Tapiit livestreams mass from Philippines to seafarers thousands of miles awayTapiit livestreams mass from Philippines to seafarers thousands of miles away

The live streaming of the mass held by Father Paulo H Prigol, chaplain of ship-visiting network Stella Maris Manila, to the crew of an offshore support vessel utilised capabilities that Tapiit has under an agreement as an Inmarsat Certified Application Provider (CAP).

The broadcast was made to the vessel sailing from America while Father Paulo conducted the mass from Manila while production of the filming was managed live by Tapiit’s team in Liverpool.

Tapiit sees the livestreaming of the mass, which was also linked to seafarers family, as a way to help hundreds of thousands of crew stranded onboard vessels beyond their contract duration due to Covid-19 travel restrictions

“A huge number of those are Filipino as they make up around a quarter of world's 1.2m merchant seafarers. Their Catholic faith is very important to them and it is brilliant that we are using this new partnership with Inmarsat to support them. This is the kind of positivity and innovation we wanted to create when we set up Tapiit Live. And to be able to link in the families to the mass as well made it even more special,” said Richard Turner, ceo of Tapiit.

The vessel’s crew said: “We, the Filipino crew, thank all the parties involved for organising the online mass. We are thankful for uplifting our spirits despite what’s happening now. We are far away from our families and the message was timely appropriate.”

Related:Tapiit to offer livestreamed onboard training via Inmarsat's Fleet Xpress

Ian Stokes, head of corporate engagements and partnerships at Stella Maris, said: "This is a hugely significant event and Stella Maris was delighted to be at the heart of providing spiritual support to this crew. Faith plays an integral part in the lives of many seafarers and their families and can be enormously beneficial to mental health. We look forward to further such ventures with Tapiit.”