How Spot Ship Saved 71% In Payroll Through Offshoring 

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) spared no industry when it comes to the innovations it brings to the table. Some might think that AI less impacts traditional industries like shipping and maritime, but they could not be more wrong. 

AI has revolutionized the shipping industry and is expected to grow from USD 2.25 billion in 2019 to USD 29.06 billion in 2027 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 38.4%. 

The shipping industry is one of the most critical trade and commerce sectors. It has pioneered using AI to enhance its operations in business areas. These involve navigation and route optimization, equipment and vessel maintenance, port density and traffic, fuel consumption, and cargo optimization. 

Henry Waterfield, founder and COO of Spot Ship, took advantage of the demand for AI tools in the shipping industry. Henry served in the British Army for ten years before venturing into business. 

His advocacy for reducing CO2 emissions in the shipping industry has won them funding for Spot Ship. Through this software, CO2 emissions are easily calculated in charter voyages. Likewise, Spot Ship provides the most accurate data on the market. 

Venturing on a New Business

Spotship is a ship broker’s digital assistant company. In 2020, it secured funding from the International Venture Competition (INSEAD) through an innovative prototype ship broker platform. 

This allowed it to hire in-house software engineers. Likewise, they brought in an excellent team of former brokers, developers, and machine learning scientists to accelerate their growth. 

The UK Department of Transport recognized Spot Ship’s crucial role in maritime decarbonization, as they supported the world’s first AI global fleet ex-vante vessel emissions calculator.

In 2021, Spot Ship saw the need to expand to Asia, as global projections showed that the Maritime industry in Southeast Asia is bound to grow by 3.2% in 2022. Likewise, it boosted its platform by adding Clean Petroleum Product (CPP), Delivered at Place Paid (DPP), gas, and Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) functionality. This led to the launch of Spot Ship 2.0 with a secure web app feature.

Launching of a New and Better Software 

Spot Ship version 2.0 is a product of their commitment to provide cutting-edge solutions in maritime technology. The new version of the platform has seven key functions.

Position Delivery is a function that allows shipping businesses to filter, sort, and identify the best vessels for them. Laycan Search, on the other hand, filters the market noise to find which of your positions is reachable by your desired laycan. This is made possible by Spot Ship’s latest sea algorithms. 

Global Vessel Tracking, on the other hand, identifies potential congestions and their impact on vessel availability. Spot Ship has also incorporated Interactive Maps in the new version of its platforms. This allows partners to instantly visualize the current span of their market data and position knowledge. Maritime partners can use this to expand their commercial relationships. 

Spot Ship added a comprehensive global ports database to cover 7,500 global ports. This also includes essential information on crane facilities and beam restrictions. Likewise, an Emissions Calculator is another new feature of the platform to instantly see a vessel’s projected voyage emissions and gauge its environmental impact.

The last added feature is the Voyage Calculator TCE, which gives accurate estimations of the profitability of vessels daily. 

These innovations to Spot Ship’s platform made their position in the market even better. As they grew their territories, Spot Ship’s management saw an opportunity to scale their team.

The Challenge of Finding the Right Talents 

As Spot Ship’s position in the maritime industry and the market continues to accelerate, so does its need to grow the team. One of the main challenges at the time was the need to fill administrative roles urgently. 

However, Spot Ship’s management recognized that sourcing talents would be costly in terms of time and resources. 

Offshoring Filipino Talents as a Sustainable Solution

Spot Ship’s talent shortage became even more pressing as the client portfolio expanded.

“We had a growing need for encoding data and hiring locally would require more resources. We wanted a team that could be sourced quickly and at a fraction of the cost. We also wanted to increase our productivity levels without compromising professionalism,” shares Henry Waterfield, founder, and COO of Spot Ship.

They decided to go with offshore staffing. Henry said that they had found exactly what they were looking for with their chosen offshore partner. “The quality of their endorsements and quick turnaround time for hiring are impressive!”

Urgent and hard-to-fill roles were filled efficiently through offshoring. Penbrother’s expertise in finding, endorsing, and hiring top-tier talents made Spot Ship’s experience smooth. 

Read about Spot Ship’s offshoring journey here.

Working with a Filipino Offshore Team 

In just two years, Spot Ship has grown from three employees in 2022 to 50 in 2024, while saving 71% on salary costs, or USD 561,718 annually.

Henry says that they could not be any more right about collaborating with an offshore partner in the Philippines to fill crucial roles. He enjoys the quality endorsements, quick turnaround time for hiring, and savings of an average of 73.87% cost per role with their PH remote team.

Likewise, he sees the innate warmth and flexibility of Filipino talents as their ultimate assets.  

By onboarding a Filipino offshore team, Spot Ship was able to accelerate its growth. Its in-house team was able to focus on its core roles without having to worry about administrative tasks such as payroll, HR functions, tax and compliance, and many more. 

Watch Henry’s Testimonial here:

Related: Top 6 Cultural Traits and Values That Make Filipinos Ideal Remote Workers

Final Thoughts 

While global expansion, is advantageous for most companies, it comes with numerous challenges. Spot Ship’s growth story proves that the key to successful scaling is finding adequate support and access to top-tier talents globally. 

AI continues to revolutionize more industries such as: 

• AI-Powered Cybersecurity
• AI-Driven Marketing 
• Logistics and Supply 
• Workflow and AI Automation 
• Manufacturing 

Like Spot Ship, companies that fall under these AI-powered industries can seamlessly expand their reach through offshoring to the Philippines.

Experienced and trusted offshoring partners not only provide access to the diverse pool of Filipino talents, but they ensure that you achieve your dream team by actively listening to your needs.

Trusted offshoring partners cultivate high-performing remote teams through a collaborative and consultative approach, both client and talent-facing. 

Read more about more of our clients’ success stories here.