DIGITALISATION TO EMPOWER FISHING SECTOR IN SPAIN

With the increased emphasis on sustainability, catch traceability, and compliance in the modern Spanish fishing industry, satellite communication is undoubtedly making an impact on the efforts to digitalise operations and crew welfare services. As a reliable international service provider, IEC Telecom is committed to empowering vessel owners with integrated and scalable communication services that ensure improved safety for the crew and better working conditions onboard small and mid-sized vessels.

IEC Telecom is heading to Vigo in Spain this summer, home to 357 local fishing companies that turn over €3,000 million every year, to participate in Navalia 2022. This international naval sector trade fair brings together over 25,000 maritime professionals and 500+ exhibitors from 90 countries to discuss the latest trends in energy efficiency, offshore communications, sustainability, risk prevention, and more. IEC Telecom wants to empower the fishing industry to take advantage of the latest technological advances in satellite communications – a burgeoning sector with revenues projected at approximately $383.62 million by 2025 in Spain alone.

Spain employs the largest number of ­people in the fishing sector in the EU, i.e. 38,000 in 2019, and is renowned as a leading producer of fishing products. Spain is also one of the leading countries in the European maritime satellite communication market, heavily committed to continued innovations in maritime communications.

The recent rising trend in fuel prices – a whopping 200% increase in a year from 40 cents a litre to 1.20 euros a litre - and the calls for emergency measures to ensure the sustainability of the EU fishing sector led to a request to moor the entire Spanish fleet in March 2022 until an agreement could be reached by the Executive Committee and the Permanent Commission of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds to lower the cost of fuel, electricity, and gas.

With dedicated onboard connectivity over satcom, today, it is possible to receive accurate real-time meteorological updates, enable smart applications for weather notifications and fish catch reporting, and communicate instructions from shore to reduce labour hours as well as fuel consumption, leading to greater efficiency and cost savings.

IEC Telecom plans to showcase such state-of-the-art satcom services, particularly for the fishing sector in Spain, including Iridium GMDSS that delivers safety services at 25% of the cost of current equipment required to do the same and enables more fishing vessels to access life-saving and efficient sea-to-shore communications. IEC Telecom will also be presenting its optimised VSAT offer for mid-sized vessels over the GX60 NX Ka/Ku terminal, which can easily be installed and quickly deployed on 2.5GHz Ka-wideband with a frequency tuned radome & reflector.

IEC Telecom is renowned for future-ready satellite communication products and plans to spread the benefits of digitalisation and affordable satcom technology to over 8,000 vessels in the Spanish fleet, 96% of which comprise of fishing vessels.