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The person deemed most worthy of inclusion in the Portfire40 is a man (or woman) of mystery.

By Ryan Skinner (email)

After a considerable nominations process and then voting, the first winner of Portfire40 was selected! Months ago, in fact.

Unfortunately, this first honoree is a shy man. Months of attempts to get him to talk manifestly failed. Finally, Peter Mello of Sea-Fever proposed we consider him as a little like the Banksy of shipping – a mysterious, influential figure.

You see, he calls himself HAUS. He seems to be a seafarer. And he edits Wikipedia articles.

That’s it.

Some of you may ask: “How does this qualify him for inclusion in Portfire40, which is about people who are having a lasting impact on the industry by the novelty and vigor of their thinking, the strength of their passion for improvement and the impact they have on the community?“

The marine and offshore online chandlery Shipserv today announced that is has launched a “deals” website, rightfully called ShipservDeals.com.  The site is a first of its kind for the marine industry and allows buyers to access, and browse for, attractive promotions and best deals on maritime brands, products and services. The idea is similar to some of the group discount services you might already be using (think Groupon and LivingSocial).

So how does it work?  ShipservDeals tells it best;

We work closely with the best Sellers in the market to devise attractive Deals that are offered for a short time frame period of 2-3 weeks. It is up to the Buyer to act on Deals quickly, buy and pay. Every week, ShipServ Deals will post a new Deal. The items sold may vary from introductory products, mandatory products, consumable items and a variety of different maritime services.

The first “deal” is a Motorola GP380 VHF FM radio listed at US$436, 49% off the list price.

Trading up 31%, web traffic up 134%

During 2010 over four million trading transactions were facilitated by ShipServ with an annual value of US$1.7bn, up 31% on 2009. In addition, nearly three quarters of a million visitors came to ShipServ Pages to source goods from over 35,000 suppliers, up 134% on the previous year.

The year saw many major names sign up to trade via ShipServ including ABCmaritime, Alpha Shipmanagement, BW Gas, Chellaram Shipping, Mowinckel Ship Management, OSM Ship Management, Pacific Basin, Prestige Cruise, Reederei F. Laeisz, SeaCor Dubai, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Star Cruises, Tai Chong Cheang Steamship, Tolani Shipping and Wah Kwong.

Customers consistently tell us that they like what they get from ShipServ.

“We see ShipServ as one of many useful tools, to continue our improvement,” said Steinar Sandberg, Group Purchasing Manager, OSM Ship Management AS.

“We foresee considerable potential for our fleet and management operations from this partnership with ShipServ,” said Daniel Wolf, CEO of ABCmaritime Group.

ShipServ’s presence in specific shipping segments also continues to grow, with 24% of the world’s cruise capacity, 40% of the world’s container carrying capacity and 43% of the world’s LNG fleet all now connected to ShipServ TradeNet, the e-commerce trading platform for ship supplies.

“We’re delighted that so many marine and offshore businesses rely on ShipServ in their day-to-day operations,” commented Paul Ostergaard, Founder & CEO, ShipServ. “With our growth in 2010 we can truly say ShipServ is the one place that maritime professionals come to do business.”

87% increase in enquiries and 115% increase in orders for suppliers

The benefits of ShipServ to both buyers and sellers have been well established during 2010. Sellers increase their brand awareness, win new business and manage orders more efficiently. And whilst ShipServ offers free entry-level offerings, suppliers that invest in their ShipServ presence experience an 87% increase in enquiries and a 115% increase in orders, all typically within a period of just six months.

Buyers don’t miss out either. Easy connection to suppliers gets them faster response times, meaning order cycles are reduced and costs go down. On average, purchasing cycle times are reduced by more than 30%, freeing up buyers to spend more time on strategic sourcing and contract management. Research among buyers on ShipServ indicates that a shipmanager with a fleet of 20 ships can save over $600,000 per year.

A year of product innovations

ShipServ completed its acquisition of Mariner’s Annual, integrating high quality ordering data from the MA Ordering Guide into its online directory ShipServ Pages. The company also launched the maritime industry’s first-ever online advertising network, ShipServ Ad Network, giving advertisers the chance to advertise on more than 30 leading maritime industry websites with one consolidated order.

