May: Better decisions

At the end of April we revealed ShipIntel's new business model. You can now tie your ShipIntel subscription to your Microsoft 365 subscription and make ShipIntel a part of your company's IT data and security policy and have your data protected by the Microsoft Entra protocol. We're happy to see existing customers recurring and new customers signing up 😄

May recap 🌻

🛥️ ShipAtlas

The ShipAtlas user base keeps on growing, and average growth per month has been 6,3 % with no marketing. Product development is based on data and user feedback. ShipAtlas aims to be the best ship tracker there and is all about vessels.

We have made a new roadmap and after the upcoming 4 weeks ShipAtlas you will see some major changes 👀 With more focus on ships, new shipwrecking features, and a long awaited new subscription type we're calling "Ship Unlock".

Download the ShipAtlas app in App Store or Google Play and register today 🌎

🆕 ShipIntel

ShipIntel Essentials: The must have maritime AI-based AIS toolbox.

We have really launched some cool new features in May!

We want SMBs to take part in the digitalisation of the maritime industry, and we are therefore pleased to announce that we have launched smart search, a feature that usually only the investment houses and large enterprises could afford 🤯 We want to make such useful features to make it available for SMBs.

What if you could do this every day:

Find specific type and size of vessels, that has sailed from a port, country or area in laden or in ballast. Find where they are right now in a map, and find when they can be in a specific port by going directly to the port or via a port, whether it is via a bunkering port, via canal, or you have 2 discharge ports.

Find specific types and sizes of vessels, that has sailed from a port, country or area in laden or in ballast and has set a destination to a specific port.

Looking for a replacement of a vessel missing its laycan window? Find vessels currently in a region in ballast, and find when they can reach your load port. Find their vessel voyage history attach and synk your contact book and you can reach out to the broker or the owners and discuss before anyone notice you need a replacement.

It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't. Want to see it in action? Book a demo today!

ShipIntel Pre-Fix: An AI-driven decision support system, for shipbrokers, shipowners and cargo operators to help your save hours and have more time to be proactive.

What about AI driven Cargo handling and voyage calculations? Track an email from received in Outlook until you have done the voyage calculations and fixed the vessels or cargoes.

🤝 Customer feedback

This is what Lars in Oslo Bulk says about ShipIntel:

"We started using ShipIntel because we needed an AIS software and a sea route calculator. This allowed us to quickly calculate time, distance, and carbon emissions from any vessels' AIS positions to any ports. We added more features because we gained access to high-quality AIS data, smart AI searches, and a very user-friendly software at an affordable price. There are too many stand alone software, and we have started looking for a kind of one stop software that gives us what we need at an affordable price. It is a huge advantage to have such software developed by industry professionals and to be invited to contribute with ideas and new features without being invoiced".

We are proud and humble of such a statement and are committed to work hard to continue to deliver value to our customers.

👩💻 Update from the CEO

Being an entrepreur is really for those not afraid of changes.

When we started the company in 2019 most of the software used in offices were on-prem, meaning stored in-house on servers. The "most advanced ones" used external data warehouses and had started looking into "setting up some cloud software".

Then came Covid, and then came "digitalisation to the maritime industry". One of the major catalyst for change is the digital infrastructure that has been "ready". Ready means available for everyone, affordable, and scaleable. This infrastructure facilitates transformation, and efficiently connects people globally.

It consist of a wide range of components, both physical and virtual, that work together to support a company’s digital operations like;

• Cloud solutions are more than just storage of data (flexible, collaborative, global)
• Connectivity & accessible  (internet, WIFI, network of computers, social media)
• Transparacy
• Compute and process capacity
• Security & compliance / Cyber security
• Software as a Service
• Electricity / energy

Then, last year, big tech companies made generative AI tech available to the public, and for tech SaaS start up companies like us, who had started a couple of years earlier, it was like "die or fight". Luckily for us we had invested in the necessary tech infrastructure, data architecture and features needed to take place in the digital race. Luckily for us, we also have industry knowledge and solid investors with experience from the maritime industry.

So from having just an idea on a PowerPoint, with a vision declared from people in the industry as "impossible to do", we did move during 2023, thanks to our investments, the generative AI technology and our solid partnership with Microsoft, into a position where our vision is possible to execute and we are doing such a good progress.

