In the last 12 months, the maritime media headlines regarding AI point to six key applications. This article explores some of the recent headlines and how AI is being used to optimise ship operations in voyage optimisation.
One example of AI being used to optimise voyages is Ardmore Shipping’s deployment of DeepSea Technologies’ solution. Following extensive trials in 2023, Ardmore Shipping partnered with DeepSea Technologies in early 2024 to implement Pythia, the company’s voyage optimisation tool, across its fleet. According to Ardmore’s commercial project manager Ha Eun Ruppelt, the shipping company has been optimising voyages manually for over 10 years, but it was consuming a substantial amount of man hours. “With the advancement of sensors, AI and enhanced onboard internet, we thought there must be a better way to do this.”
One major challenge Ardmore faced was the lack of access to real-time performance data for both ships and shore operations. “Data that’s even an hour old can quickly become irrelevant, making it difficult to assess how current conditions are affecting our voyages. We needed more accurate predictive tools, driven by live data, to improve efficiency and evaluate the profitability of a voyage with both ship and shore teams working together. While certain adjustments might seem profitable, the unpredictable nature of shipping means that any deviation from expectations can significantly impact our bottom line—positively or negatively. This is why real-time feedback is crucial; it allows us to adjust our assumptions as needed and see immediate results, enabling us to fine-tune our voyages more effectively,” Ruppelt explained.
The partners have already completed a year-long full-scale trial of the technology on Ardmore vessels, during which time DeepSea and Ardmore worked together to refine a series of algorithms powered by AI-generated vessel behaviour models leveraging Ardmore’s historical data to allow an AI approach to be deployed within the context of tramp trade.
According to Ruppelt, it took the company an additional year of market research to determine which vendor to go with for their voyage optimisation. “DeepSea understood our ultimate goal in the voyage optimisation space. Everyone has a different definition of what optimisation looks like but their organisation truly understands where we were headed both in the short term and the long term,” Ruppelt told Thetius. “DeepSea took the crucial step of cleaning Ardmore’s data before feeding into the system, which was an important part of identifying irregularities and ensuring that the live data being used to optimise voyages was accurate.”
Within the last 12 months, German shipping company Hapag Lloyd also launched its own AI-powered Fleet Deployment Optimiser in partnership with Bearing AI with the aim to help customers simulate future emissions and instantly compare the efficiency of different vessels across potential schedules.
Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) also announced a fleet-wide deployment of DeepSea’s “Cassandra Performance Monitoring” platform28 to monitor its fleet in real-time through AI-generated digital twins of vessel machinery. The ultimate goal is to improve decision-making and reduce fuel consumption.
To learn more about AI and its use in voyage optimisation, read our thought leadership report, produced in collaboration with Lloyd’s Register titled, “Beyond the Horizon, Opportunities and Obstacles in the Maritime AI Boom” This report offers an in-depth analysis of the current state of operational AI in the shipping industry, shedding light on the latest trends, groundbreaking developments, and successful implementations. You can download a copy of the report here.
