Crescent Highway Paves Road to Security in MCA Trial

Supplied through Marconi Selenia Marine, the first unit was installed earlier this year on Crescent Highway , Crescent’s managed 3,100 tonne bitumen carrier, with this project acting as a proof of concept trial for the UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

The trial formed an integral part of Satamatics’ independent verification strategy for Ocean Alert, which has resulted in its certification and regulatory approval by the maritime industry’s major class societies.

Following the successful experience with Satamatics’ SSAS technology on Crescent Highway , Crescent is now specifying Ocean Alert for all of its newbuild projects and is also retrofitting the system to a further two ships next month and a further three before the end of this year. Part of Crescent Marine Services managed fleet of ten tankers, two ro-ro vessels and one cement carrier, the Crescent Highway iscurrently on time charter to Exxon Mobil. All Crescent Ocean Alert systems are being supplied through Marconi Selenia Marine, Satamatics’ appointed maritime distributor for Italy, Spain and the UK. Demand for the systems has been rising dramatically as the SOLAS compliance deadline of 1 July 2004 looms ever closer.

Satamatics’ Ocean Alert SSAS provides global coverage and automatic roaming across all ocean regions, with the technology combining security monitoring and location tracking. Its primary function is to monitor a ship’s security status and respond to activation of the security alert buttons that are deployed around the vessel. In parallel with its security duties, it can also be optionally configured to transmit a ship’s precise location to the fleet operating company at customer defined intervals. All reporting from the system takes place via Satamatics’ secure worldwide telematics network.

Once triggered, Ocean Alert automatically increases the reporting frequency until the emergency has been resolved. A dedicated Ocean Alert website allows fleet managers to nominate contact names, mobile phone numbers and email addresses for receiving the automatic alerts.

MJ Information No: 19583