Member Info for Nig1954

I was baiting him but sadly he wouldn't bite and i'd completely forgotten about the fish connotation. However, i sent him links to the "We are 42" website and a copy of the Maritime Industry article , referred to earlier this morning. I suggested it all looked rather coincidental. He hasn't deigned to respond and i don't think i'm likely to hear further from him on that subject

Just asked Igor the significance of the number 42 and his response is :
Igor Vatenmacher
Thu 04/11/2021 11:40
Reply
Hi Nigel,

The correct answer would be –

Toward the end of the "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", the supercomputer Deep Thought reveals that the answer to the “Great Question” of “Life, the Universe and Everything” is “forty-two.”
Thanks,
I hope that solves the mystery

I think that looks like a very good possibility .Avi Hartmann in his September blog was referring to container tracking solutions and more specifically to increasing the number of monitored containers .He made reference to a wide variety of data points and parameters of the container which both Tetis and Tetis R provide .
He then linked this to Starcom’s online monitoring platform (SaaS revenues) and how they provide a flexible solution for all data points and relevant personnel.”The system is designed to optimise the supply chain, prevent potential mistakes and makes the entire experience of shipment more transparent and less stressful “.

As reported, the Company is in advanced stage discussions for a number of potentially substantial projects concerning the supply of Starcom's various devices for the tracking and monitoring of containers and related items. Should these be successfully concluded they could provide significant revenues over the next few years, including SaaS revenues. There can be no certainty that these negotiations will lead to final contracts or if they do, what the final terms and value will be. However, certain potential clients have indicated their desire to reach an agreement with Starcom for its technology and the Board is hopeful to conclude one or more contracts before the end of this year. The recent raise of new capital will help to meet short term cash needs and to increase our marketing spend to take advantage of the new opportunities.
We do see major opportunities to expand our business over the next year or two and intend to promote our new brand and positioning aggressively on a worldwide basis.

The change of name will coincide with a rebranding of the Company's various products and technology and a relaunch of the product range as part of a revised strategy that focuses on the container and freight market. This strategy, and the rebranding that it represents, is intended to leverage the market opportunity that has been presented by the major problems currently being suffered in the shipping and freight movement sector. We believe that the substantial increases in freight costs and the disruption to supply chains increase the need for our superior tracking and monitoring technology as shippers seek real time information to better control their assets in motion.

Just refer back to previous comments over the course of the last 3 months concerning the new rail routes from China to the EU through Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia with ships being rerouted to the Baltic Sea ports. We’ve mentioned the various proofs of concept which Starcom have been conducting with several rail companies operating along these routes. If these have now been successfully completed then we could be looking at some seriously large contracts as the mooted $2Million contract referred to last year was with their Russian Distributor who was heavily involved in all of this with the Russian Federated Railways System who were overseeing this project

There has been some strong buying this morning in a lower price range. Possibly the sp has been manipulated into the lower range in order to accommodate this. Depends upon whether this represents several buys or a large shareholder patiently attempting to build a substantial stake

Agreed. I see the current fluctuations in sp as nothing more than short term traders looking to make their 10/20% profit on their trades. It can be frustrating at times but there is a large pool of AIM traders who operate in this manner.I’d love to know the trader/investor proportions.Last time I checked AIM attracted approx 25/30% of retail investors which is a much higher proportion than the mainstream markets and we simply have to accept that this is a symptom of how this market functions .
It’s largely irrelevant because if Starcom can deliver on the contracts front then it will eventually be recognised within the sp.
Don’t really know what all the small trades are. Am inclined to think it’s the MM’s balancing their books. Don’t know if it was noticed but there was a much wider spread recently than we’ve witnessed for some time. Whenever there is a smaller and less consistent amount of buying and selling activity MM’s widen the spread to lower the risk that they’ll get caught with a high proportion of money-losing shares and to help them make more profit when dealing.

