Mr George Meintasis is talking to us about the benefits of the Magellan software
Interview to Nikitas Pappas
What exactly is MAGELLAN and who uses it?
MAGELLAN is an “All-in-One” system offering the necessary tools to to suit the demanding needs of all chartering professionals. Apart from a fast and powerful Voyage Estimation system, it is also fortified with many features, enabling the users to quickly and accurately take informed decisions. Our global users comprise of ship operators, ship brokers, charterers, ship owners and commodity traders who use MAGELLAN on a daily basis as it makes their work easier.
How did you come up with this idea?
During my working behind chartering desks, I was looking for a user-friendly, efficient, accurate and fast system to assist me in my daily work so I could save valuable time which could be alloted in other important things. There were periods that I had to run more than 40 estimations daily and unfortunately other similar systems I explored did not satisfy the above criteria. In the chartering business there are many parameters to consider and it is vital to have all the required data easily accessible instead of searching in other sources. For example, MAGELLAN integrates a variety of tools such as distances between ports, database of dry cargo vessels with their particulars, online bunker prices and a cargo stowage factor database. The user can easily combine unlimited cargoes, calculate demurrage & despatch and determine the estimated amount of cargo intake in case of port draft restrictions. In addition, MAGELLAN provides port information as well as a global holiday calendar, helping the users to better calculate their voyages. We have also integrated thousands of historical fixtures to search from, historical Baltic indices to view market seasonality & trend and a smart Vessels’ Position system where the user can generate custom position lists to discover candidate vessels or to monitor competition tonnage.
Is MAGELLAN different than any other similar software?
While serving similar purposes, MAGELLAN is quite different from other systems. While designing MAGELLAN, we wanted to find the “happy medium” taking into account the “Goldilocks principle” which is to maximize effectiveness while minimizing redundancy and waste of time. We have succeeded in forming a system which assists the user carry out complicated tasks in an “Easy, Accurate and Fast manner”. These 3 characteristics are the ones allowing the chartering professsionals to save time in their daily work. Easy: Because Magellan has a shallow learning curve so the user does not spend valuable time to re-learn, Accurate: Because it packs unique features allowing for a sharper estimation, and Fast: Because all vital information is presented in one screen, so the user does not waste any time in locating hidden data. MAGELLAN is a thoroughbred system delivering its purpose without unnecessary bells and whistles with no benefit to the user.
Despite MAGELLAN being a relatively new system, how does it perform against its competition?
Although MAGELLAN was only presented during Posidonia 2018, we see that many of our users prefer the way that our system is designed resulting in our gaining a large share of the market very fast. Our clients appreciate that MAGELLAN is not only a tool fulfilling certain functions, but an ongoing experience which gives them what they need when they need it, easily! MAGELLAN is designed to enhance our clients’ business. The more adept our clients become at MAGELLAN, the more successful they become. After so many years in the Chartering business we can safely say that we know our clients’ needs and the goals they want to achieve and this is why we align our clients’ challenges with the solution we offer.
