The majestic Statsraad Lehmkuhl is one of the world’s largest and oldest sailing ships. Built in Germany in 1914, she has been an iconic part of Bergen’s cityscape for over 100 years and has survived two world wars, educated thousands of sailors and continues her legacy today operating year round, delivering voyages and activities at home in Norway and abroad. As the world’s most environmentally friendly sailing ship in its class. 60-70% of Statsraad Lehmkuhl´s voyages are completed under sail. And with its newly installed battery, the ship can go in and out of ports without harmful emissions from the use of engine.
The sustainability of the ship led to its selection by Norwegian broadcaster NRK for its ‘Sommerskuta’, which involves turning the vessel into a floating broadcast station. For six weeks from July 6 until August 15, the ship will sail along the Norwegian coastline from north to south delivering a constant ‘slow TV’ experience (the broadcast of lengthy, often everyday events in real time) as well as live broadcasts on NRK six nights a week. The goal of the broadcasts will be to showcase the country, promoting sustainability and raising awareness of environmental issues.
Combining ST Engineering iDirect’s expertise in the mobility and broadcast markets, NRK’s broadcasts will be supported by our broadcast solution over the Newtec Dialog platform and utilizing our powerful MDM3310 modem that supports both maritime and multicast services. Our partners, Telenor Satellite and Telenor Maritime, will provide essential satellite capacity to round out the connectivity solution.
The Statsraad Lehmkuhl has already completed an initial test voyage around the Shetland Islands which concluded in mid-May. This enabled the crew and NRK to test the systems that will be used to broadcast the Sommerskuta experience.
Once the Sommerskuta is over in August, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl will then embark on the One Ocean Expedition, the goal of which is to create awareness and share knowledge about the ocean’s critical role for sustainable development, from a global perspective. One Ocean will take the ship on a nineteen-month circumnavigation as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
Once again, we will be enabling critical maritime connectivity to the crew and participants via Dialog along with additional partners Telenor Maritime, Eutelsat, Blue C Mobile, Intelsat and Iridium, throughout their epic voyage. The ship will set sail from Arendal, Norway, on August 20.
We’re looking forward to supporting this historic ship during its busy year of activities. ST Engineering iDirect proudly take on the important work of creating awareness of global challenges by enabling the connectivity. Our contribution and partnership with many other organizations allow NRK and One Ocean Expedition to deliver an immersive experience during each voyage that ideally brings new perspective to participants and followers alike.
We’ll be keeping you regularly updated on the Statsraad Lehmkuhl’s progress. Stay tuned.