Easing the Operational Load in the Maritime Industry: An AI Service Built on One Million Voyages

Weathernews has launched an AI-powered assistant that's changing how maritime professionals work. From voyage planning and fleet monitoring to emissions tracking, users can now ask questions in natural language and receive accurate, expert-level answers instantly—no technical jargon or complex dashboards required.

The service is already helping companies operate more efficiently, make faster decisions, and reduce the manual workload across a wide range of scenarios.

We spoke with Mr. Sumi, AI Development Lead from the Voyage Weather Team, and Andreas from Customer Success to learn how this service was developed—and how it's being used in the real world.

Building a Vessel-Focused AI Agent on One Million Voyages of Data

Since 2024, Weathernews has actively expanded AI integration across its engineering teams. As AI technology evolved faster than anticipated, a clear opportunity emerged: to combine AI capabilities with Weathernews' extensive data assets and deliver unprecedented value to maritime customers—unlocking new levels of efficiency and sophistication in vessel operations.

With over 40 years of experience supporting the maritime industry from a weather perspective, Weathernews has developed a deep understanding of the diverse needs across the industry—from captains and fleet operators to shipowners and executive management. This foundation positioned the company to be among the first in the industry to develop an AI agent capable of addressing such a wide spectrum of operational requirements.

From Satellite Calls to Smart Briefings: AI-Powered Weather Support

When determining a vessel's route, shore-based operations teams and captains discuss available options before the captain makes the final decision. Throughout this process, Weathernews supports shipping companies by proposing optimal routes that prioritize both safety and fuel efficiency.

Traditionally, this support was delivered through satellite phone calls or email attachments. However, in rapidly changing weather conditions, this approach presented significant challenges: delayed access to the latest information, limited opportunities for real-time questions, and considerable gaps in information freshness between shore and vessel.

To address these challenges, Weathernews introduced SeaNavigator for Master*¹, a web-based platform designed to function even in limited onboard communication environments. The system provides continuous access to up-to-date weather information and recommended routes. With the integrated AI agent, captains can now receive on-demand explanations of weather conditions and Weathernews' routing recommendations at any time.

*For more details about SeaNavigator for Master, please refer to a separate article.

We also spoke with Andreas, a Product Specialist for SeaNavigator for Master in our Customer Success team, who works closely with customers to address operational challenges, about the value the AI agent brings to daily operations.

When do you feel the AI agent is truly helpful to customers?

I think that almost nobody can deny that the AI agent is more instant, as it is available 24/7. It can be used as a first way to attempt solving an issue when it appears, without having to include the human element from the very beginning.

Not only that, we have to admit that a big amount of data can be processed quickly with the use of an AI Agent and for sure more quickly than a human could process it. All in all it saves time and preserves the human resources for the more demanding cases when expertise and experience are more needed.

Finally, we should also keep in mind that we can monitor what kind of questions are most frequently asked by the customers and take those into consideration to create prompt questions that the user can select to ask without having to type.

What measures are you taking to encourage the use of the AI agent?

The customers need to be aware of this feature and its capabilities so they can utilize it in the best possible way. So, what would be better than letting them know. In the most demos that I am delivering I try to always make reference to the AI agent button and showcase how it works, being able to provide accurate information in a quick way, without having to search in many menus and features.

Once the customer sees that the AI Agent is capable of providing quick sufficient answers they will be more likely willing to try it by themselves.

If you have any expectations for the future development plans of the AI agent, please share them.

In the future I can imagine the AI Agent being able to examine various theoretical scenarios for future routes, compare them and provide a synoptic conclusion. This possibly could be achieved by the AI Agent being in position to consider all the weather and navigational information contained in the platform and the captain being able to set his variables for the voyage.

As a result, the Captain will be able to make more accurate decisions by having all the relevant information on hand.

Furthermore, I would expect each user to be able to customize their AI Agent to some degree by entering prompts in order to build it around their needs and provide them with the answers and the information that are more relevant to them.

Advancing Fleet Management Digital Transformation: Instantly Identifying High-Risk Vessels Across the Entire Fleet

The AI agent developed by Weathernews extends beyond onboard use—it also delivers significant value in shore-based fleet operations.

Fleet operators routinely review noon reports from each vessel to ensure safety and confirm that voyage plans are proceeding as expected. However, monitoring dozens or even hundreds of vessels worldwide and identifying those with potential risks within massive datasets presents a formidable challenge.

With the Weathernews AI agent, operators can simply ask questions such as:

"Create a briefing sheet explaining the severe weather risk in the North Pacific."

"List vessels with high severe-weather risk over the next three days."

Operating 24/7 as a highly capable assistant, the AI agent analyzes vast amounts of data on behalf of the user. By assessing planned routes, current vessel positions, and weather risks along each route, it prioritizes vessels requiring attention—minimizing the risk of oversight and enabling proactive safety management.

Supporting Management in the Decarbonization Era

Instant Aggregation and Visualization of CO₂ Emissions

As environmental regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) continue to strengthen, managing environmental impact has become a critical priority alongside safety and economic efficiency.

Aggregating and analyzing CO₂ emissions across an entire fleet typically requires significant time and manpower. With the Weathernews AI agent, however, users can simply ask:

“List the five vessels with the worst fuel efficiency over the past three months.”

“Calculate the cumulative CO₂ emissions of our managed fleet this year.”

The AI instantly generates detailed outputs including fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions, vessel speed, cargo conditions, and more—complete with visualized graphs. Through natural dialogue with the AI, users can quickly prepare presentation-ready materials that support management decisions, cost control, environmental impact reduction, and asset optimization.

During routine quality testing, the development team observed a striking example: a complex fuel consumption analysis that would normally require one to two weeks of manual work was completed by the AI in just 15 minutes.

By automating data aggregation and analysis, the AI agent enables users to focus on strategic decision-making, significantly enhancing operational quality.

Automated Performance Analysis for Shipowners
Data-Driven, High-Quality Vessel Management

Another key application is vessel performance management for shipowners. Over long voyages, marine growth such as barnacles and seaweed accumulates on hulls, increasing resistance and potentially reducing fuel efficiency by 10–20%. Accurately understanding vessel condition is therefore critical to business operations.

By asking:

“Identify vessels that are not achieving expected speed despite good weather conditions,”

users can quickly identify underperforming vessels, enabling maintenance decisions based on objective data rather than experience alone.

The AI agent also plays a significant role in chartering operations. It supports the creation of performance certificates—which demonstrate speed and fuel consumption under favorable weather conditions—by analyzing historical voyage and weather data to instantly generate accurate performance benchmarks. This significantly improves both efficiency and accuracy in contract preparation.

Toward a Future Where the AI Agent Becomes a True Operational Partner
Security has been a foundational priority in the design of the AI agent.

Vessel-specific operational data and user queries are strictly protected and never shared with other companies. Input data is not automatically used for AI model retraining, ensuring users can operate with complete confidence. Vessels are also securely linked to user accounts, eliminating the risk of data confusion caused by vessels sharing the same name.

Currently, separate AI agents serve different menus and functions. Looking ahead, Weathernews plans to evolve these into a unified agent capable of addressing all voyage weather-related questions. Proactive features—where the AI autonomously detects risks and provides advance recommendations—are also in development.

Just two years ago, integrating an AI agent into onboard decision-making seemed unrealistic. Today, rapid advances in AI technology have made it a reality. Looking ahead, deeper integration between Weathernews' AI and customers' own internal systems is becoming an achievable goal.

Weathernews envisions a future where AI is not merely a tool, but a true operational partner—working alongside maritime professionals both at sea and on shore. The company is committed to building that future together with its customers.