Digital start up ZeroNorth, a spin off from Maersk Tankers, has released the software Optimise to shipowners and operators with the aim to support the tramp shipping industry’s drive towards more sustainable development and increased earnings.
Optimise, formerly known as SimBunker, claims to enable owners and operators to reduce bunker consumption by determining the optimal speed of each vessel using multiple data points such as market rates, bunker prices, weather and individual vessel performance.
“The tramp shipping industry is bound to be reshaped and become more sustainable – and ZeroNorth is being established with exactly this aim in mind. As an independent company, it will be able to accelerate its strategy of using digitalisation to reduce CO2 emissions to the benefit of the industry as a whole,” said Christian Ingerslev, chairman of ZeroNorth and CEO at Maersk Tankers.
ZeroNorth currently has six customers and more than 300 vessels using Optimise. The company believes the software has the potential to become an industry-wide platform for the global tanker and dry bulk fleet.
“We are going to market with a profound understanding of owners and operators’ needs, stemming from our 90 years of shipping heritage, which we are combining with the expertise of a technology start-up. If the global fleet adopts our software, we see the potential to cut 50m metric tonnes of CO2 emissions and increase the industry’s revenue by $12bn over the next five years,” Ingerslev said.
ZeroNorth is now looking to attract strategic investors from the tramp shipping industry to develop the company and its products.
