Maritime Media Evolving?

Ryan Skinner recently posted a piece on his blog about maritime media and advertorial shipping magazines. His follow up piece describes how current maritime media advertisers need to chose between "... a dying paradigm they understand, and a lively paradigm they don't."

Skinner believes media will have no choice but to change, to evolve with the times. At Amver we recognized the world of information sharing was changing, which is why we launched the Amver blog and other new media products.

What's funny is that some people have been trumpeting this change for some time now. Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, calls what people are looking for "snackable content". We think he may be on to something. In a soundbite world there seems to be a desire for shorter, more relevant content geared for mobile readers. Heck, even Amver has joined the mobile trend with an iPhone application available on iTunes.

How has the proliferation of online media changed the way you consume information or advertise? How do you read your favorite maritime trade journals? How will you advertise in the future?

Amver, There's An App For That!

Are you trying to keep track of the rescue news, blog posts, Twitter stream, and other social media products Amver dishes out to you? No need to worry because today we announce the launch of our application on iTunes!

Compatible with the iPhone and soon to be released iPad, the Amver app combines our blog posts and Twitter stream in a single source. Why does an international search and rescue program need an iPhone app? Because the way information is delivered and consumed is evolving. C.C. Chapman, who recently launched his own iPhone application, stated on his blog that he wanted an easy one click way for people to get his content. C.C. is not alone. Chris Brogan also launched an iPhone application of all his content.

Besides the blog we engage our customers on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Having an application that begins to aggregate these different spaces into one place seems like a natural way forward.

As more people leverage mobile based technology it will be the rule, rather than the exception, for organizations to have a presence in the mobile space. The launch of the Amver iPhone application ensures our program has a foothold in the future.

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Amver By The Numbers

The year in review

2009 was a good year for Amver. You can read the entire business summary and see the 2009 Amver certificate count as well. But what do all these numbers mean?

Take a look at this chart. We have superimposed the average number of ships on the Amver plot from 2003 to 2009. The Amver plot has increased from 2,788 ships on plot per day to 3,617 while the number of vessels earning Amver awards has increased from 3,887 to 5,549 for the same period. Look at the green line. That line represents the world's fleet of ships over 100 gross tons registered with Lloyd's Register Fairplay.

What we find most interesting is that despite a significant drop in the number of ships in the world's fleet, Amver participation continued to steadily increase. Does that mean Amver is growing in worldwide acceptance? We certainly hope so.

Taking a closer look at last year we continued to see growth. 1,417 ships enrolled in Amver in 2009, down 179 ships from 2008. Despite this drop the number of vessels reporting to Amver increased by 196 per day. In fact, the average daily plot increased from 3,421 ships in 2008 to 3,617 in 2009.

The net result of these numbers was 237 lives saved. That's the reason we continually recruit and reward ships for enrolling in the system. So sailors disabled and adrift near Madagascar, refugees adrift near Spain, or yachtsmen capsized hear Cape Horn can be saved and reunited with their families.

Who are these mariners? They are Greeks, Norwegians, American, Iranians, Chinese, Japanese, and hundreds of other countries committed to saving lives at sea. They are crews of cruise ships, fishing vessels, LNG carriers and Ro/Ro ships that willingly divert into a storm to rescue a hapless sailor.

So log onto the Amver enrollment page and get your ships signed up. Download the user's manual and start reporting today. If you already subscribe to a commercial fleet management program like Pole Star, you can begin reporting automatically by asking your customer service rep to ensure your messages are forwarded to Amver. Subscribe to a service other than Pole Star? Let us know who the company is in the comments section and perhaps we can strike a deal with them too. Does your company have an internal automatic reporting scheme? Let us know about that and perhaps we can get our technical team working with yours to automate the process.

Not interested in participating? Feel free to contact us to see if we can better explain the system and help you make an informed decision about Amver.

Graphic credit: Amver staff members Vjollca Nikci and Beverly Howard

Welcome Wednesday!

Hello from Washington, DC where Amver had the opportunity to attend the Big Ideas Big Action conference sponsored by iStrategy Labs among others. But you don't read to hear about how we cook up our ideas and strategies. The real reason you are reading the blog today is to see if your ship is mentioned in the latest list of ships enrolled, right? Help us welcome the latest members of the Amver family:

• OOCL NAGOYA
• GECO BLUEFIN
• HK ELIGHT
• ORCHID ISLAND
• STENA PROGRESS
• PACIFIC SKY
• MORNING CELINE
• CHANCHAL PREM
• PERUVIAN EXPRESS
• BALABAN
• BREIZ CLIPPER
• VALLE DI ARAGONA
• TPC SAMJIN
• LUMINOUS HALO
• MAERSK BARRY

If you haven't enrolled yet please click here to learn more. Already enrolled? You can download the Amver User's Manual and begin reporting now. Either way we glad you joined!

Photo credit: Fotolia

Many Hands Make Amver Work

Our good friend Julie Lithgow, from Pole Star, sent us this great picture the Pole Star team made. It has been sitting in our in box for far too long and we wanted to share it with our Amver readers. If you look closely you can see the pictures of Amver enrolled ships in the collage. Thank you Julie and Pole Star for sending this to us!

What is Amver's relationship with Pole Star? Amver participants who also subscribe to Pole Star's fleet management product can have their position reports automatically sent to the Amver system free of charge. What's the benefit? It streamlines the reporting process and eliminates one report the bridge team has to make.

Read more here and here.

Photo credit: Pole Star

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Who Let The Dogs Out?

Who let the dogs out is what the crew of the Amver participating Polish research vessel Baltica were thinking Thursday January 28th after rescuing a pooch from an ice floe in the Baltic Sea.

According to United Press International, the Baltica, an Amver participant since 2005, launched an inflatable boat when they spotted the dog floating on the ice in sub-zero temperatures. In an interview with UPI, second engineer Adam Buzinski said "It was obvious the dog was very weak." "He almost went under the surface of the water." The dog floated over 70 miles down the Vistula River in Poland before entering the Baltic Sea. The crew named him Baltic.

Search and rescue authorities typically request commercial vessels to respond to more traditional maritime or aeronautical emergencies at sea. "This incident continues the tradition of Amver ships' unselfish-willingness to save lives at sea and ensuring no call for help goes unanswered. It is heartwarming to see the effort taken by the vessel Baltica to save one of man's best friends," said Captain David McBride, Chief of the United States Coast Guard Office of Search and Rescue.

Are you ready to help when called upon? Enroll in Amver today and who knows who (or what) you may save!

Video courtesy of Sky News and YouTube

Port Security In Haiti

All of our Amver partners headed to Haiti should be aware of the recent United States Coast Guard International Port Security Program Advisory 1-10. The advisory recommends vessels headed for Haiti take several precautions including:

• Taking measures consistent with the ship's security plan equivalent to Security Level 2.
• Ensure that each access point of the ship is guarded and that the guards have total visibility of the exterior (both landside and waterside) of the vessel.
• Attempt to execute a Declaration of Security
  
• Log all security actions in the ship's log
• Report the actions taken directly to the cognizant U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port prior to arrival to the United Stats.

Photo credit: Fotolia

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