High Seas In-plant

It’s official: digital presses can float. Or at least the HP Indigo press 1050 aboard the Ocean Village Two cruise ship can.

Ocean Village, a U.K.-based cruise company, brought the digital press on board to replace the two-color litho press it was using to produce menus, schedules, welcome packs and an on-board newspaper. The HP Indigo press 1050 will enable an even wider range of collateral to be printed than before.

The press was installed by Digital People, an HP Indigo distributor, while the ship was docked in Germany.

“The press had to be dismantled on land in order to fit through the one-meter-wide ship doors, and then reconstructed inside the ship’s pressroom,” says Chris Blanchard, business development manager at Digital People. “To ensure that the printing system worked effectively we also had to consider the variable power supply of the ship. Digital People liaised with HP Indigo engineers in Israel to overcome this problem and to ensure that the press could operate efficiently with a suitable voltage stabilizer on board the ship.”

The press is predominantly used in port but has also been operated at sea on occasions, with no deterioration in print quality. During the press’s first week on board it was used to print more than 100,000 impressions. Due to the high quality of printing, the press will be used for more passenger-facing work. The press is currently used to print 800 daily newspapers. Ocean Village hopes to develop a greeting card and post card service as well.

“We are very impressed with the digital press,” remarks Paul Wright, Ocean Village’s entertainment and revenue development manager. “It is easy to use, cost-effective and has the capacity to produce high-quality, double-sided, full-color print at high speed, as there is no drying time. The HP Indigo press 1050 is able to color match the Ocean Village logo perfectly and we are able to produce impromptu collateral on-board.”