80 vessels migrate to VSAT, Iridium and VoIP software and hardware

Jan De Nul Group, a leading expert in marine construction, civil engineering and environmental projects, has moved its entire fleet of 82 vessels and jack-up barges to Castor Marine’s global VSAT and Iridium connectivity network on a long-term contract to guarantee solid vessel connectivity.

Castor Marine has been selected by Jan De Nul Group to provide global VSAT internet and Iridium L-Band services to the entire fleet of almost 80 dredgers, offshore construction vessels, crane vessels and (environmental) support vessels.

3-Month Global Migration

Since all vessels are operational around the globe, Castor Marine was challenged to migrate vessels remotely to its network using the existing equipment onboard within a tight deadline. Castor Marine successfully migrated 98% of the fleet within 3 months after contract signing, with up to 6 migrations a day. The project is a fine example of the company’s engineering capabilities to manage complex migrations.

Tailored Solution

Castor Marine delivers a tailored VSAT solution for Jan De Nul’s fleet, with quality of services specified on the customer’s VLAN level. The Jan De Nul fleet benefits from the flexibility Castor Marine can provide in its global VSAT network allowing Jan De Nul Group to easily scale up, based on the ad hoc, dedicated high bandwidth demands per vessel. 

Global phone calls, local rates

Included in the internet package are high-quality onboard voice services based on local Belgian telephone numbers for the vessels, which allows cost efficient phone calls at local rates.

Along with the VSAT, Iridium and VoIP services, Castor Marine delivered 15 new Sailor 900 VSAT antennas and Sailor 4300 Iridium Certus antennas replacing existing hardware onboard. For the newbuild NextGen Offshore Jack-up Installation Vessel Voltaire and the Offshore Heavy Lift Vessel Les Alizés, Castor Marine supplied a complete new set of antenna systems based on the recently launched Sailor 1000 XTR VSAT antennas, including below deck equipment.

“It is nice to work with an agile and technically advanced partner. Flexibility is very important to Jan De Nul to cater for temporary project upgrades and downgrades. Castor Marine monitors these developments and communication lines are very short. We attach great importance to mutual trust. So far, everything is going as desired with our new KU & L-Band supplier.” – Nils Crabeel, Communication Manager at Jan De Nul Group.

“It’s an honour to serve the Jan De Nul fleet with our services as Network Operator. I’m proud that we can deliver our flexible airtime solutions with high bandwidth capabilities to Jan De Nul on a global scale and that we can match the expectations of Jan De Nul with respect to high quality, flexibility and service levels.“- Mark Olthuis, Director Maritime Offshore & Energy.