Marusan Kaiun’s newly delivered containership Shimakaji has entered into service with a new digital route planning system from the Japan Weather Association (JWA), which will be used to optimise routing based on weather and ocean data.
Built by Yamanaka Shipbuilding in Japan, the 2,450 dwt Shimakaji made its maiden voyage on the Osaka-Okinawa route at the end of July 2021. The new vessel’s bridge has been installed with JWA’s POLARIS Navigation software, where weather and ocean forecasts and optimal route suggestions will be displayed through the Electronic Chart System and JWA’s Operation Supporter application.
The Operation Supporter can also be installed at other locations around the vessel, so route advice can be checked by crew away from the bridge itself.
In addition, the suggested route information will also be made available via the Aisea Pro digital platform from Aidea, used to share and visualise data on various kinds of ship data from POLARIS and other sources, both on ship and on shore.
