Sponsored by AXSMarine
Shipping has always been the lifeblood of international trade, carrying goods across oceans to fuel the global economy. But in today’s hyper-connected world, where competition is fiercer and margins tighter, efficiency, transparency, and data-driven decision-making have evolved from advantages into necessities for maintaining a competitive edge and driving long-term success.
With its comprehensive suite of solutions, AXSMarine has emerged as a crucial player within the shipping industry, empowering a diverse range of stakeholders with innovative online software and advanced commodity-tracking tools.
Whether it’s streamlining chartering processes, improving decision-making, or enhancing trading strategies, the company’s unmatched data and analytics have helped over 18,000 professionals worldwide navigate the increasing complexities of maritime trade.
Achieving unmatched visibility with AIS Data
At the heart of AXSMarine’s offering is the ability to provide unprecedented visibility into commercial shipping movements. The company leverages AIS (Automatic Identification System) data, which allows it to monitor vessels across the globe in near real-time. AIS data serves as a fundamental building block for the maritime industry, transmitting key information about a ship’s position, speed, and heading.
By harnessing this data, AXSMarine ensures that its users can follow the movements of Dry, Tanker, Gas, and Container vessels with greater precision and insight.
Image: Alphaliner AIS-derived real-time tracking of the Container Ship fleet movements, here showing the aftermath of the Red Sea crisis and vessels altering their courses around the Cape of Good Hope.
This level of visibility is crucial in the global shipping and commodity industry, where even minor delays or miscalculations can have a ripple effect on supply chains, trade, and commodities markets. AXSMarine’s solutions mitigate these risks by providing users with accurate, up-to-date information about market conditions, vessel movements, port activity, waiting times, congestion levels and potential bottlenecks. With its advanced tracking systems, businesses can forecast potential delays, optimise shipping routes, and improve operational efficiency, saving both time and money.
The power of data: Informing smarter decisions
Shipping may be global, but it is also intensely competitive. To stay ahead, companies need access to reliable data to inform their trading, commercial, and operational decisions.
One of the AXSMarine’s key differentiators is its wealth of databases that provide a trove of information on vessels, cargoes and markets, and enable users to perform in-depth analysis of shipping trends. Through its suite of modules and APIs, businesses can integrate this data into their own systems, making it easier than ever to gain actionable insights and make informed decisions.
AXSMarine’s clients gain a distinct competitive advantage by leveraging their tools and data, explains its CCO, Steve Fletcher. “For instance, we offer a unique combination of near real-time container ship tracking and an extensive database of close to 2,000 specific container ship services. So, whether it’s analysing data from the past six years, current operations, or projecting service rotations over 100 days in advance, our clients can track how their competitors are deploying their service networks — including port/terminal rotations, frequencies, and the actual ships and TEU capacity in use.
“By providing immediate access to this data via API or BI dashboards, our clients stay ahead in network and capacity planning, while those without these insights fall behind in terms of actionable intelligence.”
AXSMarine’s CCO, Steve Fletcher
AXSMarine’s proprietary database, Alphaliner, reflects decades of data collection and allows users to manage vessels over a wide range of technical, commercial and AIS criteria. The tool has been game-changing for a range of stakeholders.
“By leveraging the rich data set provided by Alphaliner, we’ve found ourselves better positioned to forecast trends and make data-driven decisions, which has been instrumental in giving us a competitive edge,” explains Mark Tanner, MSc Port Management & Intermodal Transport.
“Utilising the API has propelled our time optimisation even further, automating several processes and freeing up our human resources for more strategic activities.”
Image: AXSMarine’s AXSInsights module, calculating the CII Rating distribution of the Supramax, Ultramax, Panamax and Standard Capesize Dry Bulk fleet segments. Panamaxes dominated by CII Rating A vessels, whereas Supramaxes most commonly have a rating of C.
Streamlining chartering processes
For shipping executives, time is of the essence. Any delays or inefficiencies in the chartering process can lead to significant financial losses, especially in an industry as fast paced as shipping. AXSMarine’s software solutions are designed to streamline these processes, simplifying everything from contract management to voyage planning.
With access to modules that cover a range of key functions, including vessel tracking, market analysis, voyage estimation, and performance monitoring, companies can reduce the complexity and time associated with commercial chartering, allowing them to respond to opportunities more quickly. Voyage Calculator, for instance, allows users to calculate costs, revenue, and potential profit margins for a voyage, helping them make more informed decisions about whether or not to pursue a particular charter.
Supporting sustainability goals
Sustainability features are increasingly embedded throughout AXSMarine’s suite of products, allowing shipping companies to monitor and reduce their environmental impact. Users can access detailed estimates of fuel consumption and emissions for each leg of a journey, enabling them to estimate CO2 emissions for individual vessels or entire fleets. This helps ensure compliance with GHG guidelines and adherence to regulations and emissions reduction targets, including those set by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII). Additionally, users can analyse energy efficiency metrics like EEOI and AER, promoting more sustainable operations.
“By identifying which ships are transporting specific commodities between port and country pairs, pinpointing the exact berths for loading and discharging, and analysing wait times, the shipping industry can leverage both current and historical data to assess carbon footprints,” says Steve. “This enables them to make greener ship selections ahead of shipments. In the Dry and Wet bulk sectors, our Trade Flows dataset is widely used for this purpose.”
Image: Iron Ore voyages from Australia to China discharged in October 2024. Iron Ore out of Port Hedland is the most common Dry Bulk commodity/origin combo with over 500m MT of cargo shipped per year.
Empowering financial institutions and commodity traders
While AXSMarine’s solutions are primarily designed for the shipping industry, they also hold immense value for financial institutions and commodity traders. In today’s market, where data is the currency that drives successful trading strategies, AXSMarine provides institutions with the level of insight they need to develop both systematic and discretionary trading strategies — built on a foundation of reliable, real-time data.
For commodity traders, the ability to track ship movements and analyse market trends can provide critical insights into the supply and demand dynamics of various commodities. By knowing where vessels are, what they are carrying, and when they will arrive at their destination, traders can gain a significant competitive edge.
Looking ahead: Smarter data for tomorrow’s shipping
The company’s commitment to innovation ensures it continues to lead the way, empowering its users to stay ahead of emerging trends and challenges and meet the evolving demands of the industry.
“Demand for high-quality data is continually rising, and the shipping industry currently invests significant resources in interpreting vessel and commodity tracking data to uncover trading patterns and operational insights,” says Steve.
“Our next major opportunity lies in delivering even cleaner, more detailed vessel tracking event data at a higher frequency over the next 6–12 months. Our new datasets will be presented in an even simpler format, enabling the shipping industry to allocate fewer resources to data interpretation and focus more on critical operational tasks, ensuring they remain competitive.”
By enabling smarter decision-making and streamlining operations, AXSMarine helps its users not only adapt, but seize new opportunities and thrive in an increasingly sustainability-conscious market.
For more information, visit public.axsmarine.com
