Wartsila shared its insights on the digital development the industry faces, discussed the goals of Wartsila Voyage and explained that 2020 was a year that revealed that shipping’s digitalization is inevitable.
Speaking at the Maritime Future Summit (MFS), Pierre Guillemin, Vice President Technology at Wärtsilä Voyage, explained that so far, the maritime industry has had a sluggish and fragmented approach to digitalization. Yet, the pandemic and 2020 noted that shipping needs to pick up its pace towards smarter operations.
To better explain, Wärtsilä Voyage transforms how vessels perform their voyage by leveraging the latest digital technologies, to deliver a step-change in safety, efficiency, reliability and emissions.
Wartsila Voyage delivered the business’ standpoint on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on shipping. Mr. Guillemin commented that looking at the upsides — safety, cost-effectiveness, operational and fuel efficiency — maritime digitalization is inevitable; He added that “Now, it’s only a matter of implementation, and we have a roadmap drawn for it.”
In addition, Wartsila’s technology addresses a variety of shipping operations, such as:
- Optimized route planning
- Real-time vessel tracking
- Vessel performance systems to manage speed, propulsion and trim optimization
- Improved ship-to-shore connectivity
- Predicting and saving fuel consumption
- Eliminating human error to enhance safety
- Reducing emissions for better environmental compliance
The transition to artificial intelligence is a crucial step for the shipping industry; Mr. Guillemin noted that Wärtsilä Voyage has designed an incremental approach. “Customers can start climbing the A.I. ladder with retrofitted solutions and slowly move towards digital-native new builds,” he explained.
Moreover, he highlighted the importance of building a single interconnected, intelligent marine platform for all stakeholders involved in moving a vessel from point A to point B. According to Mr. Guillemin, this requires adoption of the latest technologies, data sharing, open-source APIs, and collaboration across multiple industry verticals to build a network that works in tandem to achieve new levels of efficiency and safety.
Concluding, he stated that
To support the marine industry in meeting its decarbonisation targets, Wärtsilä Voyage is constantly researching, developing and investing in a wide range of products and solutions that enable a variety of vessel classes to substantially reduce their emissions.
