Thetius Review: Turning Maritime Tech Noise into Clear Decisions
December 11, 2025
Thetius sits in the “thinking layer” of maritime tech. Founded by former navigator Nick Chubb, it runs research, data tools and workshops that help owners, managers and investors decide which digital and decarbonisation projects are actually worth backing. Alongside the firm, Nick co-hosts the Undocked podcast with Raal Harris, which has become a wildly popular show on maritime transformation and technology.
Thetius: London base
Kemp House, City Road, London EC1V 2NX, United Kingdom
Shipowners save by:
- Avoiding expensive wrong bets: Thetius’ research and benchmarking are built to stress test vendor claims, market size and timing so that owners do not commit capital to technology that is not ready, not aligned with regulation, or not a fit for the ship types and trades in question.
- Shortening the research cycle: Instead of each owner replicating the same desk research on hundreds of vendors, Thetius maintains a database of maritime technology companies, projects and case studies. That turns weeks of scanning into hours and frees internal teams to focus on concept selection and implementation.
- Putting numbers behind digitalisation and decarbonisation: By combining qualitative research with cost and performance benchmarking, Thetius helps leadership teams compare options on a like for like basis and build investment cases that have a clear expected return instead of relying on generic “efficiency” narratives.
- Using Thetius IQ as a portfolio map: Thetius IQ is positioned as a searchable library and data set on maritime innovation. Owners can use it to map which parts of their operation already have strong solutions and where the gaps are, so budgets follow the real opportunity instead of the latest headline topic.
- De-risking technology strategy workshops: Strategy sessions and workshops are run as neutral, research-backed discussions that help align boards, management and operational teams around a technology roadmap. That reduces the risk of fragmented pilots, stalled projects and duplicated systems.
- Focusing internal effort where it counts: By outsourcing parts of market scanning, competitor analysis and ROI modelling, owners can reserve internal capacity for fleet specific design, change management and integration work that external providers cannot do.
- Framing innovation as a portfolio, not a gamble: Thetius’ work on landscape maps and the Thetius Top 150 innovators list gives decision makers a portfolio view of who is winning where, which helps spread risk across several themes instead of placing one or two big bets in isolation.
Notes: This is a planning lens. Actual savings depend on how fragmented your current tech stack is, how
decisions are made today and whether you act on the findings.
Notable mentions and traction
A few places where Thetius and founder Nick Chubb show up in the wider maritime and tech conversation.
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Career Paths profile on Thetius and Nick Chubb SAFETY4SEA • 2024SAFETY4SEA’s Career Paths series profiles Nick Chubb as Founder of Thetius, describing the firm as a research partner helping maritime leaders make strategic technology decisions and tracing his path from ship’s navigator to technology and research. Read the profile .
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Founder and Managing Director recognition Safety@Sea Week • 2021Singapore’s International Safety@Sea Week lists Nick as founder and Managing Director of Thetius and highlights the organisation’s focus on enabling innovation in maritime through research, consulting and talent services. Speaker bio .
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Thetius Top 150 innovators benchmark Thetius • ongoingThe Thetius Top 150 is cited by several vendors and partners as a benchmark list of the most innovative maritime and port technology companies, used in marketing and investor communication to signal that a solution has been independently recognised. Thetius Top 150 overview .
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Partnership with Wake Media Maritime Informed • 2024Maritime Informed reports on a partnership between Thetius and specialist agency Wake Media to combine maritime technology market intelligence with multi channel campaign capabilities, aimed at suppliers that want research backed messaging. Partnership announcement .
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Undocked podcast recognition Spotify Creators • 2025On social channels, Nick notes that Undocked, the podcast he co-hosts with Raal Harris, was named a 2025 Instant Hit show by Spotify for Creators and stands out for comments and shares compared with other podcasts. The show is positioned as an unfiltered look at maritime transformation. Undocked show page .
This is a snapshot, not a full media list. It shows Thetius operating as a reference point in research,
events and rankings around maritime technology.
Technology decision ROI planner
Roughly compare the cost of “going it alone” on research versus using a Thetius style research partner for digitalisation and decarbonisation decisions.
Your current tech decision picture
New systems, major upgrades or renewals where you normally build a business case.
Time spent scanning vendors, reading reports, talking to peers and building slides.
Blended rate for managers, analysts and subject experts involved.
How much faster you expect to move when you tap into external research.
Portion of projects where better information would change scope or vendor choice.
Typical total cost of ownership or lifetime value of each major project.
Use your own Thetius quote or budget. This is a placeholder, not a price list.
Planning tool only. Replace defaults with your own hours, day rates and project values to see if the
logic holds for your fleet.
Indicative annual impact
Research cost today
$0
Research cost after Thetius
$0
Research cost saving / year
$0
Value from better decisions
$0
Total annual benefit (gross)
$0
Net benefit after research fee
$0
Implied ROI on research spend
—
| Category | Calculated value |
|---|---|
| Total research hours per year today | 0 hrs |
| Total research hours per year with Thetius | 0 hrs |
| Hours saved per year | 0 hrs |
| Research cost per year today | $0 |
| Research cost per year with Thetius | $0 |
| Research cost saving per year | $0 |
| Estimated value uplift from better decisions | $0 |
| Gross annual benefit (time + uplift) | $0 |
| Net annual benefit after research fee | $0 |
| ROI on research spend | — |
For most owners, Thetius isn’t about outsourcing decisions, it’s about tightening the way those decisions are made. If your current process for digital and decarbonisation projects is a mix of vendor decks, conference notes and internal hunches, plugging into their research, data tools and Undocked-level conversations gives you a clearer view of what’s real and what’s noise. The question then stops being “should we buy another system?” and becomes “which handful of projects are worth real capital this year, and what does success look like on each?”
If you can answer that with evidence instead of instinct, the value of a partner like Thetius quickly moves from “nice-to-have insight” into a practical line item that underpins the next phase of your fleet’s tech and emissions roadmap.
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