Oslo, Norway – July 2025 – Shipnet, a leading Norway-based maritime technology business, has announced the appointment of John Wills, its former Head of Customer Experience, as Chief Operating Officer (COO). This strategic move comes as Shipnet embarks on a significant product renewal journey, with major announcements anticipated before the end of the year.
The appointment of John Wills as COO is a crucial step in consolidating Shipnet’s customer-facing operations, laying the groundwork for a new era of innovation and enhanced service delivery. Building on two years of substantial growth in both customer numbers and headcount, Wills will be instrumental in fostering closer collaboration among teams as Shipnet introduces new products and ways of working to its global customer base.
Established in 1993 and headquartered in Oslo, Shipnet has a long-standing legacy of addressing industry challenges with its integrated vessel management software. Trusted by over 130 businesses across 31 countries, Shipnet’s expertise lies in providing integrated solutions that offer a holistic view of operations, combining technical, commercial, financial, and analytical aspects for comprehensive business insight.
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A Data-First Approach to Maritime Innovation
John Wills brings a wealth of experience to his new role, with a decade dedicated to the shipping industry following a diverse career spanning telecoms, health, government, and finance. His focus throughout has been on leveraging data to optimize organizational performance.
“I entered the shipping industry around a decade ago, working for a maritime engineering consultancy, specialising in vessel performance analysis,” said Wills. “Prior to this, I worked across a number of industries including telecoms, health, government and finance. Crucially, all of these roles involved using data to help those organisations (or their customers) do whatever they need to do, but better. The key tool to achieving that goal is often data, and I have brought that ‘data-first’ mindset to my work at Shipnet.“
Wills emphasized the “people business” aspect of Shipnet, highlighting the caliber of its team. “This new role gives me the opportunity to work more closely with our market, but also to spend more time with my colleagues. Shipnet is very much a people business, and our people are amongst the very best there are, and working with them on big projects is the best way to learn more about the world I’ve dedicated the last ten years of my life to.”
Navigating the Accelerating Digitalization of Shipping
Wills noted the undeniable arrival of digital transformation in shipping, a topic he has seen evolve significantly since he began his career in the sector.
“This digitalisation isn’t like a singular event though – it’s more the start of a process that I think will only accelerate over time,” Wills explained. “We’ve gone from speaking to prospects who had some limited VSAT connectivity maybe five years ago, to talking to customers that have Starlink deployed across their whole fleet, who are now wondering what else they can do with 400MBPS+, low latency broadband. IoT looks increasingly likely to start delivering for sectors of the global merchant fleet that have previously not engaged, and broader economic pressures (including isolationist global trade policies) will start to increase competitive pressures.”
Wills underscored the growing importance of data and insights for maritime businesses facing these evolving challenges. “This means for our customers that data, and the improvements insight into that data can bring, will be more important than previously – indeed, some of our prospects are deciding to invest in data gathering and analysis, rather than additional tonnage, so significant do they see the pressures through environmental regulation, competition and cost management.”
Shipnet has been at the forefront of this shift with its Helix platform, launched 18 months ago. “Shipnet has been completely dialled into meeting this need since we launched Helix 18 months ago, and. Our early adoptors have found it both an efficiency gain for reporting and insight, but also a great way of driving business improvement. Expect more of this in the future.“
Unifying Services for Enhanced Customer Value
Terje Kristiansen, CEO of Shipnet, expressed his confidence in Wills’ appointment. “Appointing John in this role is to connect up our services, products, customer relationships and support into a unified team, so that customers get a single point of contact through which they can access everything we can offer to help them identify, understand and solve their business’ problems,” said Kristiansen. “John will do a fantastic job of bringing clarity and purpose to what is a very broad range of people, tools and services that we’ve created in response to customer needs over the 30 years Shipnet has been serving the maritime industry.”
About Shipnet
Shipnet is the shipping company’s ultimate software solution, built by the industry, for the industry. As the tech solution that commands your fleet’s operations, business compliance, and profitability, Shipnet leverages five decades of shipping experience to solve the complex problems faced by today’s maritime businesses – from pre-voyage planning to post-docking analysis.
Shipnet delivers the essential data needed to stay informed throughout the entire voyage. From organizing your fleet and analyzing cargo to chartering voyages and maintaining compliance, Shipnet helps businesses make quick, insight-led decisions that drive efficiency. Its industry-leading software takes control of every aspect of your fleet, providing solutions that empower you with complete command over your operations.
Source Shipnet