TORM Selects MARIS As ECDIS Supplier
TORM A/S, one of the world’s leading transporters of refined oil products, has signed a frame agreement with navigation systems specialist MARIS covering a range of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS). Following a closed tender, the Danish owner has selected state-of-the-art MARIS Solid State Drive ECDIS hardware, software, service, support and maintenance and official ENC’s Electronic Nautical Chart Service.
Under the terms of the deal, MARIS will supply ECDIS to new buildings, as well as replace existing ECDIS equipment onboard a number of TORM ships. The initial agreement calls for the supply and installation of 120 ECDIS systems, as part of a project which will also see delivery of computer-based training modules, as well as Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS) and Admiralty Digital Publications, and the MDS chart manager service that supports AVCS (as an interim solution until e-Navigator is available from UKHO).
Zero Downtime
TORM has also committed to ‘Zero downtime ECDIS’, which involves the installation of three ECDIS per ship, an idea conceptualized by TORM and supported by Maris. The service responds to the International Maritime Organization’s phase in of mandatory ECDIS carriage from 2012 onwards, and involves installation of a third unit as a ‘hot spare’ to ensure ECDIS services are available at all times.
According to SOLAS V/22, 16.2, while ECDIS malfunctions will not necessarily make a ship unseaworthy or provide a reason for delays in port, suitable arrangements must be “made by the Master to take the inoperative equipment or unavailable information into account in planning and executing a safe voyage to a port where repairs can take place”.
First
Steinar Gundersen, MARIS Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate), said: “While IMO rules are clear, it remains to be seen how individual Flag States and Port State Controllers will interpret them. The Zero downtime ECDIS concept has been devised to avoid potential delays, so that a ship can always proceed to the next convenient port of call, where repairs can be undertaken. Any defective unit can then be shipped to the manufacturer at the ship owner’s convenience for repair.”
In what he described as “another industry first”, Mr Gundersen said that TORM had also opted for the new 24/7 support service from MARIS, providing round the clock hardware, software and chart and digital publications support for users of ECDIS, 365 day a year by both telephone and email.