GNS: Pricing Transparency in Navigation Market

Global Navigation Solutions (GNS), provider of maritime navigation information for shipping companies, announced that it will sell all digital and paper nautical charts and publications at cost price as part of its innovative Voyager Navigation as a Service (VNaaS) solution.

The maritime technology company said in a press release that VNaaS customers will pay an annual software licence fee to access a complete set of software and data analytics tools that enable officers onboard to order exactly the charts and publications they need for each voyage and shore-based stakeholders to control and manage navigation purchasing and compliance more effectively.

All the ENCs, paper charts and publications purchased will be provided by GNS at cost price (zero margin), giving GNS and its customers the shared incentive to reduce unnecessary spending and drive down the overall cost of navigation.

“At GNS, we have always seen our relationship with our customers as a long-term partnership and our new Voyager NaaS service is a natural next step,” said GNS CEO Paul Stanley.“It gives customers complete transparency about the price they are paying, the data analytics required to identify exactly the products their vessels need and the perfect set of software tools required to sail with those products in the safest and most operationally efficient way possible.”

Until now, buying navigation supplies typically involved an annual negotiation between shipping company and chart agent to agree a discount off the ‘list price’ for charts. GNS believes the significantly larger cost savings are actually to be found in buying only the charts and publications that are really required for a passage. Whilst manual processes to check orders against planned routes can be helpful in reducing overspend, they do not prove as effective as hard data.

The data collected by GNS since 2015 showendemic levels of overspending, particularly on ENCs, representing many thousands of dollars of untapped savings for the shipping industry each year.

In the digital era, GNS believes there is a new opportunity for greater transparency using software and analytics to purchase more accurately and stamp out overspending as well as an equally big opportunity for cost savings as a result.

“We have been delighted by the reaction of the market to this new way of buying navigation supplies,” added Stanley. “Already, over a thousand vessels have switched to buying in this way with many more set to switch in the coming weeks.”