Hong Kong-based global shipping management company Fleet Management is upgrading its 400-strong fleet of ships to satellite communications provider Inmarsat’s maritime connectivity solution Fleet Xpress.
The shipping company has successfully upgraded all vessels, including bulk carriers, container vessels, general cargo ships, oil tankers, gas carriers and chemical tankers previously equipped with Inmarsat’s XpressLink Ku-band service to Fleet Xpress.
Fleet Management expects to roll out the Inmarsat solution to the majority of its fleet globally by 2018.
The service will use a Cobham 1m GX antenna for Ka-band connectivity combined with a FleetBroadband terminal for L-Band back-up.
{loadposition peter}“We have been thoroughly impressed with the service provided by Inmarsat and expect to implement Internet connectivity across the majority of our fleet as quickly as possible. We are committed to delivering the best possible on-board user experience and look forward to bringing a new level of high-speed connectivity to our vessels,” says Mayank Mishra, general manager at Fleet Management.
Gerbrand Schalkwijk, chief sales officer, Inmarsat Maritime, said, “Fleet Xpress brings specific benefits for fleet managers. Ship managers are ideally placed to exploit high-speed, ultra-reliable connectivity that puts big data at the heart of operating decisions and cost-controlled connectivity in the hands of seafarers.
“They also get new hands-on management capability via high-quality voice and video calls, while CCTV on-board is also live. Fleet Xpress even enables real-time status checking via an app on superintendent smartphones.”