Orca AI, a leading provider of situational awareness solutions for the merchant shipping industry, today announced that it has signed a global distribution agreement with Marubeni, one of Japan’s largest importers and exporters and a comprehensive provider of marine services .
The Japanese conglomerate will also install the Orca AI platform on its vessels, providing insights into use cases Israeli companies can leverage to further enhance their technology.
Yasutomo Miyake, General Manager of Marubeni’s Ship Project Department, commented on the partnership with Orca AI. By utilizing Orca AI, we will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs throughout the shipping industry. We appreciate the enthusiasm of his Orca AI team and look forward to productive collaboration on this next-generation platform that promises to significantly enhance navigational decision-making. ”
Orca AI CEO and Co-Founder Yarden Gross said: Our system benefits parties such as Marubeni by automating lookouts, reducing the workload of seafarers while reducing the risk of collisions at sea.
Beyond supporting existing operations, AI and computer vision technologies are expected to enable autonomous vehicle operations in the years to come. ”
Orca AI’s SeaPod™ surveillance unit uses highly sensitive computer vision and deep learning algorithms to act as a fully automatic digital watchmaker that detects, tracks and classifies nearby targets that may pose a hazard to your vessel. increase. It helps enhance the situational awareness of bridge workers in difficult navigation scenarios such as congested waterways and low visibility conditions.
Orca AI’s technology operates 24/7, prioritizing risks at sea and presenting them via a user-friendly interface on board. The platform provides fleet operations teams with real-time monitoring capabilities and actionable insights to improve safety, operational efficiency and performance.
To date, Orca AI has amassed more than 20 million nautical miles of marine visual data from customers such as NYK, Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and Maran Group.
Given the continuing shortage of skilled seafarers, with a rapidly aging population and younger generations reluctant to pursue a demanding career at sea, Gross said Orca AI’s automated watchkeeping capabilities could be particularly useful for Japanese shipowners and operators, he added.
This is not the first time Orca AI has collaborated with industry-leading Japanese partners. In 2022, Orca AI and the NYK Group, through the Designing the Future of Full Autonomous Ships (DFFAS) consortium of 30 Japanese companies, successfully completed an autonomous navigation test in congested waters off the east coast of Japan.
Source: Orca AI
