Joining Forces on Crew Welfare
Maritime Video streaming services
Proof of Concept explained
The issue of connectivity at sea is tightly intertwined with that of crew welfare and this is being recognized by service providers. Today, catering for crew is an integral part of their portfolio of services.
The crew are the heartbeat of any ship. Without them, there is no business and it’s critical that they feel supported and looked after. This means providing them with a high level of connectivity so that they can keep in touch with their families and friends.
High-quality Crew Connectivity to Support Life at Sea is Critical
ISWAN (International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network), an international maritime charity, has highlighted a growing crew retention issue due to increasing mental health crises that seafarers face.
In 2023, there was a 44% quarter-on-quarter increase in calls and messages relating to mental health challenges.
Seafarers face the same challenges at sea as they do at home with relationships, family issues, work and health concerns, but they are dealing with them in a remote space and a long way from home. Likewise, their families are doing the same and often coping with situations without the spouse or parent that is working as crew.
High-quality crew connectivity to support life at sea is critical. It’s perhaps hard to imagine that, during the pandemic, many crew were stranded with very limited access to vital communications. Today, it is considered an essential service for any company that employs crew on board their vessels. The crew demographic is undergoing change. No longer is recruiting crew a matter of finding the cheapest labor. The budding crew members of today are digital natives, equipped with multiple devices and high expectations of a living-room-like connectivity experience. When looking for employment, the availability of reliable and powerful communications often forms the basis of their decision.
It is important that vessel operators offer an high quality user experience that can cope with the demand of applications utilized by crew to chat with friends and family online, make and receive video calls, surf the internet and stream video, as well as the operational applications that are used daily.
Those serving on vessels with up-to-date communications technology comment on how it is transforming the social and emotional landscape of life at sea, as it is critical for connectivity and links to home.
Technology Partners Join Together on Crew Welfare Proof of Concept
MediaMobil, a German-based satellite service provider specializing in provision of secure communications to remote regions, is familiar with the needs of the shipping industry and has been operating proven communications systems for cargo, research, and government vessels as well as entire fleets, for many years.
The company also connects offshore wind farms, work vessels, and platforms to a company’s overall IP-based communications via VSAT technology.
The company is now looking to add crew welfare to its portfolio of value-added services and is working with German Tanker Shipping, a shipping company based in Bremen with a fleet comprising 14 oil tankers sailing under the German and Seychelles flags.
MediaMobil and partners Eutelsat, Inverto, and ST Engineering iDirect are collaborating to develop a crew welfare Proof of Concept to provide streaming services for the crew on board the 14-tanker fleet.
Streamed video services will enhance the onboard experience for crew, enabling them to tune in to news, sport, movies, documentaries and much more whilst at sea.
Playing to their Strengths
Each of the partners brings something different to the table and will provide full content licensing, hardware, software, and support at every stage of the PoC.
Content Aggregators: offer content rights expertise and capability to negotiate content rights. While also offering content origination, both linear and file-based.
Inverto Offers a content delivery solution based on DVB-Native IP. Complemented with edge servers and mobile/Android TV applications.
ST Engineering iDirect: Satellite modulation hardware & Software, support, and experience in delivery of DVB-NIP standard.
Eutelsat: Offers managed satellite capacity and go-to-market experience in the deployment of video services to the maritime market.
MediaMobil: Maritime customer base and go-to-market experience in service deployment to the maritime market.
The DVB-NIP Standard: The PoC will utilize the DVB Native IP standard (DVB-NIP), which bridges the gap between broadband and broadcast networks and paves the way for a truly converged media distribution solution. Using the efficiency of broadcast networks, it enables distribution of large-scale content to modern IP devices yet fully integrates broadcast technologies with those used in broadcast networks. Live and linear distribution can be enabled both unidirectionally or bi-directionally, where the bi-directional delivery utilizes a satellite return path using a VSAT platform.
For the Maritime market, Native IP over Satellite provides a more efficient way of using the existing bandwidth and capacity. It’s optimized for video, which accounts for at least 80% of internet traffic.
What do Crew Want?
In order to find out exactly what crew want and expect from an on-board streaming service, a questionnaire was distributed to the German Tanker Shipping crews.
It’s important that content is suited to the crew members on board individual vessels. Some may wish to have access to cultural content such as news and sport from home or content in their native language. Others may wish to gain access to educational or file-based content.
By asking the right questions, the partners can then start the process of securing content rights to develop the bouquets that are right for the crew on each vessel who may be of diverse nationalities.
Next Steps: In-lab Testing and Beyond
The team will next move into the MediaMobil lab in Bremen to start testing on the PoC. It is intended that crew will have access to an app to access the content, so this will be carefully trialed.
Once the testing is complete, phase 2 will see the PoC installed onto the German Tanker Shipping fleet of 4 vessels. Subsequently, it could potentially be rolled out to up to 30 vessels.
Happy Crew, Successful Business
As in any industry, anywhere across the world, a happy workforce is a motivated and productive one, and investment in crew welfare should be at the top of any fleet operator’s list of priorities.
The PoC that is being carried out by MediaMobil, Eutelsat, Inverto and ST Engineering iDirect will enable crew to feel at home on board their vessel, with easy access to familiar content as well as content that is new and interesting to them.
This will also mean that German Tanker Shipping will have a unique service to attract and help retain crew in an industry that is faces its own challenges in terms of recruitment.
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