Maritime technology company KeelX grew out of shipowner Lemissoler's effort to solve its own operational frustrations: despite abundant vessel data and software, too much manual work remained between identifying a problem and acting on it. The answer was not another dashboard, but a platform bringing vessel performance, operations and emissions together so users could move more quickly information to action. What began as an internal tool subsequently became the independent maritime technology company KeelX.

That information-to-action gap has taken on added weight industry-wide, as the International Maritime Organization's carbon intensity rules and the European Union Emissions Trading System's extension to shipping have turned vessel data into a compliance matter as much as an operational one.

Aristos Philis, KeelX's CEO and deputy CEO of Lemissoler, said the shipowner heritage shapes both how KeelX builds technology and why he considers some of shipping's reputation for resisting digitalisation unfair.

Speaking in an interview with Maritime CEO, Philis argued that technology vendors must accept some responsibility for the sector's traditionally long buying cycles.

"For years, we have described shipping as traditional, slow to change and resistant to technology," Philis said. "There is some truth in that. But having spent years on both sides, as a shipowner and now also as a technology provider, I think the truth sits somewhere in the middle."

Historically, many maritime software decisions have been difficult to reverse. Lengthy implementations, integrations, staff training and data migrations can tie companies to systems long after enthusiasm for the original product has faded — a stickiness that matters in a sector where today's systems shape how efficiently, and how compliantly, vessels operate for years. After experiencing that a few times, Philis argued, caution becomes a rational response.

"There is plenty of legacy software in shipping that users complain about but continue using, not necessarily because the product is great, but because replacing it feels more difficult than living with its shortcomings," he said.

Philis's preferred model turns that relationship around. Technology purchases should become smaller, quicker and more reversible, so shipowners can attack a specific problem without embarking on what he calls an "IT revolution".

"The product should retain the customer, not the difficulty of leaving it," he said.

That philosophy runs through KeelX's approach: start small, solve something tangible, demonstrate operational value and earn the opportunity to expand.

It also shapes how Philis believes maritime technology companies should differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market: "By trying to make fewer promises and putting the product in people's hands."

KeelX approaches development from the operational problem backwards, rather than starting with the technology and searching for an application. Usability, fast implementation and measurable value therefore take priority.

There is another element that Philis believes pure software businesses sometimes underestimate: shipping remains stubbornly relationship-driven.

"No matter how much AI enters day-to-day operations, I do not think maritime software will ever be pure SaaS in the way it can be in some other sectors," he said. "In shipping, it is SaaS plus service."

A phone call or message will still follow when something matters, and Philis does not see that human layer as inefficiency that technology ought to remove. As KeelX expands, he said the challenge is therefore not only to make the platform more capable, but to avoid putting layers between the company and its users.

His broader prescription for maritime technology is straightforward: make buying easier, implementation faster and failure less painful.

"Shipowners still have a responsibility to remain open to change," Philis said. "But if we as technology providers want shipping to adopt technology faster, we also have to make saying yes less risky."

KeelX is by no means the first maritime technology business to emerge from an owner solving its own problems. ZeroNorth came out of Maersk Tankers, Coach Solutions was developed inside Clipper Bulk, and OrbitMI traces its roots to Stena Bulk. The logic is similar: build against real operational problems first, then discover that other owners have the same issues. With owner-backed vendors and incumbent software providers now competing for cautious buyers, whether smaller, reversible purchases become the norm is one thread to watch as the sector's buying culture evolves.

Source: Splash247