A vessel optimization application offering combined tidal and non-tidal (ocean) current data was launched for integrated vessel speed and route optimization. Developed by Tidetech, the application offers resolution of six nautical miles at 60-minute intervals in a six-day forecast. Tidetech managing director Penny Haire said this was the first time ships could access global tides and ocean currents in the same application. Haire said Tidetech currently uses Mercator as its front-line ocean current model, a six-day ocean forecast at five nautical mile resolution, forced by ECMWF weather data. In simulations for various northern European and eastern Asian shipping routes, Tidetech has been able to demonstrate significant projected time savings.  
www.tidetech.org

(As published in the May 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)