Sea bridges gap in digitising freight industry with acquisition of MarDocs

Sea, the intelligent marketplace for fixing freight, has announced the agreed purchase of MarDocs – a recap and charterparty management platform – from Marcura, alongside a new strategic partnership between the two companies. This will further accelerate Sea’s progress in digitising and managing chartering workflows from pre-fixture negotiation to documentation. Providing the preferred platform for recaps and charterparties across all market segments, reflected in an annualised volume of over 43,000 fixtures and in use by over 800 customers and 550 broking companies, Sea now bridges the documentation gap in the industry benefitting charterers, brokers, and owners.

The acquisition marks a new era, particularly in the wet markets where documentation management is an acute challenge with contracts dispersed across different platforms. Sea’s ecosystem enables management of the entire fixture process, providing simplicity, driving greater efficiencies, and streamlining processes. Sea will be working closely with Marcura to ensure all MarDocs customers are transitioned to the Recap Manager platform. This will mean clients – including some of the largest oil companies in the world – now benefit from the enlarged offering. User benefits of the Sea platform include:

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• Simplified and streamlined chartering A single platform to collaborate on fixture management and charterparty/recap documentation for faster, more efficient working.
• Enhanced confidence with better governance of terms Efficient, standardised charterparties/recaps with stronger controls that minimise human error and so reduce the risk of legal action.
• Never losing a document Instant access to all past recaps and charterparties for easier decision-making and reporting.
• Avoidance of disputes and miscommunication Agreements and amends are instantly captured for improved governance.
• Flexible collaboration Access all your recaps and charterparties – from any device, anytime, anywhere. Work easily with internal colleagues and external parties on recap creation and approval.
• Learnings that enhance the client experience Client preferences and specifications are automatically embedded into the contract creation process, ready to use in future negotiations.
• Quick and convenient sharing Easily share recaps with your counterparties while maintaining version control.
• Mitigation of risk for better business Flag high-risk clauses with a view to reducing overall exposure.

Sea will also form a new strategic partnership with Marcura, a collaboration which will help in driving the industry towards greater digitisation in freight. This partnership will focus on bringing insights from Marcura’s analysis into the Sea platform and vice-versa, including in-depth analysis of vessel behaviours in port and the cost implications upon the multiple clauses governing port activity.

Peter Schrøder, CEO of Sea, said: “We are very pleased to announce the acquisition of MarDocs, which will move the industry forwards with its digitisation efforts. Together with our clients and partners, we are driving real change in the maritime industry, aiming for a complete ecosystem of workflow solutions that will bring simplicity and efficiency for all companies in this space and benefit the entire value chain.”

Jens Poulsen, Group CEO of Marcura, said: “At Marcura, digitalisation of the seaborne trade execution is a priority. Our aim is to enable a maritime data standard for seamless digitalisation of pre- and post- fixture processes. In selling MarDocs, we can focus on post-fixture solutions that will share data with the freight solutions of Sea. We know our customers want fewer and better platforms and more actionable data. We look forward to announcing the first data integrations of Marcura Maritime Master Data with Sea. With PortLog, shipping companies can measure and manage port-related risks and time, leading to better voyage profitability.”

About Sea

Sea delivers reliable, data-driven solutions that power better decisions to enable sustainable shipping across the vessel chartering workflow, from pre-fixture to at-fixture.

Born in 2016 as a technology spin-off from the Clarksons Group, we now operate as an independent company and have grown to become the leading provider of commercial software for global maritime trade. Leveraging innovative software with strategic collaborations, and integrations with key partners across the maritime eco-system, Sea is rapidly becoming the intelligent marketplace for fixing freight for all global shipping professionals.

With a people-first mentality, seven maritime software centres of excellence in key global shipping regions, and a 250+ strong team of shipping and digital experts, we are dedicated to delivering best-in-class technology and services to the global chartering market.

Through strong client engagement, we continue to develop innovative solutions that optimise processes, diminish complexity, mitigate risk, and deliver higher earnings and reduced costs. Our work enables better, more efficient, and more sustainable decisions that deliver a positive impact for clients.

About Marcura

The Marcura Group provides the maritime industry with 24/7 operational support services and specialised cloud-based platforms managed by industry specialists. We work closely with our global customers and partners to develop innovative solutions to everyday industry challenges, and together raise standards along the way.

Founded in 2001 on the principles of independence and transparency, we are headquartered in Dubai with a global network of offices. Our group includes, among others, the world’s largest port cost and port time management company, DA-Desk; a leading supplier-vetting and procurement services provider, PortsDirect; and a maritime-focused payment processing company for secure, efficient and cost-effective international payments, MarTrust. In the tramp shipping sector, our companies also provide structured cash management, fixture management and business intelligence services.

Marcura delivers voyage-optimising systems and the benefits of scale to over 650 leading maritime enterprises worldwide.