Incubating disruptors to survive

During Posidonia 2022, Wilhelmsen Port Services (WPS) announced it had expanded its traditional ports agent role to establish an internal incubator for new innovations and solutions. WPS president Neal de Roche said: “We have been working hard to implement a new strategy on how we could do something more than being a ship’s agent.”

The strategy aims to go beyond traditional ship agency offerings, with a greater emphasis on efficiency in port, a new approach to port call management, and biofouling monitoring to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions – all part of a raft of services coming soon from WPS, Mr de Roche explained.

Phase one is HIVE, which is a new-generation hub platform enabling customers to communicate, share and interact with agents, vendors and their hub agents in a more efficient way.

For operators and owners, HIVE allows WPS customers to share data and information about port calls by adding them directly into the system. On the operations side, the platform gives customers the ability to customise and implement any type of documentation so operations can be standardised across all agents and suppliers.

“There is a lot of mistrust and confusion about what the role of an agent is”

The strategy includes new growth – led by Marius Johansen, vice president of strategy, M&A and new growth at WPS. His remit includes anything adjacent or outside the core operations of ships and ships agency, up to and including financial services. Mr Johansen said at Posidonia 2022: “We see there is an opportunity for someone like us, on the back of our robust agency service, to take additional positions in that local value chain, whether it is in a traditional service industry, or in a new way, like what we are doing with ECOsubsea as a partner.”

Taking the example of ECOsubsea, he said: “We [WPS] became a global distribution partner and helped them move from being a small Norwegian company to one that can have a global reach through our services.”

ECOsubsea uses drones to inspect the hull of a ship, which not only slashes the cost of biofouling monitoring by more than 70%, it also significantly reduces risk and time spent.

ECOsubsea chief executive Tor M Østervold said: “Wilhelmsen Port Services is exactly what the industry needs today. There are many great solutions and services that today are only available locally. Building upon its reputable track record and one-of-a-kind global footprint, Wilhelmsen Port Services will be the enabler of change for the whole industry. For ECOsubsea, WPS is key to solving more environmental problems in one year than we could do alone in 10 years.”

Another maritime service company looking to incubate innovators is Inchcape. In an exclusive interview at Posidonia 2022, Inchcape chief commercial officer Christopher Crookall explained how the company will expand from its traditional base as a port agency into data provision. “Because it has not, traditionally, been a transparent business, there is a lot of mistrust and confusion about what the role of an agent is,” said Mr Crookall.