| Competing for Data
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| As connectivity at sea becomes more common, opportunities for new applications and business models are proliferating. Nor-Shipping 2019 showcased an increasingly competitive market for ship data services, with half a dozen vendors offering comprehensive platforms for transmission, storage and analysis. Many of these firms are from adjacent spaces, and their new services are bundled in ways that overlap traditional industry lines. It appears that previous forecasts for single-vendor, all-inclusive data services - VSAT packaged with e-navigation, cybersecurity, IoT, cloud services, vessel performance management and remote monitoring - are coming closer to reality. More satcom options A new wave of communications satellite operators will enter into service in the next few years, bringing more competition to the maritime broadband market. Newcomers Starlink and OneWeb are building low earth orbit and medium earth orbit (LEO / MEO) networks to compete with the existing geostationary orbit (GEO) constellations ...
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| Huge Qantas Frequent Flyer overhaul
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| Qantas is set to announce what Australia's largest airline says will be the biggest overhaul in the 32-year history of its Frequent Flyer program.
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| 15 Tonnes of Cocaine Seized Aboard Boxship in Philadelphia
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| Federal agents at the Port of Philadelphia have seized 15.5 tonnes of cocaine from containers aboard the boxship MSC Gayane. It is the the largest drug seizure in the history of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, large enough to equal seven percent of the U.S. Coast Guard's cocaine interdiction total for FY2017. The 10,000 TEU MSC Gayane is assigned to the NWC - USA - SAWC rotation, and she called at ports in the Bahamas, Panama, Colombia and Peru prior to her arrival at the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in Philadelphia. Local media reported that the shipment of cocaine was ultimately intended for delivery at the Gayane's next destinations in the Netherlands and France. According to charging documents, members of the Gayane's crew brought the drugs aboard during multiple rendezvous with small boats at sea, then concealed the narcotics in seven containers. Two crewmembers confessed to involvement and have been charged in federal court, including the Gayane's second officer, Ivan Durasevic. "Upon leaving ...
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| Royal Navy Appoints New Top Officer
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| Admiral Tony Radakin has taken over from Admiral Sir Philip Jones as Britain's most senior sailor. Adm. Jones has stepped down after three years as First Sea Lord and 41 years serving the UK. Adm. Radakin has been Second Sea Lord since 2018, and previously served as Chief of Staff of the UK Joint Forces Command from 2016-2018. He served during the Iran/Iraq "Tanker War" in the 1980s; performed security duties in the Falklands, NATO embargo operations in the Adriatic and counter-smuggling operations in Hong Kong and the Caribbean; and he served three tours in Iraq. He has been in command of the patrol boat HMS Blazer, the frigate HMS Norfolk, the Naval Training Team in Iraq, the Iraqi Maritime Task Force, Portsmouth Naval Base and Commander of UK Maritime Forces and NATO's High Readiness Maritime Component. During his command, Adm. Radakin will oversee the new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth deploying for the first time and the next of Britain's aircraft carriers, HMS Prince of Wales, enter service. He will ...
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| USCG Suspends Search for Missing Fisherman off Florida
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| The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended a search for a fishing boat captain who went over the side off the Atlantic coast of Florida on Sunday. Russell Minor, the skipper of the commercial fishing boat Day Boat Too, fell overboard at about 0300 hours on Sunday morning at a position roughly 300 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral. Crewmembers reported the incident to the U.S. Coast Guard, which launched a search with an HC-130 Hercules long range SAR airplane. The crew of the HC-130 dropped a datum marker buoy at Minor's last known position to generate information for a search pattern. To cover a broader area, the Coast Guard called in the cutters Dependable and William Flores, plus additional aircraft crews from Coast Guard Air Stations Clearwater, Elizabeth City, and Miami. Altogether, they covered roughly 4,600 square miles over the course of the next 42 hours, but did not locate the victim. "The decision to suspend a search is never easy and not one we make lightly," said Christopher Eddy, search and ...
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, all countries ( USA, Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand ) (sources)
