New technologies are already making a great impact on shipping. It is therefore crucial for the industry to adapt to the new requirements. Dan Rooney, Commercial Maritime Product Director, Speedcast, gave an exclusive interview at SAFETY4SEA at Europort, Rotterdam in early November, highlighting how smart shipping has affected the current landscape.
Industry’s change is driven and will continue to be driven by new regulations as well as new business requirements. In order for these developments to take place, connectivity is important.
“In Speedcast we engage with partners to deliver smart shipping solutions in a simple manner for the shipping company. Smart shipping, when combined with communication, enables end-to-end tracking of containers or cargo” Mr. Rooney said.
In the context of communication, Speedcast presented its new product at Europort. Namely, the company launched a new concept which facilitates the communication of seafarers with their families and friends.
“Satellite providers are very concerned with how crewmembers can have greater connectivity onboard a vessel. What we have delivered is a global 4G SIM card, that gives the crew low-cost access to data around the world in their own mobile phone,” Dan Ronney informed.
CrewReach is company’s new global prepaid mobile SIM card designed with crew members in mind. Powered by a Multi-IMSI global network, Speedcast claims that CrewReach provides cost-effective access to 4G and 3G data.
Albeit the new developments, shipping industry has proven to adapt slowly to new realities. This time, new technologies are dominating more and more quickly and the industry has to keep up.
In order for this to happen, shipping firms have to follow a more holistic approach, regarding their action span.
However, crewmembers need to be vigilant when it comes to technology. As the number of connected devices on the ships increase, so does the risk of a cyber-attack.
In order to prevent this, the training of the crew is imperative. Organizations must train the seafarers, in order to understand that even the simplest move can cause a possible risk.
Therefore, frequent security audits are very important. From these audits the crew has to understand that data security is as important as physical security.
Moreover, as autonomous vessels are increasing, organizations must find a way to deliver their services to these ships, as safely and securely as possible.
Concluding, Mr. Rooney gave his message regarding smart shipping: “We understand that changes are coming in shipping and beyond and there is a convergence of the land markets towards the maritime markets. So, having a partner who is looking forward to this convergence and can deliver in a cost effective manner both connectivity and value added solutions, is imperative.”
Speedcast, is a company specializing in communications satellite technology. Recently the company launched Sigma Gateway, a new network device capable of managing Speedcast’s global VSAT, L-Band, Fleet Xpress, 4G/LTE and Wi-Fi services. For this solution, Speedcast has been shortlisted for the 2018 SMART4SEA Connectivity Award. All winners of the 2018 SMART4SEA Awards are due to be announced on January 30rd, 2018.