Hitachi’s Artificial Intelligence improves fuel efficiency in shipping
25 April 2019
Hitachi
Description
Stena Line, one of Europe’s leading ferry companies, set itself the target to reduce fuel consumption by 2.5% per nautical mile annually. Stena Line asked Hitachi to identify software solutions that could help make operations more efficient in shipping – improving safety and supporting ships in reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
By introducing AI technologies, Hitachi have been able to identify the key factors causing high fuel consumption and advise how to make operations more efficient and environmentally sustainable. The AI model simulates many different scenarios before suggesting the optimal route and performance setup for making fuel efficiencies. With the help of AI, the captain and other ship’s officers are able to consider a number of variables, such as sea currents, weather conditions, water depth and speed through water, in various combinations which would be impossible to do manually. The AI recalculates in real-time and provides the crew with ongoing suggestions to keep the ship on the optimal course.
The officers are also able to feed in information to the AI so that it learns from previous experience, and so Stena Line are continuing to develop and improve the technology.