ShipServ developed the use of Social Media in the maritime industry, introducing Amazon.com-style reviews on ShipServ Pages, allowing buyers to submit reviews of suppliers they have traded with on TradeNet. In a December 2010 survey, three out of four buyers stated that they would choose a supplier with the better customer reviews if their products and services were similar.

The number of out-of-the-box integrations between ShipServ and major fleet management software packages also increased during 2010 to over 20. New or updated agreements were signed with ABS Nautical Systems, Danaos, Germanischer Lloyd Maritime Software, R+M Business Software, Teomaki, Tero Marine and Vertex.

For shipmanagement software providers, the ability to link to ShipServ through their M&P systems is a must-have for them to keep a competitive edge.

“Streamlined purchasing is key to realising efficiencies and a closer link with ShipServ is the natural way to help our customers achieve that,” said Karen Hughey, president and COO of ABS Nautical Systems.

Dr Torsten Büssow GL’s head of Maritime Software, said: “As an innovation driver for the industry GL Maritime Software values this kind of co-operation with other strong maritime technology providers, to bring the best benefit to our joint client base.”

2011 will see ShipServ continue to innovate, encouraging the community to be the one to review, rate and validate supplier information on its platform, through the launch of new tools which enable brand owners to verify authorised agents as well as providing buyers with the ability to review and rate the performance of suppliers within the Pages directory.

In an effort help reduce the environmental impacts of the world’s shipping fleet, Carbon War Room, the not-for-profit website dedicated to fighting the war on carbon and founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson and a slew of other successful entrepreneurs, has launched ShippingEfficiency.org; a new online service that publishes energy and carbon efficiency ratings and information on 60,000 vessels throughout the world.

For each vessel in its database, the website provides an estimated Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) rating, and compares each vessel’s rating against the average for the specified ship size and type.  For container ships, the site also has a tool that provides a vessels rating based on the Clean Cargo Working Group (CCWG) Index – calculated in grams of CO2 per TEU kilometer emitted – which benchmarks the vessels CO2 efficiency against other vessels plying the same major container shipping routes (ie, Asia to Europe).  
The Emma Maersk for example, which falls under the container ship of 8,000+ TEU’s category, has a EEDI rating of 2.701 compared to the category average of 2.767, giving her a “C” ranking. For the CO2 rating however, the Emma Maersk is rated “A” with 38.90 grams of CO2 per TEU kilometer, or 47% above the average vessel rating of on the same routes.

So what are we supposed to do with this information?  Well, the website encourages you to sign a letter calling on the IMO to:

• Develop and adopt, by the end of 2011, clear, meaningful, verifiable and flagneutral regulations to significantly improve energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions from international shipping.
• Include the IMO Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) as an objective and mandatory measure of a ship’s inherent efficiency in the IMO climate regulations, with a view to providing sufficient commercial incentives towards the overall goal of mitigating CO2 emissions from international shipping.
• Establish a baseline for the EEDI by the end of 2010, and to apply the EEDI to both existing and new ships as soon as possible.

While the website recognizes that maritime shipping is already probably one of the most efficient modes of transport, it is, according to ShippingEfficiency.org, “the largest potential energy efficiency opportunity in the transportation sector where new financing models will make a difference”.

[Image source - ShippingEfficiency.org]

SAN FRANCISCO – It took a man-made disaster to topple a celebrity from the top spot on Yahoo Inc.’s annual list of most popular search requests.

BP PLC’s massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast drew the most interest among the tens of millions of people that used Yahoo’s search engine during 2010. The Internet company released its top 10 rankings Tuesday.

Michael Jackson was Yahoo’s most requested subject in 2009, the year that the entertainer’s death stunned the world. Britney Spears, another star-crossed singer, held the No. 1 position on Yahoo’s search list from 2005 through 2008.

After falling to No. 5 last year, Spears dropped to No. 10 on Yahoo’s list this year.

Although Yahoo’s search engine is the second most used on the Web, it’s not the best barometer of people’s online interests. That’s because Google fields billions more search requests than Yahoo, Microsoft Corp.’s Bing and AOL Inc. combined.

