Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCC) has signed a contract with NAVTOR to install the NavBox solution across its entire 49 vessel fleet.
The deal, which spans the six different operating companies within the RCC group, will greatly simplify and enhance on board navigational procedures, optimising efficiency, safety and compliance, NAVTOR said.
NAVTOR launched NavBox in 2013. The solution automatically downloads, distributes and updates all vessel navigational charts and publications – thus cutting administration time – while ensuring the very latest, compliant charts are always available.
“Royal Caribbean Cruises is a globally recognised and respected industry leader,” said NAVTOR CEO, Tor Svanes. “The company is known for its commitment to excellence, safety and driving innovation at sea. They continually strive for the best services and solutions and, in that respect, are an obvious partner for NAVTOR and NavBox. It is our mission to simplify tasks for navigators and enhance efficiency for shipowners. NavBox embodies this ambition.
“For RCC, it will work in conjunction with our NavTracker service, which allows onshore management to track vessel movements and have a full overview of chart usage and update history, to provide completely seamless, fully accountable and business efficient navigation services. We believe this really showcases the huge potential of e-navigation for today’s, and tomorrow’s, shipowners,” he said.
The agreement covers the delivery of all official digital charts and publications to RCC vessels across the brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, TUI Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and Skysea. This includes the soon to launch ‘Symphony of the Seas’, which will hold the title of the world’s largest cruise ship when it embarks on its maiden voyage on 21st April, 2018.
Paul Kingsbury, Manager of Nautical Assets, Safety, and Programs at Royal Caribbean Cruises, said: “The benefits of this innovative concept across our portfolio of advanced vessels are compelling. We will now be able to drastically reduce our navigators’ administrative workloads, allowing them to focus on important operational tasks and optimal safety, while ensuring compliance with automatic updates.
“At the same time the synergy between our vessels and land-based teams will enable us to have a complete overview of fleet-wide operations and navigational needs. NavBox is another innovative development for a company that, as we know from working together for the past four years, is dedicated to driving forward e-navigation and adding value for its customers. We look forward to seeing its benefits across the fleet,” he concluded.
Since its launch in 2011, NAVTOR has established a global network of offices with bases in Norway, Russia, Singapore, UK, Japan and Sweden.
