Maritime Information Systems AS (MARIS) has signed an important agreement with Seagull AS covering cooperation on product specific ECDIS training at Seagull's shore-based training centre in Norway.

The agreement  between the two Norwegian maritime industry specialists marks the latest initiative by MARIS to develop a standard training package by assimilating information on leading training  centres and approaching those in the ECDIS training business to offer cooperation and market MARIS' products and services.

"Our strategy is to identify crucial safety and environmental issues facing the hazardous cargo sector and develop and publish recommended criteria that will serve as benchmarks for the industry," said Steinar Gundersen, Deputy Chief Executive (Corporate), MARIS AS.

"There is demand for product specific ECDIS training and our strategy is to work with leading training institutes around the world to offer the end-users such product specific training.

"In conjunction with the International Maritime Organization and regional and national regulatory bodies MARIS supports the development of international conventions and global regulations that enhance the safe operation of vessels.

"We support global enforcement of conventions and regulations and encourage industry-wide acceptance of guidelines and recommendations. It is vital for MARIS to offer product specific training to our customers in more than 40 countries as a leading ECDIS supplier."

"MARIS puts an agreement in place with training institutes ensuring that the training is based on the latest software, documentation etc and that the training institute is approved by MARIS," Mr Gundersen said.

For MARIS the training is not only ECDIS but also related services like MARIS Digital Services (MDS)."

MDS presents a single real-time view to the mariner, shore-based managers and suppliers across a wide range of maritime Information. MDS Manager uses standard off-the-shelf hardware and is the master programme for several sub-modules. Satellite costs are kept to a minimum by taking only the minimum amount of data needed on a passage and this data can be downloaded and updated at any time. Data sent from the MDS servers is encrypted and super compressed, the user chooses the method of delivery and a log is kept within each module.

Source: Seagull