Green shipping company with a sustainable way of producing a range of drinks from deep sea water selects Marlink for connectivity, crew communications and operational efficiency

The innovative, eco-friendly French company OFW Ships has chosen Marlink to provide a multi-band connectivity solution, combining high-throughput global VSAT with an L-band back-up for connectivity redundancy.

OFW stands for ‘Ocean Fresh Water’, reflecting the company’s simple but profound purpose: to sustainably convert saltwater into drinks. With 7.3 billion people on the planet, water is an over-exploited, increasingly precious resource in more and more places globally. However, an OFW Ships vessel equipped with a seawater selected filtration system and bottling plant will be able to produce 2,500,000 liters of premium drinks every week.

Pure and mineral-rich saltwater is drawn from the high seas, then filtered to remove sodium chloride while preserving naturally occurring minerals. The processed deep sea water is bottled, packaged and stored on board, then delivered to port, after which the vessel’s five-day production cycle begins again. OFW Ships’ environmental consciousness incorporates a promise to recover as many empty bottles as full ones delivered. The collected bottles will subsequently be recycled and transformed on board into pallets to be used for ensuing deliveries. The overall process divides by 10 the average carbon footprint of a bottle of water.

The adoption of Marlink’s multi-band connectivity will help OFW Ships to provide seamless crew connectivity including enabling crew to use their own devices onboard. This is an important factor because only specially hired, technically qualified crew can ensure the successful completion of all technical tasks on board. Greater operational efficiency will be achieved by operating in a more satcom-enabled digital maritime environment and by adapting new applications for smarter decisions and on-board safety.

OFW’s contract with Marlink is based on the multi-band combination of global Ku-band Sealink VSAT with L-band back-up, which ensures seamless global coverage and connectivity in all maritime conditions. The service comes with a Committed Information Rate (CIR) establishing a bandwidth guarantee to ensure enough throughput is available for critical applications used for operations and safety. Network control and crew account management will be handled cost-effectively by Marlink’s XChange communication management platform.

“OFW Ships’ environmentally responsible mission is a very timely and intelligent solution to an urgent global problem,” says Tore Morten Olsen, President Maritime, Marlink. “It is very exciting for us to support this project by a true green shipping company that is making such an important contribution to creating a more sustainable model for the future, with our connectivity solutions.”

“Reliable, top-quality connectivity is vital for us if we are to carry out our operations as safely and effectively as possible,” adds Régis Revilliod, CEO & Shipowner, OFW Ships. “A well-equipped, well-informed and happy crew is also an efficient crew. Teaming up with Marlink will enhance our working life and help us to serve our clients in the digital world we live and work within.”