The widespread, rapid adoption of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service on hundreds of ships was arguably the biggest onboard tech development of 2023, something that is set to snowball this year.
Musk started marketing Starlink to maritime customers in the middle of 2022 and within the space of around 12 months many of the largest names in commercial and cruise shipping had signed up for fleet-wide deals for the service, which enables high-speed internet with speeds of over 200 Mbps, a significant leap forward in terms of internet speed and latency.
Now, in a bid to grab an even greater market share, a number of Starlink’s authorised resellers have introduced a special deal whereby any ship with a registered IMO number can get two months free five terabyte-a-month mobile priority service to trial the new technology.
Since the maritime Starlink user terminal costs $2,500, and the monthly five-terabyte service costs $5,000 a month, this offer is worth $10,000 with resellers expecting a wide take-up. While the user terminal is not included in the offer, full refunds are offered to owners who decide to return the terminal after the two-month free trial period has ended.
The ship will become a seamless extension of the office
Among the resellers urging clients to avail themselves of this unique introductory offer – available for sign-up through to March – are Aage Hempel, Castor Marinem Welcome, IEC Telecom, Navarino, Satcom Station, Clarus Networks Group and Tototheo.
Hong Kong’s Anglo-Eastern was one of the early adopters of Starlink among the global shipmanagers. The company’s CEO, Bjorn Hojgaard, argued last year that Starlink – and other new satellite offerings such as OneWeb and Project Kuiper – will change life onboard in a way never experienced in the history of shipping.
“Soon seafarers will be always-on, enjoying the same connectivity that we ashore have been used to. The ship will become a seamless extension of the office, where members of the team just happen to be closer to the machinery,” Hojgaard commented.
It’s certainly a great venture for the seafarers to be able to connect with their loved ones at anytime 24/ 7 / Great Idea now the family and distant mariner just has to make sure that their timing is correct with the time zones / This should be provided by all companies to all mariners / It’s great to know that this is now available / When I went to sea for 31 years I had to wait for the American port of call and the port captain would say go ahead and make it short / In other areas we used “Mars” / Thanks for this item / Seafaring will be a bit easier now /