Artificial Intelligence News

Orca AI celebrated a milestone as Seaspan Corporation, a global containership powerhouse, integrates its SeaPod digital watchkeeper across its entire fleet to support safety improvements and operational cost savings.As part of its digitalization strategy, Seaspan began using Orca AI's SeaPod digital watchkeeper on select vessels to enhance situational awareness for navigation. An analysis of Seaspan’s fleet performance from 2023−2024 revealed positive results: a 35% increase in the minimum average distance between vessels in open waters and a 37% decrease in close encounters.By using Orca AI…

In September 2024, the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, issued her Chief of Naval Operations Navigation Plan for America’s Warfighting Navy. This Navigation Plan embodies “Project 33” in recognition of the fact that Admiral Franchetti is the 33rd Chief of Naval Operations. Project 33 sets targets for enabling the U.S. Navy to make strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time. This Plan has several components:The readiness component of the Navigation Plan has the goal of eliminating ship…

HarborLab, the Athens-based maritime technology company, launched a new AI-powered feature designed to optimize Disbursement Account (DA) analysis and streamline port expense management.This latest innovation, known as HL AI, is part of the company’s drive to fully integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its entire platform ecosystem helping shipowners and operators unlock efficiency and major cost savings in daily vessel operations.With annual port-related spending for ship owners and operators being currently roughly $2 million per year for a single vessel on voyage charter…

Robosys Automation, maritime autonomy software developer, has unveiled its new autonomous trials boat, which has been commissioned to deliver testing and sea trials in support of integrating clients’ software and hardware with the VOYAGER AI suite.Robosys’ new boat, the “Pioneer,” is a 6.75 meter SeaPro Center Console 222 supplied by Kirby Marine US and is powered by a Suzuki DF 250 APX outboard engine.The SeaPro was selected as a trials boat that features a Dometic Seastar steering system and a Furuno radar.

Saildrone announced a partnership with Palantir Technologies to enable the scaling of autonomous systems to deliver maritime AI solutions in an era of mounting global threats and critically constrained shipbuilding capacity.Saildrone operates the world’s largest fleet of operationally deployed USVs, providing maritime domain awareness to the U.S. Navy, Department of Homeland Security, and international allies. The autonomous vehicles utilize edge-computing AI/ML algorithms to monitor activities both above and below the sea surface…

Some expert thoughts on AI in 2025:“In 2025, AI won’t just be a tool; it will be a collaborator.”“In 2025, the most productive employees will work alongside AI agents.”AI agents are an advance on large language models (LLMs). LLMs at present are popularly used as creative and conversational search engines. They can’t directly interact with external tools or data processing system or autonomously set up systems to monitor and collect ongoing data. AI agents can, and they can proactively track and collect data streams to refine their decision-making.

Windward has launched a Critical Maritime Infrastructure Protection solution, an AI-powered solution designed to protect the world’s essential maritime infrastructure against growing threats.Windward’s Critical Maritime Infrastructure Protection solution addresses three primary threats to maritime infrastructure, deep-sea research operations, shallow-water sabotage, and attacks on offshore oil rigs and platforms. The AI-powered solution monitors high-risk vessels to flag suspicious activities…

The maritime industry is undergoing a digital transformation, and one of the key innovations making waves is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into safety management systems.The increased documentation required following the gamut of new rules and procedures place increasing demands on seafarers but companies like WiseStella are leveraging artificial intelligence to ease the cognitive burden to enhance safety across the global fleet."Seafarers today are faced with an overwhelming amount of information and documentation to manage…

Avikus, HD Hyundai’s Autonomous Navigation Technology subsidiary, secured an order for its HiNAS Control autonomous navigation solutions, inking a contract with H-Line Shipping. H-Line plans to first apply HiNAS Control to five vessels to validate its safety and efficiency, with the intention to expand its deployment to as many as 30 vessels by next year. The signing ceremony was attended by Sung-joon Kim, CEO of HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering, Do-hyeong Lim, CEO of Avikus, and Myung-deuk Seo, CEO of H-Line Shipping.

It’s already possible to have smart decision support on the bridge: With Furuno’s technology, live video imagery of the front view from the vessel has navigation information superimposed on it including heading, AIS data, radar target tracking, object identification, route waypoint and chart information.SEA.AI’s bridge support system can identify larger vessels not fitted with AIS up to a range of 7.5 kilometers (nearly five miles), smaller vessels up to 3 kilometers (nearly 2…

Schmidt Sciences has named 25 scholars working at the forefront of AI as AI2050 fellows and will award them up to $12 million to advance research that realizes the potential of AI to benefit humanity.The AI2050 program asks researchers to imagine the year 2050 where AI has been hugely beneficial and to pursue projects that help society realize this.The program will fund senior researchers and early career scholars for two years.Previous senior fellows in the first two cohorts include Prof. Kelly Chibale from the University of Cape Town, recently elected to the U.S.

