As a provider of connectivity on both land and water though our global connectivity and maritime connectivity services, our team is constantly assessing how we can help ports and shipping companies around the world to improve the communications which help monitor and track containers as they make their way around the world – on-water, in-port and in-land.
Some of our maritime connectivity customers are increasingly interested in our coverage on-land as they need to monitor their freight as it moves out of and into a port. In an earlier blog Maritime connectivity for freight on rivers and canals - and inland ports we discussed the growing importance of rivers as a shipping channel:
“Roughly a third of Germany’s coal, crude oil and natural gas—as well as a big chunk of its grains and chemicals—travel along inland waterways of one type or another”
“Traffic on the Rhine, which twists from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea, accounts for about 80% of that”
“A medium-sized lorry can move around 25 tonnes; a barge can easily haul 3,000 tonnes. Delivering stuff by river is usually cheaper than using road or rail, and can be the only option for massive or oddly shaped consignments”
Linked to the increasing use of rivers, this recent piece in The Economist discusses “the rising popularity of inland “dry ports”, where goods are put in containers ahead of time, ready to be loaded onto ships as they arrive at the pier without needing to be stored for days at the port itself”.
The Economist reports that the global supply chain needs more ports to maintain efficiency but “the expansion of seaports is becoming tougher..Space in the right locations is scarce” and environmentalists are unimpressed.
In California land and permits have been granted for a new dry port that will “ease traffic at the hopelessly inefficient ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach”.
Meanwhile in China a new network of dry ports means that “manufacturers load goods onto trains at one of 13 inland rail terminals for transport to the coast. Some of these terminals are rather a long way from any shoreline. Urumqi in Xinjiang province, home to one of them, is farther from the sea than any other city in the world, around 2,400km from the Bay of Bengal”.
However, for our maritime connectivity and global connectivity teams, regardless of the type of vessel, what they are moving, and how they are moving it, seamless connectivity will be required throughout the journey.
Shipping is now a sophisticated operation with owners now managing the entire shipment and delivery process of goods through connectivity, cloud computing traceability, monitoring, smart sensors and containers
Telecom26, global connectivity for freight on rivers, canals and in-port
Telecom26 is a global mobile service provider and a maritime mobile operator and can provide end-to-end coverage – from any inland point to onward points of distribution, and at sea.
Our team of maritime connectivity experts are working with global shipping carriers to provide always-on global and maritime connectivity wherever their vessels and goods are in the world.
Take a vessel travelling along the Rhine from its source in Switzerland, along the Franco-German border, travelling through Rotterdam in The Netherlands before going north along the UK border, and then across to the port of Gothenburg in Sweden, a distance of around 1800m.
During that time the ship, its crew and *the onboard devices will all need coverage.
The people and on-board devices that use Telecom26’s global network will have access to multiple networks as it moves including:
- Salt in Switzerland
- Vodafone and Telekom Deutschland in Germany,
- SFR, Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Free Mobile in France
- Vodafone in The Netherlands
- Vodafone, Virgin and 3 in the UK
- Nuuday and Telenor in Denmark
- Tele2, Telenor and TeliaSonera in Sweden
Telecom26’s maritime connectivity and global connectivity network
To provide this truly global and maritime connectivity service, Telecom26 has developed multi-IMSI global eSIM cards.
These enable one SIM to access multiple networks both in-country and across borders thus removing the need to worry about the coverage of a single MNO, or the existence of roaming alliances. Multiple-IMSI profiles are pre-loaded onto every SIM allowing for simple reconfiguration if the primary network has poor or no service.
Our Multi-IMSI global SIMs automatically select the best performing network in the area, cross-border, while providing users with the freedom to change SIM profiles and services with ease.
When a vessel is travelling in-land on rivers and canals then Telecom26 SIM cards will be using our on-land cellular networks.
When the boat goes out onto the sea then our maritime connectivity services include:
- A full Cellular At Sea maritime connectivity service for vessels of all sizes
- A Nearshore Connectivity Service - Our recent blog “Nearshore Connectivity - perfect for vessels up to 30km off the coast” discusses how most ships and vessels spend the majority (up to 60%) of their time in port or in coastal waters. They are therefore within range of land-based cellular networks which can provide coverage to vessels as far out as 30km. So, instead of relying on costly satellite for data or connectivity, vessels – and the people on-board - can use these cellular networks
- Networks for personal communications, onboard
- A maritime connectivity IoT Service including private networks on-board vessels, oil rigs and platforms – and supply chain tracking.
To learn more about Telecom26’s suite of global connectivity and maritime connectivity communications services please get in touch.
Catching-Up In-Person
We will be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from 27 February – 2 March and will be launching several new services and discussing lots of other global and maritime connectivity subjects including:
- Our growing global network of 5G partners
- Our eSIM packages – Telecom26 provides a complete range of eSIM and eUICC solutions that enable seamless profile delivery and management and remove the need to ship and deploy physical SIMs
If you’d like to arrange to meet at the show then please book a meeting.
Or if you’d like a call to discuss how our global connectivity and maritime connectivity services can connect the people and devices on-board your vessels and vehicles as they travel around the world then please get in touch.
