deal with information overload and e-mail overload that everybody is facing
the idea is to put all the information in one system
rather than have a whiteboard in each office you can keep everybody on the same page
internal and external users to the company 

we do 
our first major client is TransMarine Navigation corporation, a US based agency with offices around the world, mostly in North America
they use what we call the vessel reporting system, our port agency product to manage all of the port calls 
port activities and communications with the clients
the e-mail, telexes and faxes they send out is all organised by each port call
rather than have to sift through an e-mail inbox and outbox
all the communications are in one place 

all our development is built with an initial customer either already committed or in mind
with an idea that its able to serve the general market
someone either already a paying customer or a commited customer
the next system that we built is called cargowatch
that's the post fixturew voyage management system for charterers and shipbrokers
that was built with petrocanada in mind as the potential customer
petrocanada is the major
they're using it for the boat half of their voyages
an similarly Simpson, Spence and Young Canada is using a very similar system
it allows them to keep track of the post fixture data for their customers
customers can log in 

from the get go, 
what we do is we stand behind our customers
we don't get in the middle of transactions
we help them support their already interesting relationships 
when we deploy a system for a new customer
it looks like thhe systeem is branded with their name and logo
we're just a service provider
we're concentrating on making sure they get value out of the system
we design the systems to be intuitive to shipping professionals

we've been established for 2 years now, working on helping custoemrs deal with the overload of information
as part of that we stayed out of the limelight, and particularly the dot com frenzy 

two of the founders of the copmany are from the shipping industry

Bill Dobie is a former port agent and shipbroker in Vancouver
Hitoshi Shinomia (check spelling) 
he's our Japanese partner

now we've expanded to get more staff
obviously on the development side and we're always looking for good people on the shipping side

Got an office in downtown vancouver
we've got about 13 staff altogether 
mainly technical people 
mr shinomia, he's in hong kong

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in some ways we're a software company
overarchingly we're a shiping company
the products we develop do stem from bill's knowledge of the shipping industry
and what will help shipping copmanies get more value 
one of the angles thhat we have aree that our systems are easy to use and intuitive by the people in the industry
who pay a lot of attention to the user interface 

helping agents communicate with agents, suppliers and brokers
when you have a company with multiple offices
they can store all of their information in one repository
the value of that
for some of the custoemrs we've had 
this is the first time the senior management can see what's going on across the company in real time
its not as useful as being able to see on a day to day basis how they're business is going 

it certainly is very applicable to customers with smaller fleets and also with bigger fleets
Star Shipping, they're Norway based, a company we're doing things with now 

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we build the systems to be able to serve the sophisticated needs of larger copmanies, they can also help smaller companies 

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the strategy is that we like to be able to offer solutions to the main kinds of shipping copmanies
vessel owners and operators

shipbrokers, charterers, port agents and go on from there
to develop systems for each of those we look for a development partner
someone who's going to be the initial customer, which we find really helps the development effort. 

that's been key in being able to develop systems that people will actually use in the industry
there's no substitute to having feedback from the potential users of the system during devleopment 

you can analyse your system over the long term 

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that's one of the advantages of building for the internet
is that there's a fairly standardised interface that's used around the world
you can use it in the office and while you#'re travelling
its about having a computer with internet 

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we technically host the software
they just need a copmuter with internet access and a web browser 
we're fairly flexible with the pricing
some people pay per voyage and per port calls
others prefer 
there's usually an upfront charge for installation and training 

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there's a lot more in terms of capturing the information and organising it

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i'm hoping that 
its been a bit of a tough 
so many things that he's tries to squeeze into one trip
i'm trying to get hold of him 

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bill would be 
doing an interview or just chatting
but i'm happy to speak more 

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autoship 
martin ertl 
managing director of the company
bill is the president 

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(+1 604) 633 0018
office number

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