The historic Norwegian town of Haugesund, home to busy
waterways dotted with fishing and shipping vessels recorded a new,
groundbreaking chapter this week in its long maritime story. It became home to
the world’s first commercial Iridium GMDSS installation.
The Norwegian trawler Trygvason put to sea following the
installation of two Lars Thrane LT-3100S GMDSS terminals by local marine
services specialist Brommeland Elektronikk A/S, with Iridium GMDSS service
provided by remote communications solutions provider, Applied Satellite
Technology (AST). The state-of-the-art terminal manufactured by Lars Thrane A/S
is the only GMDSS terminal paired with Iridium’s truly global network and able
to enjoy superior GMDSS coverage.
“When it comes to safety and communications, our maritime
customers demand choice, capability, and above all, absolute dependability from
their services and suppliers,” said Gregory Darling, AST’s Group Managing
Director. “The launch of Iridium’s GMDSS service expands the options available
to our seafaring customers, delivers significant additional capability and
provides an IMO-approved, truly global distress service.” He added, “I’m
delighted and incredibly proud to be part of this latest innovation at sea.”
Brommeland, a maritime electronics and communications
specialist and valued AST partner has supported mariners in western Norway for
85 years. Per Helge Børseth, Managing Director of Brommeland said, “Our
customer chose Iridium’s GMDSS solution because it offers the richest set of
safety and associated services on the market, including immediate RCC-to-vessel
voice call-back as well as standard voice and SMS in addition to guaranteed
coverage in their operating region. This means the Trygvason can cut back on
other on-board equipment and costs and simplify their operations whilst
satisfying the critical maritime safety requirements.”
As well as voice and SMS, the LT-3100S features a unique
Distress Alert & Safety Voice capability and a red button which, when
pressed alerts the RCC and puts the vessel’s crew in direct conversation with
an operator within 30 seconds.
Kyle Hurst, Director of Maritime Safety and Security
Services for Iridium added, “This is the culmination of many years of effort to
bring to market the next generation of safety-at-sea services. We’re delighted
that mariners now have a new GMDSS option and through our partner AST we’ve
started our customer journey.”