Pacific Basin Shipping upgrades fleet connectivity

Pacific Basin Shipping is deploying upgraded very small aperture terminals (VSATs) on its fleet of 75 dry bulk carriers to access connectivity through multiple satellite constellations.

To link to the high throughput geostationary orbiting satellites (HTS), KVH has installed TracPhone V7-HTS terminals, and Starlink flat-panel terminals to link to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, as well as installing CommBox Edge communications gateway units on these ships.

This upgrade was carried out under the terms of a new agreement signed by Pacific Basin Shipping in July 2024.

Pacific Basin director of fleet management Harsh Bhave said this communications upgrade is part of the owner’s commitment to raising crew welfare across the fleet. “This installation recognises the need to add smart bandwidth that can enable next-level performance for our ships and our people.”

KVH’s TracPhone V7-HTS terminals use Ku-band of frequencies to communicate with HTS and GEO satellites, mostly owned by Intelsat, and deliver connection speeds as fast as 10 Mbps on the downlink and 2 Mbps on the uplink.

Starlink offers high-speed, low-latency internet using a high-performance, electronically steered flat-panel array.

CommBox Edge enables intelligent hybrid switching between these networks for uninterrupted connectivity worldwide and offers the opportunity to connect with 5G cellular networks.