While fleet owners have typically relied on costly satellite services for messaging and vessel reporting, the maritime industry now has an alternative way to communicate position reports and track vessels. A provider of business intelligence solutions targeted at the maritime sector, PortVision has unveiled a cost-effective workboat communications and tracking service called TriMode.

A Web-based workboat fleet management and business intelligence service, TriMode uses PortVision’s AIS-based offering to grant two-way cellular and satellite service to fleet owners. Using least cost routing across three communication paths, the solution cuts overall costs in half as compared to legacy satellite-only methods.

“Traditionally, fleet owners relied only on expensive satellite airtime for vessel reporting and messaging,” said Dean Rosenberg, PortVision chief executive officer. “By integrating AIS, cellular and satellite capabilities into a tri-mode solution, PortVision is able to significantly increase fleet visibility and enhance maritime business intelligence, while saving our customers up to 50 percent in hardware and airtime costs.”

By communicating over three paths, fleet owners gain operational and reporting advantages as well as the ability to create e-mail alerts, view arrival and departure history, and utilize PortVision’s data warehouse, which oversees 40 million vessel positions every day and boasts five year’s worth of archives of more than 15 billion arrival, departure and vessel movement records.

Least cost routing is integrated into three communication paths, including AIS for real-time reporting of the fleet and other AIS-enabled vessels when they are near the shore or in-port; cellular for cost-effective, near real-time reporting during instances of a vessel being within a cellular coverage area; and satellite for definite reporting and text messaging in the event of cellular service being down.

In addition to the accessibility of an economical AIS and cellular service, PortVision TriMode customers will achieve enhanced safety and efficiency, streamlined coordination of vendors and resources, management of traffic scheduling and dispatch, incorporated reporting and analysis, improved market intelligence, and a more rapid response time to incidences.

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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell