Western Bulk partners with Shipamax to improve data transparency across its global chartering team

Introduction

Western Bulk​ is a Norwegian dry-bulk operator serving cargo owners and charterers all across the globe. Martin Hjelle joined Western Bulk as the Head of Technology to help spearhead the company's digital transformation and build a technology infrastructure that would allow Western Bulk accelerate performance and realise new efficiencies across the business. Before partnering with Shipamax, Western Bulk had a legacy system to view and manage its position lists, but with limited APIs and little input into product development, a change was required.  

The Challenge

The team at Western Bulk quickly realised a number of changes needed to be made if they wanted to succeed in a highly competitive and global shipping market. ​Western Bulk needed a solution that would allow them to view all cargo positions on one platform and provide Chartering Managers with a single source of truth, with data pulled from all of the logistics applications now being used across the organisation.

For Head of Technology Martin Hjelle, there were two key boxes to tick. Firstly, the solution needed to support Western Bulk’s one click principle, helping to streamline processes and drive new efficiencies across the business. Secondly, Western Bulk needed a technology partner, an organisation that Martin and his team could proactively work with to meet their ongoing business requirements.

The Solution

For Martin and his team the goal was simple; build a platform that would allow the team to connect and streamline data from their new suite of applications, which included SEDNA, Veson IMOS and Spire.

An open API to connect multiple logistics applications

With Shipamax, Western Bulk now has a flexible solution which they can quickly integrate with the company's other applications. The flexibility of the Shipamax’s Open API has eliminated the need forWestern Bulk’s team to manually update and share data through spreadsheets, which has resulted in much greater transparency when sharing comments on open positions for the team at Western Bulk.

A technology partner, not just another software vendor

Working closely with the Customer Success team at Shipamax, Western Bulk has been actively involved in shaping the product roadmap, helping to ensure that the solution continues to meet the changing needs of the business and that the core infrastructure at Western Bulk doesn’t go stale.

A shift from time consuming actions to high impact key customer activities

A two way sync between Shipamax and SEDNA has helped Chartering Managers at Western Bulk significantly reduce the amount of time they spend manually wading through emails. With the openAPI and ability too easily integrate with best in class industry solutions like SEDNA, and as a result, the team at Western Bulk are now spending ​84% less time managing emails​ and more time focused on high impact activities that drive profit.