Page 69: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2017)

n October the world’s ferry operators passengers. In terms of bandwidth, Ole gathered in Split Croatia for the Forty Sivertsen of USA-based Global Eagle

Second Annual Interferry Conference. explained that passengers are no longer

I The 470 or so delegates represented just surf the net, but they are up load- 210 operators and support companies from ing vacation photos putting ever-greater 27 countries. A trade show included ? rms demand on the marine systems. Mean- from around the world including shipbuild- while, Mark Collins of the British Co- ers, naval architects, equipment suppliers, lumbia Ferries explained the challenges training and others of the diverse group that of passengers expecting free and seam- make up the ferry industry. less WiFi on routes that are often out of

In a panel on Mediterranean Ferries, range of towers and must rely on expen-

Philippe Holthof, of the Belgian-based sive satellite services for connectivity.

Shipax explained the huge size and com- In another example of the digitized fer- plexity of the ? eet. While RoRo ferries ry world, Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, Execu- are important in trans-med service, Italy tive Director of the US-based Worldwide has also taken the initiative in getting Ferry Safety Association, told of a New trucks off the highways in favor of RoRo York ferry company whose navigators services running up and down their coast. were using Google glasses. The glasses

To support competition among ferry op- have navigational info that allows the erators, subsidies go to the truckers rather vessel navigator to keep focused out- than the ferries. He also pointed out that side the bridge windows or even to walk the old “rust bucket” ? eet is now gone in around on the bridge wing while still favor of modern vessels, although LNG tracking their vessel. She pointed out the as a fuel has not been adopted largely obvious danger of system hacking and due to the challenges of cooling the fuel problems should the system go down with Mediterranean waters having tem- while the continued loss of traditional peratures in the 28 degree range. navigation skill-sets remains a concern.

In keeping with a time when world Ferry safety continued as a theme with leaders rule by Twitter, there was ap- John Wright of Wrightway, a UK-based propriate coverage of the role of big consulting ? rm that has recently worked data mining, utilizing social media for with BC Ferries in Canada. He stressed customer contact and the challenges of that safety had to be “top down and bot- providing unlimited connectivity for tom up” with capturing the hearts and

Marija Zaputavic of Jadrolinija Ferries of

When everything

Croatia explained that while her company is black & white...

conducts periodic surveys of passengers wants and needs, the results must be the solution is orange.

balanced between the wishes of tourists with the needs of the year round residents.

Get your vessel to sea faster

Jan Helge Pile, of Norway’s Colorline, told of his ? rm’s designing of a new

Avoid or reduce time in dry dock 160-meter, 2000-passenger, Ro-Pax ferry

Flame free installation means less risk with about a 500-car capacity for a route and less labor costs between Norway and Sweden.

Accommodate unique space requirements

The attendees were delighted with the good- humored sparring of two Australian heavy weights of the ferry world: Austal’s Mike

Wake and Incat’s Bob Clifford. Clifford, an icon of the industry and dressed in casual Aussie attire, made the case for the victaulic.com/maritimereporter ef? ciency of “two long skinny hulls” while © 2017 VICTAULIC COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.©2017VICTAULICCOMPANYALLRIGHTSRESERVED

Wake, with an impressive video, argued for the sea kindliness of a third central hull. www.marinelink.com 69

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