The Swedish Club has introduced a new real-time system designed to alert ships to the dangers of hidden icebergs.
The system will alert vessels when they enter areas of higher-risk navigation based on information supplied by two ice warning services, said the Gothenburg-based insurer.
The iceberg tracker is a new feature on the club’s onboard alert system, which uses AIS data to warn the ship’s crew of problems, including severe weather, bunker and pilotage issues, it said in a statement.
The subscription service, which sends out about 1,400 alerts a week, is used by two-thirds of the club’s insured vessels.
The newest part of the service is designed to help with harder-to-spot icebergs, known as growlers. The smaller chunks of ice barely break the surface and are much harder to spot, but can still cause major damage.
The club said the service would be useful for key ports and shipping lanes like the St Lawrence Gulf, on Canada’s eastern coast, where precise and timely ice hazard information was essential, said the club.
Martti Simojoki, the club’s loss prevention manager, said the system “ensures that vessels receive relevant information at the right time, helping to prevent ice-related incidents and improve navigational decision-making”.(Copyright)
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