By
Alice Chambers |
Cabins provide passengers with both a personal space to relax and a location to lock away their belongings while they enjoy exploring the ship or the destination they are visiting. Consequently, they must always remain safe and secure. According to Antti Marine, a subsidiary of industry supplier Antti-Teollisuus, ship operators can easily achieve this by fitting intelligent doors to newbuild or renovated ships.
“The smartest way to turn an old door into an intelligent one is to equip it with Antti e-hinge and a radio-frequency identification lock,” says Markko Takkinen, commercial director at Antti Marine. “The e-hinge connects the door to the ship’s ethernet network, and the lock is supplied with electricity via the hinge.”
Being able to transfer electricity and data between the lock and the ship’s system has several benefits. For example, it enables the ship operator to use payment systems that connect to passengers’ cabin keys, allowing it to monitor their onboard spending.
Typically, doors with standard Ethernet cable systems have a lead cover and an exposed wire between the door leaf and the frame. However, Antti’s e-hinge conceals the Ethernet cable, improving both safety and the visual appearance of the door.
“The e-hinge makes it easy to remove the door leaf whenever it needs to be replaced or fixed,” says Takkinen. “The leaf and the e-hinge can be easily lifted from the frame together without the need to disassemble cables. By installing e-hinge, operators can protect guests and staff from cables that control the door. The safety comes from the lack of cables that otherwise may have been damaged.”
Some of the new ships debuting in 2023 will have cabins with Antti’s doors and e-hinge solution. For example, Antti started developing a large number of bespoke cabin doors for a major cruise line in 2017, which will be installed with the e-hinge.
Antti can also provide shipowners with new cabin doors when they install e-hinges. “We offer a wide variety of cabin and stateroom doors that can be used for the main entrances as well as B- and C-class fire-proof internal doors that can be used for wardrobes, bedrooms, bathrooms, lockers and offices,” says Takkinen.
This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter 2023 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed. Subscribe to Cruise & Ferry Review for FREE to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.