Greek Shipping company Newport Ship Management has proceeded with a fleet-wide installation of MarPoint’s Evo2 Router for controlling and optimising vessels’ multi-person networks and enhancing crew welfare services.

The shipping company, which operates a modern fleet of bulk carriers, was looking to modernise the IT support for its business with a complete portfolio of physical, network, data security services, and ensure compliance with the IMO 2021 regulation. By partnering with MarPoint, Newport was able to centrally organise the fleet’s network infrastructure independently of the airtime providers, gaining complete access to the Evo2 platform and customising it according to each vessel’s unique needs.

Newport’s main priority was to take advantage of the existing VSAT satellite connectivity in order to create a cyber-secured network environment onboard its fleet, to provide unparallel crew welfare services during the COVID-19 pandemic and to stay compliant with IMO regulations.  

By partnering with MarPoint, Newport was able to improve:

Cyber risk management

• Establishment of a Secure Vessel Network, via MarPoint’s Evo2 Router Enterprise-grade firewall, web DNS filtering, application filtering and secure VPN interconnection
• Custom rules on vessels’ firewall, alerting and web filtering service
• Assets/networks segmentation
• Vulnerabilities and threats assessment via a complete network inventory remote monitoring/reporting service; automated alerts mechanism
• Network assets management (Ups, printers, thin clients and other)
• 24/7 complete systems apps/files back up/recovery, via MarPoint’s UNI active-active triple cluster server solution
• Desktop virtualisation and active directory using Linux Thin clients offering one account per crew member. Thin clients remain the most reliable, easiest-to-manage, most energy-efficient and highest-security endpoint option available
• Software patching, based on customised/scheduled downloading sessions, for bandwidth and vessel’s operations optimisation, in line with the IMO 2021 regulation
• Intrusion Detection System (IDS) : 24/7/365 monitoring of traffic moving on networks and through systems to search for suspicious activity and known threats, with zero day vulnerability updates
• Antivirus integration with cloud hosting management portal for real time holistic monitoring of the vessel’s antivirus protection

Crew welfare services

• VoIP services: Newport seafarers now enjoy unparallel crew calling services
• Crew hotspot cards: reliable internet access is provided to the crew via hotspot
• Evo News: Seafarers’ free time is spent now more creatively by enjoying free and unlimited access to worldwide news/articles, along with a series of video games, all without being connected to the internet

Added-value MarPoint services

• MarPoint dedicated IT project manager
• Dedicated MarPoint IT team for 24/7/365 IT managed services, via an automated ticketing system and with standardised response times according to the event
• Global network of MarPoint approved partners for smooth onsite projects implementation, regardless the vessels’ ports of destination

“As we move towards the era of ‘smart’ ships, the role of the modern IT manager in a shipping company becomes a daily multi-tasking challenge that needs to ensure proper communication ship to shore as well as proper operation of all IT systems on board, 24/7 remote monitoring and compliance with regulations,” said Theofano Somaripa, CIO of Newport.

“By taking advantage of MarPoint’s latest approved technology and excellent proactive it managed services, I personally was able to have a peace of mind regarding daily troubleshooting issues, maintain 24/7 control over all operations, providing at the same time an excellent crew welfare experience to our valuable Seafarers!”