MAIN HEAD Seaportservice launches IMAGE:Seaportservices.jpg (screenshot) SUBHEAD A rope supplier in Aberdeen. Where else can you find this on the net? IMAGE: Seaportservicespic.jpg SUBHEAD Max Møller, founder of Seaportservice.com DECK A new ship supplies portal has launched, Seaportservice.com, providing information about ship suppliers around the world and what they have to sell, with functionality to put together automatic requests for quotes. BODY You want to buy some rope from a port in Aberdeen. How do you find a supplier on the internet? You could go to the International Ship Suppliers Association (ISSA) website, http://www.shipsupply.org, and find four ISSA members in Aberdeen, three labelled "general ship supplier" and the fourth specialising in "fishing gear, ship repairing and life saving equipment." You could go to Google.com and type in "rope AND ship supplies AND Aberdeen" and be sent to directories at worldyellowpages.com/marine and www.gasandoil.com, neither of which is particularly helpful. Or you could register with seaportservice.com and be directed to RSD Supplies of Aberdeen, which specialises in supplies of "General Consumables, commonly known as Rope Soap & Dope," to the maritime and offshore industry. Another click, and the system has already written an e-mail for you, to be sent to RSD Supplies, saying who you are, what you are looking for and how you can be contacted, and asking for a price. It also gives you RSD's telephone number in case you've reached the limit of your comfort zone with e-commerce. Simple though it sounds, there is in fact no other online database Digital Ship is aware of for a shipowner to find a supplier for a specific item in a specific port without having to pay anything or integrate with any system, just search on the web. Seaportservices has a niche. "I got the idea a few years back," says Max Møller, founder. "I thought, when a shipowner needs rope, nobody knows where to find it. The rope might be at a supplier just around the corner, but that order has to be sent to hundreds of suppliers before they find one. It happens all the time. "I thought, why not put all the suppliers around the world on a web portal." There are plans to open several further portals if this one is successful, covering cabin stores, mooring rope and life raft service. All of these portals will link back to seaportservice.com. The ambition is to have suppliers in all ports around the world as soon as possible. At this point, the company has about 50 suppliers signed up. It has about 230 buyers. SUBHEAD "Not e-commerce" "We don't want to call it e-commerce," comments Mr Møller. "We don't see ourselves as competitors to the e-commerce companies. We're a tool suppliers can use to market themselves." Suppliers do not provide any information about whether they have certain parts in stock at that point, or how much they charge for them; Seaportservice does not see its role to provide any of this kind of information; it is just a simple means of helping buyers find a supplier quickly. "We just want to say what kind of product they have," says Mr Møller. "If somebody says they have it, they should have it, or know how to get it fast.." Mr Møller believes that his service meets the needs of shipowners far more than the grander e-procurement companies; he is thinking more of companies with 10-15 ships and 2/3 superintendents. "Maybe 10 per cent of all shipowners have the volume, technology and possibilities to do e-commerce," he says. "The rest don't have that possibility." A shipowner needs something that is simple to use," he says. "A lot of people are still scared of the computer world." SUBHEAD System functionality Users must register to use the site; this is only a formality to check that the buyer is genuine and not an 8-year old child. This is the only security check that the site has. The catalogue information is based on the ISSA stores catalogue. The searching system is clearly structured into three stages. First of all it focuses on the product; then it focuses on the port, and thirdly on the supplier. The system is geared much more around the buyers' needs than the suppliers'; the buyer only wants to find someone who can supply a specific item in a specific port, whilst suppliers often have very carefully structured marketing plans where they try to tie the buyer into purchasing specific branded catalogue items from specific suppliers. The buyer goes through a simple search database, looking for a specific item in a specific port; the system generates a list of suppliers who have said they sell it. The system then generates an automatic e-mail which is sent to the supplier, asking for a quote for that specific item. The buyer receives a copy of the e-mail in their own e-mail box. SUBHEAD The business model Mr Møller wants to present the business as a company with specific expertise about maritime purchasing, rather than technology. "I have been in the industry for 20 years," he says. "We want to show that there are real people behind this who know a thing about the industry." The system is free of charge to buyers. Suppliers pay 99 euros to be listed on the site, listing which ports they operate in. For 299 euros, suppliers have their own administration model and can specify which products they sell, with a banner advert on the port pages for 12 months. For 799 euros they get all of this plus a banner on the main front page for 12 months. The company has two members of staff; Mr Møller and a salesman. All banner design and website building is handled by an outsource company. "We don't spend a huge amount of money on investing to develop all kinds of things," he says. "We keep it simple. We have a phone and things which are necessary for an office, but we do not have a huge staff to pay." Seaportservices itself does not monitor the e-mails, or how much business is eventually generated off the back of it; at this point the transaction is clearly between the buyer and the seller and Seaportservices has no brokering role. "Its up to the people to communicate and do the business," says Mr Møller. "We don't want to be involved in that."