MENU OUR STORY FROM EARLY CREATIVE SEEDS GREW A MODERN SCALABLE MARINE TECHNOLOGY COMPANY It all started when Mikko Ahola and Ville Leino, two of the four founders, were working on newbuild cruise ships at the Helsinki shipyard. They realized the many onboard electronic systems and sensors communicated effectively but that much of the valuable information they contained was largely unused by captains and onshore staff. Convinced that innovative technology could leverage this uncharted data to support crew decision-making, they decided to do something about it. In early 2005, they contacted former university friends, Henrik Dahl and Jussi Pyörre and asked them if they thought the idea had merit and if the maritime industry would benefit as a result. Both said yes, and Eniram was formed. The original business concept remains the same today: to install an optimization platform onboard vessels that collects data from ship automation and navigation systems, brings it together and uses it to advise the crew on how to best sail their ship. EXPANDING EXPERTISE AND THE FIRST TEST “In 2006, we recruited our first sea captains and gained a greater understanding of operating a vessel,” commented Jussi. “That Midsummer, one of our captains had a sauna with some friends, and they discussed trimming and vessel performance. On his return to our office near the Helsinki shipyard, we drew our first trim calculations on a piece of paper. We knew instantly there was a business case…well, all except Henrik.” Jussi proposed to first test the exciting new concept with a minimum budget, to which Henrik reluctantly agreed. “We created an attitude sensor and tested it on the Finnlines’ vessel Finnstar. The first version was not so robust,” explains Jussi. “We bolted the sensor to a table on the bridge, which worked fine, however, it gave strange readings every time the crew shift took place. Eventually, we found that the erratic reading was caused by a crewmember placing his coffee cup on the table. The sensor was so sensitive, we soon realized we needed to change its location, so we mounted it on the hull of the ship.” Once the installation was done and data collection had commenced, the Eniram team realized the power of analytics. After the first analysis, the whole idea of dynamic trimming was taken a lot more seriously – even Henrik started to believe in it. The world was changing and fuel prices were rising. It was the perfect moment to bring a fuel-saving solution to the market. INITIAL PRODUCT LAUNCHES TO POSITIVE REVIEWS Now it was time to go out there and sell it! “First we went to the Helsinki and Turku shipyards, consulting companies and local ecosystems. We gradually convinced the industry about the potential of dynamic trimming and finally were referred to the big cruise companies based in Miami,” explains Henrik. In 2007, the three biggest cruise companies CCL, NCL and RCCL were engaged and Eniram managed to obtain trials with each of them. “The first data collection system installed on a cruise ship was May 2007. I remember that day very well as it was the same day my first daughter was born,” Jussi said smiling. “After four months of nervous nail-biting, it felt terrific!” Henrik adds: “We realized the return on investment of our dynamic trimming product was easy to measure, scalable and uncompromised.” The first cruise customers realized a savings potential of over 2% on fuel consumption, when everyone was expecting a maximum of 0.5%. “Naturally everyone was surprised, ourselves included!” Henrik exclaimed. From then on it was easy. Cruise companies were buying DTA on a fleet-wide basis. Getting investors involved in 2008 changed the company. Now things were really getting serious. “We signed the papers, thinking this is it. There is no going back,” Henrik remembers. “At that time, we had very limited money to travel, could hardly afford the office rent, and we couldn’t always pay salaries on time, except to the team members with families. SAILING INTO INTERNATIONAL WATERS “We knew from the start that Eniram would be a truly global business,” Henrik continues. “Almost all our prospects are abroad. We wanted the name to represent maritime technology. That’s how we ended up with the name Eniram, which is ‘marine’ spelled backwards. Eniram moved from the office near the Helsinki shipyard to the current Lauttasaari-based office in 2007. The Miami office was established in the autumn of 2008. Our cruise customers were based there and we got tired of traveling (and tired of Mikko) so we sent Mikko there. The UK office was established in the summer of 2010, and Singapore, just a year later. CEO Philip Padfield came onboard in 2009 and transformed the start-up into a growth company. With his expertise in international business, Eniram’s turnover started rising while processes and strategies were established to attain visibility and sustainability. During Philip’s leadership, we also opened an office in Hamburg, Germany in late 2013 and expanded into Japan and the Middle East (2013-2014). In March 2014, Co-founder Henrik Dahl took the helm as CEO. “Having a sense of security brought about by our success in the cruise market, we began to focus more on the commercial segment as well,” says Henrik, summing up the past years. “At SMM in 2008 we met Hamburg Süd, and did our first trial on a container ship that concluded with a 26-ship order. REMAINING HUMBLE AS WE BUILD TOWARD THE FUTURE By 2009, the global economy and shipping, in particular, was suffering, and this had an impact on our business as well. However, new product development and new markets have helped us to succeed and focus on growth. “Looking back, I regret we didn’t have a video camera to film the first few mayhem years. It was creative and fun!” Henrik reveals. “I can only remember us being incredibly stupid and brave,” adds Jussi. “It felt like we were too naïve to realize what we were getting ourselves into. Today, things have evolved tremendously and we are so proud of our staff and achievements. It feels like our baby has grown up!” Phone: +358 10 843 3800 info@eniram.fi Contact Support Terms of use