Twenty-first-century shipping history is littered with failed online procurement and auction sites.
So why are some of the biggest names in German shipping staking their reputation on a new one that claims to be different?
Launched this month, ShipStock is a networking and transaction site that purports to be “the first purely online maritime network”.
It will go head to head with rival online valuation and auction sites and expects to complete its first vessel sales this year.
ShipStock is backed by heavyweight German names that have hitherto had limited involvement in digital shipping projects.
“Some of the wealthiest Hamburg-based families believed in this start-up from the start and have been investing in our company,” ShipStock founder and chief executive Georg Schacht tells TradeWinds.
He says that has just enabled another funding round to be successfully closed.
Key investors include younger members of the Oldendorff and Oetker families, Erck Rickmers’ Blue Star Group, Claus-Peter Offen, Nico Bunnemann’s Atlantic Lloyd and Paul Hinneberg of Hamburg shipbroker Walter J Hinneberg.
Writing a new story
“They recognised something is going on in the shipping industry and that the digital transformation will have an impact on that,” says Stephan Vetter, who is a founding member with a ship finance background.
In the three weeks since going live, the numbers using ShipStock’s social media platform have “exploded”, he adds, which shows “there was something missing” from other platforms, such as LinkedIn.
“It was really important to build up this social network platform as well purely for the maritime industry,” Vetter says. “This was to build up relationships, to connect people with each other and to find a gateway to all the people in the shipping industry.”
Schacht, whose father Otto heads the shipping desk of transport logistics company Kuehne & Nagel, believes the essential ingredient for success will be its mix of shipping expertise and digital knowledge provided by himself and chief technical officer Raik Osiablo. “To bring these two worlds together was the key here,” Vetter says.
One of the biggest backers is Amplifier Labs, the venture capital fund run by Reederei Nord’s Christian Oldendorff, who says: “There is still a lack of digitalisation in shipping compared to other industries. There are plenty of services which are still handled in a traditional way. We are convinced that we can successfully digitalise them [sales and purchase and vessel valuations] and thereby reduce transaction costs for the market participants.”
Another investor, Konstantin Oetker of KO Maritime, believes the venture is already a success. “The reception has been really fantastic and has shown that there is demand for a dedicated shipping communication and networking platform,” he says.
After many years during which the local shipping scene has suffered, the backers of the venture aspire “to write a new story for Hamburg and the maritime economy”.
ShipStock will compete with existing valuation sites such as VesselsValue.
Schacht says values will be assessed with input from Hinneberg and Harper Petersen, as well as German research houses and valuation service Weselmann.
The next step will most likely involve the online sale of a vessel. That means pitting it against other fledgling German auction sites, such as VesselBid.
ShipStock will add innovations including editing features that will enable the seller and buyer of a vessel to work on the contract at the same time.
Investors are understood to have committed a seven-figure sum to the project.
Ultimately, the ambition is to be self-funding through revenues from transactions and subscriptions.
