2024 in Review: Strengthening our market position

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to cast our eyes back on our achievements this year. To set the scene, it is abundantly clear that shipping companies are increasingly moving to adopt innovative automation technologies that can improve operational efficiency and safety across the board. And this year we can be proud to have continued to significantly reduce close encounters across the Orca-equipped fleet, empowering busy crews and reducing their workload burden, as well as supporting customers with regulatory compliance issues amid the industry-wide push to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. All forward-leaning owners and operators understand these factors are fundamental to maintaining competitive edge, given the rising importance of ESG to charterers, cargo owners, financial institutions and insurers. As an innovative company we’re right at the front of the sustainability trend. 

Here are some major milestones we set in the past 12 months: 

Robust business growth 

In 2024 we doubled  the number of vessels booked with Orca AI to more than 1200, out of them 700 vessels already installed.  We also extended our global reach with a new office established in Singapore, complementing our existing sites in London, Tel Aviv and Athens.

Strategic Partnerships 

In March we formalised a partnership with the global marine insurer NorthStandard. As part of this partnership, NorthStandard is offering subsidised access to Orca AI’s advanced AI-driven platform for club members to enhance both navigational safety and claims records. 

NorthStandard shipowner members Liberty Maritime, Curtin Maritime, Eastern Pacific Shipping, SeaTraders and MMSL have already taken up the offer and we are expecting many more to follow suit. Their support facilitates broader industry adoption and reinforces the club’s ongoing mission to protect its members’ vessels and seafarers.

In September 2024, we had the honor in presenting how Orca AI assists Intertanko members as part of the Intertanko NSC (Nautical Sub committee) in Lisbon, where our clients have also showcased how Orca AI’s had impact on their crews wellbeing.

Over in Japan, as part of the MEGURI2040 autonomous shipping programme we have a strategic cooperation with NYK and Furuno building infrastructure towards sea trials next year deploying the world’s first array of fully calibrated, 360-degree field-of-view cameras, taking situational awareness to the next level. 

Technology upgrade

From January we continued to roll out the next generation of our SeaPod automated watchkeeper unit launched in December 2023. We also launched new features in the FleetView dashboard, from enhancing real-time visibility for events to shore-side teams, to simplifying data access, Weather Maps, the ability to share comments between different users, as well as real-time email notifications. Our goal has been and remains to make our users’ day-to-day operations smoother, safer and more collaborative.  

Awards

In May we were delighted to be named the 2024 Maritime Safety Award winner by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in the UK in partnership with Lloyd’s Register. 

The award is presented to an individual, company or organisation that has made a significant technological contribution to improving maritime safety or the protection of the maritime environment. It also recognizes that the safety of both the seafarer and the maritime environment begins with good design, followed by sound construction and efficient operation.

Class approvals

Orca AI continues to push the boundaries of compliance, with a collaboration on autonomous watchkeeping type approval with ABS, expected to be fully realized throughout 2025. Additionally, we are working closely with ABS for Unified Requirements E26 and E27 for cybersecurity compliance, to further advance resilience of connected systems at sea.

Outlook for 2025

As we approach 2025, we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering product and service excellence to our global client base. Our team shares a common goal: to revolutionize shipping with AI and automation that ensures the safest sailing and fuel-efficient operations. This exciting transformation offers us the chance to spearhead the journey towards a more sustainable future. We anticipate deploying our platform on many more vessels, thereby increasing our density across all shipping lanes and leveraging our visual database to drive the development of new value-added platform services – all part of our rock-solid long-term plan that we are delivering on, step by step.