Global satellite communications provider Marlink has recently signed a new three-year contract with Dubai-based marine geophysical company, Polarcus DMCC. The new agreement is for the provision of Marlink’s Sealink(T) C-band VSAT services onboard four innovative 3D seismic vessels which are currently being built at Dubai Drydocks World in the United Arab Emirates.
Customized to meet specific requirements of the new Polarcus vessels, the Sealink(T) VSAT system includes dual C-band antennas with automatic switchover and dedicated duplex bandwidth through a single channel per carrier satellite link. The bandwidth is 256 kbps, burstable up to 2 MB. The system also includes several LAN Networks onboard, 8 simultaneous voice lines and access to a highly advanced prepaid platform to provide crew with low cost voice calls.
“Sealink(T) will provide us with the highest quality broadband connectivity and a service which we can rely on. This is in keeping with our latest new build project which incorporates innovative vessel design with the most technologically advanced seismic and navigation systems available, to ensure seismic exploration is expanded without harm to the surrounding environment,” comments Peter Zickerman, Executive Vice President in Polarcus.
Marlink has seen continued business growth from its Dubai office and the signing of this latest contract with Polarcus marks a new era of continued collaboration between the Norwegian company and the UAE.
Polarcus is a UAE-based pure play marine geophysical company which is strongly committed to being at the leading edge of maritime and technological innovation whilst pursuing all opportunities to reduce its carbon footprint to achieve sustainable development. For its latest new build project, Polarcus is using the Norwegian ULSTEIN X-BOW® vessel design which reduces fuel consumption and allows for improved transit speeds whilst minimizing emissions. The company’s aim is to minimize its environmental impact through a combination of reduction, recycling and carbon offsetting.
The new vessel design breaks significant new ground and will see the launch of the world’s most environmentally-friendly and technologically sophisticated marine seismic vessels, providing advanced 3D towed marine seismic services worldwide to the oil and gas industry.
For Marlink one of the highest priorities for the maritime industry is crew welfare and the retention of staff onboard through advanced ship to shore satellite communications. The company is often viewed as the industry’s one-stop-shop by assisting customers in their selection of the most effective solutions to meet their operational needs and budgets. Customer requirements are continuously becoming more sophisticated with demand for increased bandwidth, meeting new regulations or exploring new ways of working and advancing operational efficiency.
Providing both C-band and Ku-band coverage, Marlink’s Sealink(T) solution can be tailored to meet individual customer requirement. The core focus of the product is to provide high quality cost efficient company internal telephony and public PSTN telephone and GSM carrier services, Administrative ship-shore LAN-LAN services as well as e-mail and Internet services to enable a strong connection with shore, benefitting ship operation, land administration, crew and passengers.
