Maritime technology company ZeroNorth has acquired Copenhagen-based digital vessel performance company Propulsion Dynamics Inc
Founded in 2002, Propulsion Dynamics was a forerunner of vessel performance optimisation and the first company to offer full-scale digital twin ship performance analysis through its CASPER service.
With the acquisition, ZeroNorth gains access to Propulsion Dynamics’ library of vessel performance analysis and the company said it hopes to gain insight into how vessel hydrodynamics can impact fuel consumption.
A statement read, “The fuel consumption tables provided by Propulsion Dynamics can directly support the industry’s decarbonisation trajectory and support the optimisation of a range of tramp shipping vessels, and particularly those on short-term time charter agreements.”
By activating Propulsion Dynamics’ vessel models with technology and machine learning, ZeroNorth hopes be able to considerably scale up CASPER’s potential use cases in the market.
ZeroNorth offers Optimise – a fleet tracking system for tramp operators – that allows them to refine voyage plans and make opex savings.
While ZeroNorth said it will retain its commitment to be ’data agnostic’, connecting to whichever fuel consumption model provider its customers uses, the acquisition will also allow it to immediately add to Optimise using experience from more than 25,000 digital ship models in Propulsion Dynamics’ database.
By combining the data with ZeroNorth’s AI technology, Optimise can deliver even more authoritative recommendations for tramp shipping vessels. The acquisition marks ZeroNorth’s entry into the fuel optimisation market.
ZeroNorth chief executive Søren Meyer said “We are delighted to welcome Propulsion Dynamics, the original, ground-breaking company for vessel performance optimisation, into the ZeroNorth family.”
“Propulsion Dynamics’ huge, unrivalled library of vessel performance analysis results means that Optimise will evolve into an even more powerful and authoritative tool to help tramp shipping companies increase their revenue and cut emissions.”
Propulsion Dynamics co-owner and vice president sales Daniel Kane said “The team was quite intrigued when we were originally approached by a nearby Danish maritime technology company who had novel ideas about how to utilise our performance analysis capabilities and experience to enable carbon reduction for oceangoing vessels.
This grew into a formal partnership, increasing enrollment of vessels with ZeroNorth, and a natural progression into a sale of PDI to ZeroNorth. We know their unique background, skillset, and rapid success in the market, combined with our digital twin hydrodynamic modeling approach, will definitively and quickly make a positive impact on shipping’s decarbonisation pathway.”
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