

The history of water navigation is one of the oldest histories of human civilization. We can trace the use of water-based transportation to the 4th century BCE. And the history got better and better as time went on. From oar-powered boats to sails and then machine powered ships thanks to the industrial revolution- shipping technology has never remained in the status quo. We have come a long way. However, unlike other industries, the shipping industry is seeing some delay in the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies. AI in maritime industry is still in its nascent stage. Automated systems are not being leveraged much. Fortunately, the scene is changing fast. We can see an uptick in the upgradation of maritime technology and the introduction of the IBM Mayflower is going to be an epoch in this journey towards Maritime Automation.
IBM Mayflower is an AI-powered ship that was launched this September after extensive trial runs. What’s so special about it? It’s an unmanned ship. And when we say unmanned, we are not talking about remorse controlled ships. IBM Mayflower is going to be helmed by Artificial Intelligence. If the project succeeds, it will be a new chapter in the history of AI in the maritime industry.
The best thing about IBM’s A.I ship is the fact that it has not used any new technology-specific for the maritime industry. IBM has leveraged its already existing flagship technologies that power businesses in other industries.
Sounds futuristic, doesn’t it? The IBM Mayflower has already been to the Atlantic. After a minor glitch, the ship is all set to restart its voyage. The crewless ship is not just a fancy scientific innovation. The ocean is treacherous. Close to 3000 marine casualties are reported every year. And when it comes to oceanic research, human scientists can’t visit many parts of the ocean where the weather is not so accommodating. IBM Mayflower aims to save human lives, perform deep oceanic research to aid humans in cleaning the polluted oceans and save marine flora and fauna.
While IBM Mayflower is still a science experiment, there are many AI based tools in the Maritime industry that are aiding ships to be more efficient. Here are two case studies of how AI in maritime industry is solving various pressing issues.
Automation is in the heart of A.I. Without automation, an A.I system can’t perform efficiently. AutomationFactory.ai has created an automated system that can wade through the jungle of emails that a shipping company receives every day. Hunting the right emails, entering the data, escalating the issue mentioned in the emails, replying back etc are all repetitive tasks that can be automated. We aim to do just that. WIth our Machine Learning Platform, Shipping Lines can automate these boring tasks.
Read our case study on this.
It’s heartening to see that Artificial Intelligence is finally benefiting the shipping industry. After the pandemic, the shipping industry is facing a lot of operational crises. The result is the crippling of the supply chain across all industries. And, now with the ‘Great Resignation’ hitting all the industries, the maritime industry is severely short of human resources. With A.I, the shipping industry can streamline its processes, make up for the lost human resources and above all, assist in the work of human workers.