The North Atlantic Oceanic Route is one of the most strategic trade routes, linking Western Europe and North America. Each year,
commercial maritime vessels transport large volumes of cargo through this sea lane. These waters also support major fishing, offshore energy, cruise and leisure industries.
However, network connectivity for critical operations can be lacking in this relatively remote area. A lack of connectivity can hinder a ship’s navigation or maintenance systems, and it can severely limit or even prevent the crew’s communications with family and friends on shore. This means that in order to succeed, fleets operating in this region need reliable network coverage that they can rely on. Intelsat is continually adding coverage to its already-robust FlexMaritime network.
Most recently, Intelsat enhanced FlexMaritime to include coverage throughout the Hudson Bay and North Atlantic, including northeastern Canada, Iceland, Greenland and the North Sea. This expansion adds over four million square kilometers to the existing FlexMaritime network, enabling more ships to experience the benefits of high-performance, reliable and scalable connectivity and as Intelsat is the backbone of our Ku-band service, we warmly welcome this large expansion.
The FlexMaritime network expansion leverages several satellites, including Intelsat 901 (IS-901), which docked to Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) in February 2020 for life-extension servicing — the first time ever such services were offered to a commercial satellite in geosynchronous orbit. As a result of that historic event, MEV-1 is now powering IS-901 for an additional five years, making it impressive not only technically but also from an environmental viewpoint.
The FlexMaritime network now integrates the capacity of 16 satellites with more than 140 beams, combined with nine teleports, to create multi-layered coverage specifically designed for the stringent demands of the maritime industry. Ships using FlexMaritime seamlessly connect to multiple high-throughput and wide-beam satellites, ensuring maximum performance and service availability wherever they are travelling.