Friederike Hesse, co-founder and managing director of carbon emissions optimising platform ZERO44, is looking forward to her first Geneva Dry next month. She does have one bold request however for the hundreds of owners and charterers who will be heading to the President Hotel Wilson on April 28 and 29 for the world’s premier commodities shipping conference.

“If I had one wish,” she says, “it would be for the industry to be a little more willing to experiment – to pilot and trial solutions and judge them through use, rather than solely upfront.” That approach, she argues, would help younger tech companies learn faster and build solutions that are even better aligned with real operational needs.

There’s plenty of specific sessions for Hesse to look forward to in Switzerland, including the Digital Dry Hard Talk workshop where she will be speaking, as well as sessions on risk management, digital efficiency drivers and, perhaps most pertinently, the regular dry decarbonisation panel, moderated by the World Economic Forum’s Mette Asmussen.

Geneva Dry has built a reputation as the forum where commercial shipping meets new digital innovation, something Hesse is keen to experience.

Discussing shipowners’ appetite for tech investment, the Berlin-based executive says, “Many shipping companies are willing to spend money if they believe it will genuinely save them money. The bigger question is whether they trust technology to deliver on that promise.”

The quality of technology providers in shipping varies widely, Hesse concedes, and as a result many teams have experienced digital projects as an added burden rather than a real operational improvement. This naturally leads to scepticism.

“For technology companies in the maritime space, that means the burden of proof is high,” Hesse stresses. “We need to demonstrate that our solutions are intuitive to use, that the data can be trusted, and that the insights and strategies they generate are genuinely useful. Only then does it become easier to justify investment.”

Catch the ZERO44 founder on stage at the Digital Dry Hard Talk workshop held on the morning of April 28 on a first come, first served basis where she will be joined by Carlos Pena, CEO of Monaco shipping major CTM, Christoffer Svard, CCO of chartering platform Sea, Sanjay Kapoor, CEO of voyage management firm GeoServe, and Stephen Fletcher, the CCO of maritime data giant AXSMarine, moderated by the always entertaining and engaging Neville Smith, the director of Mariner Communications

The full Geneva Dry agenda can be accessed here.
Geneva Dry registration, at just $920, can be accessed here.
Special Geneva Dry hotel room rates can be found here.