Keeping WFSV passengers comfortable

Comfortable seakeeping is the priority and much thought has gone into hull designs which minimize the pitch, roll and slamming which can result in maintenance engineers arriving at offshore turbines feeling less than fully effective.

Onboard entertainment is another area being addressed and technology familiar within the commercial aviation industry is now available to the builders, operators and passengers of WFSVs with the Alphatainment system from Alphatron Marine BV of the Netherlands.

Its department, Alphatron IT&AV Solutions, specializes in integrating technology onboard in the field of completely integrated IT and entertainment solutions. The fast developing market for crew and/or passenger transportation requires out of the box thinking and Alphatron has recently introduced Alphatainment PES (Personal Entertainment System), a modular maritime entertainment concept.

This seatback entertainment system consists of a central server distributing on demand multimedia, such as movies, music and infotainment directly to the newest technology 7” touch panels for each passenger seat.

Not only is on demand content available, live radio can also be sent to each user. User friendly Android software is used for its intuitive operation and earphone ensure each user can enjoy the entertainment in comfort. The administrator can easily add or remove content.

Apart from entertainment purposes this system also houses an important safety feature. From a central location a safety instruction video can be started before the vessel leaves port, only then does the video entertainment become available. It is also possible to pause the entertainment during an emergency PA announcement. From the main menu, the operator can choose to show a continuous company promotion video and, if preferable, a company colour layout with logo.

Alphatron’s most recent project is on board a 60 seat crew supplier which was successfully equipped with this system.