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Ocean Systems Product Offerings Vessel Optimization and Safety System
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| The original concept of
Optimum Ship Routing was conceived by OSI company founder while studying at MIT and presented in his 1978 Ph.D. thesis. With the
encouragement from ship captains of American President Lines and the
ever increasing power of personal computers, the first onboard ship
weather routing system became operational in 1993 under the name IMDSS
and later become Vessel
Optimization and Safety System (VOSS). To provide the
long-range global wind and wave forecast, OSI partners with Oceanweather
Inc. Since then, hundreds of ships and offshore platforms have
used the service over the past decade.
Ocean
Systems has invested over ten years and several million dollars
in the development and advancement of our navigation line of
products and services. Our
weather and wave forecasting, weather routing and optimization
and sea-keeping products are arguably industry benchmarks since
its inception in 1993. Ships at sea simply downloads the weather via satellite communication. The software allows the user to plan best passage by simulating and optimizing routes for a given arrival time with minimum fuel consumption while avoiding weather damage. Unlike other weather programs on the market, VOSS includes the detailed modeling of ship's motion, engine and propeller characteristics. The "virtual" ship accurately estimates ship speed made good under forecast wind and wave conditions due to engine power and propeller RPM, as well as ship motion limitations defined in the "Safe Operating Envelop". VOSS has proven, over the years by ship captains who want to make the best passage plans for their own ships, cargo and schedule instead of leaving to some meteorologist thousands miles away who has little or no knowledge of the his ship's behavior. This is possible by the advent of super computers running numerical weather models, which surpasses the skill of human forecasters looking at weather charts trying to predict storm paths. Today's cost-effective satellite communication allows the digital data to be sent to ships at sea on daily basis. Coupled with the ever increasing power of desktop PCs, the "dream" conceived 20 years ago finally become reality. Click here to download a VOSS brochure; Click here for company contact information. For detailed technical back ground information, click here to download (5 Mbytes) |
Example of VOSS Weather, Motion predictions and Voyage Optimization
VOSS has been adapted for the US Navy's Optimum Track Ship Routing to avoid such events on Naval vessels.
Study Carried out by APL, a long time client after using VOSS, show that:
· The
actual number of hours delayed due to heavy weather decreased by 80%. · The
number of structural damage claims due to heavy weather decreased by
73%, while the cost of claims declined by 29%. ·
Cargo
damage claims due to heavy weather decreased by 87%.
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