Two major US digital vessel monitoring and operating companies, Nautilus Labs and OrbitMI, are forming a strategic partnership.
Joint clients will be able to access Orbit Reporter, a browser-based tool that offers standardised reporting structures, and use Nautilus Labs’ machine learning to provide voyage optimisation.
“The partnership between OrbitMI and Nautilus highlights the importance of collaboration in the industry,” said Jan Wilhelmsson, chief commercial officer at Nautilus Labs.
Noon reports, arrival/departure, cargo and event reports can be shared with any third party, leveraging Orbit-supplied data with high-frequency sensor data if available. Its application programming interface is accessed by Nautilus to pull in reports.
OrbitMI, which was spun off from Stena Bulk in 2019, has been an advocate of greater collaboration among digital ship service providers.
The number of maritime software vendors has tripled to about 600 in the past five years and the market is predicted to be worth $320bn by 2030.
Chief executive Ali Riaz said: “With each partnership Orbit breaks down yet one more data silo. This collaboration further extends OrbitMI’s mission to enable intelligent, seamless work flows, which are essential for driving profitability and slashing emissions.”
In the summer, Nautilus Labs chief executive Matt Heider said relationships between shipowners and charterers need to evolve for the digital age.
“We’re working off of commercial arrangements and commercial agreements that are generations old and based on an era before there was data or information or insight that was readily accessible from ships,” he said.
Microsoft played a key role in a $34m funding round by Nautilus Labs this year, while OrbitMI launched a company-neutral spreadsheet to help ship operators evaluate software selection.
