Peter Broadhurst News

Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat business, won the 2023 International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) Award for Innovation and Technology in Maritime Search and Rescue after a highly respected judging panel led by former IMRF Chair Michael Vlasto selected its entry from a shortlist of 10 individuals and organisations.Acknowledging “volunteer and professional search-and-rescue (SAR) personnel from around the world”, the prestigious award highlights “those who have shown excellence in their field…

The 2023 edition of The Future of Maritime Safety Report from Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat business, reveals that the number of distress calls from ships at sea remains high, despite a continuing decline in vessel losses. The new report, which analyses Global Maritime Distress and Safety System information captured by Inmarsat, registered 853 distress calls from January to December 2022 – up from 794 in 2021.With the number of losses of vessels over 100 gross tonnage (GT) falling by 65% in the last decade…

Tankers, fishing vessels and bulk carriers were the three highest sectors for sending distress signals between 2018-2021, Inmarsat's The Future of Maritime Safety Report 2022 reveals.Among the findings from the Inmarsat data was an abrupt spike in GMDSS calls in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, according to the report, is likely to have been caused by “issues with crew change, rapid turnaround in ports and fatigue on board”.Peter Broadhurst, Senior Vice President of Safety and Security…

Marine Satcom major Inmarsat has introduced two new components to its maritime cyber security service, Fleet Secure, as it continues to develop solutions that combat ever-increasing cyber threats faced by shipowners and ship managers.Accoridng to a press release from the British satellite telecommunications company, vessel operators will benefit from a powerful, multi-layered endpoint security solution, Fleet Secure Endpoint, which is based on industry-leading technology from ESET, a world leader in digital security, and powered by Port-IT to protect desktop computers and other systems connected to a vessel’s network.Fleet Secure Endpoint has been developed to remove infections and thwart hackers before damage occurs to onboard endpoints and connected systems…

Inmarsat has launched a vital new service, SafetyNET II, for Maritime Safety Information Providers (MSIPs), marking a key stage in upgrading the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), which helps to save thousands of lives at sea each year. Inmarsat’s new generation international broadcast and automatic reception service for Maritime Safety Information (MSI), enables MSIP’s to transition their communications to web-based messaging. As a web-based service, SafetyNET II introduces broadcast scheduling, continual monitoring, message cancellation, multiple text input methods, among other functions and usability improvements.

Mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat has rolled out a fully-managed service for the maritime industry that detects vulnerabilities, responds to threats and protects ships from widespread cyber attack. The new service, called Fleet Secure, was showcased at London International Shipping Week, and will be commercially launched as a standard option on Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress service. Inmarsat describes Fleet Secure as a Unified Threat Management (UTM) and monitoring service that will power cyber resilience at sea…

Inmarsat is giving its full backing to a new joint working group formed by the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) to develop a coordinated position on cybercrime and its prevention. The maritime industry satellite service provider said that stakeholder unity was critical in meeting the unpredictability of the cyber security threat to shipping. IACS sees the JWG approach as key to driving pan-industry technical or policy initiatives forward where the issue identified affects not only IACS Members but other parts of the industry. Inmarsat is a founding member of the group, which is being led by George Reilly of ABS and has been charged with evaluating measures to develop standardized industry practices to oppose maritime cyber threats from any direction.

Inmarsat (ISAT.L) has made available five Fleet One units to a pilot initiative that aims to bring change to the way ships connecting island communities in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu communicate. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) endorsed capacity-building pilot program is the result of cooperation between the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) and the Government of Vanuatu under the leadership of the Ambassador of Vanuatu to the IMO. Waterborne…

The role of Inmarsat as sole provider of satellite technology performing to Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) standards is set for advancement, after an IMO Sub Committee decided to greenlight consideration of both FleetBroadband and Fleet One for formal approval. To date, Inmarsat is the only company which has received approval from the International Maritime Organization to provide the GMDSS data and messaging communications on which mariners rely in the last resort, currently via Inmarsat C and Fleet 77 services.

Inmarsat will commemorate the untimely passing earlier this year of one of the architects of its Maritime Safety Operations network by sponsoring the first International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) H.E.R.O. Award for outstanding service to maritime search and rescue, 'The Vladimir Maksimov Award'. The sponsorship is seen as a fitting tribute to Vladimir Maksimov, Inmarsat Director of SOLAS Services, who died on 4th May 2016 after a short illness, following 25 years with Inmarsat. Mr Maksimov played a central role in the Inmarsat safety team. The H.E.R.O. (Honouring Excellence in Rescue Operations) Awards, launched by the IMRF in April this year, have been developed to draw attention to the extraordinary work done to save lives in maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) across the world.

Inmarsat today announced its enhanced Maritime product roadmap consisting of two new services designed specifically for Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network: Fleet Xpress and FleetBroadband Xtra. Fleet Xpress is a hybrid solution, which will operate over the Global Xpress Ka-band network, and incorporate Inmarsat’s L-band FleetBroadband service as back-up, providing a truly global and advanced connectivity service for maritime customers anywhere in the world. The solution will be available when Global Xpress (GX) commences global commercial services early in the second half of 2015. Fleet Xpress will be an Inmarsat managed service sold through the company’s experienced GX Value Added Resellers (VARs).

Sea Tel is pleased to announce that it has hired Mr. Chris Insall as the Manager, Commercial Programmes. Chris will be responsible for new business development. He will be based in the UK and will work from the Cobham Leatherhead office. Chris  will report to Peter Broadhurst, Director of Sales and Marketing. Insall has worked in the maritime satellite communications for over 15years and joins Sea Tel from Inmarsat, where he was the Maritime Product Manager. Since 2000, Insall worked at Inmarsat with roles encompassing Business and Product Management in areas including deployment of Inmarsat’s flagship Fleet and FleetBroadband product portfolios and integration of new value-added services such as safety, telemetry, and VoIP telephony.