Earlier this year shipping was in the headlines of the mainstream press when the Baltimore bridge collapsed after being hit by container ship the Dali. What did not make the headlines was that a maritime software provider was on hand to deal with the fallout from the incident.

More usually, maritime software providers are on hand to assist shipowners with keeping on top of areas such as fuel efficiency and regulatory compliance which are now central to most fleets’ daily operational activity.The Motorship spoke to two of the largest providers in the sector, ABS Wavesight and Pole Star Global, to hear more about this emerging sector.

Recently another maritime software provider, France’s Opsealog, won a contract with its compatriot subsea operations company Bourbon. The contract, awarded after a 25-vessel trial, will see Opsealog’s fleet monitoring and data-driven optimisation software deployed across Bourbon’s global marine and logistics fleet.