When fantasizing about the future, the majority of people with a willpower to change the world is young and highly educated and in the spring of their lives.
This was exactly the dynamic last Wednesday 26 April 2017 during the Masterclass at Erasmus university Rotterdam, when the Maritime Economics and Logistics-faculty organized a masterclass together with YoungShip Rotterdam with a focus on the impact of digital innovations on the shipping industry.
Platform ready for start-ups:
A platform was given to three already successful different start-ups that discussed their view on the innovation theme: Digitization in the Shipping Industry.
The first speaker was originally born in Cyprus. As an inhabitant from this Mediterranean country with a protagonist role in the shipping industry, it was inevitable to follow a career in the same field. Sofoklis Papasofokli from Radiant Fleet has a background in software development & engineering and soon realized that the shipping industry needed a software tool in order to make it more transparent, efficient and effective.
Software tool to monitor operating costs
Establishing his own company his aim was to build a software designated tool for ship owners and ship managers to provide a better and clearer overview of operating costs and more. Moreover, Radiant Fleet aspires to link customers with suppliers and vice versa with its online platform.
Transport and cost-effective:
Pim Faasse of 4Shipping is a son of a Dutch inland skipper, and established his own company called 4Shipping. With help of his father and his own experience in inland shipping he came to the conclusion that the process of chartering an inland vessel should be more efficient, transparent and most importantly more cost-effective.
Online application:
He created an online application that directly connects the skipper with the shipper, and vice versa. This application should, on the long run, replace the activities that are currently executed by brokers that act between them.
Avanti-Pronto:
Last but not least Bobby den Ouden and Sjoerd de Jager (respectively representing Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the Port of Rotterdam) presented a test-pilot initiative called “Avanti-Pronto”. The key objective of this pilot is to create an online database that is accessible for key players of the port of Rotterdam in order to run its operations more effective in terms of time and costs.
Pilot version to be tested:
Currently the driving forces and main characters of the project are testing the pilot-version in Rotterdam, with the ultimate goal to launch this project to ports around the globe.
Herewith, we would like to thank all the attendees, guests from Plymouth University and especially our members for co-creating a vibrant dynamic during this Masterclass.
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Source: YoungShip
