Ships Electronics Services Ltd
Professional touch
With a presence at eight strategic sites around the UK, Ships Electronics Services (SES) has over 35 years of experience within the leisure, fishing, commercial shipping, military shipping, and offshore oil industries.
Given this background, it is of no surprise that the company is a market leader when it comes to the supply, installation and maintenance of maritime communication and navigation electronics.
In July of this year SES announced the acquisition of TSA Communications Ltd of Birkenhead, providing the company with a West Coast base adjacent to the thriving Liverpool docks. The office will be called SES Liverpool and helps to create a national network of maritime electronics service centres at major UK ports.
During its lifetime, SES has completed over 700 new build projects providing the company with extensive experience in both new build, and refit and conversion applications throughout the shipping sector. The company’s project managers work closely with clients to plan, supply, install and commission full navigation packages, and internal and external communication systems, to meet every application.
SES’ reputation has been enhanced even further by its status as an official dealer or distributor for many high quality manufacturers across all sectors of maritime electronics from radar, satellite and internal communications, and GPS to Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) and autopilot steering systems. This includes leading brands such as Raytheon Anschütz, Transas, Furuno, Kelvin Hughes, Sailor, Icom, Jotron, Clear- Com, and Zentinel. Likewise, SES is one of the few marine electronics companies to have received accreditation to the international quality standard ISO 9001: 2008, which underpins all of its work. It is also registered with First Point Assessment (FPAL), which is the supplier management system for the oil and gas industry.
Having sourced these quality products, SES’ main role lies in the design of a suitable package, and the installation, maintenance and support of this equipment in the long-term. The company’s customer service team is highly praised for its 24/7 availability and phone lines that are manned by trained staff at all times in order to provide advice and technical assistance whenever, and wherever, it is needed. With an extensive stock of spare parts, and the ability to quickly source such components at economical prices, SES is ready for dispatch at first notice, and its factory trained engineers travel worldwide to offer owners the most costeffective servicing packages.
The company’s service credentials are numerous, including accreditation by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to perform radio and UAIS surveys on their behalf, and is approved by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to produce GMDSS shore based maintenance certification. SES is a UK service partner for Furuno, Jotron, Kelvin Hughes, KVH, Naval, Rutter, SAM Electronics, Transas, Wired Ocean, and Zenitel products, and the sole onboard service centre for Thrane & Thrane, including the Sailor range of GMDSS products.
Furthermore the company is an approved service provider for Rutters (Netwave), Furuno, SAM Electronics, Kelvin Hughes, Danelec, and Transas, for the provision of Annual Performance Test services on these manufacturers’ Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) systems. SES also holds similar accreditation for Jotron, ACR, and Thrane providing battery changes and full re-certification of these providers’ Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) systems.
At the start of 2010, SES announced its appointment by Raytheon Anschütz GmbH as an independent distributor and service depot partner for the UK. The company handles the supply and installation of Raytheon Anschütz gyro equipment, steering controls, autopilots, ECDIS systems, communication systems and radars, and the servicing of certain systems.
In the same year, and as a result of its expansion into Scotland’s offshore industry, SES implemented a vital step forward in training for those engineers working on these types of offshore facilities. As such, the company’s engineers in this sector will now qualify for the RGIT Basic Offshore Induction and Safety Training – a standard requirement of the oil and gas industry. This means that SES is now able to offer significant offshore installation, project work, service and maintenance, and full vessel or platform site surveys for all marine electronic requirements on these facilities, through its strategic sites in Grangemouth and Aberdeen.
More recently, SES has been presented with the 2011 Applied Satellite Engineering (ASE) Innovation Award for its contribution to the installation of the ASE Citadel Satellite Communication Solution. This is also the first time someone outside of the ASE has been presented with the award. The project came about after SES was approached by a major commercial client to tailor a secure communications solution that can be used onboard the vessel in the event of a pirate attack.
Taking an appropriate ASE secure system as a base, SES worked closely with ASE’s technical team to produce a specific Citadel Communications system viable for anti-piracy use, which included easy installation, global coverage with voice data and SMS, a small antenna profile, and multiple phone lines from one system.
The company is taking its ability to develop client specific electronics and communications even further with a new £375,000 contract to supply all navigation and communication equipment for two new hybrid ferries currently being built at Ferguson Shipbuilders for Caledonian Marine Assets. These will be the world’s first hybrid diesel electric ro-ro vehicle and passenger ferries to enter service, and are destined to begin operating the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service from spring 2013.
Green technology is being applied through the ships, supplying a minimum of 20 per cent of all energy consumed on board. Utilising its expertise and relationships with leading manufacturers, SES is to fit a full specification of electronics onto the ferries including Furuno radars and Transas ECDIS. A complex double ended heading system from Raytheon Anschütz will be installed enabling all the headings to the AIS, ECDIS and autopilot to be changed by 180 degrees, along with the navigation lights, at the touch of a button.
Ships Electronics Services Ltd
Products: Maritime communication and navigation electronics