During the 2023 SAFETY4SEA Limassol Forum, Giampiero Soncini, Managing Director, Oceanly Srl, questioned whether the new breed of maritime software that is coming, is good for the industry and why this software is so special.

During the 2020 SAFETY4SEA Limassol Forum, Giampiero Soncini, Marine Division – Chief Executive Officer, IB Marine, focused on fuel management on board ships, commenting that efficient fuel monitoring can be achieved through digitalization. Sharing the strengths of digitalizing onboard data, he concluded that fuel performance is different in theory and in practice, given that the majority of vessels are old, and that digitalization needs planning in order to be effective.

While speaking at the last SMART4SEA Conference, Mr. Giampiero Soncini, Senior Advisor, RINA, noted that digital revolution to industry is normal considering the use and impact that technology has already had on our lives.

Mr. Giampiero Soncini during his presentation at the 2017 SMART4SEA Conference & Awards explained that currently the idea of crewless vessels has become a serious one, from a laughable topic, with large companies and Classification Societies looking deeply and really into it. On the other hand, technology is moving fast and at times it is somewhat pitiful to look into the world of shipping, compared to other similar transportation sectors.

Giampiero Soncini, Director Marine Division, Volaris responded to SAFETY4SEA questions regarding the smart developments in the shipping industry during 2016 and his aspirations for 2017. Mr Soncini acknowledges 2017 as a 'waiting year'; although there are many smart ideas, investments may still be a bit scarce, he explained.

Giampero Soncini, CEO, SpecTec Group gave a presentation entitled ''Homo Informaticus vs Homo Nauticus''. He noticed that shipping industry has immensely changed in the last 30 years, going from an almost deregulated environment, to one of the most regulated in the world. In these last 30 years, the working conditions of crews have also changed, and not always for the best: the phenomena of criminalization of seafarers, the arrival of piracy, the economic crisis, the plethora of new rules and regulations have made their lives difficult. He explained that the use of IT can alleviate the burden, however the shipping industry is a very late adopter of advanced IT to manage ships. During his presentation, he examined some of the reasons behind this attitude.Being in the information technology in the shipping industry all of my life, I woulk like to convey a little bit of the problems and the issues that Ive seen so far. There is definitely an obstacle, a resistance within IT and shipping. Definitely, people are not early adapters; shipping people are not very keen in utilizing ERP system which is absolutely common ground in any other industry in land based industry. Some of these may be...

During Posidonia 2014 S4S: Tell us a few words about your company's activities. Which services and products you provide? G.S.: Spec Tec is the leading entity in IT in shipping. We were born 30 years ago, actually on 14th January next year we're going to turn 30! We provide software solutions for ship management. S4S: How has the modern software changed for the better the life of those on board? G.S.: With the advent of the new rules and regulations during the last twenty years, modern software has made it possible to the crew on board to better comply and work in a more efficient way and also shipping companies to operate in a more cost-effective way. S4S: What was the biggest shipping industry challenge over the last 10 years? G.S.: The changes in rules and regulations. If you look into the shipping market thirty years ago there were five rules only whereas today there is an enormous number of rules which they don't apply international anymore. It's not only IMO which issues new rules but it's also EMSA, AMSA etc, it has become enormously complex. It all started in 1996 with the introduction of the International Safety Monitoring code;...