Petredec selects Inmarsat Fleet Hotspot fleet-wide

Benefits to crew welfare to spread to entire Petredec fleet after successful trials of dedicated Inmarsat ‘Hotspot’ portal

Petredec selects Inmarsat Fleet Hotspot fleet-wide

Inmarsat has secured a significant new commitment to its Fleet Hotspot internet portal service, following an extension of its Fleet Xpress service agreement with leading liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) transport group Petredec. Fleet Hotspot has been designed by Inmarsat to give crew onboard access to high-speed connectivity with the freedom to use their own devices.

Petredec is a longstanding Inmarsat customer, which recently renewed its Fleet Xpress service agreement across 27 operational ships and extended it to 10 newbuilds. Part of the renewal saw the Singapore-based owner commit for the first time to Inmarsat’s fully managed Fleet Care maintenance, repair, and support service, and the Fleet Data IoT platform for data collection, transfer, storage, and analysis.  

Petredec is a signatory of the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change. The Inmarsat renewal led to trials of Inmarsat’s Fleet Hotspot service. Rather than having crew demand for connectivity compete with operational bandwidth, Fleet Hotspot offers seafarers internet access via a dedicated portal, with billing options for owners including separate Master Service Agreements. 

Based on crew satisfaction feedback from a pilot Fleet Hotspot installation, Petredec is fast-tracking the adoption of the crew portal fleet-wide, replacing a previous crew connectivity service based on subscription. On completion, all 37 owned Petredec ships will be equipped with Fleet Hotspot, supported by the dual Fleet Xpress antennas on board. 

Neil Giles, Fleet Technical Manager Petredec, said:

“The powerful moral case for ensuring crews can stay in touch with friends, family, and the outside world has been laid bare during Covid-19, but there is also a direct link between crew happiness and retention of the best crews. It’s a link that results in safer operations onboard multi-million dollar assets, greater vessel efficiency, and business competitiveness.”