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www.sea-technology.com July 2014 / st 47 Seamless Connectivity for Personal Crew Communications and Safety C-Bird allows crewmembers to reach loved ones and friends by tele- phone or via PC-to-PC calling (similar to Skype) at only a $0.10-per-minute, prepaid rate, a very low cost at sea. It also allows the crew to surf the In- ternet while off duty, read emails and catch up on what is going on at home via Facebook. This helps establish and maintain high crew morale, which signifcantly reduces turnover and the resulting costs and resources necessary to recruit and train new crewmem- bers. This is substantiated by an exten- sive report this year, the Futurenautics "Report on Crew Communications," which outlines in great detail the im- portance of providing Internet access to crews in bluewater shipping. This survey garnered the partici- pation of nearly 3,000 respondents across 20 nationalities and included seafarers across the tanker, gas carrier, bulk, car carrier, container, general cargo, offshore and passenger vessel marine sectors. The most notable sta- tistic stated that 69 percent of crews confrmed Internet access was a fac- tor in determining on which ship they chose to work. While the system is designed to give the crew seamless access to the Internet for personal communications, it also includes a management feature that allows the captain to designate hours of operation and prevents access during each crewman's shift to main- tain onboard productivity and elimi- nate distractions caused by laptops, notebooks or smartphones. The applications for C-Bird extend to the safety side of the equation, which is mission critical. Dangerous weather patterns have become the norm at sea, and the ability to navigate safely and economically around tsunamis, hur- ricanes and other storm conditions requires continuous connectivity. In addition, there were 264 pirate attacks worldwide in 2013, according to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Of these, a total of 12 vessels were hijacked, 202 were boarded and 22 were fred upon. Long-standing ship piracy problems make being able to connect with both onshore and at-sea resources a matter of life and death. In an industry where communication is everything, there are multiple studies that show C-Band VSAT is the most re- liable solution available for maintain- ing the always-on Internet connectivity that is essential to safely conducting business in commercial shipping. C-Bird enables ship management to update information on ports of call, course changes or other impor- tant company information like feet position, speed, heading and equip- ment monitoring, 24 hours a day and in real time. Shore support from Mari- time Broadband is extensive and cus- tomer service is offered around the clock. Easy, Inexpensive Installation The C-Bird antenna is shipped in several boxes and weighs only about 400 kilos, versus 1,100 kilos for other C-band antennas. It does not require a crane for installation, nor does it need a specialized crew to come onto the ship and set it up. All that is required are standard tools that commercial ships have on board as a matter of course, such as screwdrivers, wrench- es, an engine hoist, angle iron, blow torch, solder, marine paint and a small ladder. While the ship's crew installs