The New Marsoft Story
Marsoft embraces AI and continues its long standing tradition of helping the shipping industry to navigate uncertainty towards success.
TradeWinds Guiding Stars Recognition
TradeWinds has named Evangelos Efstathiou a finalist in its Guiding Stars project, which highlights people making tangible change in shipping. As CEO of Marsoft and Burmester & Vogel and founder of Skysail Advisors, Efstathiou was recognized for his dealmaking and thought leadership as the maritime industry adjusts to an increasingly digital world.
From First Job to Ownership
Efstathiou's Marsoft story began in 2000, when he joined the company shortly after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After years in the maritime tech space - including roles at Veson Nautical and Chinsay - he returned to acquire Marsoft's decision-support business from his former boss, Arlie Sterling. The depth of Marsoft's dataset, dating back to the 1980s, and the sophistication of its econometric models were central to his vision.
AI-Powered Decision Making
Marsoft CTO Wilson Zhu is leading efforts to develop AI tools that accelerate users' commercial decision-making. At Burmester & Vogel, AI has already been integrated into modules for voyage, laytime, and demurrage calculations - tools that help clients understand why ships are delayed in port and how to reduce time and cost there.
Data as the Differentiator
As AI makes basic SaaS workflows increasingly commoditizable, Efstathiou sees proprietary data and ecosystem position as the lasting differentiators for maritime technology vendors. The industry faces what he describes as a prisoner's dilemma around data transparency: trade becomes more efficient with greater visibility, but individual actors have a disincentive to share because transparency increases competitiveness.
Read the full interview on TradeWinds.
