Launched in 2003, the service provided ocean-going vessels with global voice, data and fax communications.
Fleet 77 (F77) was also Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) approved as a voice safety service, meeting the 99.9 per cent reliability requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). F77 has continuously surpassed that, achieving 99.99 per cent reliability for the entirety of its life, during which it has transmitted nearly 10,000 distress calls for help.
Today, the digital world has been transformed and demand for higher bandwidth is growing exponentially. Having informed the IMO in 2015 of our plans to close it down and carried out a comprehensive information programme to ensure all remaining customers were advised to migrate to new-generation services, today is the end of Fleet 77.
So while Fleet 77 comes to an end, Fleet Safety – the most significant advance in maritime safety in a generation, enters the world.
Fleet Safety brings GMDSS* safety services to tens of thousands of FleetBroadband and Fleet One users for instant Distress Alerting, reception of maritime safety information (MSI), voice distress, urgent medical advice and assistance, access to innovative Inmarsat safety services and direct and immediate access to over 50 search and rescue centres around the world.
*MSC.450(99) & MSC.434(98)
