The Story

Both sides of my family have owned inland shipping vessels for generations. I grew up on the water too, visiting my dad, who owned and operated a tanker on the Rhine, in the weekend and holidays.

After completing my first year of university (HBO), Covid hit and I left to build software and get my captain's license. I sailed on tankers and dry cargo ships carrying oil, coal and sand.

A few years later I came back to finish university (WO). Because it is on the WO level it gave me tools to systematically answer complex questions and to produce scientific papers. I wondered if I could use these research methods to answer the hardest questions every ship owner has:

• Should I still buy a big tanker, knowing how much is built in the past few years?
• Should I take this charter contract or stay on the spot market?
• Should I buy a new ship, or a second hand one?
• Can waiting times at terminals be predicted?
• Can freight rates be explained by water levels and vessel movements alone?

I started building models, creating my own market data, and looking for the answers using my tech skills. After sharing some of my results I was given a chance to do this for a big tanker company.

I sat down with the CEO and CFO of a company with over 60 tankers and they told me: investments of millions of euros are often made on gut feeling, not data, because there is none.

It confirmed what I saw myself too: inland shipping is one of the most important and least analyzed industries in Europe. But it needs someone who can use data to better manage the strategic problems each shipowner has. Someone who understands both the academic frameworks and the operational reality. I haven't figured it all out yet. But that's what I'm working on. (check my latest work to judge for yourself)