Maersk delivers dedicated charterer broadband after FX renewal

Maersk Supply Service is providing dedicated high-speed internet access across a fleet of 40 vessels to energy companies that charter its ships.

The owner of one of the largest fleets of offshore support vessels (OSVs) has reconfirmed its commitment to using Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress satellite communications for operational and crew communications.

Maersk Supply Service chief information officer Thomas Stampe says this connectivity enables its vessel crew and charterers to manage data to make quicker and better decisions. The group has become the first shipowner to offer dedicated bandwidth over Fleet Xpress to its clients.

“IT solutions that offer us and our customers greater control and flexibility over data management are key to any initiatives that seek to achieve smarter and more agile vessel performance,” said Mr Stampe.

The Danish group is offering charterer plans on Fleet Xpress. These were designed specifically for OSV operators to meet the increasing connectivity requirements of third-party charterers without interrupting the vessel’s primary bandwidth or installing new terminals.

Maersk Supply Service will deploy Fleet Xpress on 40 vessels, including platform supply vessels, anchor handlers and subsea support vessels. These operate off Europe, the Americas, West Africa, southeast Asia and Australia. It is one of the world’s most modern fleets as it includes 10 OSVs built within the last three years.

Maersk Supply Service is a strong advocate for digital solutions that use high quality data to optimise vessel operations. This year, it adopted a new energy advisory system in support of an initial target to reduce fuel consumption by 5% by 2020.

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Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress is a hybrid VSAT service that combines high bandwidth from a constellation of Ka-band satellites with the reliability of L-band.

Inmarsat Maritime vice president for Offshore Energy Eric Griffin thinks more OSV owners will introduce exclusive connectivity for charterers.

“Maersk Supply Service has committed to Fleet Xpress to enable its digitalisation strategy,” he said. “It will use our new dedicated bandwidth service to provide its charterers with their own connection through the same terminal and hardware on the vessel.”

Since its launch in March 2016, Fleet Xpress has been installed on around 7,000 ships.