Communications Options News

Marlink said it has been selected by Turkish tanker operator Güngen Denizcilik ve Ticaret A/Ş (Gungen Maritime & Trading) to provide Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress service on four of its six vessels. The agreement was concluded through Marlink’s local partner Ozsay Satellite which worked with the company to provide a high quality package of enterprise and crew welfare services.Gungen will use the high throughput Ka-band service together with Marlink’s voice service provided via XChange for Fleet Xpress.

On rigs and offshore vessels, the safety of crew and passengers is a top priority in the energy industry. However, with the particularly hazardous environments of remote offshore worksites, accidents can happen, and it’s up to the operators to ensure their crew members are well-equipped to handle an emergency situation. One of the ways they can provide safe conditions on their assets is to invest in the newest, most advanced technologies with enhanced safety features and better automation, keeping more of their crew out of harm’s way.

There is a convergence of new advances in technology for ferries AND quantum leaps in ferry operations in Asia, Africa and North America. Can operating a ferry be made better safer and cheaper? Yes, says technology. What’s exciting about this year’s Ferry Safety and Technology conference, the Third Annual, is the promise of technology – how telematics, affordable sensors, and graphic visualization – enhance safety, and vastly benefit the quality and cost of operations. This isn’t a conference for nerds and geeks – it’s for those of who need to use technology to understand it.

KVH Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: KVHI), announced today that Mark Woodhead has been named to the newly created position of KVH senior vice president for training and content, effective on the first of January 2017. In this position, Mr. Woodhead will direct KVH’s market-leading maritime crew welfare, safety, and productivity services, which include Videotel maritime training packages – currently in use on more than 12,000 vessels worldwide – and numerous news and entertainment brands, such as NEWSlink – currently used by more than 9,000 vessels globally. Mr. Woodhead has been managing director of KVH’s news and entertainment brands since 2013 and will succeed Nigel Cleave, following the planned decision by Videotel’s CEO to retire at the end of the year. Mr.

Industrial LTE wireless broadband services provider Infrastructure Networks, Inc. (INET) is deploying a pilot LTE system in the Gulf of Mexico. INET said its pilot deployment will be used to demonstrate the capabilities of industrial LTE wireless broadband service and coverage when coupled with 700 MHz spectrum that INET has leased from Verizon Wireless under the LTE in Rural America program. The pilot will be open to certain companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico that have expressed an interest in using the network for testing and planning larger LTE rollouts. Tarig Anani , CEO of Infrastructure Networks, said, "The pilot deployment phase of our LTE rollout will give customers an opportunity to test and preplan their own LTE deployments in lockstep with Infrastructure Networks.

The impact of technology on one of the world’s other oldest professions has been nothing short of revolutionary, in some cases forcing the marine industry to finally lay aside centuries of thinking and time-honored, if not always accurate, tools. The digital age has not only transformed almost every aspect of seafaring vessels and the processes undertaken on board, but it has sharpened and strengthened the calculations and equations used to measure, shape, process, speed, track and image the steps involved in creating parts, solving problems and rendering reality-based training.

KVH provides and Harvey Gulf employs possibly the most sophisticated on-board SATCOM and related service package on the water. That’s no accident. If quality service, high tech hardware and quality personnel are the common bonds shared by marine communications provider KVH and its customer Harvey Gulf International Marine, then the relationship is probably a match made in heaven. Harvey Gulf, already a long-time user of the KVH suite of services and equipment, is today converting every vessel in their rapidly expanding 60+ fleet to the latest and greatest equipment standard. From where they sit, that means KVH. For its part, the business relationship allows KVH to showcase to every other customer and potential user as to what is actually possible at sea in today’s environment.

The Salwico Emission Monitoring Systems is a continuous measuring NOx, SO2 and CO2 analyzing equipment for marine applications. Unlike other solutions based on electrochemical sensor technology, not equivalent to chemiluminescent analyzing principles, Consilium is the first and only supplier providing a fully compliant solution. The analyzing technology is based on the regulatory chemiluminescent principle as stated in the Marpol Annex VI NOx Technical Code. By adapting innovative…

Ruling Provides More Satellite Communications Options to Agencies, Relief Organizations and Businesses Operating in the U.S. Comsat Mobile Communications (CMC), a business unit of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, announced that it has received authority from the FederalCommunications Commission (FCC) to provide domestic land mobile, maritime, and aeronautical mobile satellite communications services throughout the United States and its territories via the Inmarsat satellite system. This authority is granted in anticipation of the conduct of an IPO by Inmarsat as required by the 2000 Federal ORBIT Act. All of CMC's voice, data, and high-speed data services -- including Direct Internet access, e-mail, and fax -- are included in this ruling.

Inmarsat, the original mobile satcom provider for the maritime industry, has been riding the crest of a wave recently, with users at an all-time high, overall 99.9 per cent satellite reliability and the launch of its Fleet F77, Mobile ISDN and Mobile Packet Data services for the maritime community. Ruth Ling reports on what's new and what lies on the horizon. Twenty years ago, a revolution hit the maritime industry. Satellite communications became available to ships at sea. Back in 1982, when Inmarsat began offering onboard satellite communications, its first and only system was Inmarsat A, which offered voice, facsimile, telex and data services. After nine years of successful service and expansion into most maritime sectors, Inmarsat began offering Inmarsat C.

No one ever said that working on the inland rivers or in the Gulf of Mexico on a vessel was a picnic. It is axiomatic that the hours are long, the work physically demanding and the workplace environment potentially dangerous. That is why newer deliveries emphasize crew habitability. Vessel owners and operators know that well-rested and well-fed crews are safer crews and safety cannot be over emphasized in this severe setting. That is why there has been a significant upgrading in crew accommodations, galleys and entertainment and communications options. The three workboats profiled below offer proof positive that today's "crew friendly" boats are safer and more enjoyable places to work. No vessel type has more personnel on board than a crew boat.