List of Speakers:

Alexander Oswald, Group Director IT, Columbia Shipmanagement

Bio: Alexander Oswald has worked with Columbia Group for the last 12 years. For the past four years he has held the position of Group Director of IT, leading several cross-functional teams overseeing the IT delivery for both onshore and onboard as well as the software development streams for ERP, AI and other app solutions.

 Mr Oswald started his career as a business consultant within the Microsoft ERP stack, and further developed a strong set of skills in software design/ architecture as well as the development of ERP solutions. Throughout his career he has been building different IT companies, covering domains of software development as well as IT service delivery within the maritime industry and beyond.  

 Before joining Columbia he worked in different software architect/ senior consultant positions within a major software supplier focusing on industries beyond shipping, mainly pharmaceutical, automotive and production.

Nils Aden, Managing Director, Harren Group

Bio: Harren is involved with heavy lift shipping, integrated project logistics, maritime engineering, crewing and ship management, commodity logistics and offshore wind operations. Nils Aden was formerly managing director of V.Group in Germany and co-CEO of ZEABORN Ship Management (formerly E.R Schiffahrt) among other roles. He has over 20 years’ experience managing all aspects of international business and implementing best development strategies for operational excellence.

 Verena Stiller, 2nd Officer, Hapag Lloyd

Bio: Verena Stiller began her seagoing career as a deck cadet in 2017, serving on various vessels including sailing vessels, cruise ships, containers, and feeder vessels. She graduated from Nautical University and currently holds the position of 2nd Officer at Hapag Lloyd AG.

Bastian Gehnke, Manager Product Management CVS, Kaleris

 Bio: “Water is my element” says Bastian Gehnke, who started his career in the waters as a voluntary lifeguard at the German Lifeguard Association DLRG before he decided in 2007 to continue with a degree in maritime and ship operations onboard of commercial vessels of German shipping company. After earning nautical and technical licenses in shipping at the seafaring school in Flensburg, he earned the graduate degree in maritime logistics and ship operations by the University of Flensburg. In 2014, Bastian joined Navis as a product manager for vessel and fleet performance. He decisively contributed to the design of the Kaleris vessel and fleet performance software Bluetracker. In the past years he has grown the portfolio of cloud applications for fleet performance as well as cargo operations. Today Bastian is leading the product management for the Kaleris Carrier and Vessel Solutions portfolio.

Fabian Feldhaus, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Flagship Founders

Bio: Fabian Feldhaus is Co-founder and Managing Director of Flagship Founders, the first European venture studio with a focus on maritime technologies, logistics and shipping. Since its inception in May 2020, Flagship Founders has launched five successful startups, formed robust industry partnerships, and secured substantial funding rounds.

Before co-founding Flagship Founders, Fabian Feldhaus gained comprehensive experience in launching and scaling startups. He initiated and provided support for numerous early-stage companies, including Book a Tiger, Commerzbank subsidiary #openspace and the startup program at Freie Universität Berlin, among other endeavours. Fabian Feldhaus studied media management at the HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration and the Bauhaus University Weimar.

Holger Ritter, Managing Partner, DRYNET GmbH

 Bio: Holger Ritter is Managing Partner and founder of DRYNET GmbH. He has been working in the satellite, telecommunications and IT industry for over 25 years. He held management positions in IBM, Boeing and MTN.
DRYNET, Kiel/Germany, was founded in 2002 and provides technology and business consulting as well as professional services for wireless, fixed and satellite communication networks as well as IT Security.
DRYNET consultants are based in Germany, United Kingdom, Croatia, Denmark, Bangladesh and Australia.
DRYNET serves clients in the wind offshore industry as well as cruise, ferry and commercial shipping companies.

Immo Brueggemann, Managing Director, CREATUM

Bio: The Managing Director of the start-up CREATUM, a company founded in July 2022, focuses on applying innovation and strategy concepts to business problems of his business partners.

