Norway’s Dualog holds a special place among the Splash team, being the only company to have sponsored every single Maritime CEO Forum in the exclusive shipping gathering’s eight-year history. Within days of Splash launching Geneva Dry, Dualog was one of the first brands to put to pen to paper to support the new event.
“Hopefully I will experience passion and ideas to new innovations as well as meeting old and new friends for good conversations during the Swiss spring in Geneva,” says Morten Lind-Olsen, CEO of the Scandinavian software solution provider.
Lind-Olsen will be rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most famous shipowners when he touches down in Geneva for what has coalesced rapidly into the annual global dry bulk shipping summit.
When speaking to clients within the dry bulk space, Lind-Olsen says that the new satellite constellations such as Starlink are dominating tech discussions these days.
“Clients are highly focused on dealing with the impact of super-fast affordable internet most of the time, combined with slow/expensive internet at the next sailing. So right now it is back to basics to always ensure cyber-secured internet management and flexible utilisation of the available connectivity,” Lind-Olsen says.
Clients are also asking for purpose-built solutions, he says, to bring ship and shore closer, so they can free up their time and focus on proving improved solutions for owners and crew.
Dualog will be one of more than 40 tech providers at the show, and he is aware of the confusion many clients have in choosing tech solutions, however, he argues that this situation is changing.
“The disruption that is taking place in the market now somehow clarifies the challenges that customers are facing,” Lind-Olsen reckons, going on to explain: “What used to be a connectivity choice based on cost savings is now turned into more traditional terrestrial IT challenges of choosing tools and solutions purpose-built for your segment or your company.”
Come May 2, the inaugural Geneva Dry will kick off with a whole afternoon devoted to digital, a chance for delegates to probe through the myths and hype, to explore what shipping’s myriad tech providers can actually do to improve owner and operator bottom lines.
The three digital sessions on the opening afternoon of Geneva Dry kick off with an hour on digital efficiency drivers with top names from Oldendorff Carriers and Cetus Maritime among the speakers followed by a workshop on making data actionable and finishing with what promises to be a lively debate on the future of fixing, moderated by Mandarin Shipping’s Tim Huxley with well-known names from the likes of Bahri, Lauritzen Bulkers and Arrow as panellists.
The high-level summit is split into relevant sectors to make delegates’ time more targeted and rewarding. Sessions also include minor bulks; agri-commodities; coal; iron ore; and decarbonisation.
The full Geneva Dry agenda can be accessed here.
Geneva Dry registration, at just $650, can be accessed here.
Special Geneva Dry rates at the President Wilson Hotel can be found here.
