Addvalue offers connectivity solution to US sport-fishing vessel owners

ADDVALUE Innovation, a wholly-owned unit of mainboard-listed Addvalue Technologies, has partnered satellite communications firms Inmarsat and Pivotel to offer a connectivity solution for owners and operators of sport-fishing vessels in the US.

The partnership comes on the back of regulatory changes. From Jan 5 next year, owners and operators of a charter or headboat vessel with a Gulf federal for-hire permit will need to electronically declare a trip before departure, and submit an electronic fishing report for each trip before offloading fish.

To help vessel owners meet the new requirements, Pivotel is offering a vessel-management system (VMS) that taps Inmarsat's service and includes the Addvalue iFleetONE terminal for full-featured voice and data services, the firms announced on Wednesday.

The package facilitates the delivery of the trip declaration, electronic fishing reporting and location-tracking components, in compliance with the new regulatory requirements. It also offers enhanced broadband communications for crew connectivity, improved contact with people ashore, and more efficient vessel operations, the firms said.

K Kalaivanan, head of solutions platform at Addvalue, noted that the addressable market associated with the new regulations stands at around 3,000 sport-fishing vessels.

"(We) are extremely excited about this partnership with Inmarsat and Pivotel to launch the Addvalue iFleetONE VMS solution. Indeed, the unique Addvalue iFleetONE VMS package has no parallel in the market. Besides facilitating the various VMS functions... it supports generic Internet connections for fleet operations and crew communication," he said.

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"This 'two-in-one' value proposition will not only help the fishing fleet owners meet today's demanding communications, but will also enable the expansion of digital applications on board the vessels for many years to come."

Shares of Addvalue closed flat at S$0.022 on Wednesday.