Shipping companies have a huge opportunity to transform how they manage their fleets and crews by using cloud technology, say experts in digital shipmanagement tools.

Hanseaticsoft chief executive Alexander Buchmann, whose Hamburg-based company received a "significant investment" from classification society Lloyd’s Register, argues that cloud technology can help drive down costs and improve efficiencies.

“The benefits of using cloud technology are numerous,” he says, listing ease of data access and exchange, availability of information regardless of time or location, and reducing data silos as among the advantages.