*sent - sentiment.
I should have added that the business contacts I’m referring to are those that can be found on LinkedIn

If you’re impressed with their product links, you may like to take a look at their list of business contacts. Yosi Schwarztuch is Starcom’s Business Development,After Sales and Logistics Director. Approx 6 weeks ago when I last looked, he had in excess of 400 business contacts. When I reviewed this list yesterday I noted it had increased to 994 business connections.Many of those contacts are from CEO’s , CFO’s and R &D Directors at some very large businesses. The scale and diversity of those businesses is huge.
Many of the new contacts have arrived since it was announced that Lokies had won the tech competition organised by DHL so it’s probably fair to say that winning that competition has brought them to prominence within the IoT sector.
If we also throw into the pot that there are potentially a couple of huge contracts, certainly in relation to Starcom’s current annual Revenue then I’d struggle to guess where this might take the sp in the short term.
There’s no doubting the quality of their product offerings which are interchangeable if that is what customers require.Otherwise they can be acquired on a bespoke and stand-alone basis.
Due to the recent availability of cheap labour there hasn’t been much pressure on the global Logistics players to invest in and embrace the new technological advances and to be fair to them their customers haven’t probably demanded this type of service. However, the Covid pandemic and the associated issues which have now come to prominence have completely changed this landscape. Customers are now demanding visibility of supplies due to the impact it is having on their global supply chains.
I’m also advised that these changes are being demanded as a result of the change in demographics. The baby boomers are well into retirement ,Generation X is now moving in that direction and the Millenials are beginning to take centre stage in many global businesses. This is the tech savvy generation who’ve grown up with computers,iPhones and their like. It is this new generation of consumer who will drive consumer demand forward and they will embrace 5G and these new technologies. Companies such as Starcom are ideally placed to capitalise upon these changes and hopefully our BOD will take advantage of this.
They’re fully aware of what’s driving this and that’s probably why they’re about to embark upon a rebranding exercise.Economies of scale probably prevented this in the past but now they can see the potential of this new market, the dynamics have changed and therefore it makes perfect sense to make this considerable capital investment because of the potential rewards available.
There’s some speculation that the large contract in the wings is not associated with the businesses previously close to the company,such as, CropX, Zero, DHL etc. If it proves to be one of the large North American IoT operators,and I’m not saying it is, then the whole dynamic will change overnight and we’ll see a radical change in investor sent

Maersk are now diverting their large ships away from the UK, in large, due to our port congestion,especially at Felixstowe. The average container is in the port for over 9 days before collection and the delay in returning containers for pick-up is behind their decision to divert their large ships.This backlog is preventing new ships from berthing and unloading.
The problem for retailers apart from failure of deliveries is that their containers are buried somewhere in Felixstowe but they don’t know the exact location. To make matters worse they’re incurring additional costs in the form of demurrage and detention fees as a result of these delays.
The positives from our standpoint is that retailers are now beginning to appreciate that their inability to replenish stocks is depriving their businesses of much needed cash flow with the resultant risk that their businesses may collapse. Consequently, they’re seeking urgent solutions and are finally accepting the need for transparency within their supply chains and that they must make an investment in track and trace in order to survive.
The BOD and their Distributors now have a willing and captive audience. It is down to them to convert these sales leads into firm orders. They’ll never have a better opportunity or so many willing participants

The Port of Felixstowe is our largest international rail facility with connections to 16 inland destinations throughout Britain. Rail freight accounts for over 25% of the port’s throughput but it needs more investment to improve infrastructure on the Felixstowe branch line so that they can increase the number of freight trains serving the port. This will enable it to significantly improve it’s rail terminal capacity and we should be investing in rail which is an environmentally alternative to road haulage
Apparently the ports vehicle booking system is described as being a shambles which is costing everyone time and money . This is impacting upon forwarders, warehouse operators , hauliers and importers and exporters.Rail providers can only take full containers out of the port and empties must be diverted inland or diverted to other ports. Some carriers have had to take their empties to Liverpool.
Furthermore, management’s attitude has been described as contemptuous with the current system not permitting the port to function at full strength.Sounds as though management needs the proverbial kick up the a..e

