The Hamburg headquartered John T. Essberger (JTE) Group will migrate the primary communication systems of their entire fleet to Sealink, Marlink’s global maritime broadband VSAT service.
The Installation on 22 chemical tankers and 9 dry cargo vessels is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Essberger was founded in 1924 as Atlantic Tank Reederei by tank ship pioneer John T. Essberger. The Essberger Tankers division fleet consists of highly sophisticated chemical vessels, while JTE Dry Cargo operates a fleet of modern bulk carriers, multi-purpose tonnage and container vessels, as well as cement tankers.
Essberger’s move to VSAT reflects its commitment to technical innovation combined with safety required by Lloyd's quality assurance guidelines. The higher bandwidth and cost control offered by Sealink VSAT enables them to deliver new crew communication facilities and introduce streamlined processes for ship/shore data transfer. As Sealink is a global service, Essberger vessels can operate worldwide with data connectivity and voice communication always available.
All vessels will also be equipped with the XChange communication management system to comprehensively manage the fleets’ IT and communication tasks via a single, integrated platform. Essberger will manage the voice, VoIP, and data connectivity for corporate and crew usage and also use the Universal Remote Access (URA) function of XChange to maintain full control of their onboard IT network from shore. All vessels will be equipped with two voice lines and Wi-Fi access points to allow crew to connect with their own personal devices.
Capt. Bernd Schlarmann, Fleet Manager Ship Management, Essberger, relayed that with more bandwidth available globally, the company will also be positioned to streamline vessel and port operations, which will directly benefit customers in terms of more efficient handling of their cargoes.
Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink, reported that Essberger’s Sealink service will support a stronger IT focus across the fleet, strengthened further by the integration of XChange and URA, which provide significant access and administration functionality on vessel IT and communication networks.