Articles written by Lars Brandstäter

Today we have the pleasure to introduce the Chinese-speaking Fleetmon. Welcome, Chinese visitors, we hope this makes the Fleetmon website and tools much easier to use for you!

Start here: http://www.fleetmon.com/zh/
and inspect the large Chinese fleet in the FleetMon Vessel Database.

We are looking forward to your feedback on the translation. If you think that something could be rephrased more clearly, don’t hesitate to send your comments to support(at)fleetmon.com.

Please note: Vessel traffic in Chinese ports is accessible only to users with a “Pro” or “Unlimited” account.

FleetMon’s fellow member Rob is currently on a 2.000 mile sailing trip, helping transfer the 45 foot yacht Marathon from Barcelona in Spain to Falmouth in England.

Sailing is about the best thing you could do during these sunny days of May, and the FleetMon team here is a little jealous, to be honest ;-)

Rob took one of our FleetMon Satellite Tracking transponders on board so we can follow their trip closely right here on FleetMon.com. Having started in Barcelona on April 20th, they passed Gibraltar Strait on May 3rd and then sailed up the Portuguese and Spanish west coast, with stopovers in Quarteira, Cascais and Bayona (near Vigo). Entering the Bay of Biscay they faced strong winds up to force ten and had to change course to head into A Coruña in Galicia, Spain.

Every hour during their past trip, the small FleetMon Satellite transponder reports their position to FleetMon, so the crew’s friends and family can take part in the adventure and are always kept up to date about the ship’s whereabouts, either here on FleetMon.com or with the free FleetMon Satellite Tracking app for Android and iOS phones.

Because the transponders send via their own satellite communication, the Marathon’s position is guaranteed to come in even when on high seas, and it does not matter whether they are close enough to an AIS receiver station. Well, the Marathon does not even have an AIS sender, so the FleetMon Satellite tracker was the most convenient (and cheapest) tracking solution anyway! It is just the size of a cigar box and is battery powered, hence does not need any cabling. In fact, it does not even need to be installed: Rob told us he just put it somewhere under deck and switched it on.

The last leg of the trip will lead them across the English Channel to Falmouth. Due to bad weather the Marathon crew don’t know when they can set sails again yet, but we’ll keep you posted!

Dear Crew, we wish you a save trip over to Falmouth, and may there always be enough water beneath your keel! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

You can reach Rob by e-mail at rob(at)digital-seas.com. For questions on FleetMon Satellite Tracking and tracking your ship with FleetMon, feel free to contact support(at)fleetmon.com.

Please note: Rob send in some photos from the trip that normally cannot be published on FleetMon.com. These photos will be removed after the trip.

More about the MARATHON on FleetMon.com

Welcome to new ports and areas with live ship traffic on Fleetmon.com, Fleetmon Explorer and Fleetmon mobile! Here is the April 2012 roundup … thanks to everybody involved for the kind cooperation!

• Indonesia, Jakarta
• Egypt, Suez
• Brazil, Sao Francisco do Sul
• USA/Canada, Kingston, Lake Ontario
• Italy, Olbia, Sardinia
• Italy, Sassari, Sardinia
• Sweden, Västeras
• British Columbia, Canada, Prince Rupert

The AIDAmar reached the port of Emden without problems after leaving the Meyer Yard in Papenburg for here journey on the river Ems. The nineth cruise ship of AIDA Cruises from Rostock, Germany is scheduled for tests in the north sea, return is planned for the 15th of April.

On April the 17th the vessel will do the second round of tests, probably in the Skagerak like all trials of “Meyer Werft”. Planned finish is April the 20th, “AIDAmar” the will stay in Emden until the 3rd of May waiting for her “Clubnacht”.

With ETA Hamburg for the 4.5 – 6.5 und 6.5 – 8.5.2012 she is doing “Fanreisen” and another cruise for expediences.

Her baptise will be in Hamburg during the “Hafengeburtstag” on the 12 th of May 2012.
http://www.fleetmon.com/de/vessels/Aidamar_3221227

Здравствуйте наши дорогие русскоговорящие пользователи! A warm Hello to our Russian-speaking users!

Как и обещали, мы предоставляем к вашим услугам FleetMon.com на русском языке и надеемся, что Вы останетесь довольны.

Конечно, нам нужно еще многое доработать: в нашем переводе имеются некоторые «пробелы», и возможно Вам будут встречаться опечатки и ошибки, которые мы еще не успели исправить.

