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

‍Sedna is making a major move into chartering with the launch of Pulse, a new product to streamline data into a single consolidated view in the email inbox for charterers to cut through the noise and fix with confidence.

A joint event between Sedna and ZeroNorth - highlighting Pulse - is taking place in Copenhagen this week, adjacent to the Smart Maritime Network SMAGIC23 conference which Sedna will also attend. 

‍We spoke to Leigh Steed-Middleton, SVP of Product and Engineering and Alex Crooks, Group Product Manager at Sedna to find out more about the product and future plans for the sector.

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Pulse is a new product from Sedna, taking a major step into chartering. It sits on top of the email inbox, transforming its data into a single, consolidated and customisable view. This allows charterers to find opportunities faster than the competition.

“Pulse will solve 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.

“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.”

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

This new move into chartering aligns with our aim to make teams communicate better and be more efficient through their most used tool: email. With our products, we aren’t just treating 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. 

“There’s a great opportunity to improve the charterer’s workday. Pulse brings data from other tools that charterers are already using, saving time that would be spent switching systems throughout the day. These best-in-class integrations will enhance the already consolidated view of charterer’s email - saving time, reducing missed opportunities and increasing profitability."

“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.”
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Leigh Steed-Middleton, Sedna’s SVP of Product and Engineering

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.

“In its first iteration, Pulse aims to streamline the first part 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,” says Alex. 

This new digital product 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. 

Not having to switch tools is key, because the shipping teams currently need to use many different ones to do their job - ultimately wasting time and causing system fatigue. 

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, building relationships and innovating.

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.” This aligns with Sedna’s ultimate ambition to make trade go faster. 

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 can close opportunities quickly and with confidence. 

Discover more about Pulse and join the waitlist.

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