KUALA LUMPUR: Fixturegram, a technology start-up founded and led by shipping professionals, has launched an industry-first, livestreaming solution aimed at providing greater efficiency and accessibility for the entire bulk-shipping industry.
The patent-pending solution provides charterers, shipping agents and ship owners with game-changing features never before seen within the industry, allowing greater efficiency while minimising redundancy and data error.
Charterers: can gain instant access to information, access vessel timelog in spreadsheet-ready format and collaborate easier with teams across various locations.
⦁Shipping Agents: are able to provide their clients with instant access to information, automate timesheets and reports, and work remotely from anywhere.
⦁Ship Owners/Charterers: provide clients with instant access to information, collaborate easier across multiple office locations, and automate direct data feed into existing Voyage Management Systems, or any in-house software.
From manual to automated process
Fixturegram's Malaysian founder and chief executive officer, Eric Lim, said the shipping industry operates at a manual and labor-intensive manner.
For example, current access to in-port status or activity updates are via e-mails, instant messages and even verbal updates.
"This puts the burden squarely on shipping professionals who are encumbered with manual data tracking across various ununiformed mediums of communication," he said.
"As a result, data accuracy is affected and efficiency reduced, which can lead to loss of valuable time and resources. Fixturegram solves this age-old industry problem through innovative use of technology by automating port-call tasks, creating real-time analytics and improving data organisation and efficiency, all via a single seamless solution," he added.
Fixturegram's launch comes at a time when shipping professionals within the industry are struggling to cope with work-from-home directives and lockdown measures amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, as a large part of the industry's data management system is done manually, and on site.
"We believe Fixturegram, with its fully integrated on-and-off site solution will reimagine how in-port activity information is effectively relayed, especially during the current pandemic. Our digital solution offers a virtual work environment for the shipping community to collaborate and share real-time shipping information and documents, eradicating the need for on-site, manual data entry," said Lim.
First adopter
One orporation that is reaping the benefits of Fixturegram's industry-first solution is local industry leader, Kudrat Maritime (Kudrat) . With close to 40 years experience in providing shipping and total logistic solutions worldwide, Kudrat is one of the pioneers within the shipping industry and are all too familiar with the pain-points plaguing it. It is not by chance that Kudrat became Fixturegram's first-adopter, paving the way for much-needed reforms within the industry.
Its executive director, Khalzani Saffian, said Kudrat is Fixturegram's first user, and since implementing their solution, the company has seen consistent service levels at all of our branches with marked improvements in operational efficiency, especially in areas of data automation and time efficacy.
"The ability to provide real-time shipping information to our customers provides a significant advantage in the ever-competitive shipping agency market. The improvements and benefits we see are then passed on to our customers as value-add, enabling our customers to analyse performances of their shipments more accurately, and support better decision making on future shipments," he said.
Kudrat's implementation of Fixturegram's total digital solution is in line with Malaysia's government's efforts to transform the local logistics ecosystem for greater efficiency, as outlined within the Twelfth Malaysia Plan recently. Stated as one out of four Policy Enablers, the logistics industry will undergo reforms by centralising the planning and development of logistics hubs, accelerating digital adoption and encouraging mergers and acquisitions among industry players. These initiatives will ultimately create resilient and competitive logistics service providers, enhance international trade competitiveness as well as improve the governance structure.
"Having a framework to overcome fragmentations and low digital adaptation within the industry is exactly what is needed to reinvent the shipping industry at large. We've taken that first step with Fixturegram, and with the government's focus on the greater logistics ecosystem, the future of the industry looks to be in good hands," he said.
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