So get onboard, and get ready to embark a software helping you to make better decisions today with tomorrows maritime solutions. Book a demo today!

🎉 Celebrating our latest accomplishments

During the last months we have done so much and had so much progress. In addition we had the pleasure of celebrating Bjarte, one of our colleagues birthday and the Norwegian constitution day; the 17th of May. 3 reasons for celebrating; team progress, a birthday and the democracy.

We had a cake in the office and later grabbed some beers and pizza. Team Maritime Optima = 👏👏👏

See the post here.

✏️ Generative AI in the maritime industry

Generative AI technology is advancing rapidly and will unlock a wide range of new capabilities for companies involved in maritime business. However…

Generative AI will not generate magic unprompted, and it will only create value for those who possess the knowledge to effectively leverage these AI agents, because they possess an understanding of the context these AI agents operate under, have solid industry knowledge and understanding of its company’s business models.

Read the blogpost to learn more 👩🏫

🏖️ Beach cleanup

Every year we do a beach cleanup, but this year we made an (internal) record in participating colleagues in the beach cleaning. Armed with gloves, trash bags and motivation to create a tangible difference, we spent a sunny Saturday in May cleaning up one of the many beaches along the Oslo fjord. Read more about our beach cleaning day here.

↙️ Way down south

On the second to last day of May, our CEO Kristin Omholt-Jensen attended Svein B. Nordengs conference Shipping Conference South (SCS) 2024, where Svein had gathered around 70 shipping professionals for a day of insight and discussions. In her presentation she emphased the digital infrastructure and the three "digi" amigos;

• Digitisation - New Technology. Outcomes are sporadic automation and innovation
• Digitalisation - New Processes. Outcomes are services and solutions; efficiency and effectiveness.
• Digital transformation - New Business models. Outcomes are digital business innovation; new types of value chains.

Where do you think the maritime industry is in 2024?

⁉️ Customer Success

Customer success is an important part of ShipIntel and ShipAtlas.

We have updated the ShipIntel Essential user guides, which users find within the software and app or through our webpages. If you have any questions you can also reach out to us anytime in the chat, either in the product or on our website 😄

❓How many seats can I add to a company subscription?

As many as you want. You can start with one or several and add seats as you go.

If your company is using Microsoft 365, all employees should use the Microsoft login options, so you are a part of your companies IT policy.

❓Where do you get the AIS data?

We subscribe to raw AIS data streams from Spire and Orbcomm from satellites, terrestrial sources, and dynamic AIS sources for the global merchant fleet every second. We have built an in-house AIS data pipeline where we mapm clean, unify, and process these data sets. Then we enriched the AIS data with vessel specifications, anchorage locations, ports, and berths etc. By applying machine learning and deep learning analytics to the data sets, we continuously improve the quality of the AIS pipeline.

❓How much does ShipIntel Essentials costs?

We charge per seat, the more seats you add to your subscription the more affordable it becomes. Since we warmly welcome SMBs we have a business model that matches the digital infrastructure: available for everyone, affordable, and scaleable. Contact us today so we can give you a demo and quote you a price for your subscription.

❓Do you charge extra if you improve or add features during the subscription period?

No we don't.

❓What is the benefits with ShipIntel vs other B2B solutions in the market?

We respect our competitors so we think you should instead ask our existing customers that questions. However, many customers tell us that these might be some of the advantages;

• The Microsoft 365 integration, especially Outlook and the email management.
• The AI driven cargo work-flow is unique. From the shared email inboxes to pre-voyage calculations. We save hours.
• The easy to use and understandable user interface. On mobile as well as on web.
• High quality live AIS data and a lot of relevant data in one platform. We save hours searching for data daily.
• The new smart search is awesome. We never thought we could afford a feature like this.

Within ShipIntel it is also possible to sync documents, photos, and contracts related to vessels and ports, that you store on OneDrive, Dropbox etc., together with the the vessels and ports AIS data (both live and historical data). With 2-3 clicks you have access to all types of data, and together with smart AI search tools and receiving, you can save hours searching for data.