Seafarers expecting easier access to the internet via crew welfare provisions under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) may be disappointed, a global satellite broadband conference has heard.

Mark Woodhead, managing director of Headland Media, told the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) conference in London, that while MLC put crew welfare ‘at front and centre’ by requiring that voice and data communications, where it is available, are offered to all crew at a reasonable price, it stopped short of require internet access to be free.

Headland Media, distributes commercially licenced movies, news, music and other media to 9,300 merchant vessels, and about 300 cruiseships, and recently has been bought by KVH Industries for its VSAT market share.

'Every ship I have spoken to has had a gap analysis done about where they stand on crew welfare, and they know it is on the agenda, so it opens up a dialogue which might be useful,’ said Mr Woodhead.

Good data communication was not confined to social media access, he added. Crew work and rest was also a serious issue that needed good systems to record it. While pay might be top of the agenda for most seafarers, the best quality seafarers would work for companies offering the best working conditions, while managers would also demand the tools to do their jobs, maintained Mr Woodhead.

The conference heard of an anticipated changing IT seascape for ship operators — the possible influence of mobile technology on satellite networks for the cruise industry, smaller antenna for superyachts, and the potential nanotechnology impacts on the future seafaring. But the benefits to seafarers seemed under the radar of satellite operators.

Roger Adamson, chief executive of Stark Moore Macmillan, said its survey of nearly 1000 Filipino seafarers commissioned by Astrium last year, and published in February 2013, showed seafarers wanted internet access, and that 70% of them were willing to pay for it. But he added that the need for access to social media was ‘highly generational among seafarers.’ Those under 25 for example seemed ‘barely to be interested’ in Facebook anymore.

The findings of a recent Cisco survey of 18-30 year olds on smartphones which showed 55% couldn’t live without the internet had relevance to all employers, including shipping owners, as it showed that ‘the new workplace currency was not just about salary,’ commented Mr Adamson.

Presenting the seemingly lone master voice and non-VSAT view from the tanker industry, was Captain Goran Vidak, director of DailyNewsOnboard, a translated email news service. He provided the reality check that much of the world’s merchant fleet was still without internet access, so the best help for crew from satellite operators would be for a cheaper service.