Anglo-Eastern, a global ship manager, has announced its has begun installing Starlink Maritime broadband service on its fleet of ships, with plans to roll out the service to more than 200 of their ships by the end of the year.
The company is initially working with Starlink to trial the service across a dozen vessels of various ship types and trading patterns before broader rollout in the coming months. The first installation occurred last week and according to a tweet from one of their captains, Starlink Maritime is already providing unprecedented speed for the ship’s crew, calling it a “game-changer” for their well-being.
Internet speed after #Starlink Internet onboard one of the @angloeasterngrp ship.
Game changer in #seafarers wellbeing. pic.twitter.com/2vC46S8vPn
— Capt_Cibeesh (@cibeesh) March 13, 2023
Torbjorn Dimblad, Chief Information Officer of Anglo-Eastern shared similar sentiments, saying, “Once installed on several vessels, we knew immediately it was a game-changer. Overnight, these ships became as connected as any office or home, affording the crew unprecedented access to friends and family while enabling an entirely new level of collaboration between ship and shore.” Dimblad said the introduction of Starlink Maritime arrived at a perfect time, as the company has already commissioned over 600 data centers and replaced 5,000 workstations across the fleet since 2020, making the underlying infrastructure in place to leverage the accelerated connectivity.
According to Dimblad, there is a lot to learn as the company scales up the deployment, not just in terms of the technology and service, but more importantly, “what opportunities it will bring for the broader safe operation of our vessels,” he explained.
Bjorn Hojgaard, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo-Eastern, believes that the addition of Starlink’s LEO network will change life on board in a way that the shipping industry has never experienced before. Seafarers will be “always-on,” enjoying the same connectivity that people on shore have been used to.
Starlink Maritime first launched in July 2022 and has quickly proven popular in the maritime industry, with several major cruise lines already signing on as customers. The service comes with a $5,000 USD monthly fee, which might sound expensive but is cheaper, and provides better service, than other maritime internet providers.
