20 March 2017: Inmarsat has signed a five-year contract with Hapag-Lloyd to migrate all ships directly managed by the shipping line to Fleet Xpress services.

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

Fully-managed migration

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 Fleet Xpress terminals from both Inmarsat approved manufacturers, Intellian and Cobham SATCOM.

Future proof

“IT integration of our fleet has grown rapidly and will further develop. As a consequence Hapag-Lloyd has to ensure that 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.

Gerbrand Schalkwijk, Chief Sales Officer, Inmarsat Maritime, said:

“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.

“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.”