As another week of maritime tech announcements floods your inbox like a spring tide, we're here to help you navigate what really matters. Skip the promotional waffle and endless pitches - here's our no-nonsense advice on how to maximise your digitl logbook implementation along with a roundup of the developments actually worth your time…

This week, I spoke with Matthew Bland, who brings nearly two decades of maritime expertise to the digital transformation conversation. His hands-on experience implementing electronic record systems across multiple vessels provides invaluable insights for fleet managers considering similar digital journeys. 

As one of the early pioneers in transitioning vessel operations from paper to digital logbooks, Matt navigated the complex regulatory landscape while balancing crew needs and operational efficiency. In our conversation, Matt discussed unexpected challenges he faced and offered practical advice on how to avoid these pitfalls and maximise success.

Let’s start from the beginning, for shipping companies who are considering digital transformation from paper to electronic logbooks, Matt offered the following advice: "You have to think about cybersecurity, bandwidth issues, and server capacity. If you're only starting on the digitalisation front, you may need to upgrade your digital infrastructure first."

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Despite significant increases in the cost of electronic vs paper logs, the benefits gained through going digital are huge: "Electronic records meant we could spot trends before they became problems" and "time saved in cross-referencing digital logs meant ship visits were more productive."

Matt summarised this perfectly: "The cost is in pounds, but the benefits aren't easily shown on a balance sheet."

A holistic approach to monitoring benefits must consider not merely quantifiable outcomes, but also time saved and qualitative improvements that, whilst difficult to measure, often yield the greatest returns to both organisation and staff alike.

Looking back on his experience, Matt also highlighted the importance of choosing the right supplier to set your organisation up for success, "You must understand your vendor roadmap and where they're going in the future." 

While there is always the option to switch to a new provider, it shouldn’t be taken lightly, particularly in a market like electronic logbooks which spans across multiple vessel operations. "Choose your supplier as if you're married to them."

In Matt’s case, they opted for a well-established vendor with a familiar user interface and a pre-existing relationship to his organsiation; however "We didn't realise the logbooks were an outside system they were reselling. It wasn't integrated into their Suite and therefore had a different user interface,” negating many of their reasons for choosing this supplier.

As it turns out, "The third-party software company wasn't a maritime company. They didn't realise the severity of the consequences if the system wasn't available." This caused significant stress for the organisation, particularly around crew changes. 

"We could be a week behind on entries when the system's not been available, with records on scraps of paper, which is not great for compliance. In the past, we've had a lot of stress trying to get systems back online before crew changes."

Matt’s advice: it isn’t just about choosing the most reputable supplier or a vendor you already have an existing relationship with. Matt strongly emphasises organisations to "Choose your supplier as if you're married to them."

While the benefits of switching from paper to electronic logbooks provide a wealth of benefits, taking the time to identify the right vendor for your organisation’s specific needs is the key to success.

Your vendors should be assets…not obstacles.

And with that, we'll log off on this week's maritime tech digest! Reconnect next Thursday when I'll bring you another upload of industry insights. Until then, may your analytics be accurate and your integrations seamless! Your tech correspondent, Ailsa