IINO Kaiun promotes digital transformation with IMOS and Data Lake

This story is translated from the original article, which was featured in the Japan Maritime Daily.

Last year, IINO Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd. (“IINO Kaiun”) launched a full-scale implementation of the Veson IMOS Platform’s voyage management system in its tramper segment, including in its group companies. The IMOS Platform is a commercial maritime enterprise system for owner-operators and charterers provided by Veson Nautical, which offers solutions for commercial freight contract management, profit and loss management, fuel management, and other aspects of ship operations. Among its standard features, IMOS allows users to extract operational data stored in the platform to create custom reports. Amid the ever-expanding tide of digitalization, IMOS’ reputation for effectiveness has resulted in its adoption by over 300 major dry bulk and tanker shipping companies and charterers worldwide. 

“Before IMOS, relevant data was scattered across different systems. With IMOS, the data is now consolidated in one place,” says Abhishek Yadav, Senior Manager of Chemical Tanker Operations at the IINO Kaiun Group’s IINO Singapore subsidiary, regarding the adoption of the IMOS Platform. 

Integrating global offices into one commercial maritime system 

IINO Singapore began using the IMOS Platform in January 2022. The company had been using a proprietary system since 2005, when IINO Kaiun transferred its chemical tanker operations to IINO Singapore. This had left the Tokyo headquarters and the Singapore location using different voyage management systems. 

The simultaneous use of two systems meant that data from Singapore had to be transferred to the Tokyo system every month to post accounts, resulting in input errors and siloing of data. Further issues, including time-consuming processes in response to regulatory changes, made the company keenly aware of the limitations of its systems. 

Accordingly, when selecting its next voyage management system, the company decided to adopt a single, commercial maritime system that would solve the issues of the existing systems. 

From among the commercial maritime system offerings, IINO Kaiun chose IMOS primarily because “the system was built from the user’s perspective,” says Soichi Konishi, Assistant Manager of the Dry Bulk Carrier Department’s Dedicated Carrier Section. 

Further support for the system’s adoption came from Yadav, who had experienced IMOS’ effectiveness through his previous work before joining IINO Singapore. 

Regarding the adoption, Yadav explains, “Some people were a bit lost at first, but we’ve established a new workflow in which the chartering staff enters information on contracted work, the operations staff supplements the information and runs voyages, and the accounting staff checks voyage revenues and expenses.” 

Following the lead of its Singaporean subsidiary, IINO Kaiun began operating with IMOS at its Tokyo headquarters in January 2024. Since then, its use of IMOS has expanded beyond the chemical tanker division to encompass the oil tanker, gas carrier, and dry bulk carrier departments as well. 

As IMOS involves the transformation of work processes, some time is required to build up proficiency. Konishi explains, “Rather than introduce a new workflow tailored to IMOS all at once, we wanted to make gradual changes that avoided impeding on day-to-day voyage operations, and from there move ahead with further work streamlining and centralized information management.” 

Increasing operational efficiency and data-driven decision making with IMOS Data Lake 

IINO Kaiun is also an early adopter of Veson’s Data Lake solution within the IMOS Platform. Data Lake leverages the online data warehouse provided by Snowflake Inc. to enable the collection of IMOS data and the retrieval of necessary data. 

“The software-as-a-service (SaaS) nature of IMOS meant that we couldn’t access the database directly, which was a challenge for us,” says Masayuki Kanda, System Group Team Leader at IINO Systems. 

IMOS is capable of extracting data such as voyage P&L and carbon emission data, as well as creating custom reports for sales teams and management. SaaS solutions typically do not support the extraction of data, but IMOS excels in making this possible. At the same time, users faced challenges including the inability to acquire large amounts of data, the need to combine data in ways not possible through custom reports alone, and the need for secondary processing in creating reports. 

Veson developed Data Lake to overcome these challenges. While it is still a SaaS product, Data Lake allows users to freely reference the IMOS database as if the system were in-house. 

Kanda recognizes the improvement in work efficiency, noting that “we’ve been able to significantly cut the time required to collect large-volume data.” Looking to the future, he shares, “IMOS will be a key driver of our DX. I hope to see it further integrated with a wider range of maritime-related systems and solutions.” 

Tokio Mitsuda, Country Manager at Veson Nautical Japan, says, “We hope that companies adopting IMOS will nurture staff with skills in data analysis and will make wide use of Data Lake. This will lead to further improvements in operational efficiency and higher-level data-driven decision making.”