Ship Equip Signs Broadband Communications Contract with Frontline

Oslo, Norway-Based Communications Leader Will Provide SEVSAT High Speed Broadband to World’s Largest Fleet of Crude Oil Tankers

Ship Equip has announced the signing of a major broadband communications contract with Frontline Management, world leader in the international seaborne transportation of crude oil.

The agreement between Ship Equip and Frontline Management AS (NYSE:FRO) includes ships from Frontline, Golden Ocean and Knightsbridge Tankers. The Frontline group of companies, with majority owner John Fredriksen, is widely accepted to be the world’s largest tanker owner, controlling more than 100 ships.
Ship Equip will provide Frontline vessels with its exclusive SEVSAT (Ship Equip VSAT) broadband communications solution, delivering important high-speed data, email and voice communications. Several SEVSAT systems have already been installed on Frontline ships and are currently in operation, providing a wide range of critical communications at a fixed cost, such as Internet access, email and telephone lines (including pre-paid crew calling).

“We have been engaged in dialogue with Frontline for some time,” said Ship Equip Sales Director Knut Helge Drivenes after successfully negotiating the contract. “We reached an agreement where Ship Equip will provide our SEVSAT technology, expertise and know-how to ensure that the fleet owned by Frontline Management benefits from state-of-the-art, high-speed broadband communications at sea.”

“We are very pleased that Frontline selected SEVSAT from Ship Equip to meet its communications needs,” said Ship Equip CEO Ivar Nesset. “The fact that the world’s largest tanker owner has chosen Ship Equip confirms that we have a competitive product and that our exclusive focus on delivering VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) technology has been right. That way we do not have internal conflicts of interest around delivering high-speed VSAT at a fixed cost versus maintaining revenue from lower bandwidth dial-up communication.”

The contract with Frontline is a landmark agreement for Ship Equip,” said Ship Equip CSO Gilles A. Gillesen. “We have been evaluated and selected to deliver SEVSAT to the approximately 100-ship Frontline fleet. This confirms that we are capable of meeting the communications needs of any fleet in the world.”

Since its launch of SEVSAT in 2004, Ship Equip has grown to 120 employees worldwide with operations, support and sales facilities in Oslo, Houston, Seattle, Singapore, London and Reykjavik to meet the needs of global shipping customers. Recently reaching the 1,000th order milestone for its SEVSAT system, Ship Equip is the world’s fastest growing provider of VSAT broadband communications for the maritime industry. To learn more about the broadband communications technology and services Ship Equip offers to the maritime industry, visit
www.ship-equip.com.