An introduction to Maritime Digital Services

Over the last fifty years ships have got bigger and faster, manning levels have been reduced and the workload on board has increased substantially. ECS/ECDIS has assisted navigators on the bridge but has brought its own problems in terms of extra administration. Accidents due to crew fatigue are increasing and this is worrying government agencies around the world. Port state inspectors are regularly checking timesheets to ensure that crew members do not exceed statutory working hours. Owners are aware of the increasing administrative workload affecting ships officers particularly and are looking for ways of assisting them to cope with this. Masters and officers interviewed by MARIS have advised that software to simplify and reduce their administrative workload would be a real benefit.

MARIS meets the challenge
MARIS responded by developing Maritime Digital Services (MDS). This initiative uses software modules on board and a database ashore to assist the Master and Officers complete a range of tasks more efficiently.

The MARIS MDS Goal is to develop further software tools to assist the mariner to :

• Improve efficiency.
• Save fuel.
• Reduce operating costs

MDS Manager is the fulcrum software that links all modules supplied by MARIS under the MDS banner.

MDS Paper Chart Manager reduces the time necessary to manage and correct paper charts and publications on board by up to 60 per cent.

MDS ARCS/ENC Manager simplifies and reduces cost of purchasing, managing and updating electronic charts.

MDS Route Manager reduces the time to plan a route, order charts and corrections and produce a voyage plan including squat calculation.

MDS Publications Manager reduces the time taken to update navigation and other publications on board.

MDS Weather Manager reduces the time to review route weather and plan accordingly.

MDS Port and Document Manager saves time by providing the latest information and documentation to meet port, national and international requirements.

MDS saves time and money
The MDS Server pre-processes the data that every mariner needs to correct paper charts. There is no need for the navigator on every ship to carry out this same pre-processing chore.

MDS Manager uses standard off the shelf hardware
There is no requirement for bespoke hardware. MDS software will run on a standard PC or laptop.

MDS Manager is the master programme for several sub-modules
It is not necessary to open a different programme for each task. The user can carry out several tasks from within the MDS - Manager software. Common data is accessed by all programme modules.

Taking only data needed on passage keeps satellite download costs lower than any competitor
Updates for charts under the current route are all that are needed on passage. All other chart updates can be downloaded direct from theinternet at the next port.

Data can be downloaded and updated at any time
MDS Manager is used to place data orders. Individual orders are sent by return email and weekly update orders are sent automatically as soon as they are generated by the MDS Servers. Order changes and additional data requests can be made at any time.

Data sent from the MDS servers is encrypted and super compressed
The MDS servers encrypt and super compress data before emailing this to the user. Encryption guarantees security whilst super compression reduces the attachment file size to a minimum.

The user chooses the delivery method
Data is sent from MDS servers as an email attachment and can be downloaded automatically or manually via any email delivery method.

A log is kept within each module
MDS manager stores details of all user actions and a range of reports may be printed on demand.