Making data work

Martin Penney is fundamentally a problem solver. When considering his career options, he saw in himself a desire to “understand a problem and solve it,” which led him to study Manufacturing Engineering at Cambridge University. This took him to various work placements at British Aerospace, Rolls-Royce and Ford Motor Company, amongst others, facilitating a real understanding of how business operates very early on in his career.

“I started working as a strategy consultant, taking that knowledge of how to run a business and sharing it with growing businesses around Europe,” says Penney, who has been CEO of LR OneOcean since February this year. 

This was around the time of the .com boom and Penney said the transition from analogue to internet in the 2000s was very similar to the AI transition of today. “The internet itself didn't solve anything and AI is the same. It’s what you actually do with the data that makes a difference. We helped companies understand the impact the internet could have on their markets and business models. This enabled them to create advantages to drive faster growth and become more efficient. AI is in a similar situation now. We all believe it will have a huge impact on how we work, but how it will create value for customers, isn’t 100% clear yet.” 

Much of Penney’s career has been spent helping clients across the maritime, aerospace and logistics sectors unlock the value in data and digitalisation. “Digitisation is a very common theme throughout all my career,” he notes, citing a number of success stories along the way. As VP Business Development at Global Freight Exchange, Penney drove the change of air freight bookings from a paper and telephone-based business to one where 50% of transactions were being handled electronically.

Penney moved into the maritime industry when he joined Eniram, now owned by Wärtsilä, as Sales Director for EMEA. There Penney worked with shipowners and operators to digitalise ship-to-shore information sharing to improve vessel performance and reduce emissions. “We were moving from a world where the only data that came off a ship was a single spreadsheet, which was manually populated by the captain, to one where we were collecting 50 megabytes of a data from a ship through three sets of inclinometers measuring 15 times per second,” he says. “It was like going from the Stone Age to data analysis of a level that still isn’t widespread today,” Penney notes, adding that this was work being carried out over 10 years ago.

Changing the way the industry worked wasn’t easy and can still be a challenge today, he says, adding: “The master, who has full control of the vessel, was being given advice to trim and speed from the ship-specific data models (or digital twins, as we would call them today) to supplement their experience at sea.”

“It’s not just about the technology, it’s absolutely about people and that has to be factored into the journey as well. Software can give the best advice in the world, but if it is not followed, then it isn’t of any value.”

Penney’s work is always centred on delivering results for customers, which chimes well with LR and LR OneOcean’s commitment to supporting clients’ business ambitions. With this in mind, Penney has refocused LR OneOcean into three Business Units, each centred around a specific customer stakeholder group: Comply, Manage, and Perform.

COMPLY relates to digital navigation including compliance software such as Regs4Ships and EnviroManager and is aimed at Operations Directors and HSEQ Managers. MANAGE covers fleet management through Cloud Fleet Manager, aimed at Fleet and Technical Directors. PERFORM provides end-to-end Vessel performance optimisation and emissions management (EU ETS and FuelEU) allowing the C-suite of our customers to make strategic decisions.

These digital solutions come together to provide a portfolio of decision-making tools, all geared towards increasing efficiency, safety, and performance in the maritime sector. LR acquired OneOcean in 2022 to support clients' digital and decarbonisation ambitions, which are becoming increasingly interrelated.

Data-driven insights are now influencing long-term business plans, especially as carbon cap and trade systems – such as the EU ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) – start to take effect. “There’s no point having the data if you don’t know what it’s telling you,” asserts Penney. “You can know what your emissions are, but what do you do with that information? With LR OneOcean’s decision support tools, you can look at your overall exposure to EU ETS versus how many EU Allowances you have and buy and sell, depending on the market and your own vessel needs. You can start to make useful decisions and even turn compliance into a profit, not cost, centre.

He points out that this is one example where LR and LR OneOcean offer a powerful combination. “If you are an owner and a charterer and you want to collaborate and discuss EU ETS and reducing emissions, the essential question is: do you have a trusted, independent dataset? That’s why partnering with an organisation with the reputation of LR is so valuable. LR can be the trusted intermediary to share validated data with both parties.

LR OneOcean is always looking to drive more value for its customers. To validate new concepts, LROO has created an incubation team of more than 10 experts who are focussed on testing new products and solutions with customers and partners. “Colleagues and clients can come to LR OneOcean with the objective of developing a Proof of Concept (PoC) with initial outcomes available after two weeks followed by a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to gain more in-depth understanding after one to two months.”

Penney’s main ambition is to turn LR OneOcean into the leading Maritime Software Platform, providing a one-stop-shop for digital solutions for the industry. With nearly 25,000 vessels already using some form of LROO software, Penney is well on his way to achieving that ambition. However, there is still a huge opportunity to increase the software usage across customers, by providing additional solutions either organically through the incubation team, or by acquisition.

This article was featured in the October 2024 issue of Horizons, Lloyd's Register's quarterly publication, offering expert insights and thought leadership on key trends in the maritime industry.