Nautilus Labs has enhanced its machine learning-based vessel performance optimisation software to become dynamically route-specific.
The artificial intelligence-driven ship performance firm said its new Route Optimization product shifts a static approach to setting routes — by deciding ship speed and then just avoiding bad weather — to constantly recalculating the most economically efficient way to proceed.
“It is crucial to take commercial factors into consideration, and then constantly optimise a route in real time from port to port,” said chief executive Matt Heider.
The New York-based company has previously said its ship-specific operating recommendations can increase financial returns by 5% to 10% per voyage by saving fuel and so cutting emissions.
Heider told TradeWinds the new system, for which it has partnered electronic navigational data provider ChartWorld, can add an extra minimum 2% to financial benefits — and in tests with some operators has given a further 5% boost. It uses ChartWorld’s Route Network Database for automated route creation.
He added that the system’s predictive ability to provide optimal route and speed recommendations based on clients’ preferences can also forecast environmental factors.
Increasingly collaborative
With the introduction of the International Maritime Organization’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) from 2023, Heider said voyage choices will need to become increasingly collaborative.
“You need stakeholders that care about shipping their cargo to be aligned around outcomes as you get into a world where owners are assessed on voyage efficiency that charterers may be taking on long-term time charters,” he said.
“Pressure from CII is driving owners to want to empower counterparties to improve voyage efficiency.”
This month, Nautilus revealed it had hired experienced shipping executive Jan Wilhelmsson as chief commercial officer to head its new London office, adding to offices in New York, Singapore and Paris.
Nautilus was set up in 2016 and three years later secured $11m in financing from a group of firms led by a Microsoft-backed fund.
It charges an annual licence fee per ship for its products. Its biggest customers include TotalEnergies, Eastern Pacific Shipping and Emirates Shipping Line.
