Crowley Maritime Corp., the 128-year old Florida-headquartered company, has agreed a contract to install Fleet Xpress from Inmarsat, a mobile satellite communications firm, on a majority, of its vessels.
Crowley is a global energy, maritime and logistics services company that owns, operates and manages a diverse fleet of close to 200 vessels including conventional and dual fuel (LNG) container ships, tankers and articulated tug-barges, and ship assist and offshore services tugboats, and various other types of barges.
The deal was signed following successful trials on subsidiary Crowley Alaska Tankers, LLC, on Aframax tanker, California, and the recently reflagged US container ship Rio Grande Express which is managed and operated by Crowley Global Ship Management.
The trials helped showcase the combination of the high-speed of Fleet Xpress on Ka-band with continuous back up from FleetBroadband operating on L-band, enhancing both the stability of communications and available uptime, according to a statement.
“Fleet Xpress proved successful in the trials that were carried out on the California in Alaska and the Rio Grande Express operating in international services during the harsh North Atlantic winter weather season,” Captain Rodney Jones, director of operations with Crowley Global Ship Management, commented.
All vessels covered in the agreement will install either a Fleet Xpress GX60 or GX100 terminal from Intellian and an Infinity smartbox solution that will allow the vessels to access a number of value-added services, including bandwidth control and remote user management. Fleet Xpress has reported over 8,500 installations across the globe.
