Career Paths: Martin Penney, LR OneOcean

Martin also expresses gratitude for encountering captivating individuals with insightful perspectives and encourages us to embrace openness to new connections, as the potential for learning and opportunity creation in open-minded discourse is boundless.

SAFETY4SEA: How did it come about that you joined shipping industry and your field of expertise specifically? 

Martin Penney: I’ve been in the shipping industry for the last 14 years, all of which has been on the software and digital side. I came into shipping having spent ten years in the aviation industry, also in software.

S4S: What about your current job/ role most excites you and why?

M.P.: I am most excited by the ability to drive change in the industry and the opportunities to digitalise shipping. I am passionate about digitalisation because that’s what I will believe will drive the industry’s decarbonisation. LR OneOcean is fantastically well positioned with the very broad customer base of 22,000 ships to really drive the digital transformation of the industry.

S4S: Who is/was the most influential person/mentor to you & why?

M.P. Thinking back to when the founders of Eniram (now part of Wärtsilä) brought me into the shipping industry 14 years ago, I would say they were influential in educating me about all aspects of the industry and how to drive change within the industry. Eniram was really the one of the first vessel performance companies that started to drive optimisation in shipping. The last six years as CEO at SpecTec also had a huge influence on my approach to running a successful software business.

S4S: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

M.P.: To be really, really focused on understanding the customer and driving value for them.

S4S: What is the most worthwhile career investment (in energy, time, money) you’ve ever made?

M.P.: Any time spent with customers is always an extremely worthwhile investment. However, one thing I’ve always loved doing – and I’ve always learnt a lot from it – is talking to people on planes. I love planes anyway and as a CEO of global businesses, I’ve always spent lots of time in the air. I’ve always made a point to invest time in speaking to the person next to me. I’ve often met interesting people with thought-provoking ideas. I even once got offered a job from the person sitting next to me on an hour and a half flight!

S4S: If you could give a piece of advice to your 18-year-old-self one thing, what would it be and why?

M.P.: One thing I’ve always believed in since the start of my career is wanting to do a job that I enjoy doing, not doing a job for the sake of getting to the next stage in my career – life’s too short for that!

S4S: In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your business life?

M.P.: What I’ve really learnt over the last five or six years is how important it is to make decisions based on data. Of course, I kind of knew this already as I’m an engineer by background, but I see far too many businesses make decisions based on gut feel. The power of drilling down into the data and asking yourself, does the data really back our decision? If not, we probably should be reviewing that decision.

S4S: What would you like to change in the current maritime landscape and your area of expertise specifically and why?

M.P.: I think historically maritime software companies have been too focused on trying to sell their new shiny product or service when they really should be focusing on where the true value and return on investment lies for their customers – the shipowners, ship managers and charterers. I’d like to think the companies I’ve run have been pretty focused on that, originating from my commercial background. The industry needs to be really laser focused on making our customers lives better.

S4S: What is your personal motto?

M.P.: “You can never meet too many people” – You never know what you’ll learn or what opportunities you’ll create from engaging in open-minded discussions.