Oceanus Foundation Supports Shipping Industry Through Blockchain & Token

How would you describe the Oceanus Foundation in a few words?

The Oceanus Foundation aims at revolutionizing the global shipping industry through blockchain technology and our token, Oceanus Coin. Our core objective is to improve market access and build financial strength in the shipping industry through shared costs in the global supply chain. The aim is to build actual value and substance that provides solutions and supports all players in the shipping world.

This will be achieved by launching a set of tools promoting efficiency, innovation, seafarer training and fostering maritime industry talent. With the Oceanus Coin, the usage and implementation of these tools can reward participants who then can buy products and services related to the shipping industry from our Oceanus Network Partners.

What inspired you to create the organization? How did it all start?

Μy co-founder Nikolaos Kostopoulos and I have been working together for the last five years in different kind of projects, organizations, NGO’s and companies across Europe concerning the educational, political, economic, and technological sector. The Oceanus Foundation “naissance” happened last January in Thailand while we were working closely with Ethereum executives. This, in combination with our interest in the shipping industry and the fact that we come from Greece, sparked in the need to provide a tool that would fill all the gaps that we discovered in the industry.

Recently, your Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ended. What’s your experience with it and where are you currently?

We raised 40% of the fund needed to run our first services, in less than a month. We have already received more than 30 requests, mainly from Asian and European startups related to the shipping industry, to join our Oceanus Startup Accelerator. Furthermore, we on-boarded our first partners who provide a ship booking platform accepting exclusively Oceanus Coin from the Greek shipping industry.

Additionally, we are constructing our smart-contract technology with Ukrainian partners to facilitate and modernize the procedure of the Bill of Landing through blockchain technology. In this phase, we are having discussions with investors from the international shipping industry and European banking ecosystem to reinforce our mission.

With your organization, you focus on providing support for the shipping industry. Why does it need this support and what actions are you taking toward its development?

The international shipping industry is central to modern life and is part of the backbone of economic growth. The industry itself is worth billions of Euros, yet it is facing an unpredictable future. Shipping companies face enormous competition as well as decreasing fees and rates. At the same time, customers are demanding even greater traceability, transparency, and accountability for freight. This is the part where the blockchain provides the solution.

Specifically, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has the unique opportunity to step in and facilitate solutions to the challenges of the industry. A key feature of DLT, transparency, can form a big part of these solutions by automating traceability and thus accountability within the shipping industry’s logistical framework. Moreover, it can provide the technical and financial platform to drive innovation in the industry. By exploiting these blockchain features, we aim to modernize and give the shipping industry new paths from an innovative, technological and economic aspect.

From your perspective, what are promising innovations the shipping sector will experience in the near future?

Although it might sound a little bit strange since the shipping sector is such an important part of the global economic growth, the level of innovation and technological implementation in industrial matters is very low – almost absent. This is the “mistake” that we plan to correct. Imagine the results of combining the new technologies and investing in an innovative, educated, specialized shipping community that is ready and prepared. We want to foster a new generation that can and wants to take a step further. Α generation that is going to establish new, better standards, with the only mission to constantly innovate and surpass the current limits in this industry.

What’s next for Oceanus Foundation?

The end of our ICO means the immediate launch of our first services, which are the digital bills of loading, the ship booking platform, and the Oceanus Startup Accelerator. Right now, we are closing partnerships with industry leaders and groups traditionally outside the maritime sphere so that hackathons and innovation bounties can be conducted. In the long run, we plan to establish the first Maritime Studies College with a particular focus on new technologies – blockchain & cryptocurrencies – and maritime law.

What do you wish for in improving the European startup ecosystem?

Although we’re from Greece, the taxation system made it impossible to even consider Greece as an option for our foundation base. This alone is one of the main reasons that discourage young people in Greece to accomplish their ideas. Oceanus is a Gibraltar-based foundation and we have an international team that works from Europe, the USA, Russia, Australia, and Asia. This allows us to have experts in each field and an international profile that facilitates our corporations and the unlimited comprehension of what the industry really needs. In the last years, the European startup ecosystem has made a great progress in supporting emerging startups with competitions, accelerators and the promotion of startup conscience through universities. But still, there are some legal and tax issues that are not that encouraging in many countries, like Greece. If every country’s government starts giving the importance that is needed to develop and support the startup ecosystem (via regulations concerning the taxation system, law-flexibility, funding and of course by motivating synergies within the European startup scene), then we’ll observe growth that can’t be compared to the today’s situation.

What’s one piece of advice you can give to fellow founders for their startup?

There is no general advice that can show the right way to success. There is no secret or a specific strategy that can lead you to realize your ideas. All these founders and all these startups are a combination of different people, different ideas, and different paths. Different situations can’t follow common paths, this will lead to disappointment and failure. The only thing I share from my own experience is that as long you have passion and believe in your idea, you will always find a way to make it happen. Create a team that you can trust. A team that you respect because you are inspired to do so, and not because you have to. Your team is your family and your startup is your child. Then, you will see your startup grow up and be successful.

_________

Sharing is caring!