Inmarsat to migrate all ships managed by Hapag-Lloyd to services enabled for Fleet Xpress

LONDON, 23-Mar-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — Inmarsat (LSE: ISAT.L) has signed a five-year contract with Hapag-Lloyd to migrate all ships directly managed by the shipping line to services enabled for Fleet Xpress.

Hapag-Lloyd, the sixth largest container shipping operator in the world by Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) capacity, will transition all existing ships that it manages in-house from Inmarsat FleetBroadband services to Fleet Xpress. The agreement also covers five 10,500 TEU vessels as latest new builds.

Launched in 2016, Fleet Xpress sets a new standard in maritime communications. The service enhances vessel efficiency, crew welfare and safety, and facilitates ‘connected ship’ applications by delivering the highest levels of reliable high-speed broadband connectivity available from a single supplier on a global scale.

Hapag-Lloyd has been an Inmarsat customer for more than a decade, and the transition commitment to Fleet Xpress coincides with the expiry of a service contract based on FleetBroadband with VSAT back-up via Ku-band. The new agreement reflects the ship owner’s requirement for a fully managed migration to high-speed broadband and support it can trust from a single service provider. The agreement also stipulates redundant service provision that would be scalable for any future fleet growth. The deal includes terminals from both Inmarsat approved manufactures Intellian and Cobham SATCOM.

“IT integration of our fleet has grown rapidly and will further develop. As a consequence Hapag-Lloyd has to ensure that the ship-to-shore connectivity not only supports the increasing demand, but is also future proof,” said Jens Habler, Head of Hapag-Lloyd IT- Operations Management.

“Hapag-Lloyd is recognised as one of shipping’s most advanced owners when it comes to IT and ship-shore connectivity, and for the close attention it pays in addition to keeping its crews connected,” says Gerbrand Schalkwijk, Chief Sales Officer, Inmarsat Maritime. “We look forward to working with the owner’s team to realise the potential of the fully redundant Fleet Xpress service within the Hapag-Lloyd office, vessel and service organisation.”

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About Inmarsat
Inmarsat plc is the leading provider of global mobile satellite communications services. Since 1979, Inmarsat has been providing reliable voice and high-speed data communications to governments, enterprises and other organizations, with a range of services that can be used on land, at sea or in the air. Inmarsat employs around 1,600 staff in more than 60 locations around the world, with a presence in the major ports and centres of commerce on every continent. Inmarsat is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:ISAT.L).

The Inmarsat press release newsfeed and corporate updates are on @InmarsatGlobal.

About Hapag-Lloyd
With a fleet of 166 modern container ships and a total transport capacity of 953,000 TEU, Hapag-Lloyd is one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies. The Company has around 9,400 employees at 366 sites in 121 countries. Hapag-Lloyd has a container capacity of 1.5 million TEU – including one of the largest and most modern fleets of reefer containers. A total of 125 liner services worldwide ensure fast, reliable connections between all the continents. Hapag-Lloyd is one of the leading operators in the Transatlantic, Latin America and Intra-America trades.

SOURCE: Inmarsat plc.