Thome presses ahead with ‘Amazon-like’ maritime marketplace
Thome Ship Management has been awarded a grant by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to help fund the development of a smart digital e-marketplace platform with the developers of the project suggesting the new venture is maritime’s version of Amazon.
The new platform will streamline often very cumbersome procedures and protocols by creating a digital marketplace where suppliers and purchasers will have full transparency giving some competition to the likes of ShipServ and Moscord.
“The aim of this project is to create an Amazon-like marketplace where ship operators will have access to fair pricing with good geographical coverage of supply,” said Peter Schellenberger, vice president of supply chain at Thome Ship Management.
A consortium of maritime businesses has negotiated contracts with key suppliers covering the main supply essentials to enable a global fleet to operate more efficiently. Suppliers will not have to waste time sending out quotes as pricing will be standardised across different sectors creating value driven stock keeping and ease of handling.
“The platform will use the latest technology to create intuitive functionality and will include reporting systems using AI analytics so suppliers and ship operators can work more efficiently and seamlessly together,” said Schellenberger, a man whose career has been largely focused on ship supplies for a variety of names including OSM, V.Group and Sinwa.