11 Jun 2020
Ships which have embraced digital connectivity are better positioned to cope with unexpected events like the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. With ports closed to vessels, airlines grounding planes, and seafarers stranded onboard, a clear difference has been observed between those vessels with VSAT capability onboard and those without. There has been an increase in demand for crew communication provisions and companies have had to prioritise communication links to maintain operations. With connectivity systems down, research has revealed that 13% of companies immediately start losing money and 46% suffer a financial hit after just four hours! Solutions such as OneGate enable companies to offer crew with enhanced connections and increase the vessel’s bandwidth speed to cope with escalating digital traffic. Moreover, with robust back-up systems recognised as an essential component of business contingency plans, such solutions allow for remote upgrades and maintenance without the need for an engineer to board the vessel. Today, connectivity solutions such as Thuraya Orion IP, Thales VesseLINK, and Fleet Broadband offer stable signals to smaller vessels too.
