Earlier this week, ZeroNorth announced its new partnership with leading global satellite and data company Spire Maritime. The partnership brings together ZeroNorth’s vessel optimisation software, Optimise with ng maritime AIS and weather data — providing high-quality data insights to tramp ship operators across the globe.

Discover the potential impact and benefits of powering up Optimise with Spire’s market-leading data, and learn why AIS and weather data are important parts of the vessel optimisation puzzle.

Read more: ZeroNorth & Spire Maritime Partner to Provide Easy Access to Market-Leading AIS and Weather Data

Powered-up recommendations

Since its development, Optimise has supported tramp ship operators in their decision-making, enhancing vessel performance, increasing TCE earnings, and reducing CO2 emissions. Now implemented on over 1,300 vessels, and with the BunkerAction tool in Beta phase, we here at ZeroNorth are continuously looking at ways we can improve Optimise — including the data we use to provide actionable insights.

Spire Maritime powers up Optimise and its recommendations further, increasing the level, depth and sophistication of information ship operators can gain through the platform.

Having an accurate view of a vessel’s position and forecasted weather conditions in open oceans has an enormous impact on performance and safety. The high-quality data input provided into Optimise’s algorithm will therefore provide owners and operators with greater accuracy, as the software’s recommendations are based on the actual conditions that they face on the high seas.  

Spire’s satellite-gathered AIS (Automatic Identification System) and weather forecast data helps creates recommendations on the optimal operating speeds and ETAs for your vessel or fleet, which, in turn, supports informed, considered decision-making. 

Watch the discussion between Søren Christian Meyer, CEO of ZeroNorth and Simon van den Dries, General Manager of Spire Maritime discuss the importance of partnership and collaboration to tackle some of shipping’s biggest challenges.

The progress of digitalisation

The future of shipping is becoming increasingly interconnected and digitalised. Shipping’s vast data resource holds the answer to so many of the industry’s challenges, if it can be utilised in the right way — which is precisely what this partnership aims to achieve.

Spire’s data is amongst the most accurate and comprehensive currently available in the maritime industry. Spire overcomes the limitations of open oceans by using remote sensing techniques such as radio occultation from their unique combination of Satellite AIS, Dynamic AISTM and Terrestrial AIS. This allows for the capture of detailed temperature, humidity, and pressure information across the entire planet.

With over 100 satellites now in orbit, Spire provides an unparalleled level of coverage on global maritime shipping routes, including in the South China Sea, a notoriously high traffic and hard to cover zone.

Creating long-term impact

Shipping is facing the upheaval of decarbonisation, with urgency growing as we approach the IMO’s 2030 and 2050 goals. Collaboration between data and application provider will be vital if the industry is to rapidly create solutions that underpin efficiency within shipping. In fact, the 2018 Inmarsat Industrial IoT Research Report states that IoT and the growth of the digital ship is likely to drive cost savings of 14% in the maritime industry by 2023.

At ZeroNorth, we stand firmly by the power of data sharing to support the industry’s common goals. Accurately and quickly sharing data, and developing mutual standards for handling said data, has the ability to create significant and long-standing change, particularly for the climate.

Read more: Collaboration, Unification & Digitalisation

Partnerships and collaboration are becoming increasingly important in shipping, as efforts to solve the industry’s greatest challenges accelerate. At ZeroNorth, we aim to create meaningful impact through our strategic and product partnerships — not just on shipping, but also on the wider world around us.

We’re committed to working with forward-thinking, like-minded organisation in our industry. Partnerships — uniting software providers with data experts — are key to advancing digitalisation. We believe that if we are to succeed, we cannot do it alone.