Bing and AOL released their top searches earlier this week, with reality TV star Kim Kardashian topping Bing’s list and golfer Tiger Woods leading the pack of celebrities at AOL. Kardashian came in fourth on Yahoo’s list and seventh in AOL’s celebrity rankings; Woods was third on Bing and didn’t appear among Yahoo’s Top 10.

Google doesn’t plan to break down its top searches until later in December so it can get an even better handle on what piqued Web surfers’ curiosity this year.

As usual, pop culture dominated the rest of Yahoo’s Top 10. Other celebrities on Yahoo’s list included teen singer and actress Miley Cyrus (No. 3), singer Lady Gaga (No. 5), actress Megan Fox (No. 7), teen heartthrob Justin Bieber (No. 8) and TV’s top-rated show, the American Idol talent competition (No. 9).

Soccer’s World Cup, which drew huge crowds and television audiences in June, grabbed the second spot on Yahoo’s list while Apple Inc.’s most hot-selling gadget, the iPhone, came in sixth.

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On The Web:

Yahoo’s list: http://yearinreview.yahoo.com

Bing’s list: http://bit.ly/fqO6jy

AOL’s list: http://about-search.aol.com/hotsearches2010/index.html

Created as an alternative to the Tradewinds Power 100 list released this summer, where the focus repeatedly falls on big money, ship owners, and corporations, the Portfire 40 is designed to focus on the other side of influence, where the emphasis lies in new ideas, creativity, and improvement of the overall maritime industry.

From shipping podcasts to blogs, the names and notions represented in the Portfire 40 will vary, branching out to evoke the true nature of how vast the maritime world is. These 40 names will include the personalities believed to be making the biggest impact on the industry and their colleagues, through change and new thought, media and alternative press. In as much, the Portfire 40 is to be a list not recognizing those who are currently involved in the status quo, but rather will be a list encompassing the individuals of the future of the maritime industry. Here the significance lies on leadership, innovation, personality, or the ways in which some are enriching society.

One of the judges, Ryan Skinner, of 5956N, was quoted as saying, “The Portfire 40 is a list of those shipping personalities who haven’t inherited a shipping empire but rather carved out a significant change in the industry with passion and pride.”

The list will be determined by votes and a panel of judges, with those involved in the maritime industry nominating and submitting names to make the list.

Backers for the Portfire40 include John Konrad of gCaptain, Ryan Skinner of 5956N, James Tweed of Coracle Online, the ClayMaitland.com team, Peter Mello of Sea-fever, Bob Coutie of Maritime Accident Casebook, Humphrey Hill and Sam Ignarski of After Office Hours, Steven Jones of Shiptalk, Ken E. Beck of Kennebeck Captain. and Ben Strong from Amver.

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as the list begins to take shape and to hear what others are saying about it, check out the links above.

Do you have a recomendation for the list? Let us know! Leave a comment below or send an email with your candidate’s name, employer and why you think he/she belongs among the Portfire40.

They’re both about localisation, but that doesn’t make them apples and apples

By Ryan Skinner (email)

You probably already know AIS. The short-range coastal tracking system identifies vessels near coastlines all over the world’s oceans, with information about the vessel’s name, speed, destination, heading, etc.

You probably don’t know Foursquare. It’s one of those facebook-like social networks, except this one makes a big deal of location. It’s all about where you’re at, where you’re going, where your friends/girlfriend/mother are, etc. These social location services are one of the four big tech trends of 2010, along with mobile web, iPad and toilet-training cats.

There are many ways that AIS and Foursquare are alike:

• Marketers are gonzo for the data, so they can target buyers (in shipping’s case, agents target ships calling in ports)
• They’re all about location; without it, they’re pretty much pointless (so many examples of AIS position faults)
• With both, you know who’s around you, so you can arrange serendipitous meetings (Foursquare), or avoid them (shipping)
• Both can give away too much information (to house burglars, or pirates)
• Both provide a basic platform that service providers are rushing to build valuable products and services on top of
• People are known to fudge both of them to hide their true location
• Both enable overzealous stalkers; in shipping’s case, this would be a charterer wondering why the ship is idling outside port

But they’ve got at least a few salient differences that prevent too close a comparison:

