Maersk Tankers' ZeroNorth digital start-up has added two new directors after finalising a new investment from chartering giant Cargill.
Eric Aboussouan, director of strategy and digitalisation at Cargill Ocean Transportation, will help guide the technology company, which was set up this year to help owners optimise their bunker costs and emissions.
Danny Lange, senior vice president of artificial intelligence at Unity Software, is the other new face. He has also worked at Uber, Amazon and Microsoft, focusing on machine learning.
Aboussouan is playing a key role in Cargill's efforts to decarbonise shipping, ZeroNorth said.
The start-up had said last month that Cargill was taking a "minority stake" and that regulatory approvals could take six to eight weeks. These have now been achieved.
The tech company is not revealing the specific stake or commenting on Cargill's plans for further investment.
But ZeroNorth chief executive Soren Meyer confirmed to TradeWinds the trader had taken a "minority" shareholding.
On future investments, Meyer said the decarbonisation challenge within shipping requires serious action, and the company is committed to scaling ZeroNorth as quickly as possible.
Partners could be added
"We realise that this requires collaboration with different organisations within the industry and the creation of ecosystems jointly focused on the challenges ahead," Meyer told TradeWinds.
"From our perspective, potential external investment from the right partner that can add further value to the ZeroNorth offering is something that we would consider within our growth strategy."
The Copenhagen-based company aims to help vessel owners and operators become more efficient to cut emissions.
When it launched, more than 300 vessels from six customers were already running the Optimise software that was formerly known as SimBunker. Optimise is now running on over 1,100 vessels.
Targeting the tanker and bulker sectors, the digital tool is designed to find each ship’s optimal speed based on prevailing freight rates, bunker prices, weather and individual vessel performance.
"Danny and Eric are accomplished leaders and combined they bring a profound understanding of the shipping industry and the fast-moving tech world," said ZeroNorth chairman Christian M Ingerslev, who is also chief executive of Maersk Tankers.
Board expanded
"We are confident that they will add great value to ZeroNorth as the company increases its customer base and enhances its service offerings in the coming years, profiting both the company and the climate."
ZeroNorth now has five directors, including Ingerslev and Robert Uggla, chief executive of AP Moller Holding.
The other director is Ibrahim Gokcen, the former chief technology officer at Schneider Digital.
As part of the Cargill agreement, the US trading giant’s operated fleet of about 650 vessels will be using Optimise.
The partnership comes after Cargill placed its MR fleet of up to 20 ships into a Maersk Tankers pool in October last year.
These vessels, as well as some of Cargill’s chartered-in bulkers, have already been using Optimise in recent quarters.
ZeroNorth was previously wholly owned by Maersk Tankers, but had said it would seek to attract strategic investors from the tramp sectors for the expansion.
