Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world's oldest newspaper, Lloyd's List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Ioannis Psarros, chief commercial officer of Signal Maritime Services discusses the limitations of AI for tanker chartering At Signal we are passionate about technology and the significant assistance it can bring to shipping professionals, but we don’t believe that algorithms can replace good intuitive shipbroking. Despite what you may have read in the media, AI …

The i4 Insight Platform allows shipowners, operators and charterers to access insights on performance and fuel consumption across all ships in their fleet. The addition of GreenSteam's advanced machine learning technology means that platform users will have a more accurate picture of the leading contributors to excessive fuel consumption as well as access to actionable recommendations on how to optimise fleet performance. "Given the sheer volume of performance data available, machine learning is essential to help make sense of complex factors impacting vessel performance to help ensure operational efficiency," a press release from Lloyd's Register stated. GreenSteam was one of the first companies to apply machine learning to vessel performance data and its system can analyse data from thousands of vessels, continually learning, adapting and updating what it knows about each vessel. Shaun Gray, executive chairman of GreenSteam, commented: "An in-depth, data-driven approach to understanding and acting on fuel consumption has never been more necessary for the industry. GreenSteam's machine learning technology uses real ship performance data to provide owners and operators with actionable advice. Unlike traditional analytic approaches that fail to use and model 90% of performance data, by using machine learning, GreenSteam includes all ship performance data in its models to deliver insights other standard methodologies just cannot see."

A survey of upcoming tech trends carried out for our new Shipping in 2030 magazine, published in association with MacGregor, has a strong focus on ship performance. The maritime technology outlook for the coming years is very much about vessel optimisation according to a survey of owners, operators and managers carried out by this title. The fragmented nature of the tech providers and the naturally conservative, cost-conscious shipowning set will put the brakes on any huge technology changes. We're seeing the creation of the integrated digital ship "The obvious first driver this year is technology that can deliver genuine fuel savings, lower emissions and better vessel performance," says Tore Morten Olsen, president of maritime at Marlink. In support of that, Olsen says simplified data collection for efficiency and compliance is increasingly vital.