Linie Aquavit: Documenting a 4-Month Journey

Marlink’s Sealink VSAT recently proved integral to a unique ‘slow TV’ experiment spanning four months and two equatorial crossings.

Arcus is the world’s largest producer of Linie Aquavit, a Norwegian beverage dating back to the early 19th century that derives its name from a tradition whereby oak barrels of Aquavit are transported on boats from Norway to Australia and back again, thereby crossing the equator (‘linje’ in Norwegian) twice before being bottled.

Aquavit’s makers have always maintained that the incessant motion, high humidity and wildly varying temperatures encountered by ships on this 2,880-hour passage are all major contributory factors to the drink’s accelerated maturation and eventual taste.

For the 'slow TV' exercise, Marlink’s brief was simple: enable unbroken live streaming of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessel Tamesis on a four-month sea voyage from Bremerhaven in Germany to Australia and back again, taking in stopovers in Germany, Holland, the UK, the USA, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, China and Japan en route. Tamesis already uses a Sealink VSAT solution, but to achieve the high upload speeds required to produce consistent live footage over such an extended distance and duration, Marlink allocated a temporary bandwidth upgrade to the vessel, adjusting its existing hardware setup ensuring no additional hardware was required.

Arcus approached Marlink to assist in proving the importance of the actual voyage for the taste of the aquavit – hence the absorbing live stream. A camera provides a clear, sharp view of Tamesis’ cargo deck, with the relevant containers aboard: and while leveraging the calming nature of the recent Norwegian phenomenon of ‘slow TV’, the real-time coverage has already captured some stirring sights since the vessel left Bremerhaven recently – not least a heavy snow storm in the Atlantic.