The CMA CGM Group has announced the winners of its first CMA CGM Startup Awards.The international competition, organized in partnership with BFM Business, La Tribune and ZEBOX, attracted over 400 entries from innovative startups. 60 finalists, including 34 French startups, were selected to present their projects. Among the finalists were five startups supported by ZEBOX, the international innovation gas pedal initiated by Rodolphe Saadé.The solutions presented, focusing on the shipping…

Maritime AI company Windward has launched Early Detection, an AI-based solution that identifies anomalies that could impact maritime operations.Early Detection analyzes vast amounts of maritime data to spot irregular activities, thus enabling organizations to passively uncover anomalies or new trends automatically with no required user input. The capability alerts stakeholders to global events that would otherwise remain hidden, such as an increase in vessels loitering in specific locations or a surge in ships changing their flags even before the cause is apparent.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to revolutionize shipping by enhancing safety and efficiency, Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS Chairman and CEO, said, while also noting the growing importance of the human touch in this high-tech era.“Maritime 5.0 will be defined by the ever-expanding capabilities of artificial intelligence, driving our complex industry to be safer, more efficient and more optimized, while emphasizing the increasing importance of the humans in the loop,” Wiernicki said…

ST Engineering has officially opened its new shipyard located at 55 Gul Road in Singapore.The Gul Yard was acquired in February 2023 for S$95 million ($74 million) and will replace ST Engineering’s Tuas Yard, whose lease expires at the end of 2024.Twice the size of its existing Tuas Yard, the Gul Yard is designed to handle larger, more complex projects and will enable ST Engineering to explore new market segments, including offshore renewables projects, offshore support vessels for the oil and gas industry…

Maritime artificial intelligence solutions provider Bearing AI announced the appointment of Niels Snog as Chief Commercial Officer. .Snog was previously CCO at ZeroNorth, and prior to that he was the VP and CCO of Wrist Ship Supply.“I am thrilled to join the team at Bearing AI at this pivotal time,” Snog said. “As the world’s shipping companies increasingly embrace new technologies to optimize fleet decision making, Bearing is recognized for their pioneering leadership in developing…

ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) cannot learn independently or acquire new skills, meaning they pose no existential threat to humanity, according to new research from the University of Bath in the UK and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany.The study, published as part of the proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, reveals that LLMs have a superficial ability to follow instructions and excel at proficiency in language, however, they have no potential to master new skills without explicit instruction.

Fred. Olsen Express, a Canary Island-based ferry company, is installing SEA.AI anti-collision technology on its ships to boost navigational safety at sea. The move is a world first for fast passenger ferries.At present AIS can display and identify maritime traffic superimposed over an electronic chart that in turn indicates fixed features such buoys, beacons and other navigational marks.SEA.AI can alert navigators and officers on the bridge to everything else floating on the water that has not been identified by these other systems.

Training Tips for Ships [#60]Last month’s Training Tips for Ships discussed the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the future of maritime training. My thoughts on this were triggered by the recent headline in the Financial Times: “Andreessen Horowitz raises $7.2bn and sets sights on AI start-ups“. Andreessen Horowitz is one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firms and they are seeing fit to deeply invest in the burgeoning AI revolution. Typically, this means change is upon us on a timescale that is now very meaningful to us.

There are more than 4,000 harbor craft vessels in the U.S. deemed highly suited for zero-emissions operations, according to a recent report produced by CALSTART in partnership with Intelatus Global Partners.The report - “Sizing the U.S. and California Harbor Craft Market” - looked at the U.S. commercial harbor craft and inland and nearshore vessels above 600 kilowatts (kW) or 805 brake horsepower. Approximately 10,000 vessels were counted in total, including crew and supply boats…

Maritime AI company Windward has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ISV Accelerate Program and has collaborated with AWS to launch a generative AI solution. The solution leverages Amazon Bedrock to improve risk management for the shipping, logistics and public sectors.Windward’s collaboration with AWS aims to address the growing challenges faced by these industries, particularly in managing unstructured data, maintaining consistent workflows, and mitigating expertise shortages.To build the new solution…

When setting out to maximize efficiency on board any type of commercial vessel, it’s most beneficial to look at the big picture, taking into account the entirety of its systems and operations, but examined at a granular level. Traditionally, this has been much easier said than done.But latest advancements in cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies like those being leveraged by Seattle-based tech company ioCurrents are unlocking new possibilities.

CMA CGM and Google announced a  partnership to accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across CMA CGM's operations globally.“By combining CMA CGM’s deep expertise in shipping and logistics with Google's AI tools and secure infrastructure we can help CMA CGM digitally transform its own operations and those of its customers," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. "This partnership is a prime example of how AI can assist employees, improve outcomes for customers…