The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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and iPads are being deployed or tested by 65 percent. Furthermore, 75 percent of companies report increased worker productivity from deploying mobile applications. Industry experts believe that in four years approximately 50 percent of the devices connected to corporate networks will be mobile. Mobile business applications were originally limited to delivering news and information, or generic productivity tools. Recently however, there have been big advances in the development of applications for specific business environments. These applications have the power to revolutionise the way shipping companies do business. Maritime transport is self-evidently a global, mobile industry. It operates across multiple time zones, frequently involves co-ordination of efforts, resources, and information within very short timeframes, and requires informed decision-making on an almost continual basis. Additionally, effective and efficient movement of goods requires decision makers to move between various sites without productivity loss. Therefore, shipping is a prime example of an industry that benefits from mobile technology. The following areas are particularly well suited for mobile applications: • Quoting: The speed with which charterers can respond to quote requests often determines whether or not they win new business. Mobile applications that empower charterers to confidently price business from anywhere using real-time data and any combination of cargoes, vessels, routes, load, and discharge ports can provide the competitive edge necessary to stay afloat in the cutthroat shipping industry. • Fixing contracts: Mobile applications can enable shipping companies to more efficiently respond to changing circumstances, optimise profits, and mitigate risk by running unlimited scenarios for dry cargo, gas, tanker, and parcel operations. Instant, location- independent access to current freight rates, bunker fuel costs, and other data can enable management to accurately estimate business P/L so that contracts can be fixed. • Operations management: Mobile applications enabling operations to be adjusted on the fly in response to changing business conditions can prove invaluable by mitigating risk and saving time and money. For example, if the newswires report activity in a JWC Pirate Zone, a charterer with on-the-move access to appropriate systems and information can instantaneously perform the complex estimations needed to efficiently re-route vessels – taking into account suitable port availability, fuel costs for lower sulphur zones, and any demurrage incurred. When looking for suitable mobile applications, there are a number of points to consider. The most valuable tools are not simply lighter versions of full desktop applications, they are developed precisely for the device concerned. Entire desktop solutions that have been ported on to a mobile platform are also sub-optimal: the ideal solution will include only those tasks that are suitable to the mobile environment, and will have been developed to offer seamless performance of the key functions that are most appropriate and/ or necessary for the designated users. The most important point to consider is that mobile applications are a complement to desktop solutions, not a replacement for them. By enabling executives and itinerant employees to respond to customer and business needs from anywhere, some technology companies in the space have added an extra dimension to solutions that enable shipping businesses to address the challenges and pressures of the current business climate. The new reality of global shipping means that industry participants must adopt the latest sophisticated technology-based tools, and do so now. The complexities of routing, high input prices, and freight rate volatility are here to stay. Early adopters of desktop and now mobile solutions are already gaining competitive advantage; their competitors risk being permanently left behind. Save Money And Fuel! And Now We Are Making It Available To You! To Ships In The Ice, Agricultural, Automotive Engineers, Generation, Suppliers. We Supply Everyone From Trucking Fleets CHORNCO'S PROPRIETARY RANGE OF PRODUCTS, PRODUCE COST SAVING BENEFITS THAT: ■ Reduce noxious emissions ■ Reduce fuel consumption ■ Replace fuel lubricity ■ Improves equipment performance ■ Sustain equipment effi ciency ■ Lower maintenance related costs ■ Eliminate Diesel Bug ■ Extend related equipment longevity Offi ce 03-329-7834, Fax 03-329-7808 Email: Ralph@newfueltech.com Web: www.newfueltech.com RALPH STARK 021-586-877 CONTACT US TODAY: Mobile: 021 259 0646 Home: 09 533 4431 Recognised and recommended by Professional Skipper magazine as one of our leading marine artists. Email: pauljilly@vodafone.co.nz Website: www.marineartgallery.net.nz November/December 2012 Professional Skipper 31 VIP.S68