Southern Charter [SCX]: SCX Shipping

SCX Shipping operates around the globe providing sea-lift support for a variety of customers.

SCX Shipping currently operates across a range of simulation platforms, primarily Virtual Sailor:NG, but also with FS9/FSX/P3D operating as a 'pseudo ship simulator'.

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SCX Shipping Ops Centre

We run a basic tracking system for vessels in the fleet, showing where everyone is at a glance.

Click on the image below to visit our Live Vessel Tracker, with real-time position plots of our fleet.

On the map you can select Marine and Aeronautical overlays, and in time the tracking will extend to trucks trains planes and maybe even spacecraft.. who knows!

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Our Fleet

Our fleet consists of 2 large general cargo freighters, SCX John Matchett and SCX Blackadder and a 3,900 ton Passenger/Cargo ship SCX Moana Roa.

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SCX Moana Roa

SCX Moana Roa was the first vessel owned by Southern Charter and now serves as our flag ship.

History (from Wikipedia)

HMNZS Monowai (A06) was a hydrographic survey vessel of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN). Built in 1960, the ship was originally used as a civilian supply and passenger vessel by the New Zealand Government, under the name GMV Moana Roa, before being acquired by the RNZN in 1974. She was commissioned into the RNZN in 1975 for the voyage to Scotland for conversion and commissioned into the RNZN in October 1977. She remained in RNZN service until April 1998, performing various duties such as coastal surveying, resupply, and surveillance. After being decommissioned she was sold to civilian operators in Britain in 1998 for conversion to a cruise ship, but was found unsuitable for the role and eventually sent to Spanish shipbreakers in 2002.

SCX's MV Moana Roa is a fictional "what-if" vessel, based on the premise that Monowai wasn't sold for scrap, and was instead converted back to a multi-purpose supply and passenger vessel, retaining her heli-pad and hangar (though the later being more often used for cargo), while adding additional container twist-lock pads on the fore-deck.

SCX received Moana Roa in April 2023, when she undertook a repaint and return-to-service trials before embarking on charter missions around the world.

Moana Roa is running in Virtual Sailor:NG, with a custom tracking application allowing contant broadcasting of her location along with a full-time Twitch stream, allowing anyone to join on her voyages.

- Live GPS
- Live Stream

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SCX John Matchett

The MV John Matchett is a 15,000 ton general cargo ship, operating in Prepar3d, travelling the worlds oceans 24/7 in real-time, all the while connected to FSHub for realtime tracking and multiplayer integration.

MV John Matchett Live GPS Tracking

A 'Virtual Mini-Tour' of the Matchett in Prepar3D

First up, the bridge. not a lot going on here compared with an airliner. The 'Autopilot' system is a bit secial, and what makes these voyages in P3D/FS. This was written specifically for FS ships, and allows head and speed control, as well as a linked 'GPS/Flightplan' mode. I create 'Sail Plans' in Plan-G, then load them up in the default GPS and off we go 😉

Next up, the Navigators space. Since most everything is controlled by the GPS/Autopilot the navigator doesn't have that big of a job, but we still do have radio navigation capability for when we go 'off the plan'..

And finally my favourite space.... the Captains Cabin. Only thing that works in here is the light switch... I'm not kidding.. the lightswitch works! This is a great place to get your head down on those long ocean crossings....