Elon Musk’s Starlink beams to container ships so crews can web surf

A container ship on the high seas. For crews that spend months at sea, reliable on-board connectivity is a luxury if it’s available at all, partly hinging on proximity to land-based networks. — Photo by Rinson Chory on Unsplash

Elon Musk’s satellite Internet service is heading deeper into one of the world’s oldest and vast economic frontiers: the high seas.

Hapag-Lloyd AG, the biggest container shipping line based in Germany, said Thursday it will install SpaceX’s Starlink service aboard the ships it owns and manages after a pilot program involving four vessels proved successful. Charters won’t receive the service under the current plan. According to Alphaliner data, 122 of the 259 ships that Hapag-Lloyd operates are company-owned.