Blogs, news and insights

The maritime industry, a vital component of global trade for centuries, has been significantly influenced by the digital revolution. This transformation has disrupted traditional practices and ushered in a wave of innovation, including automated ports and vessels, real-time tracking, predictive maintenance, and improved data utilisation. To remain competitive, efficient, and ...
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29/8/2023 The Marcura Group today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ShipServ, a leading maritime online procurement platform and marketplace. This strategic acquisition marks a significant milestone for both companies and is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks. Upon merging, both companies will benefit ...
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Operators and accountants can streamline the end-to-end voyage accounting processes by integrating their port spend management system with their voyage management system (VMS). This integration enables shipping companies to easily manage every voyage aspect, from agent nomination to balance settlements and voyage closing. One significant advantage of deep integration is ...
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Mark Franklin, VP Commercial Importance of accurate port cost predictions for chartering teams Inaccurate predictions of port costs can pose challenges when calculating voyage expenses, as these costs form a significant portion of overall expenses. Accurate calculations enable chartering teams to estimate potential voyage profits more precisely. Substantial savings can ...
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If skilled employees have more time, they can focus on more value-added work. That’s one of the reasons why around 80% of maritime businesses are currently looking for solutions that allow them to streamline and scale complex and time-consuming operations. And there are few as time-consuming as disbursement accounting (DA) ...
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Mark Franklin, VP Commercial Key considerations for success The maritime industry has embraced upsourcing for a long time, entrusting the management of their vessels to specialised third-party ship management companies. When considering upsourcing, various factors come into play, such as enhancing profit margins by reducing labour and operational costs, improving ...
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The maritime industry is in the midst of a technological revolution, with businesses looking to adopt automation and digital tools and processes to increase efficiency, reduce costs and ensure regulatory compliance. Our recent eBook “Avoiding the Digital Divide” found that 80% of maritime businesses see process automation as a key driver for continued ...
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With digital transformation now at full speed in the maritime industry, Marcura’s solutions have gained traction in Japan. Marcura set up its Tokyo office in 2013, and now many leading shipping companies have adopted Marcura’s solutions. While visiting Marcura’s office in Japan, Hans-Christian Mordhorst, Marcura’s CCO, was interviewed by Kaiji ...
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“At Marcura, we believe that a diverse and inclusive workplace is essential to success, and that gender equality is not only a moral imperative, but also a business imperative. “As a truly international employer with employees from more than 40 nations, we are proud of the progress we have made ...
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On 16th June 2022, MOL Drybulk Ltd created the 2 millionth port call in DA-Desk. Last week, Hans-Christian Mordhorst, Marcura’s Group Chief Commercial Officer visited their office to hand over a celebration plate to Mr Kazuhiko Kikuchi, President, and team. “It was a privilege to visit the MOL Drybulk office ...
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Helen Trundle, Key Accounts Manager at DA-Desk, has recently been invited to join the Baltic Exchange Membership Council. We chatted with Helen to find out more about it. Can you tell us a bit about the Baltic Exchange? The Baltic Exchange has been in existence since 1744. Based in London ...
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15% of voyage expenses can be taken up by port call related costs, therefore having reliable numbers and knowing how these costs are derived is extremely important for decision making. The cost of calling at a port needs to be as accurate as possible for the chartering team to calculate ...
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Operations Directors should ensure that continuous monitoring programs are in place to keep up to date on the latest sanctions and other regulations. Updates from the FATF in March 2022 The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global group that sets international anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards, regularly publishes ...
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The maritime industry faces some tough anti-financial crime compliance challenges, including the need to keep up-to-date with potentially thousands of agents around the world, having multiple voyage-associated parties across various jurisdictions and facing the opaque ownership of ships and assets. Additionally, anti-financial crime regulations can vary significantly across countries and ...
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DA-Desk is celebrating 20 years since Seatrade created the first port call on 31 May 2002! As Walter Wildöer, MD of Seatrade Chartering, explained to us: “Before we started using DA-Desk, our system was piles of paper with yellow sticky notes. Now we have reduced our paperwork by about 95%.” ...
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DA-Desk celebrates 2 million port calls today, 16 June 2022! Congratulations to MOL Drybulk Ltd. for creating the 2 millionth port call. Earlier, we chatted to Mr. Yuichiro Haraguchi, General Manager, Business Planning Division from MOL Drybulk Ltd.: “We have been working with DA-Desk for the last 10 years. The ...
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Shipping companies are increasingly facing regulatory pressures relating to anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and sanction compliance. We surveyed Operations Directors from across the maritime industry and found that most ranked anti-financial crime (AFC) compliance as a top concern. Download DA-Desk’s latest eBook to find out what Operations Directors need to know about ...
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Dionysis Tzelepis, Managing Director of DA-Desk, reflects after achieving 2 million port calls in DA-Desk ...
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Executive summary Due to the heightened regulatory environment surrounding trade and economic sanctions compliance, insurers have reminded their insureds to perform proper due diligence before entering into any contract. They have also announced widened sanctions exclusion clauses — clauses which will allow them to suspend or terminate cover “on such ...
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20 years ago we created our first port call in DA-Desk. Today, we are almost at 2 MILLION port calls! While rummaging through our archives back to 2002, we found some great pictures of our original team working hard and having fun (a lot of them are still with the ...
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DA-Desk uses AIS data (the automatic identification system that uses transceivers on ships to monitor a vessel's position) to track a vessel's frequency of calls in case a discount or rebate applies. Then we transcribe and codify all of the rebate rules, for every port in the world. Coupled with ...
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“Our dealings with DA-Desk are a pleasure, with their system consistently prompt and accurate”, is what Ardmore Shipping’s Director of Commercial Operations, Robert Gaina, says about DA-Desk. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has been a DA-Desk customer for the last five years. In our recent chat with him, he explained how they ...
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