Key topics

Communication infrastructure of a ship

At first glance a ship is a spatially closed and isolated structure in which executives and staff members perform their respective duties at a close geographic distance to each other in order to transport persons or goods from A to B in a safe and quick manner and at low cost. One could therefore compare a ship with a factory building of a production company – with the captain as the “Plant Manager”. And just like factory buildings or branch offices of a global enterprise with the vessels of the Beluga Group are elements of a worldwide production and/or logistics network with the following nodal points:

  • the Beluga headquarters in Bremen
  • the ports of the world in which products of the customers are loaded and then discharged
  • the locations of the shipyards that build the vessels of the Beluga fleet
  • the locations of the service partners that keep the fleet mobile with spare parts, operating resources, etc.
  • as well as each ship of the fleet as a mobile node in this network.

The aim of the SEMICS portal is to support the following information, communication and business processes in this network:

between fleet and headquarters

Ship status: Loading / discharging, bunkering, process and system deviations, delays, failures, accidents, emergencies Transactions / orders: Spare parts, operating resources, food Personnel: Master data, qualifications, training and certification (Sea Academy Online), module training for the crews, planning and control, staff assignment planning (crew planning on board)Fleet planning: Client / chartererMalfunction management: Personnel, cargo, operating resources

between headquarters, customers and suppliers

Tracking / tracing the customer order, complete documentation (paperless, mobile), recording deviations, orders for spare parts, use of electronic manuals, checklists
The following figure illustrates the basic structure of the SEMICS portal on board a ship and the various ways of accessing this portal:
SEMICS portal on board a ship

Semics portal on board a ship

 

Data input on board by Master/Chief/Officers
Acknowledgement / signatures / authentication
Input by Chief
Direct monitoring of minimum quantities
Transmission to suppliers
Checklists, process imaging (loading / discharging, bunkering, safety (ISM), maintenance, ship delivery, legal security, etc.)
Procurement (catering, spare parts, operating resources)
QM / ISM manual
Online training, guided tours, legally secure documentation
Communication, cooperation, video conferencing, blog, Wiki
Intranet on board
Reference book for all crew members
Access for classifiers / certifiers / auditors / technical/nautical inspectors
Training of crews
Sea Academy Online

Multimedia and interactive

The SEMICS project focuses on a “blended leading” approach – a management approach that follows an “intelligent” mixture of face-to-face and technically mediated elements.
The results of the project shall lead to exemplary processes and IT applications and will be evaluated extensively, both on board and on shore. In particular the communication and collaboration tools have to be examined and to be integrated in a “blended leading” scenario. The following tools, among other things, will be considered:

  • Synchronous communication: VoIP, chat, video conferencing, etc.
  • Asynchronous communication: e-mail, instant messaging, news, blogs, etc.
  • Shared workspaces, document and knowledge management, content and application sharing, whiteboard, calendar, project planning, meeting support, etc.