Immo studied industrial engineering in Hamburg with the major of energy technologies and is now leading CREATUM, a team of 5 fulltime developers and 6 working students in the field of Business Intelligence, Process Automation and AI. Through previous jobs and internships, he gained experience in the industries of energy management, manufacturing and shipping. Through a wide set of further certifications within innovation management and Artificial Intelligence Strategy, he gained a deep understanding of the business opportunities of new technologies.

Max Stolyarov, Managing Director, Varamar Hamburg

Bio: Max Stolyarov has 19 years experience managing shipping companies. For the past 8 years he has been Managing Director at Varamar Hamburg, which he established in 2014. Before he was with Maersk Line for 10 years starting as a vessel agent in Ukraine, becoming a chartering manager in Copenhagen and finally managing the Maersk Line’s regional branch in Southern Russia including sales, customer service and operations. Max has studied at Odessa National Maritime University, University of Vienna, and Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.

Christopher Stein, Lead Engineer - Maritime Cybersecurity, Royal Caribbean Group (Denmark)

Bio: Christopher Stein focuses on drafting cyber security requirements and policies for OT systems for newbuild vessels and retrofit contracts. He supports vendors with cyber security improvements, trains and supports colleagues on IMO cybersecurity compliance.

Varun Kumar, Energy Efficiency and Performance Manager, TMA Bulk GmbH

Bio: A Maritime management career extending now for 24 years across various ship operation functions including energy management, ship management, team management, bunker operations, regulatory frameworks and bunker operations. Motor ship's Chief engineer by primary education and trade. Came to Hamburg as part of Hamburg sud- Maersk FMT driving the integration and stayed on!. Presently working with TMA bulk, responsible for the operational efficiency and regulatory preparation of the fleet. Believes in value-based leadership and learning, unlearning, and relearning. Love to read, travel and explore.

Matti Wurzel, Deputy Fleet Manager, NSB Group

Bio: Matti Wurzel is the Deputy Fleet Manager for NSB's biggest fleet. Simultaneously he spent several years in Marseille representing NSB as Key Account Manager. He joined NSB in 2019 and since then has been active in various roles such as Business Analyst and Head of Global Sourcing and Logistics. Throughout all his roles he was in charge for various digitalization and automation projects and was one of the key drivers for the digital development NSB took over the past years.

Michael Bruun Østergaard, Group IT Director, Monjasa (Denmark)

Bio: Michael Bruun Østergaard counts more than 10-year experience leading IT projects including Danish Army in Afghanistan, seaports of Africa, offices and cloud datacentres as a consultant, and for the past 4 years as Group IT Director at Monjasa, Danish bunker trading and suppling company. He believes that technology, above all else, should be an enabler and support employees to do their job better. 

Christoph Martius, Research Scientist, Fraunhofer CML

Bio: Christoph Martius works as a Research Scientist at Fraunhofer CML and is engaged in applied research and consulting projects in maritime logistics and shipping. As part of the Maritime Operations Management team at Fraunhofer CML, he specialized in the application of machine learning and data analytics for maritime use cases including automatic speech recognition and condition-based maintenance.  A focus of Christoph’s work is the design and implementation of novel machine learning approaches across the maritime supply chain, the analysis of big data and the development of specialized software solutions.

Asger C. Schliemann-Haug, Lead Data Scientist, Lloyd’s Register EMEA

Bio: Asger is with Loyd’s Register EMEA for the past 5 years mainly focusing on developing safety rules for new maritime technology. Prior he sailed on offshore support vessels of ESVAGT as a 2nd Engineer having watchkeeping duty. He holds degrees in Maritime Technology Management and Software Design.

Keith Tan, Head of MarineTraffic Inbox, Kpler

Bio: Keith Tan is committed to move maritime digitalisation forward creating solutions for the maritime industry to collaborate more efficiently. He’s based in Singapore.

Stefan Schindler, Senior Vice President Project & Performance, ZEABORN Ship Management (acquired by Wilhelmsen Ahrenkiel)