Iridium Communications Inc. is going happy all the way as it has received orders for more than 100 Iridium OpenPort broadband satellite terminals for installation on Spanish commercial fishing vessels. Javier Ormaechea, CEO of Zunibal, an Iridium service provider in Spain, opined that Iridium OpenPort is very popular among Spanish fishing captains.
He told that Spanish fleets prefer Iridium OpenPort because of its worldwide coverage, including the important fisheries in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and also its high-bandwidth data connections and competitive pricing for equipment and airtime. Many Spanish fishing vessel operators are using Iridium OpenPort to comply with the new European Union (EU) regulations for electronic log keeping and reporting.
The e-logbook regulations came into effect January 1, 2010, for vessels more than 24 meters in length, and the EU will extend the regulations to vessels more than 15 meters in length on July 1, 2011. Spain has more than 2,300 vessels subject to the EU e-logbook requirements, more than any other single European country. Vessels owners are getting subsidies from Spanish government on the purchasing and installation of the equipment.
Lorenzo Dominguez, captain of the FV Gene, said that, in addition to meeting the EU e-logbook requirements, Iridium OpenPort provides a complete communication center for ship-to-shore voice and data calling. Greg Ewert, executive vice president, global distribution channels at Iridium, said that Iridium is in the advanced stages of planning for Iridium NEXT, the next-generation satellites that will replace the existing 66-satellite constellation starting in 2015.
