A series of interviews with key individuals at organisations who have recently joined the Baltic Exchange community. 

Punit Oza, CEO at Wiz Bulk

 

Who are Wiz Bulk and what's your business vision? 

Wiz was founded in 2020 and has offices in over 15 countries. Wiz is a tech-enabled full-stack freight forwarding platform, which brought greater transparency to the container freight solutions and the entire supply chain through technology and automation. 

We subsequently launched Wiz Bulk earlier this year and the business shares the same vision for the bulk shipping industry. While we are still very much a dry bulk operator, chartering ships and servicing freight contracts. the goal is to simplify the market through technology and automation. We aim to bring greater visibility and streamlining to an industry sector that is currently fragmented and opaque.

Wiz’s container focused infrastructure features supply and demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, AI-driven rates and schedules parsing, IoT-based visibility solutions, and route/cargo optimisation models.

Wiz Bulk embraces the same principles and utilises tech expertise to improve the customer experience for the dry bulk market.

I've been in commercial shipping all my life, worked in multiple companies, and have been based in Singapore since 2007. I'm also a lawyer and completed my LLB studies from University of London. 

The key differentiating aspect of Wiz Bulk is that we're born digital. We aim to use as much technology as possible to analyse and collect data. We use data-driven decision making and automation to try and make sure business is as digital as possible from day one. 

Most companies are looking to digitally transform their business, we're looking to build a business from the offset that is as digital as possible.

Our vision at Wiz Bulk is to simplify dry bulk shipping. That means the talent we employ must spend the least time searching for information and the most time using the information. This is very important for us because we end up with too many sources of information and that can bog down the individual.

If the system can be intuitive enough to handle the quantitative aspects of the deal making, then the people can focus on the qualitative aspects of deal making - relationship building, understanding the nuances of clauses and customising solutions. These are things machines can't do - only people. 

Our focus is to simplify dry bulk shipping to the extent that the quantitative aspects are taken care of through data-driven decision making or through automation. 

But the deal making aspect is where humans really make the difference, that has a huge impact for us. We're thinking differently from day one. 

Our long-term vision is to transform trade through technology. We are looking to provide end-to-end visibility for the customer across the entire supply chain. Dry bulk shipping and its digitalisation is critical to achieving the vision.

 

What does the Baltic Exchange mean to you? 

Baltic Exchange is a grand maritime institution. It provides amazing opportunities for networking and a platform to share and learn. At the same time, this industry is still very much trust driven. 'Our Word is Our Bond', the cornerstone of The Baltic, remains extremely important in shipping. 

Some of the other offerings the Baltic offers are also very exciting. Being a newly founded company, the Baltic's escrow facilities for chartering transactions are hugely valuable and can be a very useful for us. 

The Baltic can play a very proactive role in our growth story going forward. 

 

What changes do you expect to see in the maritime industry over the next 12 months and beyond? 

Going forward, I'm a big believer in technology being a huge enabler for the maritime sector. 

One of the key changes I see is a generational shift among maritime leaders going forward. 

We are seeing for the first time nearly all the major companies having professional management, rather than pure family-owned businesses. 

I see that as being a huge shift as it will change the decision-making process. The average age of the CEO is also going down and they are used to having technology around them for a huge chunk of their lives and don't see it as a threat. It's an enabler - or even a friend.