A new online social networking website has been launched, dedicated to the global shipping industry.

Shippingcluster will cater to brokers, owners, crews, agents, educational institutions and others, who have been confine to Google to locate businesses, services and people within their industry, said Eirik Fosse, chief executive officer and founder behind the Norwegian developed social network.

“Shippingcluster is a social network exclusively for the global shipping industry, eliminating all unrelated noise, making people and business  easy to find and be found,” he said.

The service is free and members will collaborate to keep it highly relevant for shipping business.

The shipping industry is the world's most international business, creating an annual value of 150 billion Norwegian kroner ($24.1 billion) in Norway alone and employing over 100,000 people.

Likened to Facebook and LinkedIn, Shippingcluster as an online social networking website, has a huge future potential. However, Fosse believed that social media has its disadvantage that ‘general networks are too broad.’

“Focusing on specific business sectors, such as shipping, eliminates noise and increases user relevance, “ said Fosse,  referring to  Shippingcluster as a maritime combination of Finn.no (an equivalent of Norwegian Ebay) and LinkedIn.

Fosse has teamed up with shipping and IT experts, bringing vast eperience and know-how to the table, to make it happen.

“We are a specialist industry with its own terminology and specific networking criteria. Industry know-how is therefore crucial in order to succeed within industry-specific social media,” he predicted.

“IT-systems that require introduction courses in order to be used, are no longer acceptable. The site must be very simple and efficient, yet flexible,” he said.

As the membership base grows, Shippingcluster will add new and effective maritime services to its members, such as CO2 reporting, vessel performance, benchmarking and port calls, said Fosse.

“The realisation of network-dependent services will provide enormous opportunities and synergy for the industry,” he said, adding that the Shippingcluster will be the leading social  network for maritime students and academia.

“This will be a perfect medium to highlight innovation projects and connect students and businesses related to these projects,” he pointed out.

The website, which was launched in June, boasts a membership base of more than 1,000 maritime people and 250 companies from across 40 countries. - TradeArabia News Service