Ireland’s first port with ‘Sea-Fi’ network
Following a successful trial period, Ireland’s Port of Cork has announced details of its partnership with Ringaskiddy based company Sea-Fi Marine Data Communication Ltd.
Sea-Fi is a wireless network covering the navigational areas of Cork Harbour, and up to 10km off Roches Point. Over the last six months Sea-Fi has provided Wi-Fi on board the Port of Cork owned vessels, MV Denis Murphy and MV Gerry O’Sullivan.
This has proved very successful, allowing the work vessels to send and receive emails, images and work reports from around Cork Harbour. It has also proven a time and money saver, eliminating the need for the work vessels and crew to go back to base for administrative purposes, as this can now be completed on board.
The partnership between the Port of Cork and Sea-Fi will see the roll-out of SeaFi Horizon WiFi for all visiting commercial vessels either sailing or on anchor inside and outside Cork Harbour. This is the first port in Ireland to have a fully operational Sea-Fi network.
Speaking about the partnership, Port of Cork Harbour Master, Captain Paul O’Regan said: “Following the successful trial period on board our tug and work-boat we are very pleased to announce this partnership with local based company Sea-Fi. Currently many commercial vessels using the Port of Cork use the internet via their on board sat-comms. Offering a Wi-Fi service will mean they have a more efficient service when transferring large data and faster download speeds, which means cost savings for the ships equipped with a SeaFi Horizon ship station.
“Very often some crew have no access to the internet while in a port, but now with Port of Cork SeaFi Dockside service, crew will be able to access their emailsand call their family with Voice over IP, which will greatly improve crew welfare.”
Initially this partnership will see the SeaFi Dockside being rolled out at Ringaskiddy Deepwater Berth, Tivoli Container Terminal and Cobh Cruise Terminal. This is not a marina style Wi-Fi network, but a highly advanced system capable of transferring large amounts of data, if required.
It is proposed in the future to roll out a similar service which would be offered to leisure craft using Cork Harbour.
