Kongsberg Digital has signed up the second artificial intelligence (AI) fleet performance software provider in a month to its Kognifai digital marketplace.
The move to the Norwegian technology firm's selective platform marks an important seal of approval from OrbitMI, which spun off from shipowner Stena Bulk and is aiming to attract other operators.
New York-based OrbitMI offers maritime intelligence, compliance, vessel tracking and performance applications for liquid bulk carrier operators and managers, and will soon add a dry bulk version.
Last month, AI-driven voyage performance firm Nautilus Labs joined the Kognifai ecosystem in a move sparked by joint tanker customer Hunter Group’s aim to improve its vessel efficiency and environmental footprint.
Orbit’s OMI, Comply and Reporter tools are being made available to users of Kongsberg’s digital’s ecosystem platform Vessel Insight which allows data from vessels to be collected and contextualised in ways that enable owners and operators to digitalise their processes.
OrbitMI chief executive Ali Riaz said the two groups aim to enable shipowners and managers to make better decisions by transforming raw data generated by equipment into visualisations.
'Host of uses'
“Vessel Insight subscribers can take action on a host of use cases such as actionable market intelligence, automation of regulatory compliance, reduction in bunker consumption and condition-based monitoring,” Riaz said.
David Levy, OrbitMI chief marketing officer, told TradeWinds the company was spun off from Stena Bulk in 2019 after three years of developing systems for the tanker owner. The Swedish owner remains its main customer, but it is also testing with a number of clients and partners, he said.
“We go to market by asking what kind of problems are you trying to solve? How can we build the solution that works for you?” Levy said. OrbitMI can customise software to fit operators’ systems.
Konsgberg Digital senior vice president of Vessel Insight, Eirik Naesje added that the OrbitMI solutions provided answers that “most of our subscribers need to leverage the best business outcomes for their fleet or vessels”.
Levy said not every vessel operating decision is make-or-break but the software provides opportunities for operators and charterers to see times when they can make savings. “The way we were built was to help facilitate those kind of decisions, not massive transformation of the entire shipping industry,” he added.
