SOCIETY OF MARITIME INDUSTRIES INFORMATION SYSTEM (SMIIS)

The Society of Maritime Industries Information System (SMIIS) is a unique marketing package delivered via this web portal, and consists of two main elements:

The Product Search - promoting UK products and services to an international audience, with detailed technical information available in just a few clicks.
Last month 35,000 visited this page. Can you afford to miss out on this opportunity to promote your products and services?

Market Information Database - providing UK maritime companies with up to the minute market information.

SMIIS is a subscription based service available to UK registered businesses, with subscription tailored to meet your needs. Further information on How to Subscribe is detailed below.

If at any time you require more detailed information about SMIIS please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions document.

PRODUCT SEARCH

The Product Search is a unique searchable database designed to enable procurement personnel from around the world to search for maritime related products and services provided by UK businesses.

It covers all the business sectors of the Society, including commercial and naval marine equipment, ports and terminal equipment and services, pollution control equipment and contractors, and equipment and services for offshore oil and gas.

Companies subscribing to SMIIS are able to list all their products and services within the Product Search. You are entitled to a short description of each product/service, and a direct ‘hotlink’ to a specific page on your own website describing the product/service. You will also receive a full listing in our online Members Directory with a home-page link.

Visitors to the site are able to easily browse for the product category they are seeking in the Product Tree or search by keywords. They can view individual company contact details, product descriptions and link directly to the product details on the company’s own website (where available), they are also able to email multiple companies at once.

Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for more details about the Product Search and SMIIS in general.

MARKET INFORMATION DATABASE

The Market Information Database offers the most up-to-date industry-focused compilation of data available. Provided by Lloyd’s Register Fairplay (LRF), the database is accessed via this web portal with easy to use screens developed especially for SMIIS.

It is a powerful planning tool which can be used to significantly enhance a company’s market knowledge. Currently the database holds details of 92,000 ships over 99GT; information on 34,000 maritime companies worldwide, including profiles, information, contacts and links to company websites where available; details of ports throughout the world, including cargo types handled, companies and contacts, ship-owners, managers and shipbuilders.

The scope of the database aids companies in marketing planning, allowing them to:

• Identify potential customers and competitors
• Size markets
• Identify sales targets
• Segment the market
• Set objectives
• Identify sales leads

The search options allow the sizing of regional, national or global markets using a range of criteria on ships, ports and maritime companies. For details on the data available from each search please refer to the FAQ document.

Subscribers access the Market Information database via a username and password, and the subscription rate allows up to 5 users at one office to access the database. Please see Costs for information about additional users and locations.

Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document for more details about the Market Information database, and SMIIS in general.

SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS

SMIIS has been developed in response to market research which clearly identified the market trends and the UK industry’s deficiencies in meeting these.

There are clear benefits to subscribing to SMIIS:

• Helps you enter new markets
• Makes it easy for potential customers to find you
• Gives you a competitive advantage by providing potential and existing customers with the information they need 24 hours a day
• Promotes your company worldwide
• Provides you with essential marketing information and statistics
• Keeps you up to date with government, regulatory and legal developments
• Shows you where to source other fundamental information
• Improves communication within the UK industry
• Provides you with contact details for maritime companies worldwide
• Provides contacts for ports throughout the world
• Enables you to size markets
• Saves you the time and money that would be required to keep customer information up to date for this sector

TRAINING AND SUPPORT

We are able to provide advice and guidance to help you maximise the benefits of SMIIS.

Once your account has been activated you will be supplied with full instructions and guidance for uploading your products onto the Product Tree. This can be done via either our online updating system, or if you have a large product range, we have developed an offline Access based tool to enable you to add your products to our system easily and efficiently. If a category you require is not currently in the Product Tree you are able to suggest a new one.

You will also receive a CD of training material providing information on how to utilise the Market Information database, and best practice guidelines for improving your website.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

All UK registered businesses are able to subscribe to SMIIS.

To subscribe, please complete the Join us or Subscribe form after reading our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. Please complete this form as fully as possible to help us assess your application. We will then send you an information pack including a subscription agreement.

COSTS

There are two levels of subscription to SMIIS available. Level 1 allows access to the complete system (Product Search and Market Information database), and Level 2 is for subscription to the Product Search only.

Members of the Society and its constituent associations have preferential subscription rates to SMIIS. Click here to find out more about the Benefits of Membership.

Level 1: Complete SMIIS package
£495 (+VAT) annually for members of the Society
£795 (+VAT) annually for non-members

These standard costs cover five users at one location. Additional users may be added for £50 (+VAT) per user. Additional locations may be added for £300 (+VAT) per location.

Level 2: Product Search Only
£195 (+VAT) annually for members of the Society
£395 (+VAT) annually for non-members

ADVERTISING

Members of the Society are also able to advertise on the Product Search for an additional fee of £100 (+VAT) per advert per quarter (3 months), please look at the Product Search for example advertisements. For more information or to advertise please email the Website Administrator: info@maritimeindustries.org.

Additional Service: Advertising on the Product Search
The adverts on the Product Search appear on the Product Search page immediately below the main navigation bar. They consist of text with a hyperlink (see the sample above). The ad may promote your company or particular product or service and the link may be to your homepage or any other page on your website.

AD Placement
The advertising placement works by you choosing a path to a location in the product tree. An advert can appear anywhere in the tree leading up to the tree location you enter. If there are less than four adverts associated with that part of the tree then your ad will always appear, otherwise it will randomly select four ads to display. All the intermediate steps leading up to that location could potentially display the advert. However, the advert will not appear once you had gone deeper into the tree past the specified tree path.

Identifying the Tree Path
The tree path is simply a reference to a particular part of the product tree. The actual value to use here is most easily identified by actually navigating through the tree to the point at which you wish to place the advert and looking at the location/address field in your browser (in the browser toolbar by default). The tree path is the section of the address that looks similar to ‘0_2_27_233’ (for example). It should appear immediately after the’ /products/tree/’ part. There may also be a few extra characters at the end of the address (e.g. /c/3) and this should be ignored if present.

Cost
Cost is £100 (+VAT) per quarter (3 months).

Advert Type
Adverts can consist of text only or you can create your own banner which is to be no bigger that 184x73 pixels.
Banners should be emailed to Janet Adeyemi at janet.adeyemi@maritimeindustries.org

Forms
For an application form please click here