• Foursquare users opt in. AIS is required by the IMO, at least for most classes of ships
• If you go somewhere in Foursquare, you get a badge. If you go somewhere in shipping, you get money
• Foursquare requires you to check-in at its web-site, or through compatible web services. AIS signals are sent automatically
• Foursquare only gives you access to your friends’ location; any inquisitive person can check out AIS-powered ship positions online
• Foursquare makes location a game; AIS has, as yet, few fun-loving sides

At its root, Foursquare only works if those people whose position it reports, like it. AIS, on the other hand, is just there. You ignore it at your peril. Nonetheless, anyone developing AIS-related services would be wise to look carefully at developments on Foursquare. You always want to be working towards the market’s wants and needs.

So here’s a list of articles about business uses for Foursquare. AIS business developers, dig in:

The NY Times bits blog describes how businesses are using Foursquare statistics.

PBS interviews Foursquare’s chief business development officer, on use of the platform.

Location Meme ran an article about how a restaurant guide (shippers, imagine an agent) uses Foursquare.

Inc.com gives a guide to success on the Foursquare platform.

And lest I forget my friends in marine media, here’s an article about how the big media brands are using Foursquare, to inspire your creative use of AIS.

Some may want to laugh this off, but the Foursquare/AIS analogies are not so far-fetched. For better or worse, fewer and fewer of us are lost under the great blue sky and it’s time to find the costs and benefits of this findability, and manage them.

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Ryan Skinner is a Senior Advisor at Say PR & Communications in Oslo, Norway and blogs at 59° 56′ N. Innovation, technology, media and ideas in the marine realm are his beat.

Coracle Online was one of (if not the first) company in the maritime and shipping industry to get into iPhone and iPod Touch application development.  Their first application, The Maritime Glossary, provides instant access to over 9,000 nautical terms and abbreviations for anyone with an interest in international trade and the maritime world.  The Maritime Glossary is currently available in the iTunes App Store for $4.99 (link to download).

But Coracle is not stopping with just one.  Available next week in the iTunes App Store is Ship It!, a fun game that lets players load cargo and, well, ship it, before time runs out. In the video above, you can see a sneak preview that Coracle recently posted on YouTube.

Also in development from Coracle Online is a third application called Ports Information.  While details on this app have yet to be released, according to their website, the app provides “comprehensive Port Information on your iPhone and iPod Touch”.

And finally for those of you wondering, YES, gCaptain is in the process of developing its own iPhone and iPod Touch application.  While I can’t release the details just yet, stay tuned as we will be doing an official unveiling in coming weeks!

Some of you may have noticed the recent change we made to gCaptain’s homepage.  I will not get into the underlying reasons for the switch, but one thing we (and you hopefully) miss is the “Photo of the Day”.  That being said, we want to do our best to promote what a great tool Flickr is for sharing photos amongst professionals and amateurs alike.  That is why we are starting Photo Friday, where we will post the slideshow from gCaptain’s regularly updated photostream of favorites from around the Flickr community.

The United States Coast Guard continues its push to Web 2.o as a means of sharing information with the general public with the launch of a new blog: Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach Blog.  Sector LA – LB is responsible for Coast Guard operations, missions, functions, and responsibilities from (our place of residence and the beautiful) Morro Bay California south to Dana Point California.  In their official launch yesterday, they tell us:

Welcome to this first official post on the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach Blog. We created this site as a forum to exchange information with you about the missions we, as Coast Guard Guardians, perform on a daily basis.

We are responsible for all Coast Guard operations from The San Luis Obispo/Monterey County Line south to the San Diego/Orange County line. This area of responsibility covers an impressive 64,000 square miles of ocean and 320 miles of shoreline.

Together, we deliver multi-mission services in search and rescue, maritime safety and security, environmental protection, maritime law enforcement and aids to navigation. We will use this blog to keep you informed about what we are doing here at Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach, but we would also like your feedback. Please send us your ideas for content and share your thoughts. Protecting the waters here in Southern California is a team effort and you are all part of that team.

So from the gCaptain team, welcome aboard and we look forward to following as it progresses!  Also be sure to subscibe to their feed HERE