Customers & Case Studies
Our products have been in use in ports and on oilfields around the globe for nine years.
They are doing their job in very trying environments with excellent results.
We are happy to talk to you about the experiences of a customer with similar needs to
yours. Or you can read the case studies below:
Port Hedland, Australia
20°18'S, 118°35'E
and crosswinds affecting inbound ships in ballast, and a very long exit channel for the loaded vessels.
clearances, but accurate navigation is essential. In particular two very large radius turns have to be
negotiated at the very start of the departure, while the ship is accelerating to six knots – sometimes taking
one hour to achieve it.
The solution: HarbourPilot LIghtweight
HarbourPilot’s accurate measurement of heading and position is excellent at detecting low rates of turn
– even when the wind and current might be giving the illusion that the ship is turning in the opposite
direction at very slow speeds. The curved path predictor enables the pilots to accurately negotiate the
large turns as a single operation, as opposed to the succession of small alterations used in the past.
Implementation: A leased HarbourPilot system was delivered in February 2005. It used MF Beacon DGPS
corrections from the AMSA reference station at Karratha. Weight is a critical issue at Port Hedland and in 2008
the port placed an order for six new lightweight systems. They were delivered around Christmas
2009 and have been supplemented by further repeat orders in the years since then.
The result: "I can do a better job using only your equipment and not looking out the window than I can do
by eye. This is after eight weeks of using your equipment and twenty eight years of traditional piloting. By
using the predictor and rate of turn combined with speed, the ship can be kept precisely on the designated
track around bends in a narrow channel. It is further evident to me that I appear to learn from the equipment.
By using the equipment and also looking out the window I believe I have increased the data base on which
my mental assessments are made. My pilotage skills without the equipment are thereby improved."
- Captain E (Ted) Lysons, Senior Marine Pilot
More HarbourPilot case studies
ConocoPhillips Bayu Undan FPSO Operations, Australia
11°02'S, 126°38'E
The situation: ConocoPhillips operates an FSO at the Bayu Undan field in the East Timor Sea,
approximately 250nm NW of Darwin in
hose to tankers in tandem mooring astern, and LPG to vessels coming alongside. With the
variable winds and current causing the FSO to rotate freely, and the delicate nature of mooring
vessels alongside a swinging vessel, there was a strong safety case to have electronic assistance
so the pilot has a clear birds-eye view of the operation.
The requirement: Provide a means of giving both the pilot and the operators on the FSO a
clear view of approaching vessels, together with the distance off, relative motion and proximity
alarms.
The solution: ShuttlePilot
ShuttlePilot offers the pilot, and any other station with the relevant receiving and display equipment,
a simple method of visualising the operation at hand. Whether it be a tanker approaching into
a tandem mooring position astern, where the most significant information is the closing speed
and the distance from tanker bow to FSO stern, or whether it be a tanker approaching to moor
alongside the FSO where the most significant information is the distance and closing speed at bow
and stern, all the vital data is clearly displayed on-screen at the touch of a button.
Implementation: In this ShuttlePilot installation, the equipment was displacing incumbent equipment
that had not proved to be effective or reliable. Fixed-mounted antennas and receivers were installed
on the FSO. This, together with portable equipment for use on board the approaching tanker, as well
as a full display capability to anyone withe the correct software on board the FSO's LAN, gave all
relevant personnel (pilot on the tanker, operations staff on the FSO, and potentially others ashore) all
the ability to monitor the operation live.
Results: "Being able to use the ShuttlePilot equipment to predict where the FSO was going to
be at the end of her swing, and hence line the tanker up ready for her, probably saved two or
three hours of chasing her tail during the swing"
- Capt David Fortnum, pilot
More ShuttlePilot case studies