White papers.
The thinking behind the results.
Honest, opinionated pieces on the parts of maritime software that keep us up at night — what works, what doesn't, and how to tell the difference. Written by the people building it.
By topic
01 · Articles
Long-form thinking on the patterns we see in maritime software.
ASTRA DG Bot: Automating IMDG Compliance
Why dangerous-goods processing is the structural bottleneck of container booking — and what 50-second validation changes.
How Commercial Teams Use ASTRA Rate Bot for 24/7 Rate Automation
When responding within 10 minutes makes your close rate 5–8× higher, manual rate quotation cannot compete.
02 · Product papers
Deep-dives into specific Solverminds products and the problems they solve.
How Technology Is Transforming Vessel Stowage Planning
Why manual stowage planning is one of the biggest sources of preventable maritime accidents — and how AI-led planning changes the safety calculus.
SEDGE — AI Solutions for Liner Shipping
Where AI delivers tangible cost reduction in liner operations: port costs, bunker hedging, asset deployment, box repairs, demand forecasting, intermodal.
OptiBox: AI for Empty Container Repositioning
Empty repositioning is the fourth-biggest cost in liner shipping — and unlike laden moves, the carrier eats the entire bill. This paper sets out how OptiBox addresses it.
OptiFleet: AI-Powered Fleet and Service Scheduling
Deploying the right vessel on the right service is the highest-leverage decision a liner makes. OptiFleet treats it as the optimisation problem it actually is.
TANKER Optimizer: AI Scheduling for Oil Tankers
Roughly 60% of the world's oil moves by tanker. The schedules that move it are still mostly built by hand, on spreadsheets, in a workflow where one bad decision compounds across a 90-day window.
Voyage Estimator: Profitability Before You Commit
Vital pre-voyage analysis for ship owners and charterers — comparing vessels, cargoes and chartering options side-by-side before the cost is fixed.
Vessel Auto Plan: 1,200 Containers in 120 Seconds
A next-generation stowage planning system built by people who have spent years as planners — and who understood what manual planning leaves on the table.
Route Network Optimizer: Service Routes That Stay Current
The booking portal can only quote routes the carrier has already published. RNO is the engine that keeps the route catalogue ahead of the next service change.
Fleet & Network Optimization: From 5.4M Variables to a Schedule
The methodology, mathematics and team behind Solverminds' fleet and network optimisation work — and what changes when you treat it as a real optimisation problem rather than a spreadsheet exercise.
03 · Operations briefs
Short-form positioning on operational and financial workflows in liner shipping.
Empty Repositioning Optimization
Why empty container costs remain one of the biggest controllable line items in liner shipping — and how the math finally solves them.
Invoice Accuracy
A senior executive of a global shipping line publicly acknowledged that ~12% of container shipping invoices are issued incorrectly. The real number, per market feedback, may be closer to 25%.
Liner Cost Management
Why accounts payable became strategic in liner shipping — and what 21st-century AP actually looks like.
Schedule Reliability
Industry average is 72.6%. The cost of being on the wrong side of that number, calculated.
Business Data Analytics
Why most BI initiatives produce colourful charts that nobody acts on — and what changes when the analyst is a maritime domain specialist.
Customer Experience
Customers will not be won on the price page or by product features — but on the entirety of the experience.
Integrated System
Why full integration is no longer optional in liner shipping — and what the cost is of running on patched-together interfaces instead.
Vendor Tender Management
Feeder and haulage costs are a meaningful share of liner operating expense — yet most tenders are still run on Excel and email. The cost of that is bigger than it looks.
Yield Optimisation: Selling the Right Service to the Right Customer
Why most liner carriers are stuck in the same vicious circle — cut costs, build bigger ships, suffer lower rates — and what yield management actually has to offer if applied properly.
Want to see these ideas in production?
Every paper above describes a problem space. The case studies show what happened when we actually deployed against one — with numbers, timelines and ROI.