Transport and heavy lifting maritime services company Harms Bergung is to equip its anchor handling tug fleet with Inmarsat XpressLink(tm).
The agreement was brokered by German maritime communications specialist DH-INTERCOM, one of the first Inmarsat-approved XpressLink distributors and a Gold accredited Inmarsat service provider.
Hamburg-based Harms Bergung will gain a fully-integrated hybrid Ku-band and L-band solution for a fixed monthly cost.
XpressLink supports always-on data speeds of 768kbps and, when the VSAT service is active, a committed information rate of 192kbps.
The company also has the option of a free upgrade to Global Xpress®, Inmarsat's game-changing next-generation global satellite network which will effectively double the available bandwidth, from 2014.
This is the second XpressLink win for DH-INTERCOM in Germany.
“Our market predominantly comprises commercial worldwide traffic which requires a reliable and truly global service,” commented Ole Peters, Managing Director of DH-INTERCOM.
“We have seen a shift in thinking among German ship owners who are, in increasing numbers, looking for higher volume communication systems with high data speeds and a fixed monthly fee.”
Thomas K. Rogalla, Managing Director of Harms Bergung, said: “We had considered using VSAT for our offshore anchor handling tug fleet, but no existing VSAT provider was able to offer a fully managed Ku-L-band system at a fixed rate.
“We believe the equipment on board our fleet must be of the highest quality and we selected Inmarsat's XpressLink because our IT specialists were confident that the combined package of VSAT and FleetBroadband will deliver continuous, global and reliable coverage.”
He added: “Naturally, the ability to double our VSAT bandwidth at the same fixed monthly cost when Global Xpress becomes commercially available in 2014 makes strong business sense.”
Frank Coles, Inmarsat Maritime President said: “DH-INTERCOM is at the forefront of delivering high-quality and cost-effective solutions to shipping fleets.
“The Harms Bergung contract was won on Inmarsat's ability to demonstrate the value of this solution, and that value is future-proofed thanks to Inmarsat's transition path to Global Xpress.”
