Maritime operations are complex. Whenever a vessel prepares for a voyage, there are checklists and procedures the crew must complete to ensure safe, efficient, and compliant passage. Successful ship management companies strive to increase port efficiency and minimize time at port to reduce costs and move products and cargo more quickly. One crucial way to achieve this is through the digitalization of their operations and adoption of a digital-first mindset.

Remain Connected with Your Vessels at All Times

A leading oceangoing vessel ship management company operates a fleet of more than 35 tankers worldwide. Their ultra large tankers are 300,000 Dead Weight Tons (dwt), which hold around 3 million barrels of oil each. Once they set sail, it is of utmost importance to remain connected with their vessels to monitor operations and crew onboard and make informed decisions. However, ocean-going vessels cannot rely on land communications while out at sea, and because their routes sails in and out of most remote communications coverage areas, they require the flexibility provided by multiple connectivity paths beyond terrestrial networks to optimize their operations and crew welfare.

Ensure Business Continuity

As part of its transformation strategy, the company implemented Speedcast’s SIGMA smart network management platform on their vessels. Not only did SIGMA replace multiple network appliances and remote site equipment onboard, saving precious rack space, but it delivered higher bandwidth capacity and reliability with automatic transmission path configuration. Integrated with Speedcast’s global network, SIGMA was able to ensure business continuity and reduce costs for their operations.

How It Works?

An Amazon Web Services (AWS) qualified software solution, Speedcast SIGMA is a smart network management platform that enables seamless integration of global VSAT, cellular 4G/5G satellite backhaul, L-band connectivity and future non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) services to deliver high capacity and reliability for even the most remote operations.

Improved productivity

The solution’s cloud-based, integrated SIGMA portal provides one-touch activation and management of SIGMA devices and services from the company’s headquarters, enabling centralized fleet tracking, file synchronization and monitoring all-in-one.

Increased flexibility

In its AWS implementation, SIGMA brings secure Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity to the vessels and unparalleled voice services with the integrated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server, allowing for the flexibility to set up voice routing as required.

Boosted efficiency

One of the key advantages of using SIGMA is its ability to boost the vessels’ operational efficiency with virtualization technology, where multiple critical applications and services can run on-network as Virtual Machines (VM).

Reduced cost

By leveraging cloud’s flexibility and scalability, SIGMA on AWS significantly reduces IT costs and ensures high performance.

Simplified management

It also simplifies administration of crew welfare, so that crew members can contact their families, browse their favorite sites or social platforms and access music and video content on any device, from anywhere.

Setting Sail Ahead of Schedule

As technical and operational safety are an integral part of the company’s business model, SIGMA supports the fleet’s commitment to enhancing crew safety, enabling smart ship solutions, and accelerating growth. Because SIGMA is designed to easily integrate with a ship’s existing network, once vessels were docked, Speedcast’s Field Engineers were able to seamlessly install and test the innovative network management platforms. More importantly, the pre-configured SIGMA solution saved the IT team half a day of network configuration compared to alternative options. The extra time saved, and improved port call operations allowed the ship to set sail ahead of schedule, equating to bottom line savings.

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