OrbitMI CEO named among Top 10 Technology Leaders in Lloyd’s List rankings

OrbitMI chief executive Ali Riaz has been named in the Lloyd’s List Top 100 People in Shipping for 2022 in recognition of the US technology player’s role in advancing digital transformation through innovation and data-sharing to realise sustainability and efficiency gains in the maritime industry.

Riaz, who is listed among the Top 10 Technology Leaders, says he is “thrilled” to be included in the prestigious annual ranking of industry movers and shakers published by the well-respected international shipping publication.

“This is a result of the effort by the entire OrbitMI team, our advisors, customers and partners. We intended to make a difference by taking an empathetic approach and offering great technology solutions to clients, as well as encouraging vendor collaboration to unlock end-customer value,” he says.

The Top 10 list highlights “those at the forefront of maritime technology and driving industry innovation”, according to Lloyd's List.

Riaz describes innovation as “a result of an enduring passion for solving a problem or creating new opportunities” that is fuelled by three elements - clear purpose, relevance to the client and repeated iteration to continuously improve the solution.

Collaboration and data-sharing

New York-based OrbitMI, which was spun out of Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk in 2019, aims to break down data siloes in shipping by promoting a culture of data-sharing, collaboration and transparency to leverage the vast amounts of data generated from ship operations. As noted in the Top 10 citation, OrbitMI states the company “sees its mission as unlocking the hidden value of data generated by the maritime sector to increase efficiency and sustainability, and thereby profitability”.

Riaz says the “real star of the show” is the Orbit software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that was built to enable ship owners and pool managers in their effort to use data as a strategic asset. Orbit is a suite of cloud-based solutions for vessel performance management - including maritime intelligence and analytics, sustainability and IMO compliance, and vessel tracking - that are constantly evolving and expanding through partnerships with like-minded vendors.

“This resulted in a focus on Intelligent connected workflows, which means the orchestration of automation, AI, analytics, data feeds and skills to fundamentally change how work gets done,” he explains.

Promoting API economy

Riaz believes digital technology and collaborations will be vital to achieve operational efficiencies necessary to meet sustainability goals, as well as industry-wide sharing of emissions data for compliance reporting. Consequently, OrbitMI is promoting the API economy in shipping by forging pioneering partnerships with peer players, including voyage optimization specialist Nautilus Labs and weather data provider DTN, with the aim of enhancing value creation for the end-user.

Multiple APIs from these and other partners are integrated into Orbit, which uses AI and machine learning to extract intelligence from vessel data to generate actionable insights that can accelerate decision-making in support of operational efficiencies, lower costs, and reduced emissions. A unified interface of dashboards, alerts and visualisations gives the user access to diverse feeds of real-time actionable data on a PC or its mobile app, OrbitMI Connect.

‘Transformation without disruption’

“We are focused on achieving digital transformation without disruption. This means understanding the needs of a shipping company and delivering intuitive solutions that enable users to carry out their tasks more easily and efficiently, without interfering with their ability to do business.

“Our mission is to make maritime technology more client-centric. OrbitMI’s approach of empathetic innovation is intended to solve real challenges for real people to encourage technology adoption in shipping. We believe that is good for business - and good for the planet.”