SPOS weather planning systems for new COSCO giants

European weather forecasting company Meteo Consult has received an order for the supply of SPOS (Ship Performance Optimization Systems) weather systems for the five largest COSCO container vessels each carrying about 9500 containers. The first installations have already taken place.
The vessels are operated by Costamare who have used SPOS successfully on other vessels chartered to Maersk, MSC and Hapag.

With SPOS, the master can receive detailed weather forecasts onboard for display and use them for accurate route and  ETA planning taking wind, waves and ocean currents into account. Benefits for the charterer lie in the fuel savings that are possible when berthing times and good weather permit slower sailing speeds.

More important however is the possible reduction of damage due to lost containers which is considered a nightmare for logistical companies.
When rough conditions are expected, SPOS automatically presents a heavy weather checklist so the onboard staff can make necessary preparations.

In September, Meteo Consult will release a special version of SPOS focussing on short-sea shipping with local forecasts for European, Asian and American waters.

Today, SPOS is operational on over 800 vessels world-wide.

More information is available on www.spos.nl

 

Background information for the editor:       

Meteo Consult is an international weather forecasting company with a staff of 180 operating worldwide; the head office is based near Rotterdam. The marine department offers various weather services for the offshore and shipping industry. The company is ISO 9001 certified.
Local weather companies in the group are based in Stockholm, Berlin, London, Madrid and Brussels with sales offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai and Sydney.

The high resolution SPOS image can be found on www.spos.nl/news/spos6.bmp
For more information or additional (higher) graphics, please contact:

Meteo Consult, Mr. Peter Stoter
Tel:  +31 317 399800
E-mail: sposinfo@meteo.nl