Styrid – Customer Story

The Icelandic fishing industry is one of the pillars of the economy. Although we’re a relatively small nation, we’re the third-largest fishing nation in Europe, behind Russia and Norway, and we export to over 40 different markets. So it’s very important for the Icelandic industry economically. We operate a value chain from fishing to processing to a sales network all over the world. Styrid is a web-based application to track and trace fishing vessels in Iceland, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Norway and Russia. Spire is really the reason we exist today and are able to do this. The satellite data helps Styrid operate and provide customers with real-time locations of fishing vessels. The fishing industry in Iceland has changed enormously. Technology is really good for the industry because the market is always asking for new and better products. It has become attractive for young professionals who, 20 or 30 years ago, might have been looking to work at sea or in processing. They are now working in related industries and building value through technology. I’m the assistant managing director of a fishing company in Iceland called Fico. We operate one freezing vessel and one long line, and we produce and sell the raw material those vessels catch. Per year, we are producing around 3,500 tons of raw material. The data we get from Styrid really helps us cut costs. You can look at the vessels’ past tracks, and some areas of Iceland are known for not having great raw material. It can be very cost-efficient to know exactly where vessels have been fishing. I’m buying fish from many producers in Iceland. I can see when vessels are coming back to land and unloading the catch. I can use that to contact producers and processing plants to see if they have availability. There are use cases where families simply keep track of family members: are they in bad weather? One of our vessels catches Greenland halibut far north, where weather conditions can be terrible. Styrid helps us keep track of where the vessels are. It’s very comforting to know the exact location of the vessels. There was an unfilled need for smaller-to-mid-size vessel owners to use an industry-specific solution to track fishing vessels and build features they need. Spire is what helped us get to that point. Their customer focus has kept us with Spire; they’ve been helpful from the first day I called customer service, and through help with APIs. I believe the future of the Icelandic fishing industry will be bound by how much we make use of greater technology. We’re limited by how much we can catch, so we have to make higher value out of every kilo that comes on shore. To maximize that value, we have to use technology in processing and affiliated industries, which helps grow the industry as a whole.