Gas carrier owner Petredec has installed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based collision avoidance system on its fleet.
The move is being supported by North P&I Club — its protection and indemnity insurer — and it is being claimed that the project could “revolutionise marine insurance pricing and claims”.
Petredec said the Orca AI system has been installed on the 21,000-cbm Earth Summit (built 2017), 84,000-cbm Silvio (built 2016) and 22,000-cbm Dancing Brave (built 2016).
The system involves a series of high-resolution thermal cameras and sensors to identify collision hazards and alert seafarers to potential dangers. But it is also linked into an AI system that crunches data on ship behaviour and risk patterns to help with decision-making.
Neil Giles, fleet technical manager at Petredec Holdings, said: “We foresee a significant potential of this system when it comes to improving real-time navigational awareness and more importantly, learning from the difficult navigational situations that occur day to day.
"Our hope is to further increase our safety record by improving on our crews' navigational skill set and reduce our operational risk profile in the process.”
A lack of situational awareness in congested sea areas is estimated to lead to about 4,000 accidents each year.
Plug and play
Due to travel restrictions during the pandemic the system has been designed in a “plug-and-play” format, which allows crew to install the system themselves.
There is a hope that the system will be able to provide data on ship behaviour that will lead to better informed underwriting, and claims processing, as well as preventing collisions.
Colin Gillespie, director of loss prevention at North P&I, said he is “supportive of any initiative that improves the risk profile of entered vessels within the club’s membership and helps reduce the number of incidents on the water”.
Yarden Gross, chief executive of Orca AI, said: “Insurance rates are steadily increasing, and they represent a major expense for shipping companies; it is difficult to accurately measure the risk profile of a fleet. For this reason, it is both a unique privilege and a big responsibility to work with two globally significant players.”
Orca’s backers include Israeli car carrier owner Ray Car Carriers and marine insurance broker CTX Special Risks among others.
