Pulse for chartering: What, why, how – and what’s next?

‍Sedna takes a major step into maritime chartering with the launch of Pulse, a new AI-driven solution which streamlines data into a single, consolidated view so charterers can unlock critical data and turn it into a competitive advantage.

‍We spoke to Leigh Steed-Middleton, Chief Product Officer and Alex Crooks, Group Product Manager at Sedna to find out more about the product and future plans for the industry.

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We recently introduced our new AI solution for charterers, Pulse.

Sitting on top of the inbox, Pulse transforms data from email and other systems into a single, consolidated and customisable view. It shortens the entire analysis process by presenting deduplicated data in a structured table ready for analysis and further action.

“Pulse solves a major pain point of charterers. They are currently spending hours each day wading through thousands of emails so they can find the best opportunities,” shares Alex Crooks, Group Product Manager at Sedna.

Pulse unlocks market data that lives in the charterer’s inbox turning it into a competitive advantage.

“The inbox is a gold mine of data, but the value isn’t being tapped into, or is too hard to extract in time to make the best fixtures. By removing noise and presenting data to the charterer in a simpler way, Pulse puts relevant data at their fingertips - making it easy to act on quickly.”

Leigh Steed-Middleton, Chief Product Officer, Sedna

This bold and confident move into chartering aligns with our aim to guide teams to better communication and efficiency through their most used tool: email. 

We don’t just treat email as an interface, but as a database that empowers its users to make confident decisions.

Having a connected ecosystem with other tools is foundational to this success as well. Upon launch, Pulse customers are  able to take advantage of our current partnerships with Signal, Spot Ship and ZeroNorth for their AI-driven algorithms and Machine Learning capabilities. We also look forward to sharing upcoming integrations that enrich the user experience. 

There are several parts to a charterer’s job: hunting for opportunities, analysing to see if they fit their needs, negotiating a deal and handing over to other stakeholders. Communication happens throughout this complex, data-rich process.

“At the moment, chartering data is mainly sent through email and chat. Think of every commodity company in the world emailing back and forth with shipowners about all their opportunities. This generates a lot of information, creating a crowded and difficult-to-process inbox."

“In its first iteration, Pulse aims to streamline the first part of their work - hunting - where charterers have to scan through thousands of emails a day and consult other data sources to whittle a long list of potential fixture opportunities down to the most relevant ones.”

Alex Crooks, Group Product Manager, Sedna

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This AI solution doesn’t just support confident decisions, it also saves time. With information in one consolidated view enriched with data from other tools, charterers spend less time on the laborious manual work of reading and organising emails and transferring the data to other systems. 

Alex shares that after speaking to some of our existing customers, “we’ve heard some spend an hour per person each day doing manual tasks - pulling freight quotes or collecting disparate data together” so they can get useful assessments of opportunities. 

Pulse addresses this, giving charterers critical time back so they can focus on negotiating and building relationships.

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What will Pulse look like down the road?

Future versions of Pulse will go beyond consolidating opportunities. It will connect with and leverage a growing suite of data sources and analysis tools, so charterers’ day-to-day work becomes even more streamlined and informed. 

Leigh shares that, “in the big picture we see Pulse as just one app in the wider universe of maritime software.” 

It is an exciting time in the world of maritime technology, and we are excited to get Pulse in the hands of charterers so they never miss an opportunity. 

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Learn more and get a demo.

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