Danish tech company ZeroNorth has forged a new partnership that will see its voyage optimisation software integrated with Veson Nautical’s commercial freight and fleet management platform.
Through the strategic tie-up, ZeroNorth's Optimise software will be securely combined with the Veson IMOS Platform (VIP), which the tech firms hope will allow operators of vessels in the spot market to optimise more voyages than ever before.
The combination will help operators improve vessel performance, optimise bunker consumption to increase profitability, cut carbon dioxide emissions and improve fleets' sustainability, according to the companies.
The move also marks an expansion for ZeroNorth, which was spun off from Maersk Tankers at the beginning of this year.
Some 300 vessels from Veson customers are already using or have committed to using the Optimise system with the VIP platform.
The tech firms sees the partnership as being part of the bigger picture in decarbonising the shipping industry, in which innovative technology, data visibility and collaboration will be crucial.
The tie-up will help accelerate uptake of digital solutions "that generate both dollar value and sustainability progress", according to Soren Meyer, ZeroNorth's chief executive.
"By working with Veson, we put Optimise into the hands of more operators across tramp shipping, providing them all with the power to turn their data into actionable insights that benefit their business, our sector, and our impact on the world," he said.
Jere Richardson, Veson Nautical's chief commercial officer, echoed this. He said the product combination will "power the clear decisions needed to successfully face the challenges of the future".
"Collaborating with ZeroNorth extends the value of the data captured and maintained in VIP by connecting it to a powerful tool that enables additional analysis through the lens of sustainability," he said.
In an interview with TradeWinds in November, Meyer said that ZeroNorth aims to keep scaling up its business by entering into data-sharing and integration agreements.
ZeroNorth has about 11 customers globally and the commitment of about 1,300 vessels and counts commodity giant Cargill and Maersk Tankers among its shareholders.