We at SNCC are delighted to welcome StormGeo as one of our new member companies. To give you a closer look at their work, we have conducted an interview with Rolf Reksten, Vice President RAS at StormGeo Shipping.

This interview delves into StormGeo’s core business, their evolving journey, and how StormGeo navigates the complexities of their industry while adhering to their vision and values. 

Discover more about StormGeo in the interview below!

 

Could you provide an introduction to StormGeo, including its core business, vision, and values, as well as the company’s development journey leading up to its current position?

StormGeo was established in 1998 as a weather company in Bergen, Norway, primarily producing weather forecasts for the Norwegian television network TV 2. By 2005, StormGeo was active in supporting offshore weather operations. Today, we have a global foothold in onshore and offshore weather intelligence and are world-leading in supporting the shipping industry for voyage optimization (weather routing), fleet performance support, and onboard compliance related to charts and publications through our cutting-edge technology platforms and service-oriented mindset.

StormGeo has grown into this position through a series of acquisitions as well as organic growth, and we are proud of 25 years of uninterrupted growth. From our small beginnings in Bergen, we now have a global presence in 18 countries with over 650 employees.

Today, we are a respected leader in weather intelligence and advanced data science. In my area of focus, which is shipping, we service 12,000 vessels daily and perform over 70,000 voyage optimizations annually. 

More recently, we were acquired by Alfa Laval, who has a 140-year history of growth and innovation.

Our stated vision is to look at the world beyond climate change, and in a disruptive world, we aim to help our clients achieve their environmental targets, create products and solutions that push against accelerated climate change, with a focus on emission reductions and safety of personnel, operations, and assets.

Are there any exciting projects or initiatives that StormGeo is currently working on that you could share examples of?

We have recently merged our verticals into what we call ‘One StormGeo,’ aimed at leveraging synergies within the weather intelligence space. 

On the shipping side, we constantly need to stay ahead of technological developments using AI and Machine Learning to deliver our services more effectively and in line with market conditions. In addition, we need to be on top of all regulatory developments to provide excellent solutions to our clients’ coming needs. Today, the most pressing requirements relate to decarbonization and the validated data needed to manage compliance requirements accurately. This also includes the upcoming EU ETS, which will affect all vessels over 5000 GT trading in and out of European waters, as the cost of these emissions is very significant, adding about 50% to the fuel cost while sailing in the EU. 

On the onshore side, we have two exciting new projects, one developed in-house and the other with partners.

The first we call GridEyeS, a project partially funded by the European Space Agency, a satellite-based monitoring system aimed at identifying disturbances like vegetation that can detrimentally affect the electricity grid. As this system is very granular and can single out individual trees that may cause damage, it will revolutionize grid operations and save significant costs.

The second is our partnership with 7Analytics. This partnership relates to flooding, which is a 500 EUR billion cost annually and enables us to accurately predict when and exactly where the flooding will develop. In simple terms, we can predict which areas – down to the street level – will be adversely affected by the flooding and when. 

 

How has your company adapted in response to industry trends and global developments?

As our foundation is advanced weather intelligence, we saw the relevance of tailoring our services towards the energy industry early on. As the electricity markets were becoming more international (Nord Pool) rather than regional, and as a predominantly hydro-supplied nation, it became clear that providing reliable precipitation forecasts to the hydroelectric producers was imperative. Moving on from that, the offshore industry also crystallized as a natural next step for all weather-sensitive operations. The same can be said for offshore wind, where we are heavily involved in the project and installation phases of a multitude of projects. 

Once we moved offshore, we saw synergies in the shipping sector and, through acquisitions, quickly created a dominant footprint, leading to vessel performance and onboard compliance solutions.

On the shipping side, this has created the s-Suite, a full set of services capable of servicing all aspects of commercial and technical shipping – from voyage planning to fleet performance management and route advisory services. 

All of our solutions, whether onshore, offshore, or shipping, are aimed at saving money for our clients, ensuring the safety of personnel, operations, assets, and assisting in the decarbonization process.  As an example, since 2018, we have saved our shipping companies 3.3 million tons of fuel and 10 million tons of CO2 emissions.

 

Could you share some success stories that your company has achieved over the past few years?

For the shipping domain, we have delivered best-in-class EU MRV (Monitoring Reporting and Verification) data to verifiers such as DNV. We currently provide these services to 3,500 vessels. On the back of our data quality, we have very successfully developed emission reporting compliance solutions for new CII requirements and are currently launching our EU ETS solution. 

On the onshore side, GridEyeS, is gaining traction and has a positive outlook. Additionally, our flood prediction service, together with 7Analytics, is proving to have a high demand. For the offshore segment, we are proud of our footprint in the offshore wind installation space and, we see this segment growing significantly.

Which industries and sectors are the primary target audiences for StormGeo, and could you provide examples of how the company has created value for customers in these areas?

Any sector that can be affected by the weather is relevant for StormGeo. We have focused on onshore and offshore industries and shipping and energy as our main targets. Within each of these areas, there are several sub-sectors serviced by our various experts. We pride ourselves on being very hands-on and providing 24/7 service to our clients. In our fields, a quick response time is essential as nearly all our clients engage in some form of physical operations. These operations often require real-time recommendations and actions to ensure the safety and efficient execution of the work they are doing.

We have a wide range of clients relying on us to provide weather intelligence related to day-to-day operations, especially in tropical cyclone activity, including hospitals, oil refineries, shopping malls, offshore wind, very large technology companies, and more.

 

What is your personal perspective on leadership, and what do you believe are the essential qualities a successful leader should possess?

Any leader should lead by example, be visionary, inspire, and generate pride in the company they work for. A good leader is capable of creating an environment where teamwork is highly valued and where praise encourages colleagues to go the extra mile.

 

Is there anything else you would like to share with our member network?

We are very happy to be members of the SNCC. We have a sizable office in Singapore, and we welcome other members of the SNCC to reach out to us with any questions or challenges they may have related to the weather-related sectors.

 

 

Thank you to Rolf Reksten and StormGeo for sharing their story and insights with us! Learn more about StormGeo at their website.