Page 57: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2011)

Thuraya Maritime Solutions is a satel- lite communications firm based in Dubai, offering voice and data solutions to two- thirds of the world. The company is dom- inant in the region it serves, with 300,000 subscribers to date, a nearly 70% market share in its coverage area, according to the company. While the company’s strength is voice, and despite the fact that its services are unavailable globally, most notably in the Americas, the company is making a strong push into maritime, con- centrating on shipping companies and vessels sailing to and through Asia, the

Middle East, Africa and Europe. “We are a new entrant (to the maritime market), and the biggest challenge is con- vincing people that we are a viable choice,” said Rashid Ahmad, Senior

Product Manager. “We will do this with a good product and a good price plan.”

According to Ahmad, “We do not have a significant exposure in maritime … to date, it is very small, maybe 5% of our subscribers.” Despite this, the company is banking on its strong reputation and ability to dominate terrestrial markets, and is particularly keen to offer compet- itive pricing: “We are going to offer

VSAT-like prices,” Ahmad said.

Also in the company’s favor is a rela- tively young satellite fleet, offering sta- bility of service and amenities such as the capability to “spot beam” up to 20% of its bandwith to a particular hot spot in order to ensure that communications in high-traffic areas remains fluid.

By the company’s projection, it already offers coverage extensive enough to give it entrance into the maritime industry, with coverage in 140 countries serving 80 percent of the world’s ports. The com- pany maintains that is has no current plans to expand in the near future, but if and when it is ready, it would likely in- volve an outside investor or partner.

Current offerings to the marine market include Thuraya Marine, which offers voice, ‘always on’ packet data up to 60 kbps, email, fax and SMS; and the com- pact Seagull, offering voice, 9.6 kbps data, GmPRS data and SMS. Scheduled for launch this month is the Comtech

Maritime Broadband Solution, manufac- tured by Comtech in the U.S. This prod- uct offers voice, 9.6 kbps data, GmPRS data and SMS, as well as up to 444 Kbps standard IP and up to 384 Kbps stream- ing IP. Thuraya NettedComms is an in- teresting hybrid wireless application, which allows the user to talk instantly to a pre-defined group of users – integrating different telecommunication technologies such as Sat, GSM, PSTN and Radio) at the press of a single button — G. Trauthwein

Thuraya to Expand Maritime SatCom Offering

March 2011 www.marinelink.com 57

The Compact Marine Terminal, is available for about $2k retail, with calls at $0.99 per minute.

TOPAZ EXPANDS TO BRAZIL

Dubai-based Topaz Energy and

Marine agreed to acquire two off- shore supply vessels in Brazil based on a total delivered price of $40.4m.

The vessels, Sea Otter and Sea

Marten, were built in 2007 and 2010 and are both An- chor Handling

Tug Supply ves- sels (AHTSV).

AHTSV are spe- cialized vessels used in support of offshore oil and gas activity. The vessels are em- ployed on three year time charter contracts with Petrobras, the semi- public Brazilian oil company and the largest in Latin America. “Brazil offers significant growth opportunity for Topaz, and these ves- sel acquisitions provide us with an excellent first entry point into the buoyant offshore market,” said Fazel

Fazelbhoy, CEO of Topaz Energy and Marine. “We will continue to pursue growth through partnerships, vessel acquisitions and new build or- ders. This acquisition is in line with the next steps of our declared busi- ness strategy and builds upon exten- sive preparations to enter the

Brazilian market.”

POLARCUS’ SHIP NAMED AT

DRYDOCKS WORLD

The ultra-modern high ice class seismic vessel Polarcus Alima and

Polarcus Samur were named recently at the Drydocks World Dubai ship- yard. The two vessels are part of a se- ries of six built for Dubai based geophysical oper- ator Polarcus.

Three vessels be- longing to the se- ries have been delivered.

Polarcus Alima incorporates so- phisticated seismic technology and is capable of towing 12 streamers, with a 100 m lateral separation between streamers. It is a 3D/4D seismic ves- sel built to the highly merited Ulstein

SX134 design and ULSTEIN X-

BOW hull. It includes all the latest marine equipment and innovative ef- ficiency enhancing features. It is equipped with environment friendly systems such as diesel-electric propulsion, high specification cat- alytic converters, double hull and water treatment systems.

Fazelbhoy