Lloyd's Register has acquired marine data intelligence company GreenSteam, which uses machine learning to improve vessel efficiency.

No price has been disclosed for the deal.

The acquisition will be managed by i4 Insight, which is part of the Lloyd's Register marine performance services business.

The acquisition is part of its business plan to expand its technical advisory, commercial efficiency and voyage optimisation services.

In June, the UK classification society announced the sale of its business assurance and inspection services to Goldman Sachs Asset Management to concentrate on the marine business.

GreenSteam's expertise covers fouling analysis, trim planning and dynamic trim and speed optimisers.

"GreenSteam was one of the first companies to apply machine learning to vessel performance data and its system can analyse data from thousands of vessels, continually learning, adapting, and updating what it knows about each vessel," said John Meltzner, fleet optimisation director of i4.

Lloyd's Register said its services in improving ship efficiency also contribute to industry-wide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We want to help clients drive growth and solve complex problems through human expertise, integrated software solutions and the right insights from data," said chief executive Nick Brown.

"GreenSteam will enable our customers to optimise their operational efficiency and vessel performance, making their businesses more sustainable in an increasingly competitive world."

In a similar development last month, Italian classification society RINA bought software company Logimatic Solutions in a move that it said will expand its marine digital services and capability.

Logimatic is best known in the marine industry for its ship management software Sertica.