Maersk Tankers' voyage optimisation spin-off ZeroNorth is expanding its data reach by taking over partner Propulsion Dynamics.
The deal to acquire the Danish vessel performance company will add 15% to revenue and boost its Optimise platform with 25,000 ship-fuel consumption models.
Propulsion Dynamics was founded in 2002 and was the first company to offer full-scale digital "twin ship" performance analysis through its CASPER service.
"This makes the organisation a forerunner of vessel performance optimisation, and means that it holds unrivalled insight on how vessel hydrodynamics can impact fuel consumption," ZeroNorth said.
Propulsion Dynamics' data will directly support the industry’s decarbonisation trajectory, as well as the optimisation of a range of tramp shipping vessels, and particularly those on short-term time-charter agreements, the buyer believes.
Machine learning
The vessel models will be beefed up with ZeroNorth's machine learning capabilities, expanding CASPER's potential uses in the market.
"By combining this wellspring of data with ZeroNorth's AI technology, the software will be able to deliver even more authoritative recommendations to increase revenue and cut emissions for tramp shipping vessels," ZeroNorth said.
The acquisition marks the company's entry into the fuel optimisation market. No financial details have been released.
Soren Meyer, ZeroNorth's chief executive, said: "This is a fantastic way to mark ZeroNorth’s first year as an independent company."
"Propulsion Dynamics' huge, unrivalled library of vessel performance analysis results means that Optimise will evolve into an even more powerful and authoritative tool to help tramp shipping companies increase their revenue and cut emissions," he added.
Daniel Kane, co-owner and vice president of sales at Propulsion Dynamics, added that his team was "quite intrigued" when they were originally approached by ZeroNorth.
New ideas
He said the company had novel ideas about how to utilise Propulsion Dynamics' performance analysis capabilities and experience to enable carbon reduction for vessels.
"We know that their unique background, skillset and rapid success in the market, combined with our digital twin hydrodynamic modelling approach, will definitively and quickly make a positive impact on shipping’s decarbonisation pathway," Kane added.
Last month, ZeroNorth said it expects to create $50m of value for customers in its first year, by using algorithms to increase efficiency.
The firm has also raised $22m from investors to build on its technological capabilities.
The platform is used by more than 1,600 vessels owned and operated by 13 tramp shipping companies, including Maersk Tankers, Cargill and Ultrabulk.
