C-Bird Provides VSAT Communications at Sea
Maritime Broadband’s C-Bird, a VSAT communications solution available for continuous connectivity at sea, is gaining wide acceptance among major companies in the shipping industry, the manufacturer said. The company recently added Enterprises (Greece), Hellespont (Germany) and Sobelmar (Belgium) to their growing list of key clients. Drynet (Hamburg), Dutch Marine (Rotterdam), Elektro Deniz (Istanbul), Telopsys (Athens) and Zener OneNet (Dubai) have joined as key distribution partners.
Offering reliable service via the C-band satellite network available at affordable rates, Maritime Broadband’s C-Bird system enhances the operation and safety of ships, but also enables the ship’s personnel to stay connected to the world with Internet access to news from home, friends, Facebook, professional development sites and many other resources. This connection builds and maintains personnel morale - crucial in the procurement and retention of crew, which accounts for ten percent of all non-fuel-related costs for shipping companies.
According to Maritime Broadband , the proprietary C-Bird antenna can be assembled and commissioned in less than six hours by the onboard crew without the aid of cranes or the need to put the ship in dry dock, adding an entire fleet can be deployed in the time it takes to deliver the equipment to the vessels.
Alan Gottlieb, managing director of Gottlieb International Group, Inc., who has been advising the maritime industry on shipping communications for 22 years, has taken note of the recent interest in C-Bird: “C-Bird offers an innovative low-cost VSAT communications solution for the shipping industry that has had successful implementation and trials by some major players. For those in the market, it is certainly worth consideration.”
Further testament to the reliability, cost-effectiveness and easy installation of C-Bird is coming in from all levels of shipping executives and crews.
“We were able to install the C-Bird system ourselves without going to dry-dock or using floating cranes, as the equipment is modular and not heavy,” said Dalibor Jalsovec, electrical superintendent, Hellespont Ship Management. “The economics and logistics of C-Bird just make sense to technical managers of a tanker fleet.”
“The C-Bird installation was so simple - the crew was able to accomplish assembling the antenna themselves,” said Captain Ramirez of the Nordic Aurora. “Now, they enjoy getting in touch easily with their families. The quality of the phone calls is so clear, we forget we are out to sea!”
Captain Tony Amo of the Hellespont Progress said, “C-Bird is offered at a flat fee with unlimited data. Maritime Broadband has delivered fully on the promise of this VSAT communications solution. We are now part of the world.”
“With C-Bird we no longer have to be concerned about limiting our communications,” said Sergey Kozinets, Sobelmar’s technical manager. “The crew is happy because they can stay in touch with loved ones.”
Captain Artur Bugrimov, Brasschaat said simply, “If every vendor stood by their products and provided customer service like Maritime Broadband, we would be living in paradise.”
maritimebroadband.com
