Shipping/logistics Flashcards
What does ZeroNorth offer?
ZeroNorth started almost three years ago with one product that focused on speed optimization for ships. We quickly realized that wasn’t enough, so we developed a full weather-routing service to help plan ship routes around weather forecasts. After we had that out in the market and had good results with it, we realized those two products still weren’t enough. So, in the past 12 months we’ve added a portfolio of new services.
We now have an AI-enabled fuel model that’s basically a digital twin of the vessel. It’s able to predict with high accuracy the fuel consumption of the vessel at any given speed, at any given RPM, with any given draft, in any weather, at any point around the world. We also have a product that measures the efficiency of various vessel components—such as the hull, the propeller, the boiler, and the auxiliary engine—to more concretely identify actions that can be taken to improve the vessel’s performance. Then we have our voyage optimization solution, which helps gauge how best to get from point A to point B while keeping the ship’s crew safe, maximizing the financial outcome, and minimizing emissions.
At a basic level, vessels move cargo from port to port by burning fuel—which, in shipping, is also called the “bunker.” That’s essentially the business. Companies need to know, what is the quality of the bunker that we’re burning? What is the cost? Where are we getting it from? How much are we using? So we also have a suite devoted to bunkering processes—from bunker planning to bunker procurement and bunker insights.
If you had a magic wand and you could suddenly change one thing that would make it easier to decarbonize shipping, what would be the thing that you’d change?
If I had a magic wand, the obvious thing to do would be to remove weather—it creates so many inefficiencies in shipping! But apart from that, what I really wish is that we could align stakeholders’ business models with the common goal of creating more efficient shipping. Stakeholders often can’t agree on how to share data, or how to work toward decarbonization together. I would like us to harmonize.
What does Samsara’s AI-powered platform do?
Essentially, Samsara connects the world of physical operations to the cloud. Samsara’s AI-powered platform collects and analyzes data across all of a company’s physical assets and operations, helping it to save money, improve safety, and reduce emissions. Biswas describes this as a system of record—a single, central command center for a company’s operations. Samsara counts some of the world’s largest transport, logistics, construction, and utilities companies as customers.
What does Samsara mean when it says system of record
A system of record is a single place where all the data that represents your operations lives. This means that you have greater visibility across locations. You can see when people have gone on and off a shift. You can understand the risk and safety profile of your different operations. You can also see everything that happened over the course of a day and connect it to various other systems like payroll, insurance, and ERP systems. Customers have saved thousands, even millions, of dollars in one year based on the insights they’ve uncovered.
Once an organization starts connecting data across its operations, an infinite number of use cases present themselves. That’s what I find so exciting about the future. There is so much potential for what this data can do.
How is Samsara making life easy for customers
We make it easy to connect physical operations to the cloud. Traditionally, if you wanted to get operations data into the cloud, you’d have to start with a bunch of puzzle pieces—sensors, databases, internet connectivity—and cobble it all together. For most operations customers, this was outside of scope in terms of time or budget. The biggest differentiator is the plug-and-play nature of our platform. We’ve made it easy for customers to start seeing all the data, get business value from it, and take action.
