LEVELSEAS NAMES O’CONNOR AS COO

LEVELSEAS NAMES O’CONNOR AS COO    LevelSeas, a London-based provider of online voyage chartering and management services, has promoted Kevin O’Connor to chief operating officer, a newly created position in the company.
   O’Connor had been LevelSeas’s chief information officer, with responsibility for technology and product development.
   LevelSeas said it will upgrade its LS Exchange (LSX) software for global freight markets, which was launched in July and is now “live” with more than 350 paying users.
   LSX Version 2.0 will debut on Sept. 20, which will include negotiating tools and more than 100 improvements suggested by customers familiar with LSX 1.0.
   In September, the company will also launch LSOperations (LSOps) 1.0, a suite of post-fixture operational management tools for ships that have just been chartered.
   Customers of the LSX software include Cargill, Shell, BP, AP Moller (Maersk), Mitsubishi Corp., and Teekay.
   In June, LevelSeas acquired Dolphin Computers together with Dolphin’s integrated shipping management information system (ISMIS), one of the core building blocks of LSOps 1.0.
   David Barker-Benfield, who founded Dolphin in 1986, has joined LevelSeas as head of research.