[Satellite TODAY 10-15-10] Cyprus-based maritime company Intership Navigation has contracted MTN Satellite Communications to provide VSAT broadband satellite connections for two of its new giant bulk carriers, MTN announced Oct. 14.
     Both of the 177,000 deadweight ton ships were designed as designated training vessels, which can accommodate up to 12 nautical students and a training officer in addition to their standard crew complement. DHL Pacific, the first of these two ships deployed in August, has been equipped with a secondary training bridge, separate from the ship’s navigation bridge, with a simulator for watch-keeping instruction. Satlink Maritime Services, MTN’s sales and service channel partner in Cyprus, oversaw installations.
     “MTN’s VSAT services are critical to the e-learning program, giving our instructors and students unlimited access to this unique online training platform while at sea. Using the MTN satellite connection, the students can participate in chat rooms and online forums to seek advice from career coaches at the company’s shore training center in Manila. It also permits the shipboard training officers to access and check e-learning results of students via the shore-based MAST administration software and provide assistance as needed,” Intership Navigation IT Manager Pawel Bury said in a statement.