Hafnia to deploy Starlink fleetwide by end 2023

Hafnia is one of a growing number of owners and managers installing the Space X Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications service across its entire fleet.

Hafnia said it had completed successful pilots of Starlink in 2022 and 2023 and it was now up and running on 35 vessels. Installation fleetwide was expected by year end.

Starlink has shaken up the world of maritime communications with; ow latency and high bandwith at lower cost to traditional GEO services. It has been lauded as a game changer of crew communications and welfare.

In conjunction with Starlink installation Hafnia is rolling out a new crew welfare initiative called Project Hologram which enables seafarers to spend time with their families virtually in a group setting.  In August this year the Hafnia Atlantic used Microsoft Teams as a virtual hosting platform for a virtual dinner with ship staff and their families.

The initiative has now been rolled out to eight more vessels and Hafnia said feedback had been overwhelmingly positive.

Captain Samir Wagh of the BW Cheetah shared, “The crew onboard and our families spent a wonderful time during these get-togethers. It is not a given that we can talk to so many of our family members simultaneously. This is a very good platform and initiative to connect and become closer with not just our own families, but also the loved ones of our onboard family. We all look forward to the official launch of this across all our vessels.”

Related:Maersk goes big on Starlink

Earlier this month AP Moller – Maersk said it would be installing Starlink on all 330 of its owned and operated vessels by first quarter 2024.

In September month rival container line Hapag-Lloyd announced it would be rolling out Starlink across its fleet of containerships.

Early adopter ship manager Anglo-Eastern reached 100th installation on its fleet last month and said response to the service had been overwhelmingly positive both for operations and crew wellbeing.