Functions added to vessel tracking system

The new functionality, an addition to Pole Star’s Fleet Management and SSAS Alert Advanced products, enables users to select from a series of pre-defined areas that carry additional environmental regulatory requirements or security risks and apply them to their voyage management and reporting procedures. Industry Zones is intended to provide automatic notification when a vessel enters and exits the pre-defined zone and can be configured to increase frequency of reporting while in the zone.

Pole Star says that with regulatory reporting requirements increasing and maritime piracy acknowledged as a long-term problem, its vessel tracking and reporting tools provide a crucial link between ship and shore, putting voyage risk management of a complete fleet into the hands of users on a single screen.

In addition to entry and exit alerts, Fleet Management users can receive automatically-increased frequency of reporting via email or SMS while the ship remains in a selected zone. SSAS Alert Advanced users receive automatic entry and exit notification and ships can be polled on demand for latest position reports. Pre-defined security zones include the UKMTO and the International Recognised Transit Corridor as well as designated War Risk zones for insurance purposes.

Environmental zones include five MARPOL Special Areas: Annex I (discharge of oil and oily mixtures from machinery and cargo spaces), Annex II (discharge of noxious liquid substances), Annex IV (discharge of sewage), Annex V (discharge of garbage) and Annex VI (NOx & SOx emission control areas) as well as particularly sensitive sea areas.

In addition, users of both products can establish their own geo-zones to provide a similar level of notification on their own chosen criteria, such as proximity to a specific coastline, potentially congested waters or an area of known bad weather. Once the geo-zone is established, users can create notifications to alert selected users via email/SMS when a vessel reports a position on entering, exiting and inside the zone.

Paul Morter, Pole Star director of sales said: “Shipowners today face both increased security threats and a greater regulatory burden, so there is a need to simplify compliance while at the same time sharpening security monitoring. To manage these issues effectively they need tools that bring together all the information needed for voyage planning and execution. Pole Star Industry Zones provides that functionality within a proven and widely-adopted system and in a single screen view, vessel by vessel, across a whole fleet.”

Pole Star Fleet Management provides independent asset monitoring and management to support remote voyage risk management. The SOLAS-compliant SSAS Alert Advanced system is designed to operate for both routine and specific incident monitoring, providing ship crews with a link to the company security officer with real-time alerts and visibility on ship position and status.