How do you facilitate the communication and exchange of data on a ship with steel walls? Sealution, a start-up from Sint-Martens-Latem, sought and found a solution that connects all devices and systems of a seagoing vessel. Their hardware-enabled software makes ships more sustainable, safer and cheaper to maintain. That the young entrepreneurial trio behind Sealution has the wind in its sails is an understatement. The people of Ghent recently raised 1.3 million euros in growth capital and were allowed to represent our country at the World Entrepreneurship World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
Sealution CEO Sebastian Hamers has been fascinated by the world of shipping since childhood. “I have always done sea scouting in Ghent and that later also determined my choice of study. When I attended an information day at the nautical school after high school, it really appealed to me. I enrolled and during my first year I went sailing on a large sailing ship for a month. There I lost my heart to the sea.” After his training, Hamers became a Maritime Officer and was responsible, among other things, for the navigation of large container ships.
Maritime officer becomes entrepreneur
A few years ago, Hamers changed course and traded his job as a Maritime Officer for that of an entrepreneur. “Entrepreneurship was always in it,” he says. “Even in high school I was already playing with different ideas. Sometimes to the chagrin of my parents, who thought I had better concentrate on my studies. During my time at university I started a webshop with Ruben Verplancke. But the idea for Sealution only came when I was working on a container ship myself. There I encountered the problem of on-board connectivity.”
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The idea for Sealution only came when I was working on a container ship myself. There I encountered the problem of connectivity on board
A ship is strongly compartmentalized with steel walls, so that it would not sink if there was a leak somewhere. It is precisely those steel walls that make wireless connections impossible, explains Hamers. “As a result, I spent hours every day manually collecting all kinds of data. Reading counters, carrying out inspections, … that had to be done better and, above all, much more efficiently. In March 2020 I disembarked for the last time and the corona pandemic broke out. During the first lockdown I brooded on my idea, to further develop it in the fall with Ruben Verplancke and Romeo Martens, my two co-founders. Today they are respectively CFO and CTO of Sealution.”
Apple Home op zee
Connecting in a steel bunker at sea, easy is different. Nevertheless, the CEO of Sealution found a solution. “On board the ship, I already started looking for a way to enable connectivity, without having to carry out major renovations or burdening the crew. I discovered the possibility of using the ship’s existing cabling to create a network with gateways. You can compare them with WiFi amplifiers. The crew can easily install them themselves in places where they need connectivity.”
On board the ship, I already started looking for a way to enable connectivity, without having to carry out major renovations or burdening the crew
“We call ourselves one hardware-enabled software company. This means that the ship’s crew first performs a small hardware installation and then activates our software. The gateways receive and send the retrieved data via the existing cabling to a central module. It analyses, filters and ranks the data and passes it on to a server that can display it visually on the bridge or in the control room. In this way, the devices and systems of the seagoing vessel exchange valuable data 24/7. Feel free to call our network the ‘Apple Home of the seagoing vessels’ (laughs).”
More sustainable, safer and cheaper
Internal communication has numerous advantages for the shipping industry. Especially in terms of sustainability. “By using machine data in a smart way, a ship will eventually be able to sail with less fuel. Not a superfluous luxury if you know that from 2030 ships may no longer emit CO2 at the quay and must be carbon neutral by 2050,” says Hamers. “The data also facilitate maintenance, which in turn has an impact on the cost. Shipping companies often stay ashore for weeks to improve or replace things. You can shorten that time if you know exactly what needs to be done when.”
Shipping companies often stay ashore for weeks to improve or replace things. You can shorten that time if you know exactly what needs to be done when
Sealution also makes shipping a lot safer for the crew members, emphasizes the CEO. “If someone falls overboard, an alarm is automatically triggered that notifies the other crew members via the wearables. I once witnessed a crew member being injured below deck and unable to get up on his own. His radio signal didn’t work between all those steel walls and that’s how we didn’t find him until eight hours later. With our internal network, such situations are definitely a thing of the past.”
Innovation in a conservative sector
An internal communication network on board a ship may seem obvious. You may wonder why no one came up with the idea before. “There has been little innovation in the maritime sector over the past twenty years. Especially since it is such a closed sector and everything has always worked. Ships need to move cargo from point A to point B, preferably as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
“The crew is not necessarily made up of enterprising minds either. Sailing is a passion and once you start it, you won’t stop. If I hadn’t come up with the idea of Sealution, I would still be working on board a ship. Yet we do not claim that we are the only ones working on the idea. There is certainly competition, although it usually uses the less reliable mesh network.”
The young founder trio notices that they have started a trend within the sector. “People suddenly start thinking about what they can improve with the help of this technology,” says Hamers. “It is comparable to the emergence of Wi-Fi in our homes. Before there was WiFi, we didn’t think about smart lights or thermostats at all. While that is now the evidence itself. The same goes for our technology. We have removed one of the biggest stumbling blocks and that can only promote further innovation.”
Interest far beyond the sector
The steep advance of Sealution has not gone unnoticed, the founders have established. “Nowadays we see more interest in innovation in the maritime sector. For example, the international investment company Techstars organized an accelerator specifically for our sector. We are only the fifth start-up in Belgium to join the Techstar programme. That opened several doors for us. We met a lot early adopters within the maritime world: all shipping companies that are ready to renew their fleet and that are open to innovation. Seatrade, the shipping company I used to work for, is one of them.”
But there is also a lot of interest in this remarkable tech revolution outside the sector. “Our latest capital round confirms that interest. This is how we gained the confidence of some good investors. All in all, this yielded 1.3 million euros. We will now use those extra resources in a targeted way to evolve from a development company to a production company. For our production we work together with two Belgian partners: Voxdale and Dekimo. We don’t go abroad, everything happens locally.”
