Privacy isn’t a feature at Sephra — it’s a prerequisite
Built for an industry where trust, discretion, and confidentiality come first.
Shipbrokers sit at the center of sensitive commercial information. Fixture terms, counterparties, cargo details, and positions aren’t just operational data — they’re competitive intelligence that directly shapes how business is won, protected, and sustained.
Sephra is built with this reality as a starting point, not an afterthought. From how we design our AI to how data is processed and isolated, privacy remains a non-negotiable principle. Every product and technical decision reflects a single belief: your deal flow stays yours.
Sephra’s role in shipbroking
Sephra is a software provider built to support shipbrokers. We build AI systems that help brokers organize, extract, and work with information more effectively, strengthening internal workflows and decision-making, without participating in the market itself.
Our success depends on brokers finding the system useful, accurate, and trustworthy. Trust is foundational in shipbroking, and any misuse of customer data would undermine the very relationships our customers depend on. That’s why getting data privacy right isn’t optional for us — it’s essential to the long-term success of both our customers and our company.
Sephra does not participate in fixtures, approach counterparties, or influence negotiations, nor do we sell customer data or generate third-party insights. Your data is used solely to support your firm’s own operations.
Data isolation and access
Customer data is isolated by design: Each customer’s data is logically segregated and isolated at the data and access-control level across Sephra’s systems. No other shipbroker can access, query, or infer anything from your data. Each firm only sees information from its own communications and data sources.
Internal access is tightly controlled: Access to customer data within Sephra is limited to authorized personnel with a legitimate operational need and is governed by strict confidentiality expectations.
Anonymized where applicable: Where anonymized signals are used to improve system accuracy, they are stripped of customer-identifying context and are never attributable to any individual firm.
How your data is used
Using machine-assisted systems to support your work: Sephra uses machine-assisted systems to help shipbrokers organize, extract, and work with information they already have. Customer data is used to generate private, customer-specific outputs — such as dashboards, deal views, and structured records — that only your organization can see.
To improve accuracy over time, Sephra uses machine learning to better understand how information is communicated, rather than the underlying content itself. Think of it as learning how to read a book, not memorizing the contents of the book.
This includes:
common language patterns used in shipbroking (jargon, abbreviations, shorthand)
structural and formatting signals (emails, attachments, layouts)
cues that help identify what information matters in a message
In short: we learn patterns — not deals.
What your data is not used for: Outside of operating Sephra for your organization, customer data is not used to generate insights for other customers, train unrelated systems, or create value outside your own workflows.
Customer ownership and control
Customers retain ownership of their data. All customer data remains the exclusive property of the customer and is used only to operate Sephra for their organization.
Customers may request deletion of their data at any time. Upon request, data will be deleted in accordance with standard operational requirements. Anonymized internal learnings may persist to maintain system accuracy, but no identifiable or attributable customer data is retained.
For customers with specific data-handling concerns, we are always open to discussion. We believe trust is built through transparency and are happy to walk through how Sephra works in practice to ensure comfort and alignment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Trust is central to how shipbroking works, and we don’t take that lightly.
Sephra is built for environments where discretion matters and information must be handled with care.
We’re committed to using technology in ways that respect the sensitivity of the information shipbrokers handle every day. That responsibility guides every decision we make — from system design to how data is handled day to day.
If you have questions or concerns about how Sephra works in practice, we’re always open to discussing them directly.