Page 23: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2016)

However, what started and evolved as an innocent position report has slowly but steadily become a monster, with various formats of noon reports being provided to not just ship owners and managers, but also charterers, sub-charterers, weather providers, ports and terminals, oil majors, commodity traders and agents, to name a few.

minals, oil majors, commodity traders, agents, etc. to name a few.

Adopting GMT as the standard time for all reporting, would in today’s global era, certainly make life a lot less com- plicated. Unlike in the past where accu- rate position was known only at ship’s noon, today the GPS position is avail- able throughout the day. With modern communication systems and real-time data collection platforms, it no longer makes sense to continue noon reporting.

Real time access to on-board data will not only provide companies the status of vessels at any given time and more importantly at the time of need, but also free the crew to deal with the actual task of operating the vessel ef? ciently in to- day’s minimum manning environment.

To ensure the ef? ciency of the larger global supply chain (in which shipping plays a signi? cant part), it is likely that a single uni? ed time will eventually evolve to be the norm. There is no ques- tion that early movers will have substan- tial edge over their rivals when they can show greater ef? ciency and control of operations. It remains to be seen as to who is courageous enough to break with perhaps a 100 year tradition and bin the noon report in its current form. This in itself will be a giant leap for an industry that is known for being reactive instead of proactive in embracing change.

The Author

Melvin Mathews is an MBA graduate and

Innovation that shapes tomorrow

Ex-Master Mariner with over 20 years of experience in the maritime industry, pre- viously serving as a Captain on vessels

Marine Jet Power is a leading supplier of ranging from coastal ships to VLCC’s. He waterjet propulsion for small craft and larger is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical ships – the ?rst in duplex steel mixed ?ow jets.

Institute and fellow of IMarEST. Melvin’s extensive travel and working in several countries has broadened his expertise

Meet us at SMM.

and understanding of operating in mul- ticultural and multilingual environments.

He has extensive business and consul- tancy experience and shouldered Risk- assessment and Risk-management ini- tiatives at a senior level. He is a certi? ed marinejetpower.com nautical lecturer and has been involved in Maritime & Competency training.

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