Competition in the arena of shipping and maritime trade, world-wide environment and trade regulations, and a general trade scenario with their direct bearing on resource-usage including finance, have shrunken profits in the industry to unprecedented levels.
Like always, when the dark clouds of challenges and despair threatened to toss the industry around in rough waters, a silver lining has started to develop in the horizon: Digitization, and the introduction of unparalleled end-to-end interconnectivity.
On the same notion, METIS Cyberspace Technology S.A. came about in the year 2016, when seven engineers with shared values and a passion to innovate came together to utilize their extensive knowledge and first-hand experience in significant aspects of the maritime industry.
“Our purpose at METIS is to provide a solution that empowers the employees of shipping companies to achieve more, be more productive and more effective on their everyday activities.”
Having held positions of consequence, they had a ring-side view of how things worked in the industry and how late adoption of digitization adversely affected profitability and service quality. They were equally aware of how half-baked solutions, paraded as quick-fixes to long-standing problems, came apart at the very hint of a problem instead of helping in any material way.
Delivering Distinction
Data being the life-blood of businesses is not new. What actually is, is the way it is distilled and drilled down to find trends and productive and effective ways to do routine activities. It is in the latter that METIS helps the industry, while being an integral part of its existence and growth.
The cornerstone of their existence, their USP today is their proprietary Data Acquisition System. Designed in-house, it has the unique and defining ‘Lloyd’s Register Type Approval Certificate’ for marine, offshore and industrial applications, which goes a long way in giving their clientele the confidence that they operate on a robust and reliable platform which conforms to recognized Industry Quality Standards, International Conventions and Lloyd’s Register’s strictest testing procedures. Data gathered on METIS’s platform is utilized in the in-depth analysis of the following elements:
- O. consumption analysis & optimization
- Monitoring and performance evaluation of Machinery equipment
- Charter Party Agreement Management
- Voyage Analysis
- Hull Fouling Analysis
- Predictive Scenario Analysis
- Environmental footprint management
Besides analysing and predicting on the likely scenarios in the industry, the METIS platform helps predict even mundane operational matters including weather patterns, wind-speeds, likely congestion and choke-points en route, and alternative routings, matters relating to vessel maintenance and upgrading, etc. to name some. Information thus derived helps achieve optimum vessel speeds which save on time, fuel, money, and maintenance while giving increased customer satisfaction and longer and trouble-free asset utilization.
Shipping and maritime by its very nature is a capital-intensive endeavour which calls for massive outlays, be it for vessels purchase or their maintenance and upkeep. Client shipping companies thus have invariably come to depend upon the concise and correct information coming through METIS’s platform that predicts future events and their implications on resources thus invested.
For maritime entities like shipping companies, a platform based on hi-end technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence that provides unparalleled interconnection with all other equipment and servicesa forte of METIS, acts as one stop digital transformation solution making the former leaders in the smart shipping era.
It also constitutes a great decision support tool for maritime executives enabling them to assess the performance of their assets including vessels, their operations in real time in the present, and most importantly a confirmed prediction of how these shall likely behave in the near future. It also affords senior executives’ useful and actionable information across activity, departments, and levels of management to take quick and decisive information. For employees down the line, relevant information at their fingers-tips helps them go a long way in communicating the right information in every direction and keeping clients happy and satisfied.
Exhibiting Excellence through Customer Success
“METIS excels in customer service and efficiency. We are very happy that we have METIS offering us the ability to be alert of all operation matters 24/7 and provide us with accurate data for vessel performance while giving us the opportunity to be proactive for anything may arise.” —Korina Tapaktsoglou, CFO, PIONEER MARINE HELLAS S.A
“METIS has demonstrated that it can reliably record and upload to the METIS cloud servers, data from all of the sensors on board our ships. METIS provides an elegant human interface to the users in our offices which allows anyone to find the answers to technical and operational questions by simply asking the question in more or less plain English. Vessel monitoring is still in its infancy, but the METIS human interface is unmatched by any other so far.” —Hamish Norton, President of StarBulk Carriers Corp.
METIS’s foray in Advanced Digital Applications
According to Mike Konstantinidis, the CEO, despite it being an undisputedly significant technological development, AI remains nothing more than a buzzword with not many solutions providers actually making any significant use of it. Taking a steep departure, METIS has applied AI in a very structured and effective way. More specifically, it has made effective use of machine learning (ML) to significantly improve the competitiveness of maritime entities.
That being said, the existing scientific background based as it is on engineering, physics and mathematics is not exactly discarded or substituted by ML. It has on the other hand been extended and utilized significantly more. In addition, human resources in organizations using METIS, have not been replaced by intelligent systems. On the contrary they are being augmented to be much more efficient, intelligent, and quick in their decision-making and resulting actions.
METIS’s foray into Research
While remaining committed to providing hi-end tech solutions to the shipping industry, METIS remains deeply involved in varied research projects, where it partners with recognized bodies worldwide including universities and organizations in the same field with which it shares common points and goals.
Such tie-ups are bound to bring to fore, some of the best and most advanced of products that shall go quite a distance in making maritime business more efficient, effective and significantly faster in operations while controlling costs and brining surfeit of client satisfaction.
METIS in the future!
METIS envisions for itself a future that shall see the amalgamation of innovative thinking, maritime business know-how and hi-end technologies to empower shipping companies on their digital transformation journey towards a new era in shipping that shall be far more effective, efficient, safe and environmentally friendly.
The path to their goals being anything but easy, METIS nevertheless remain focused and passionate about their vision and activity. A significant part of their future endeavour includes expansion and the establishment of their presence in all the important ‘shipping capitals’ of the world.
A statement by one of their clients, aptly sums up things!
“OLYMPIC SHIPPING with 31 vessels and 3 new buildings, has selected METIS platform for all our vessels due to the Data warehouse technology and the fully automated data Acquisition system. We are convinced that in the digital age, METIS human-like interface for Remote Monitoring and Vessel Performance Analysis, increases even more our daily efficiency and helps us utilize a stateof- the-art technology with significant future benefits for our company.” —George Karageorgiou, President & CEO of Olympic Shipping (Onassis Group)