This appears to signify that Starcom's management have finally reinstated their PR and Marketing campaign, and not before time. They also appear to have improved/enhanced their Helios offering as evidenced by today's news regarding Starcom Online. I'm aware from communications with the CEO of their North African Distributor that this was partly at his behest and he intimates that they're regularly signing up new customers. Not necessarily reportable contracts but he's recently witnessed increased interest in Helios.
The BOD, NED's and Employee(s) now own approx 17% of the enlarged share capital. There are a further 4,000,000 warrants which must be exercised by 24th March 2022. This is only 5.5 months away and the exercise price is 1.5p which is approx a 50% premium to Friday's closing sp. I would be very surprised if the BOD didn't exercise these share options.
We're all waiting for news of the large reported contracts to drop which were reported just before the pandemic. I think the BOD's recent actions reflects their renewed confidence in the company's future and hopefully it won't be too long before that much awaited news arrives

This morning's RNS is a cracking endorsement for long term shareholders whose commitment may have been wavering due to lack of news on the contracts front. Hopefully, this will provide some much needed confidence.
The BOD,NED's and Employees now hold over 17.5% of the enlarged Share Capital. That demonstrates they've got plenty of skin in the game and the fact they're prepared to convert Loans into Shares thereby ensuring the company is not deprived of much needed capital is testament to their ongoing personal financial support. Let's also not loose sight of the fact that this was at a premium of roughly 40% to the current sp. Where else on AIM would you find such loyalty to existing shareholders.
DHL are in advanced talks on proof of concept. This has been ongoing for over 2 months but is not unusual for DHL as something similar occurred approx 2 years ago when they were involved with BMW in connection with the use of Blockchain. They're simply very thorough.
Also, i think the terms of reference may have changed . NOT sure if this requires enhancements to Lokies or there are other products in Starcoms stable that are of interest. We need to bear in mind that all Starcom products are interchangeable and have been specifically developed with this in mind. Not overly worried about the delay. If anything, it supports DHL's views of Starcoms products. Only recently discovered that some DHL trucks in North Africa use Helios so they are already aware of what Starcom have to offer.
DHL are especially interested in full visibility of consigned inventory (opened, consumed, expired, replenished etc). They recently mentioned on record that customer expectations are driving their business forwards. Post Covid they've noticed the increase in business activity which they maintain is driven by the younger element of Millenials and Generation Y, all of whom are extremely tech savvy and more demanding. They want to embrace the new technologies which their older peers have resisted. The Logistics industry is rapidly consolidating and many well known names will soon disappear and we'll be left with a handful of large companies who will control and dictate how this market develops.
Anyhow, for those who are sufficiently interested i'm attaching a copy of a recent 45 mins webinar from their Life Sciences and HealthCare division. It's extremely interesting from Starcom's perspective as it describes DHL's outlook for the future of Logistics and the important role Sensors will play as we move towards 5G tech. Hope you find it of sufficient interest https://bit.ly/3ikNlXg

There are some excellent comments there. Points 1 & 2 specifically apply in Starcom's case. Hopefully, we shall soon witness the relevance of Point 1. There are several matters which seem reasonably close to fruition. I'm hoping that the possible order with the Russian Distributor will soon become evident. Starcom have been involved with several proofs of concept with the Russian Railways Federation(RRF) which is probably why it's taken so long for the contract to materialise.
RRF have changed tack several times on their digitalisation of the railways system which is a huge project. I believe they're getting closer to finalising this so hope to be hearing some good news ,on this front, very soon

In 2020, for the first time, a transit container train was delivered from China to Europe using digital technologies of the ETP GP platform on the territory of the Russian Federation. It is planned to expand the use of this service by organising digital transit not only across the territory of Russia, but also along the railroads of neighbouring countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan and China).
Reliability and timeliness of cargo delivery are the most important customer demands. Therefore, the group members consider the development and implementation of an end-to-end container train schedule to be very important. Test shipments on a hard schedule are already being carried out on the direction Chongqing–Duisburg. To extend this practice to other routes, together with their colleagues, they are preparing for approval a procedure for developing end-to-end timetables for container trains on the China–Europe route.
In 2020, they also began the workout of technical and technological issues for tracking cargo along the entire route using blockchain technology. Taking into account the need of participants in international container transportation for the operational monitoring of container trains’ locations, the use of blockchain technology will allow equal access to information to improve the quality of resource planning at border crossings and the efficiency of interaction between carriers in terms of prompt response to emerging deviations.
Taking into account their customers’ demand for traceability of cargo shipments, the participants of the seven-party agreement are working on the development of electronic data exchange for tracking cargo movement using the existing system.
They also note the growing interest of their European partners in the development of transit transportation for food cargo and agricultural products from European Union (EU) countries to China that use electronic navigation seals.
All of these steps are aimed at further cooperation in the digital format and creating a single information space for international transport along the transport corridors of railways in Russia.
Hopefully, the reference to electronic navigation seals will enable Starcom to promote the use of Lokies. However, there's also a huge opportunity for Tetis and it's to be hoped that the BOD along with their Distributors are doing their damnedest to ensure that Starcom manage to obtain their fair share of new business that this initiative should bring .

