In ten years MarineTraffic has not just brought ships onto screens, but it has built a huge user and customer base. The numbers speak for themselves – 6.5 million monthly unique visitors, 500,000 daily visits, and 1.2 million registered users, one third of whom are professionals who use the service in their day to day business. From ship operators to supply chain managers, MarineTraffic is used in every segment of the maritime sector to improve decision making. It is this staggering reach which is shaping the next phase of MarineTraffic development.
“When I first got involved with MarineTraffic six years ago, it was the huge interest from a global audience and the potential of the data generated which really excited me,” says MarineTraffic Partner Argyris Stasinakis.
He lists MarineTraffic strengths as: “Significant market penetration, huge global raw data set, a sound technical background and a full understanding of the shipping industry. Fundamentally we are the data that binds everyone together.”
It is on these pillars that MarineTraffic is now realising an ambitious vision to change the way in which the maritime industry does business.
Collaboration
“We are building the MarineTraffic of the future in a number of ways,” explains Argyris Stasinakis. “The first step is to move even deeper into the business of optimising ship voyages. Forty percent of our professional user base already uses MarineTraffic for operational reasons. It helps them to answer basic questions such as ‘when is the ship due to arrive?’ or ‘when is it leaving?’ We want to be more closely involved with how a ship interacts with a terminal, its routing and bunkering. We want to think about the berth to berth voyage, not just activities in a particular terminal. For this to happen, every port and ship needs to be described in the same way.”
MarineTraffic is already involved in numerous collaborative projects with ports, software developers, charterers and shipping companies to standardise data. Maersk, Shell, Total, the International Association of Ports & Harbors, UNCTAD and the Port of Rotterdam are just some of the many organisations with whom MarineTraffic is beginning to work closely. By standardising the way in which information such as vessel characteristics, berths and cargoes are described, MarineTraffic is building the foundations of an integrated maritime ecosystem. It is allowing the many players involved with a ship’s voyage to collaborate and enables multiple platforms to plug into each other.
“Data is converging,” notes Argyris Stasinakis. “Whether it is systems able to collect and analyse data from multiple vessel based sensors, port and terminal generated data, or cargo and trade related data, we are moving to an era of live-real time reporting from ships powering a huge range of applications.”
MarineTraffic is not just working with big names, but the company is also looking at tie-ups and commercial investments with innovative players who are building services based on multiple streams of data. MarineTraffic offers support in kind to numerous companies and is in discussions with a range of third parties to further formalise their relationships.
With numerous maritime related platforms springing up or new big-data initiatives announced on an almost weekly basis, the key to success for all will be the ability of these platforms to integrate with each other. MarineTraffic provides data which is critical to the functioning of nearly every single digital initiative in the maritime space. From ship finance related applications to supply chain management services, MarineTraffic data is allowing platforms to be inter-operable.
Digital marketplace
The second big area for development is building on MarineTraffic reach and providing digital space to allow other enterprises to do business on the MarineTraffic platform as well as supporting a range of projects and enterprises.
“We do not seek to be experts in every aspect of this complex industry. But we are a route to market for many and combine service with data. Collaboration is the way forward,” says Argyris Stasinakis.
The ambitious vision is one which involves the MarineTraffic screen at the heart of a range of maritime transactions. Whilst MarineTraffic has long been facilitating API data exchange, allowing third parties to build their own systems incorporating MarineTraffic data, the future will see a marketplace approach with a seamless experience for the user.
“The user logs on and selects the service he or she wants. Perhaps it’s to purchase supplies in a certain port, maybe it’s freight data rates or the matching of ships and cargoes. The point is, MarineTraffic is the point of access for the shipping professional. The user won’t necessarily care who developed the service, they will want a simple and easy to use service,” says Argyris Stasinakis.
Leisure growth
The third big area for development for MarineTraffic is the leisure domain. Although position reporting by AIS is not mandatory as it is in the commercial sector, AIS is being increasingly used by leisure boaters. Many use the smaller and simpler ‘B-class’ AIS equipment on their boats and use MarineTraffic as a navigational aid or simply to let their friends and family know where they are. Last year MarineTraffic released OnCourse, a mobile application which enables a mobile device to be used as a means of reporting the positions of a vessel to MarineTraffic. GPS-enabled devices such as a smartphone can be used to report the position, details and status of a vessel should an AIS transponder not be available or the vessel not be within the range of the MarineTraffic AIS-Receiving Network.
There is however a huge amount of untapped potential for AIS within the leisure industry. During the northern hemisphere summer season (July-August) there are approximately 80,000 leisure craft reporting their position to MarineTraffic, yet there is a global fleet many times this size.
“Of course, not every recreational boater is going to start reporting his or her position – there are some that love it and others who may be more concerned about privacy. However, with our huge reach, it’s logical for MarineTraffic to grow into a marketplace for boaters worldwide. We have ambitions to develop a platform that will allow the user not just to view services, but to book them through the system,” says Argyris Stasinakis.
The MarineTraffic of the future will be the first port of call for many leisure boaters.
It has been ten years since MarineTraffic started tracking ships. In ten years it has built a huge global audience and changed the way the industry thinks about data and its many possibilities. Ten years of innovation and collaboration have put AIS into the heart of thousands of organisations and changed forever the way in which voyages and supply chains are managed. The next ten years will see even bigger leaps forward as the power of MarineTraffic data is used to drive further innovation.