News | EQUIPMENT
Safety Inmarsat rolls out
distress service Satcomms provider Inmarsat has rolled out its new non-Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Voice Distress calling service. Te first terminal manufacturer to carry the service is Trane & Trane, which has unveiled its new SAILOR 3771 Alarm Panel FleetBroadband terminal, specifically for the task. Targeting smaller, non-SOLAS commercial and
recreational craſt, the SAILOR 3771 provides users with an alarm panel featuring a red emergency button which, when activated, enables onboard personnel to override any non-urgent calls and establish a direct connection with an operator at one of three global maritime rescue coordination centres (MRCCs), situated in Australia, the Netherlands and the USA, in line with Inmarset’s I-4 satellite postioning. Distress calls are placed over Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband 150/250/500 services. Te SAILOR 3771 was made commercially available in late May, at a list price of €375 (US$540). James Collett, senior director of maritime business at
Inmarsat, told Ship & Boat International that while Trane & Trane is the only satcomms terminal manufacturer to provide the non-SOLAS voice distress service panel at present, Japan Radio Company (JRC) is expected to bring out a similar product in 2012, with Furuno expected to follow in due course. “Tese are all very much homegrown developments, so the implementation may vary from company to company – we could see some manufacturers launch the voice distress service panel as a handset, for instance,” Collett commented. Although the FleetBroadband service is currently not SOLAS-approved, Collett confirmed that Inmarsat is in
The Thrane & Thrane SAILOR 3771 enables users to make non-SOLAS voice distress calls.
dialogue with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to achieve this status, a process he hoped to be realised by the end of 2014. Inmarsat has also announced that it plans to expand
the ability of shipowners and managers to manage their communications, by launching multiple voice capability over FleetBroadband, enabling the service to handle up to nine concurrent voice calls, and providing additional telephone lines, each with their own +870 prefix number. According to Collett, this would allow ship operators to “more easily separate the business and operational communications needs from those of the crew.” Te retail price of the multi-voice capability service
has been reported as US$0.55 per minute for pre-paid and post-paid voice calls made over FleetBroadband.
www.inmarsat.com
Paints & coatings Polished SEAFLO
NEO performance Chugoku Marine Paints (CMP) unveiled a new high-performance hydrolysis antifouling paint system at Nor-Shipping 2011, Oslo. Te antifouling utilises a special polymer to deliver an ultra-smooth surface and excellent self-polishing performance. Testing by CMP demonstrated that SEAFLO NEO
reduces frictional resistance by 8% over conventional antifouling paints, and displays excellent static fouling performance. When applied to in-service ships it is predicted that this will translate into fuel savings of approximately3-5%. Te paint can be applied using conventional methods with a very smooth finish due to its self-levelling properties. CMP states that the product will perform consistently
for as long as 90months, subsequently lowering maintenance costs by reducing the frequency between reapplications. According to CMP, environmentally, SEAFLO NEO
is the lowest VOC (330g/L) antifouling in the hydrolysis category. Te lower VOC also means less coating per square metre is required – more than 40% of VOC can be eliminated in most cases. Te performance of the TBT-free paint was benchmarked against CMP’s SEAGRANDPRIX 1000.
www.cmp.co.jp
Communications Vizada launches 14
comms solution Satcomms provider Vizada has launched its Vizada Xchange platform, which is intended to offer ship
Ship & Boat International July/August 2011
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