ShipNext, a freight platform linking ships with cargoes, has given an update on take-up for the product as well as taking a swipe at established rivals.
The company has also revealed to Splash that it is in talks with the world’s top 25 shipping lines to get them to buy into the site, offering somewhere between 30% to 50% of the platform.
Launched last year, ShipNext now has more than 1,500 users with more than 18,000 ship positions available at any given time.
ShipNext has also launched an open source solution for electronic bills of lading, and will soon report a landmark smart contract in shipping.
ShipNext has also commenced the process of integrating real-time data from some of the world’s leading ports, a feature designed to eliminate or minimise unnecessary waiting times in ports. ShipNext is looking to add price comparison and price analysis tools to its fast changing platform.
“STOP wasting time and money on something which is now available for FREE!” the company stated in a release today in a veiled swipe at the platform’s many subscription-based rivals.
Freight platforms have been trading barbs a great deal of late.
Alexander Varvarenko (pictured), the founder of Odessa-based shipping company Varamar Group, launched ShipNext last October.
“Until ships are managed in one marketplace – matched when they are available with the most suitable cargo – they are not being handled efficiently,” Varvarenko told this site in an interview last year.
….the world’s Top 25 shipping lines…….or the world’s Top 25 shipping operators? Lines implies that these are container companies but the rest of this text implies that the partners may be general cargo companies.
Such online freight platforms have to contend with the current shipbroking model and offer good reasons for charterers and carriers to ditch a model that they are very comfortable with. By offering carriers an option to buy in may sound like a good strategy but that still begs the question: what big problem does it solve? How will carriers solve their big problems with an equity stake in a platform which probably will be just an additional channel to access cargoes? Smart contract solutions (like for bills of lading) or blockchain applications indeed hold great promises, but experts say they are still many years before we can see effective implementation, wide use, and benefits.