Однако мы не хотим больше заставлять Вас ждать и  надеемся на Вашу поддержку. Чтобы сообщить нам об обнаруженных ошибках или поделиться с нами своими замечаниями и предложениями по поводу работы сайта, используйте следующую ссылку: http://www.fleetmon.com/contact

Мы ждем Ваших сообщений и будем работать над усовершенствованием нашего сайта!

As promised, we proudly present you FleetMon.com in Russian and hope you enjoy it.

Of course, there is still a “little” to do:
Our translation has some gaps and there are surely one or two typing errors and layout failures, we haven’t noticed so far.

However, we did not want to make you waiting any longer and now put our trust in your support. Please use the following link to inform us of any failures you find, improvements, suggestions and feedback: http://www.fleetmon.com/contact
We are looking forward to all your messages and will keep on improving!

Welcome to new ports and areas with live ship traffic on Fleetmon.com, Fleetmon Explorer and Fleetmon mobile! Quite a nice list this month … thanks to everybody involved for the kind cooperation!

• US, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
• UK, Shetland Islands — thanks Gilbert!
• Saint Kitts and Nevis, Basseterre — thanks Tony!
• NL, IJsselmeer/Urk — thanks Jan!
• NO, Bodø — thanks Dag!
• DE, Spree Berlin/Potsdam — thanks Vincenzo!
• BR, Vitória, Vila Velha and Tubarão — thanks Werther!
• UK, Weymouth and Portsmouth — thanks David!

…and last but certainly not least: The Panama Canal is back on FleetMon, with excellent coverage of Panama City, Balboa and the Miraflores locks:

It always has been a wish of our users to monitor vessel traffic on real electronic navigation charts (ENCs). Not an easy thing to do, technically.

But hope is there, the FleetMon team proudly introduces today Inland ENC display inside FleetMon Explorer. Inspect your favorite areas with fresh marine charts and real-time movements from anywhere, and turn your office into a VTS (Vessel Traffic Service)!

Just select Inland ENC as your map in FleetMon Explorer (move mouse to upper right corner) and off you go with a navigators’ feeling. The FleetMon Pro and Unlimited accounts include coverage for European and US rivers.

SMT BONTRUP passing Terneuzen, shown on ENC in FleetMon Explorer

Here are some interesting grounds to start with:

• Rotterdam/Europoort Approach, Oosterschelde
• Vlissingen, Westerschelde
• Mississippi Delta/New Orleans
• Great Lakes
• Rhine and Danube Rivers

IRIS II on Mississippi River near New Orleans on ENC in FleetMon Explorer

Ferry FRIESLAND on its way through the shallow Dutch Wattenzee waters to Terschelling Island

CELINA leaving Europoort Rotterdam

Enjoy the new possibilities and see the marine traffic as you have never seen it before. Our team is looking forward to your feedback and user stories.
For those of you interested in using FleetMon Explorer with full global ENC coverage, just get in touch with our team. The FleetMon Explorer ENC display is based on FleetMon’s own ECDIS map server technology.

Wait no longer – Today there are two more good reasons to get your FleetMon.com account: We introduce new discounted membership offers and enable convenient payment by wire transfer — the good old “Überweisung”, Virement, Transferencia, Overschrijving or Przelew that is ever so popular in Europe and Asia.

Save your access to the superb FleetMon Explorer now for one full year. Upgrade to a Pro or Unlimited membership and save 17% – in other words: pay 10 months, get 12 months! Or choose the one-month or three-months membership for starters.

Time to tell your boss about the new discounted full-year membership!? The accounting dept. will be happy, too: It goes without saying that you will receive a proper receipt and invoice right during payment.

Oh, and our US customers may choose money order, too.

It’s time again for our roundup of new AIS stations – Welcome to new ports and areas with live ship traffic on Fleetmon.com, Fleetmon Explorer and Fleetmon mobile!

• UK, Firth of Forth and Edinburgh
• Azores Islands with port of Ponta Delgada
• Madeira Island with port of Funchal
• Luleå in northern Sweden – good chance to watch ice breakers and tugs gliding slowly through the great white in the next weeks…

The Vessel Datasheet reporting tool got an update today, thanks to your valuable feedback. Putting down relevant vessel data for later reference and sharing your knowledge about ships has never been easier than now, and we fixed some bugs with the Wiki field, so it is now possible again to write freetext information on important facts, incidents or history of the ship.