-date train schedules are now displayed at over 400 Spanish stations.

The European Space Solutions Conference, recently held in London by the initiative of the European Commission, was witness to very important steps for
European GNSS downstream industry, it was claimed in a statement from Galileo Services at the end of January.

The EC Vice-President, Antonio Tajani, and the GSA Executive Director, Carlo des Dorides acknowledge the necessity of EU public funds to support EU GNSS application R&D and to ensure benefits from the growing GNSS application market for Europe.

The UK should plan now to mitigate the effects of a rare but potentially serious
solar superstorm, according to a report published on 7th February by the Royal
Academy of Engineering. Although the UK is better prepared than many
countries, there are areas where the nation needs to improve its resilience.

The Academy’s report, Extreme space weather: impacts on engineered systems
and infrastructure, was drawn up with the help of experts from many different
disciplines. It is the UK’s first in-depth assessment of the potential impacts of
solar superstorms.

After an exhaustive examination of the JAL lithium-ion battery, which comprised eight individual cells, investigators determined that the majority of evidence from the flight data recorder and both thermal and mechanical damage pointed to an initiating event in a single cell. That cell showed multiple signs of short circuiting, leading to a thermal runaway condition, which then cascaded to other cells.

The major update of the World VTS Guide website is now complete and went live in time for the VTS Symposium. During the symposium, held in Istanbul last September, a paper was presented to the audience of 335 professional VTS attendees on the new website and an Exhibition Stand was also available to demonstrate the new system and answer any questions. It was very helpful to meet many of our users to explain our philosophy and show them how the new content management system works.

The General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA) of the United Kingdom and Ireland have commenced preparations for replacement and upgrading of the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) equipment for their waters. This upgrading will allow differential corrections to be transmitted for future GNSS and additional signals
from existing GNSS. There will be no changes to the broadcast parameters (frequency, range and so forth). This was advised in a Notice to Mariners issued in mid-January.

The Seventh Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) was held in Beijing, China from 5 to 9 November 2012. The meeting was hosted by the Government of the People’s Republic of China. IAIN was represented by Elisabeth Fischer (OVN). The 7th ICG meeting had around 190 participants, ranging from government representations to intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations.

The Seventh Meeting of the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite
Systems (ICG) was held in Beijing, China from 4 to 9 November 2012, to continue
reviewing and discussing developments in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and to allow ICG members, associate members, and observers to address recent developments in their organizations and associations with regard to GNSS services and applications.

The General Lighthouse Authorities of the UK and Ireland (GLA) have announced that ships in the Port of Dover, its approaches and part of the Dover Strait can now use eLoran radio navigation technology as a backup to satnav systems like GPS and Galileo. The ground based eLoran system provides alternative position and timing signals for improved navigational safety. The Dover area, the world’s busiest shipping lane, is the first in the world to achieve this initial operational capability (IOC) for shipping companies operating both passenger and
cargo services.

The latest edition of IMO News, No 4 of 2012, was issued at the end of the second week of December and contains, on page 10, a reference to the Secretary General’s attendance at VTS 2012 hosted in Istanbul by the Directorate General of Coastal Safety, Turkey and IALA. At this event Koji Sekimizu introduced the watchwords “Accident Zero”. This is an initiative encouraging IALA and VTS providers around the world to indicate the number of consecutive accident-free days they achieve.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents over 80% of the
world’s merchant fleet, has issued a new position paper on Arctic shipping. As the Arctic becomes more accessible, ICS has set out some key principles with regard to the future governance of Arctic waters.