Getting what you want, when you want it
A new service has just been launched that will put any of the UK Hydrographic Office’ s digitised Admiralty charts and publications at your fingertips, day or night – wherever you might be in the world.
In addition to a real-time view of the paper and digital chart holdings, the service will also give consistent tide, weather and other related data to shore-based managers and mariners, cutting the complexities of voyage planning, optimising sailing and port turnaround times.
The Admiralty e-Navigator service aims to make every stage of navigation and fleet management both easier and safer. Accurate berth-to-berth information will be available through a single application and customers will be able to buy exactly what they need, when they need it. The idea is to bring in direct cost savings alongside reductions in time and effort.
UK National Hydrographer Rear Admiral Ian Moncrieff says, ‘Ninety per cent of navigation is preparation and the ability to reliably plan routes electronically, in the most optimal way and to readily get access to and maintain up-to-date official maritime information with minimal user-maintenance will dramatically reduce the workload of seafarers.’
He adds, ‘New regulations, environmental concerns, the demands of vessel security, as well as a constantly changing marine environment are all putting increasing pressure on marine superintendents and mariners.’ So the plans are that e-Navigator will provide a platform for further development.
Hugh Phillips, of the UKHO says that the system is ‘uniquely positioned’ and sees its advantages as being able to cut through the complexity that exists for fleet managers. ‘Both they, and their crews, will have access to information as never before, literally putting a world of maritime information at their fingertips,’ he says.
The e-Navigator application is actually another evolutionary step based on the well proven MARIS Maritime Digital services (MDS), and will incorporate all its current functions, as well as adding to them. The UKHO say that it has found the MDS itself has been of invaluable use to many ship owners, helping them take on the transition from analogue to electronic navigation – and the office has hopes that this development too will help the inevitable shift in to the digital age.
Jenny Peart of UKHO says that the system makes sense from both a mariners’ and business perspective, ’The key is, getting what you require, when you require it.’ She adds, ‘Both ships companies and distributors are under so much pressure these days, helping them to do business as efficiently as possible will, we think, help to make a difference.’
