Splash247: Shipfix co-founder swaps freight screens for synths

Published by Splash247

Antoine Grisay, best known in shipping as the co-founder of maritime software platform Shipfix, has resurfaced with a rather different launch: electronic music under the nautical artist name Handysize. His first release, 14 Knots, is aimed squarely at shipping too.

The track and accompanying video are dedicated to women working at sea, with Grisay using the project to explore the gap between the professional role of an officer and the person underneath the uniform.

“This track and film are for the women at sea,” Grisay told Splash. “Roughly one in fifty seafarers worldwide is a woman, and the world they work in was not designed with them in mind.”

In conversation with Splash, he argued that much of shipping’s language, routines and culture were developed around male crews long before women were routinely expected on the bridge.

“So femininity gets folded away. Softness gets read as a liability. Vulnerability goes under the uniform and stays there for the length of the contract,” he said.

Grisay stressed that 14 Knots is not intended as a lament.

“This is a celebration. It is for every woman who has stood a night watch and felt unseen,” he said.

Streaming revenues from the track will be redistributed to non-profit organisations supporting female seafarers.

Grisay admitted using Handysize as an artist name is something of an experiment.

“It’s going to be an interesting test in the music market,” he said. “If anything, it has sparked a lot of curiosity, which is kind of what you want at launch.”

Grisay started DJing and producing electronic music at 16, influenced by London, Brussels, the US east coast and later Berlin’s minimal techno scene. He then parked music for more than a decade while pursuing investment banking and building two technology businesses, SME Capital and Shipfix.

Shipfix, the freight and data platform he co-founded, was acquired by Veson Nautical. Grisay is now building Aura, a technology venture for artists and fans.

Grisay the investor remains bullish on shipping’s fortunes.

“I’m still long on shipping,” he said, arguing that today’s market is being shaped by something deeper than the familiar seven-to-10-year shipping cycle.

“We are witnessing one of the biggest geopolitical power shifts since World War Two,” he said. “Many trade patterns and shipping routes are being remapped dynamically and structurally.”

That, he said, makes forecasting harder and relationships more valuable.

“The winners will be those who balance predictive data with the strongest industry relationships — what shipping has always been about,” he maintained. 

AI, he added, will continue reshaping trading, broking and operating desks, but reliable reference data will become even more important. He even sees AIS eventually becoming secondary as Starlink and high-frequency vessel telemetry become ubiquitous.

For now, though, Grisay’s attention is on a different kind of signal. After 12 years away from music, Handysize has sailed again — at 14 Knots.