Owners raise crew retention with free onboard internet

Saga Shipholding is using Dualog’s Connection Suite of crew communications solutions to provide

its seafarers with free internet and voice over IP services. It is also using the business services for e-mail, business mail and file transfers. The reaction from the crew is positive and retention rates are rising. But the Norwegian shipowner had to deal with increasing pressures on its seafarers from a side-effect of offering communications improvements – stressful news from home.

The fleet of 32 box-shaped open-hatch bulk carriers is technically managed by Anglo-Eastern Ship Management and operates in the Saga Welco pool. Saga Shipholding technical manager Nils Otto Bjørhovde said that three of the vessels have Ku-band VSAT and the rest have Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband L-band services. Dualog services have been deployed on 11 ships, but Saga Shipholding plans to deploy them on the other 21 ships, too.

“We use Dualog for internet crew services, so they can download pictures and access online services,” he said. “We have had positive feedback and retention rates are increasing on these vessels. But we see that the problems at home are now being put onto our seafarers, and crew cannot do anything about it, so this causes stress.” He explained that Saga Shipholding talks to crew families about this and ensures they understand, so that they do not overload seafarers with stressful information.

Before Saga Shipholding introduced free internet services it evaluated all of the options. It had crewing conferences in Mumbai, India and in Manila in the Philippines to understand what factors were most important for seafarers. “Regular contact with family and friends through onboard internet services topped their wish list in both cities,” said Mr Bjørhovde. “We were warned about providing free services, but crew have the world at their fingertips at home and not at sea. So it was important to provide free crew internet access. Reliable, optimised use of the total bandwidth and centrally controllable user policies were also of great importance to us.”

Saga Shipholding offers internet and voice services free of charge to its crew, but it prioritises operational communications over seafarer welfare. “Crew do not pay anything. They use Skype and other voice services over the internet, and they can see their usage,” said Mr Bjørhovde. There are no major restrictions on the use of satellite communications, but Saga Shipholding had to cap some of the high data users. “There was a peak of internet use just after we introduced it, but then less was used. We had to cap 10 per cent of the highest users, but we have no gigabyte restrictions on the rest and we have not set any time limits on the internet.”

Tanker operator Torm has Dualog Connection Suite on many vessels across its fleet of 70 tankers and bulk carriers. According to Torm head of systems and technical matters Walter Hannemann, this deployment was part of a strategy to change all aspects of IT operations on board its ships. “We have selected the most up-todate and best technology available which works optimally as part of our whole system.” He added that the key advantages were that Dualog can work with any communications equipment and it offers flexibility to the shipowner. Torm is able to allocate a ship’s total bandwidth fairly around the crew via a quota management system. By June 2015, around two-thirds of the fleet will have these systems on board.

Other vessel operators, such as the Rickmers Group which has the service on 100 vessels, use Dualog for managing onboard communications. Dualog is on more than 2,500 vessels worldwide, said Dualog’s European sales manager Lars Martinussen. “As there will be more use of the available bandwidth, it becomes more important to manage this, and our platform helps operators to do this,” he said. “It allows shore managers to be in charge of the IT network. It is a scalable service, so they can add ships or cancel them if a vessel leaves the fleet. It offers one interface for all users.”

Dualog stores all the data in a cloud service, which has its advantages and disadvantages. “It means trusting someone else with the data, including mission critical data, in the cloud,” said Mr Martinussen. “But there is the ability to get instant access to the data for reporting and measuring key performance indicators. Ship operators can manage the amount of time and usage of internet on board.” He explained that there is usually a peak of activity when internet is first introduced, but as the novelty dies away, usage by individuals decreases to more stable levels. “We can control online use to optimise the bandwidth,” he added. “We do this on either a time or a volume basis. We can enforce quotas to ensure fair use, and to ensure there is capacity for operational requirements.” Dualog’s Connection Suite prioritises operational messages over crew welfare to ensure there is enough bandwidth for business communications.