CASE STUDY

Fortius Ship Management: Leveraging MarPoint's Network Management Solutions for Seamless Connectivity

Since its establishment in 1991, Fortius Ship Management has solidified its position as a leading player in the maritime industry. Specializing in Handyside and Supramax bulk carrier vessels, Fortius is renowned for reliability and enduring business relationships.

Recognizing the vital role of efficient network management, Fortius partnered with MarPoint, a trusted provider of tailored solutions.

In this case study, we interview Mr. Eleftherios Misentos, the IT manager of Fortius, who sheds light on their ongoing project. The focus lies on transforming network services, prioritizing quality entertainment for the crew, and ensuring effective shore-side management and monitoring of equipment on each ship. Mr. Misentos provides valuable insights into Fortius’ goals and the significance of their collaboration with MarPoint.

– How does Fortius Ship Management’s culture of evolution and goal-setting align with recognizing and appreciating the efforts of their seafarers?

Our corporate culture is to evolve and set high goals for the future of our company, primarily upgrading the core of our organization. Here at Fortius, our seafarers are our strong core, so we aim to recognize, confirm, and present their efforts.

– What were the primary criteria that Fortius considered when selecting a partner for handling the ships’ network management?

Observing the various implementation models and solutions offered in the maritime market and by setting safety, quality and economy as the primary criteria of our choice, We have selected MarPoint to be our trustworthy partner that will handle our ships’ network management.

– Could you elaborate on the goals of the ongoing project in terms of network services, quality entertainment services for the staff, and management monitoring from the equipment’s shoreside?

Upon completion of this currently ongoing project, our goal is to have on board the best possible network services of the market, quality entertainment services for our staff, and management monitoring from the shoreside of the equipment installed on each of our ships.

– How does MarPoint’s EVO² solution contribute to the achievement of Fortius Ship Management’s goals in terms of network services, management monitoring, and enhancing the quality of seafarers’ entertainment services, considering the role of Starlink Antennas and Evo News in this process?

Our sailors’ efforts on board are not wasted because we achieve to monitor and maintain the proper operation of all involved systems (client PCs, switch, server, firewall, VoIP, wifi caps) while through a VPN connection provided by the MarPoint Solution (EVO²) we can intervene from shore whenever and if needed.

At the same time, we continue to evolve the quality of our seafarers’ entertainment services by offering connection speeds like shore-based ones as we have been installing Starlink Antennas/services as primary WAN (Wide Area Network) port and constantly updating them through MarPoint Evo News.

– How does Fortius address connectivity failures and take advantage of EVO² capabilities considering the role of Starlink Maritime in this process?

We acknowledge the possibility of connectivity failures that may occur and we take advantage of EVO² capabilities by placing on WAN2 the Inmarsat FX service. EVO² features of WAN ports switching and firewall rules implementation allows us to continue having seamless communication with the ship along with the required corresponding restrictions.

– Have you received feedback from seafarers regarding the upgraded fleet services?

While processing the upgrade project of our fleet services, we keep on receiving thank you messages from our seafarers on a weekly basis, either when we are now able to provide remote assistance through a high quality and economical call using MarPoint’s PBX or because their daily communication via video calls with their families is now possible without facing any issues.

– In conclusion, could you provide insights from the graphs that confirm the capabilities of EVO², the connection speeds of one of your ships, and the coverage of Starlink services?

Finally, the graphs confirm the capabilities of EVO², the connection speeds of one of our ships, and the coverage of Starlink services.

Netemeter: Estimated traffic and average In & Out speeds

Netemeter: Starlink average In & Out speeds

Netemeter: FX average In & Out speeds

Thank you, Mr. Eleftherios Misentos, for sharing these valuable insights into Fortius Ship Management’s network management project and partnership with MarPoint. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you.