Cruise & Ferry Review - Spring/Summer 2021

1 2 2 Peter Broadhurst, Senior Vice President of Inmarsat Maritime “While passenger connectivity has traditionally been a hospitality offering for ferry owners, always-on, through-voyage services are increasingly becoming a necessity, rather than a luxury. Recent decisions from ferry operators recognise that the increasing bandwidth control and flexibility available to Inmarsat Fleet Xpress can be a cost-effective investment even when terrestrial networks are out of reach. With options now including the internet of things platform Fleet Data, dedicated Fleet Connect bandwidth and Fleet Hotspot wi-fi, a standard Fleet Xpress installation gives owners continuous connectivity and the flexibility on whether – and how – to monetise services.” “Weather forecasting in coastal regions is notoriously difficult. Local variances and effects typically affect meteorological and oceanographic conditions at a resolution finer than any weather model can predict. Navimeteo is a specialist in providing local port and site forecasts. MarineObs is our new platform that delivers interactive weather charts and displays a customised selection of ports with outlook summary warnings through a traffic light system based on custom-defined thresholds. Users can retrieve detailed, meteorologist-validated, location-specific site forecasts for planning port calls, reducing downtime and boosting safety.” “Telenor Satellite has provided premium satellite communications connectivity to the European passenger shipping sector for more than 10 years. Recently, we have extended our coverage to include Greenland and the Canadian province of Newfoundland, expanding our services to the most northerly regions. We have adjusted our services to account for the unique challenges of these remote areas, including low elevation and harsh weather. Our flexible solutions deliver super high-speed seamless connectivity on Ka band via our high-throughput satellite Thor 7. This high-powered spot-beam technology provides uninterrupted handover as vessels traverse the region, meeting operational and safety requirements while simultaneously supporting passengers’ leisure activities.” FEATURE: NAV IGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY Tim Sykes, Marine Operations Manager at Navimeteo Jan Hetland, Director of Data Services at Telenor Satellite