Page 15: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2000)

E-Commerce

ShipDesk Strives To Carve A Niche

Phenomenal is perhaps the only word adequately to describe the rampage of new, integrated e-commerce solutions that have recently swamped the mar- itime industry. The marine market, which has a solid reputation of follow- ing rather than leading technological surges, has gone from "zero to sixty" in record time on the e-commerce front.

But while the industry today has a bevy of selections from which to choose — including portals for conducting every transaction conceivable, from fix- ing cargos to buying bunker fuel, spare parts or a ship's stores — the critical question revolves around not which choices are available today, rather which choices will be available one year from today.

While the market has been consumed with about 70 new choices, some ana- lysts predict rapid and extreme fall-out, anticipating that a mere handful of top companies will survive. While it is prac- tically impossible to determine which

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ShipDesk offer; a lota! freighting ei through to post f enhanced hguidi companies will emerge from the .com fray, it is safe to say that those which combine the unique mix of solid indus- try experience, thorough technical expertise and solid financial backing will have a better shot than other at forg- ing a solid business.

ShipDesk.com is one of the new offer- ings, which seems to achieve this opti- mum mix. Maritime Reporter recently met in New York with Peter Rygaard

Andersen, vice president, Marketing and P.R., and formerly of the well- regarded BIMCO, to discuss the cre- ation and launch of ShipDesk.

Lofty Goals

With the aim of becoming the defini- tive independent chartering exchange,

ShipDesk faces a stiff challenge to say the least. It must battle not only the pre- vailing "business as usual" current which pervades the sometime techno- phobic marine market, but also deal with literally dozens of new E-commerce solution providers which seek to provide

August, 2000 roughly the same services. "First, we are seeking to build an exchange with the industry rather than for the industry," explained Andersen, noting the one- size-fits-all strategy of some high-pro- file entrants, who are seeking to meld

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