A maritime artificial intelligence (AI) application has demonstrated fuel savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for fleets of tankers, roro vessels, container ships and dry bulk carriers
Orca AI said its automated situational awareness platform helped ship operators, managers and owners achieve significant operational gains, improve navigational safety, avoid collisions, reduce potential incidents and cut 172,716-tonnes CO2 emissions in 2023.
It analysed 15M nautical miles-worth of data collected in open waters by 267 customer vessels equipped with the Orca AI platform.
With an increase of 26% in the average minimum distance sailed, the fleet as a whole also saw an overall 33% reduction in close encounters in open waters and a 40% decline in crossing events.
Each ship experienced an average of two close encounter events per 1,000 nautical miles sailed. These were assessed against key performance indicators including closest point of approach, time to closest point of approach, reaction time, average speed over ground, average cross-track error and weather conditions.
“Achieving these consistent operational improvements from year to year validates our continuing vision to work in partnership with top-tier shipowners and operators to create a safer and more efficient shipping industry,” said Orca AI co-founder and chief technology officer Dor Raviv.
“We remain committed to supporting our forward-thinking customers in ensuring safe navigation in congested waters, reducing the work burden on watch officers during long voyages in open water, and reducing operational costs thanks to reduced fuel consumption.”
Orca AI’s digital watchkeeper can enhance voyage safety and operational efficiency for ships and fleets, using purpose-built machine learning and computer vision technologies.
“Safety, efficiency and emissions reduction are crucial in terms of not only corporate sustainability targets but also maintaining carbon intensity indicator scores for ships,” said Mr Raviv.
Orca AI platform helps crew make data-driven decisions in congested waters and in low visibility conditions. It has an onboard SeaPod lookout unit, which is equipped with high-resolution daylight cameras and thermal cameras providing a field of view of 225°.
"Vessel masters, officers and fleet managers work together in a dynamic way to achieve tangible performance improvements"
Computer-vision data generated is fused with data streams from existing sensors on board a vessel and displayed on a human-machine interface on the bridge that identifies and tracks marine objects in real-time, providing alerts and recommendations to support safe navigation.
All events are available in real-time to shore via the FleetView platform. Fleet managers can use Orca AI to spot trends, monitor navigational behaviours, investigate anomalies and isolate events for training purposes.
“Using the platform enables vessel masters, officers and fleet managers to work together in a dynamic way to achieve tangible performance improvements for individual vessels and across a fleet,” said Mr Raviv.
“Reducing fuel consumption and emissions while mitigating the potential risk and costs of safety incidents, downtime and reputational damage is a win-win for all concerned.”
Orca AI’s solution is already used by shipping companies worldwide, including Maran Tankers, Mediterranean Shipping, Seaspan and NYK Line.
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