An important issue of the digitalisation of transit container shipping is to convert multimodal container transportation CIM/SMGS consignment notes to an electronic format. This will require their foreign partners to be ready to interact with national customs administrations in an electronic format.
Another important direction of their efforts is to further accelerate and simplify the transit of cargo and containers through the bottlenecks – interstate border junctions. In this regard, the right solution seems to be to reach agreement with carriers of neighbouring countries on the exchange of not only shipping documents, but also electronic shipping documents, such as invoices and packing lists. Such information exchange is provided, for example, with Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. This allows them to inform the Russian customs administrations about goods imported into the customs territory of the EAEU in advance.
They view this, as a positive development , the expansion in using the services of the electronic trading platform ‘Cargo Transportation’ (ETP GP) for foreign participants. Its purpose is to submit to any interested client an optimal offer for basic transportation services with or without the provision of rolling stock for this transportation in digital format.
As of March 2021, more than 6,000 companies were registered with this platform. It is also important to note that foreign enterprises from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Latvia, Finland, Poland, the Republic of Korea and Kyrgyzstan use the platform along with Russian companies. The strategic goal for the development of the platform is to expand the number of services available to foreign companies and attract foreign service providers.

There is a seven-party working group on container train transportation on the China-Europe route. The members are railway companies from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. Interestingly, initial interest for Lokies came from Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland,as mentioned on 2/3/2020 in the Final Results for 2019.. More than 3,300 containers were transported in the first quarter of 2021 alone, compared to 10,500 containers in 2020.Regarding transit container traffic as a whole, the end of 2020 saw a 34 per cent growth to a record 831,000 TEUs; in the first quarter of 2021, 230,000 TEUs were transported in transit, an increase of 73 per cent over 2020. You also need to factor in that this trend was partly affected by the pandemic, as well as the related disruptions in the operation of shipping lines and a shortage of empty containers.
They see good prospects for further integrating Russian routes into global supply chains and achieving the ambitious goal of increasing the volume of container transit to 1.7 million TEUs by 2024.

That's very interesting. Samson Logic received over $400K of new funding in October 2020 and the project with Starcom using "Kylos Connect" is apparently proceeding very well. I think this is a great application of what their tech is capable of.
Kylos is very adaptable and flexible as outlined in the new video, above.
I spoke with Yosi Schwarztuch, Starcom's Business Development,After Sales and Logistics Manager. He confirmed that this tech could also be applied by crane operators for the loading of ship containers. Extremely flexible, with similar principles to those that feature in the project conducted with Samson.
So many possibilities. They urgently need to address these matters within their Sales Division and alert potential customers to what is available especially as this offers a Business Solution in an area currently crying out for innovation given the constraints the Shipping Industry is currently working in.

This is a YouTube video released yesterday by Starcom in relation to the application of "Kylos connect" for the protection of Trailers https://bit.ly/3yEaOJj.
Hopefully, this is an indication that communication channels are about to be reestablished.
This is a very topical issue at the moment given the container and port congestion on the Trans- Pacific routes which are badly affecting ports in China and West Coast US , principally LA/ Long Beach. Theft of trailers is on the increase in the US and this coincides with retailers scrambling to get sufficient stock into their outlets.
There could never be a better time to promote their credentials as this provides the catalyst and hopefully Starcom's sales team and their Distributors can capitalise upon this opportunity.